dark chocolate - Travels for Taste

For any one with a sweet tooth going to a fashion show and watching models walk around in clothes made with chocolate is a pure test of resilience, thankfully I sampled almost all of the varied offering by master chocolatiers after to not feel deprived 😉

During National Chocolate Week – Salon du Chocolat‘s world famous fashion show came to London for the first time.On Friday the 18th of October Chocolate Couture was its best with various world-renowned chocolatiers teaming up with designers and artists to present their creations live on the catwalk at the VIP Gala Evening.The venue was National Hall, Olympia ,at Kensington in London and before we (Nisha of My Kitchen Antics and Suchi of Kitchen Karma) went there we had quite enjoyed dressing up and doing our own hair and make up , after all ”girls just wanna have fun”, huh?

The weekend saw many events unfold like demonstrations, talks, interactive workshops from acclaimed chocolatiers and chefs including master patissier Eric Lanlard in action, Great British Bake Off winner John Whaite and leading pastry chefs from Hakkasan and Le Manoir aux quat’saisons.

Lindt’s strapless chocolate dress weighed a whooping 50 kg and was made with chocolate and chilli.Called the “Eternal Diamond” it was designed by Graduate Fashion Week 2013 winner Lauren Smith:

My favourite though was this elegant and beautiful creation by Mark Tilling of Squires Kitchen.

Artisan du Chocolat’s ‘Alaya’ dress made by Sabina Motasem with white, caramel and dark chocolate, embellished with chocolate pearls and sugar diamonds and accessorised with a Kelly Spence tulle veil trimmed with intricate chocolate lace.

Fruitful Blooms who specialise in bespoke artistic chocolate creations created a chocolate bikini with matching cover up with British designer swimwear brand, Bikini Fling.

French patissier and chocolatier Les Sucreries de Mélodie’s sweet creation was adorned with cupcakes, macarons and edible brooches.

The chocolate bath had tell tale signs that some one had taken a dip in it and as I found out later ,sure enough earlier on in the evening a model had done exactly that!

Hotel Chocolat’s life size chocolate cocoa tree:

Some of the best chocolate companies from the UK and abroad such as Artisan du Chocolat, Paul a Young, Rococo, Hotel Chocolat, Paul Wayne Gregory, Marc Demarquette, Divine, Prestat, Lindt, Valrhona, Pralus and Bonnat offered tastings to lucky visitors.

Iain Burnett – The Highland chocolatiers intricately decorated designs made for a very pretty mixed box, apt for a very special gift idea indeed!

ChocoMe’s brilliant combinations and ever so tempting display of goodies had me drooling.

Comptoir du Cacao’s delicious offering are very tastefully packaged in very artistic packs, I love the brunette in a red scarf cycling past the Eiffel Tower and oh yes I tried ALL the yummy flavours 🙂

Am so glad I was sent a free entry ticket for the Chocolate Week and choose to go see the spectacular Fashion Show, was so much fun!

For spectacular photos of the fashion show, visit The Salts article here and The Metro’s beautiful photo gallery here

Last week Thursday I was invited to the one day launch event for Panasonic’s new bean to cup Espresso Machine. It was a very cold and rainy day and I was mighty glad that this event called the Panasonic House of Coffee was at a pop-up cafe in a place ”The Caves” – just what I needed – cradle a hot cup of coffee in a cosy corner inside a cave. Besides it was near Farringdon station which is a very quaint place.

As I entered ”The Caves”, thankful that it kept the nasty, persistent wind away, I was pleasantly greeted by a wall with the most stunning Coffee Art by artist Cosmo Sarson. His work a nod to heyday of the disco and club scene of the ’70s. Sarson has worked in many big productions including Pirates of The Caribbean.

I really would have liked to go in the evening and try some of the amazing coffee cocktails on the menu by Sam Pager – Steavenson – The Rum Runner but had to make do with cakes and coffee since I had another cocktail event to get to in the evening *grins*I’d say I choose the wrong week to abstain from alcohol, only I can pull off such a stunt during the London Cocktail week *sigh*(Would have loved to try the Mean Bean – Cardamom infused vodka with Araku Coffee liqueur, fresh raspberries, and espresso coffee – Cardamom is so Indian and I absolutely adore coffee liqueur … (also maybe the MADRUGADA – Blanco Tequila with dark chocolate, fresh mint, and espresso coffee – am a crazy fan of dark chocolate **sighh**)

There was D.J Cam Brott in the evening too, who would definitely have made this area of House of Coffee come alive with his Brazilian,Afro and Vintage tunes!

The coffee didn’t fail to impress nor did the sleek good looks of the new Espresso Machine – NC-ZA1.It’s dead easy to use and easier to clean as well, no complex function selection menu or fancy gizmo thingy happening – just good old honest coffee! This compact and smooth operator is guaranteed to satisfy self-styled baristas and coffee connoisseurs – says Panasonic.From the same extraction its possible to select a finer grind,add more or fewer shots and vary the milk ratio.

Do check out the unique features and read in detail about the Panasonic new Espresso Maker NC-ZA1 by visiting the official U.K website.

I had a latte and chatted up the lovely Poppy, a lifestyle blogger, why not err pop over to her blog at Poppy Loves.

Although, I am largely a tea person I do enjoy my occasional coffee, am going to have mine today in the lovely Limited Edition coffee cup with coffee art on it which I took home in my goody bag along with a pack of hand-roasted Union coffee beans too:)

Panasonic Coffee Maker angle GLASS (Copy)

Above Image Courtesy – Panasonic

Salon du Chocolat’s first Chocolate Fashion Show in London

House of Coffee – Panasonic Espresso Machine Launch event

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