Chocolate festival

This past weekend we stopped by the chocolate festival held in the quad behind Royal Festival Hall. The weather started off being really nice and then rapidly deteriorated into rain, which was a bit of a problem since the stalls were all outside!

It was great to see the creativity exhibited at the festival, particularly by smaller independent producers who came from all around the country to share their special hot chocolate or chocolate-covered pretzels or lychee-rose truffles (a new favorite). The bigger players (Rococo, Hotel Chocolat, the new empire that is the Outsider Tart :)) were there as well, but I hope they won’t be offended if I say that this was a little less exciting, since I can try their stuff anytime.

Priya and I tasted various things. Some were not so good and some, like the chocolate swirl pretzels from the Big Yum (what a great name!) and the mint chocolate chip ice cream from Choc Star were fantastic new discoveries. There were so many Easter treats that actually reminded me that it is Easter this weekend. [I think I will be stopping by Konditor’s on my way to the airport on Thursday to stock up].

Typically, I think we gravitated more towards the home-y, cozy deliciousness rather than the high-fashion, fancy deliciousness.

Two things that made us a little less happy:

i. it was so crowded! Not one to deny people their chocolate, I would really want to see the stalls located in a wider, more open space that allows you to get closer to the demonstrations.

ii. more samples! Duh!

Here are some more pictures:

ps. There is a three-way tie in the ingredient of the month poll! Go vote!