I had the good fortune as a London chocolate insider to be invited along to review the London Chocolate Walk Great British Tours. This is one of many experiences you can choose to enjoy when booking a visit to London through Expedia (or just go to Expedia and book it once you know you’ll be in London).  It was great and a good introduction plus in this article you’ll get some of my insider tips that they didn’t get to on the tour!

You start the tour at the Algerian Coffee Shop. One of the oldest establishments of its time, the Algerian Coffee shop was one of those places established when politics and stock market trading happened in the coffee rooms.  While we didn’t get to go inside, by starting here you get the chance to visit it on your own time and can come back again and again.
INSIDER TIP: About 2 blocks away, a mere 3 minute walk, is Paul A Young’s flagship store in Soho. This is one of London’s premier chocolate shops and the only one you’ll be near on this tour so grab the chance to visit it before the tour starts at 3pm.

A short hop, skip and jump across the street is Hotel Chocolat where we had some milk chocolate and caramel buttons (too sweet for me). We also had a talk about Hotel Chocolat, how they now have their own plantation and how they are opening in Copenhagen and hope to have a full restaurant here in London soon.

The tour then walks into the Piccadilly Circus area for a visit to Freggo. This was originally the dessert kitchen of Gaucho but was so popular they spun it off on its own. We get to sample any of the ice creams on the menu. Our guide recommends 2 different ones but I’ve been here before so my INSIDER TIP is to go for a taster of the malbec and berries – then get yourself a serving of it because you’ll be hooked!

We walk on from here to Prestat where there are no samples sadly and a tiny shop with brightly colourful boxes of a range of chocolates.  The chocolates are interesting and as I’ve reviewed some of them before, I can recommend the Earl Grey tea milk chocolate disks as a proper British treat.

Our next stop (and bathroom break) on the tour is Fortnum & Masons and their chocolate counter. The last time I shopped here the chocolate buyer was a very partcular and her ideas of proper chocolate restricted the selection so much that it was all a bit same-y. I was glad to see that not only did they have visiting chocolatiers featured on the counters, they had Duffy’s bars on the shelves, Gorvett & Stone chocolates as well as others. Biggest disappointment of the day was the lack of cobnut nougat. I had been looking forward to that for ages. That and the badly scuffed chocolates making the counter look decidedly downmarket. However don’t let that put you off!
INSIDER TIP: Across the street and completely ignored by the tour is the Maison du Chocolat shop. Since you are literally across the street it is surprising it doesn’t even get a mention on the tour. For really nice French ganache and praline in stylish boxes, this is a great find plus they are a patissier so an afternoon snack is easily in reach.

From here we pass Lauduree and head off to Charbonnel et Walker where they assert that madame Charbonnel was the lover of a king and that’s why she left France for England – not because she wanted to get rich by introducing French chocolate to the English palette. Here we get to sample the famous rose & violet creames (one of each) and we scored an extra sample of the milk chocolate coated brazil nut which was absolutely delicious. This is a great plae to grab a small and portable chocolate box with a nice shelf life meaning that it will make it back without spoiling.

Finally from here we walk up to Selfridges to visit the Godiva shop inside the chocolate area. We get to try their (rather bitter) dark chocolate and shop in the Selfridges candy store. I have to say I’m slightly surprised that Godiva chose dark chocolate as these are not chocolate experts so the milk or salted caramel might be a better choice.
INSIDER TIP: The Godiva counter is right next to the Melt counter. Melt is one of the finest chocolatiers in town and if they have their passion fruit caramels you should buy yourself at least one to try.
INSIDER TIP: Check the wall between Godiva and Artisan du Chocolat – if Pierre Marcolini chocolate bars are still there, grab yourself the Hacienda Chuao is you like a red fruit and slightly acidic flavour profile or the Cuban chocolate for a honeyed leather, honeyed tobacco flavour. Both are outstanding single origin bars and well worth the price.
INSIDER TIP: Artisan du Chocolat often have samples of their chocolates on offer if you’d like to try their ganache or salted caramels!

We end the tour here but I do not. Knowing London as I do, after buying some Artisan du Chocolat sea salted caramels, a bar of Pierre Marcolini Hacienda Chuao and 4 Pierre Herme macarons in Selfridges, I head to Jeff de Bruges to see what new delights the shop staff have. It is spring/summer as I write this and so they have their ice cream cart outside ready to serve chilled treats. I head inside and see what’s new for the season and buy some ganaches. They have bouquets of chocolates and sugared almonds out as well as lots of exciting chocolates. The prices are reasonable so it is a great place to end the day.

