It’s a change of venue for the Chocolate Unwrapped show this year. Last year it was at the Mayfair Hotel, this year it moved to the rather more interesting Vinopolis. The new venue though did not work as well for the lectures. Paul A Young‘s talks for example were averaging about 90 attendees instead of the expected 30. Fortunately he warned us about the over attendance and we got in early enough to get front row seats. His talk was suitably entertaining, I was especially amused by the story that his mother still buys him Quality Street for Christmas.
The Chocolate Art work was fun, especially the gorilla. Thorntons Eiffel Tower was hideous though.
There were lots of new stands this year. Matcha Chocolat with their tea and chocolate combinations were especially interesting. All the chocolates and the brownie we had from Paul A Young were really good, I even found his new Marmite chocolate unoffensive. I loved William Curley’s Cinnamon Milk Chocolate.
There were some novelties too. Like Chocri, who let you play chocolatier, choosing toppings and having your name on the bar and the Lebanese company Patchi, who seemed to focus on very ornate packaging for special occasions like weddings, baby showers and embassy do’s – kinda OTT Ferrier Roche!. Thorntons were there too this year, showing yet again just how big a gap there is between the mass market chocolatiers and the artisan chocolatiers.
This event is definately in the diary again for next year.
