I spent yesterday (and the three days before that) tasting chocolate bars for the Academy of Chocolate. I’ve spent today doing the same, except I’m just eating them on my own whilst I have been trying to pack things away before my house becomes full of dust when the builders arrive and getting washing done ahead of my trip to San Francisco this week! ð
WEEK 5 ending Sunday 8th April 2018 – LONDON
- Goats cheese, chick pea and red pepper pie from The Pie Room, the new opening at Holborn Dining Rooms – a window straight onto Holborn. Chef Calum is a pastry legend and this pie was perfect: flaky pastry and a delicious and well-balanced filling. It was £7 on its own, so definitely on the pricey side but it’s the same quality as the restaurant ones.
- After a morning of chocolate tasting I picked up a bun with a quinoa and bean patty with homemade pickled onions and kale from TAP Coffee. It was a little dry and crumbly, but tasty and filling, Plus, because it was late afternoon and they make everything fresh daily, so all of their sandwiches were 40% off!
- Good & Proper Tea, a cafe devoted to excellently made cuppas of all kinds, celebrated the second birthday of their shop this week and, as a they are partner of Taste Tripper, they invited me for cake to mark the occasion. I enjoyed a freshly made pistachio cake with rose jam with a rooibos.
- A Raspberry & Rose Caramel from Paul A Young on the Mayfair Chocolate Tour. This one is part of the seasonal collection that is departing soon. Friday was the first time I tried it and it was gorgeous. If you can get there in the next few weeks, I really recommend it.
- One of the most interesting chocolate bars I’ve had in a long time: Mission Chocolate’s Three Theos bar, a chocolate bar (made, as usual, with the seeds of theobroma cacao) then topped with dried theobroma grandiflora (cupuaçu) fruit and the caramelised seeds of theobroma bicolor. Both of these are relatives of cacao that grow in Brazil alongside cacao. The bar smelt of marijuana which was quite unsettling, but the sharpness of the dried fruit and the crunch of the seeds was really interesting. The quality of the actual chocolate was wonderful, too. (Photo from their website.)
Next week I’ll be writing to you from San Francisco!