If you are visiting London and would like someone to show you everything so you can go back afterwards, this is a fine tour to go on. 2 hours is a long time to be mobile (and for me it was 4) but for new people, it does take in many brilliantly British choccy places as well as the differently diverse shops that make up the London chocolate scene. I would love to see ones that also hit places  Rococo, William Curley or Demarquetteas well

When I was at the Gorvett & Stone shop in Henley on Thames (just down the street from Maison Blanc, not far from the parking lot behind the Waitrose if you’re thinking of visiting) I picked up a couple of things. One was this awesome bag of salted butter caramels.

The milk chocolate is Valrhona and so you know it’ll be nice. Not only that but it has cocoa butter in the caramel – yum! So I cut one open to see what it was like.  As you can probably see, it isn’t runny.  In fact this sea salt caramel is very different – perhaps because it is buttered caramel

The caramel is soft but not runny. Like very smooth fudge it is sweet and soft. There is a distinct flavour which is of dark sugar with that flavour echoed in the milk chocolate. Absolutely delicious – so much so I finished all 10 in a single sitting!

What can I say? The butter caramel is sweet but delicious. The milk chocolate is sweet and if you’re in the mood for absolutely delicious and sweet, this salted butter caramel from Gorvett & Stone is absolutely perfect!

When I was asked by the English Cheesecake Company if I would review their cheesecake I absolutely jumped at the chance. I mean, who wouldn’t want to review cheesecake?

The cheesecake they sent was a truffle profiterole cheesecake. Now besides being huge, this was absolutely amazing. The topping was a lovely sticky chocolate topping which was deliciously chocolaty but not too thick and not too sweet. You can see the profiteroles poking through the top of the cheesecake.

The base of the cheesecake is relatively thick but as it warms it does go flaky and isn’t too bad. It is crunchy and chocolaty and slightly crumbly just like a good cheesecake base should be. The cheesecake itself has profiteroles with the thick cream filling and light choux pastry all through it and as you can see they are studded through the whole cheesecake. I don’t think you can slice this cheesecake thin enough for it to not have profiterole in it.

The cheesecake itself is light and has just the right balance of chocolate flavour. The profiteroles give it just the perfect balance of thick cheesecake and light cream. I really did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did. I’m used to having to cut small pieces of cheesecake because they are just too heavy and too dense and you have to take small bites. Given the massive size of this I was concerned but the profiteroles just balance everything out perfectly.

These cheesecakes can be delivered to your home. They come in a Styrofoam box with cool packs and is frozen so it can pop straight in the freezer for later or in the fridge to defrost but always arrives in perfect condition. The paper protects the cheesecake, the cheesecake itself came in perfect condition and wow – it is the perfect size for a dinner party with a *lot* of friends.

You can buy one of these beauties online at the English Cheesecake Company website.

I was lucky enough to be invited to a whisky event. Now, often whisky and women are not associated. Whisky is seen as a drink aimed at men and I have to admit, the extremely peaty ones I’m happy to let someone else drink but I am someone who appreciates flavours and experiences and this evening with Bowmore whisky was a real experience.

We were met by actors and given a whisky cocktail as this was meant to be an immersive experience. Unfortunately for my aging joints, this experience involved a lot of stairs however it was worth it for everyone I’m sure.  We were split into groups and went in those groups around the experiences.

My group went upstairs first and experienced the magic of the night sky over the Bowmore distillery. The darkness there is almost absolute and not far from there is an observatory. This observatory is where some astronomers took the imagery from the Hubble telescope and created an amazing 3D movie of one square millimetre of the night sky which was absolutely crammed with galaxies – and our ability to see them is only hampered by the age of our universe as we have to wait for the light to reach us.

We then went and were told a story where the headless horseman turned out to be just a guy in a cloak huddled against a storm. After there, we went into a holding room before trying some of Paul A Young’s amazing hot chocolate. I think they likely won over new fans that night.

Finally we tried some 12 year old and 15 year old whisky.  Now I know from my other whisky events that the age is actually the age of the youngest whisky in the blend and that even a single malt is a blend. Only a single cask whisky is a single age. Most single malts are multiple ages blended together. The 12 year old was not too peaty and wasn’t too bad at all. Not too strongly flavoured, nicely balanced but the 15 year old was like Christmas – toffee and treacle and fruits and so much more but with smoke.

Of all the peaty whiskies I have had, I have to say I really enjoyed the Bowmore. The nose was just amazingly sweet and fruity. It was really surprising as an Islay whisky.

I am Canadian and I know all about apples, ice wine, the effects of glaciation, type A farmland, the ideal time period between picking corn and cooking it and lots more. We are a province of foodies, in Ontario at least (I have my doubts about Quebec who brought the world pea soup and poutine), and we’re proud about it. That is why I had no idea what a cobnut is – we simply don’ have them in Southern Ontario and they just aren’t a major crop in Canada.

Cobnuts are apparently native to Kent. They are grown, in fact, mainly on a single farm. There used to be 5,000 acres of cobnuts grown around Kent 200 years ago. They were a medieval staple and were eaten at theatre productions much as we today eat popcorn. They were common but gradually replaced with other crops as they fell out of favour until a mere 50 acres were left where once 100 times that amount existed.

The lovely people from Hurstwood Farm have replanted acres of cobnuts after a hurricane destroyed most of their apple crop and now they are helping the cobnut make a comeback with roast cobnuts, cobnut oil and more yet to come. At Demarqutte we had the opportunity to try what Marc has done with the humble cobnut and he has turned it into something not at all humble indeed!

First we tried the standard praline most people buy from bulk suppliers. It takes a lot of equipment to create praline from raw nuts in bulk so most people buy it. This paste is a drying, almost tasteless sticky paste. The same made from cobnuts is a delicious and flavourful paste with a natural sweetness meaning that less sugar needs to be added. Surely this is a good thing!

Then we tried some of the cobnuts in a ganache and then caramelised cobnuts enrobed in chocolate. Oh my goodness these were better than almonds and way better than hazelnuts… I wanted more! Next we tried something I thought I would not like – cobnut nougat. Now, I’m not a nougat fan but this was divine. Light, fluffy and the cobnuts were glorious in it.  Absolutely delightful and when enrobed in chocolate it was amazing.

This really opened my eyes to cobnuts – a truly British nut. It is flavourful, versatile and delightful. I hope more Brits embrace this nut year round because a cobnut isn’t just for Christmas

Lindt is working on making better quality chocolate available in a wide variety of flavours and also educating people about how versatile chocolate is. No longer do we have to suffer with poor quality chocolate but there are now a number of choices on the shelves to tempt us. This array of temptation also makes it difficult to choose. So it seemed to me that Lindt made the choice to define themselves as the foodie’s chocolate of choice, offering an array of perfectly complimentary chocolates depending on what you had chosen to cook.

I had the opportunity to attend an evening dinner with Lindt but I was woefully late, which is the curse of someone who just wants to get that last bit of analysis done… just one more check… So when I arrived late, I was starving and had experienced a less than ideal day which means the starter got gobbled up with the most perfectly complimented white wide and nary a photo was taken. It also involved no chocolate so we’ll gloss over the delicious cured salmon with pickled chilli and wasabi mayonnaise.

The braised chilli chocolate beef cheek with celeriac mask and glazed beetroot was delightful. Actually no… delightful is not the right word. I think I’m looking for something like ORGASMIC or something. This was the most incredible piece of beef I have had for awhile. Each flavour balanced with the others so whether your mouthful was just beef, beef and celeriac or beef, celeriac and beetroot, it was perfect. The wine was also perfectly chosen, enhancing the flavours and yet standing confidently alone (if slightly iron-heavy). Jun Tanaka here I think made me remember that there is still excellence in the kitchen and not just over-stuffed egos.

I am not a sushi fan and yet the wasabi chocolate maki roll was gobbled down in one. The maki roll was neutral to slightly sweet owing to the spiced pineapple and the wasabi chocolate perfectly complimented it. We had the wasabi chocolate as a dipping sauce which was an extremely different experience. The ice wine we had to compliment it was delicious but as an Ontarian I have to say, Trius is better The wasabi chocolate did taste extremely potently of wasabi. I think if you’re a fan of the flavour and heat of wasabi, this will be the ideal chocolate. If you’re just in it for the heat, opt for the chilli chocolate.

We finished off with a dark sea salt chocolate molleux with cherry and yogurt sorbet made with possibly the most expensive cherries ever. It was absolutely amazing with an interplay of warm chocolate and frozen yogurt. The wine was a sweet red and was excellent (though again, Ontario wines kick wicked butt and there was a Peller Estates one I had which would have kicked this ones butt), just the perfect complement to the dessert.

On departing we were given chocolate and recipe cards to make our own versions of the things we tried. I will absolutely be trying my hand at the beef and the dessert. Watch out Waitrose, I’m going to hit an isle other than desserts!

I was sent a review box of brownies by the lovely Sharon from Devilishly Good Brownies.  She started making brownies and selling them at her sandwich shop and they got more and more popular. She started branching out and is now selling her brownies by mail order.

She has very professional boxes, all custom printed with purple and lovely colourful iridescent grass cushioning the brownies inside.  The experience of receiving these brownies is always going to be a special one. From the gorgeous branded box to the carefully wrapped brownies inside, the experience of just receiving them is special.  Add into that the fact that these brownies are fabulous on their own or heated up means that this is going to be a special gift for anyone.

The brownies are chocolaty and sweet with a dusting of powdered sugar to prevent them getting stuck together (I assume).  There is a double layer of chocolate brownie finger goodness in the box and lots of chocolaty goodness for those who enjoy a dense chocolaty sweet treat. There are chunks of white chocolate and the chocolate is very nicely flavourful.

These brownies are interesting to heat up. If you pop one or two in the microwave and heat them for 20 or 30 seconds, they get this warm gooeyness to them and with a cup of coffee they are absolutely fantastic. I can’t imagine something better besides eating them fresh out of the oven and even then brownies need time to settle to improve. So warm from the microwave or out of the box, these sweet brownies are going to be a treat to receive – just remember to buy a box for yourself.

You can buy these brownies at Sharon’s sandwich shop in Wales or go to her Devilishly Good Brownies website.

At William Curley they have a dessert bar which at the weekends is just £15.I had the opportunity to try it when I found myself in London on a Saturday morning. I was, in the end, defeated by the dessert though.

I started with buying myself a hot chocolate and I tried the new sea salt caramel. It was delicious and the hot chocolate was a delightful diversion.  After watching two women next to me experience the full glory of the dessert bar and the fresh baked madeleines, I had to try it myself.

As you can see, I started in even before I took a picture. Merlot ice, jasmine poached pear and chocolate. Woah – fruit, floral, delightful!

Then came the freshly made madeleines, rhubarb compote and custard with caramel and pistachios with hand-made ginger ice cream.  YUMMY!

Then I got the thing that finally defeated me – black forest dessert with pistachio ice cream. This was an ultimate chocolate dessert with delightfully dense and extreme chocolate flavour. Just too much so I had to take it home which was slightly difficult when I was visiting a friend.

To finish it off later that day, I had the petit fours. There’s a yummy chocolate macaron and some chocolates. You can pick the ones you want. I chose a raspberry and an earl grey tea. I liked the Earl Grey Tea one best

The girls next to me got tea as well but as I had already bought myself a hot chocolate there was no room for tea. I’m not sure if that is included in the price they paid or not so check when you order. All in all it was delicious and well worth making the trip for!

After taste-testing some chocolate spread in the name of science (well… I’d like to believe it was…) I went over to the launch of a new branch of Choccywoccydoodah, riding high on television success.  This new shop in London, extended their physical shop locations from one to two, and was likely made possible not only by the demand for their artistically beautiful cakes but also by their TV fame.

Originally launched in Brighton, Choccywoccydoodah is more of cake shop than a chocolate shop but they do deal in a *lot* of chocolate.  Their designs create visually stunning pieces of artwork and deliver them in cake format. I’m not talking about something where a baker simply uses edible photo paper and prints off a beautiful image – I’m talking about making a sculpture.

Now, I’ve never seen even a single episode of the TV show because I usually work while watching TV and so really tend to choose programs which do not require my attention. That means shows about cooking, food and ones which require me to actually look at the TV get shunned in favour of Bloomberg.  Mind you, it does mean I’m up-to-date on all the market news but sadly I miss all the fun shows.

Choccywoccydoodah create some wonderful works of art but not just on a single plane or a flat surface. There is cake involved in this sculptural wonder. They have a variety of cakes including chocolate, ginger, coffee and others. All of them have a rather dense makeup and slightly dry texture but when supporting the weight of 5 cakes and chocolate sculpture the cakes themselves have to be firm.  The cakes are held together with a truffle ganache which also prevents slippage as a buttercream  frosting would likely slip too much. This makes the cake slightly drier than it already is as the chocolate ‘icing’ is tacky in the mouth as it is, in fact, a chocolate spread thinly

The exterior of the cake is why people favour these cakes and just glancing at one through the shop window helps you understand why.  He cakes we were served at the press launch were 5 cakes high – that is they had 5 different flavour cakes in them, They then were covered in chocolate, covered in art and topped.  In the shop below, even more fanciful cakes decorated the shop. Increasingly complex cakes such as the cake covered in flowers are scattered around the shop. For the Goths among the crowd, a wedding cake with 2 skulls greets you upon entry.

There are a number of seemingly impossible cakes in the shop and to top them off are even more beautiful chocolate cake toppers.  Our cakes had marshmallows or chocolate lollipops. The chocolate lollipops were in the shame of lips bearing the message “ear me” or in the shame of flowers. It was quite impressive. In the shop, there were a number of even more impressive cakes, all seemingly aimed at the wedding crowd – and why not.

When sculptural elegance is possible in a wedding cake to express the couple’s particular theme or thoughts or hobbies, why not go for something unusual rather than the same old thing.  Not that traditional wedding cakes aren’t great but when you can cut into around a centimetre of thick chocolate shell, why not, right?

The new shop also boasts an upstairs milkshake shop and seating area. The milkshake I had was extremely sweet and I can understand a lot of people would prefer this.  Unfortunately for me it was too sweet and I couldn’t finish it but if you like sweet milkshakes this is going to become a new hot spot for you.  They also do a selection of chocolates, favours and even a leather satchel embossed with their coat of arms.

All in all, this is going to be a mecca for modern weddings, those with a super sweet tooth and those who just appreciate art in whatever format.  Me, I’ll stick with William Curley for my cake and Paul A Young for my chocolates

It was a beautiful sunny day when I drove down to Henley on Thames to visit the award-winning Gorvett and Stone shop. They have recently moved to new premesis across the street from the old shop.  I don’t know why but I imagined a small dark shop, with the inside painted indigo and turquoise packed to the gills with chocolates. I found something slightly different…

I visited mere days after they had sold out of almost everything for Easter. In fact, they had also only just opened after having a new floor laid.  As such there was a lot of work happening around me, a lot of chocolate being made, cinder toffee and so much going on but Matt & Elinor still made time for me. It was amazing.

The kitchen is huge and when I arrived, I came just at the perfect time to watch the exploding flogs being made. They have a massive kitchen and they supply some exclusive names including Fortnum & Mason. Their flavours like Eaton Mess and their house truffles are extremely popular and the people of Henley beat a steady path to their door for chocolates, tea and hot chocolate.

They sell their own fresh chocolates as well as Valrhona, Michael Cluziel and other chocolate bars. They have Turkish delight and hand-made marshmallows.  The fresh cream in their truffles and ganaches comes straight from a local dairy called Lacey’s Family Farm. The dairy actually produce the cream to a precise percentage of “creaminess” so that they can make consistently awesome chocolates.

They have a series of tempering machines and are passionate about making great chocolates. They are constantly innovating and thinking about what to do next. They have a lot of chocolates already quite unique and I got to try a number of them…

The milk chocolate truffle with sea salt is made with Jivara milk chocolate with a pinch of sea salt. This bar is really interesting and has a fairly sweet flavour but rich and flavourful. I think I could have eaten a box but next I tried the delightful mint with a lovely crystallised mint leaf on top. Delicious and green and lovely – my favourite kind of mint. Then I had the house truffle. This is a solid but airy, bubbly but crumbly truffle. A different chocolate truffle with a great flavour the house was delightful but the Grand Marnier truffle had that alcohol kick with a bit of citrus.

The exploding frogs cooled and out of their moulds, they were piled high ready for packaging. I am now the proud owner of an exploding frog which I shall review later as well as a whole bag of salted caramels – YUM!