Chocolates and waffles generally flirt with each other. There is some caressing at best with chocolate happy to be a topping as a sauce on the waffle or in the form of a chocolate ice cream in varying stages of blah. But a full time commitment? Rare. But like anything done with commitment, when chocolate decides to commit itself to the waffle, the result is magical. Like any committed relationship, not everything is sweet. Not everything is bitter, but the magic is in the ability to appreciate both. Throw in friends like coffee and banana once in a while, we have a winner!

Marriages more often than not, need a pastor. In this case, there were two. Nitin Chordia from Cocotrait and Christoph from Wafobel together decided to marry these two things. Both are extremely fond of their respective kids, Nitin a chocolate stalwart and Christoph, the father of Wafobel, decided to the honours themselves!

Rich pure in house Chocolate mixed with the Belgian waffle batter should make any dessert fan go weak on the knees. But if that gives you thoughts of having a super sweet waffle, think again. The batter is folded with chocolate so there is chocolate everywhere. Inside, outside, on the crust, in your mouth; simply everywhere. Then there is more. Friends add spice to life and in the waffle world, friends like peanut butter and banana join in the Peanut Choco Waffle to create a nice variation. When they wanted to be by themselves, they were doing the Classic Fudge, a beautiful classic love story. Thick fudge gives you memories with bitter sweetness. And they get a little creative with the Chip n Nib waffle, where there is both the chocolate chips and the cocoa nibs in the waffle. I guess this happens when the chocolate decides to emphasise its role in the relationship a little more. No complaints.

Bring two wonderful things together is a challenge. You can bring wonderful ingredients, but bringing a DISH, that too a tried tested and loved one like waffle with an INGREDIENT, again a tried tested and loved (OK loved is an understatement for chocolate), is not easy, but these two have pulled it off. I believe there has been a lot of preparation to make sure this works. After all it is the bringing together of two feisty ones! Oh this is an inter-country marriage too. The Belgian Waffle with the Indian Chocolate!

The festival is on till the end May. The fact that besides bringing joy to the tongue, it is also a joy to the heart. Beyond the ‘heart’ in a relationship, I’m talking about the heart that pumps blood. With no butter, no cream and the fat coming purely from cocoa butter, this is healthy. Now that is a winning combination! 

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Chocolates and waffles generally flirt with each other. There is some caressing at best with chocolate happy to be a topping as a sauce on the waffle or in the form of a chocolate ice cream in varying stages of blah. But a full time commitment? Rare. But like anything done with commitment, when chocolate decides to commit itself to the waffle, the result is magical. Like any committed relationship, not everything is sweet. Not everything is bitter, but the magic is in the ability to appreciate both. Throw in friends like coffee and banana once in a while, we have a winner!

Marriages more often than not, need a pastor. In this case, there were two. Nitin Chordia from Cocotrait and Christoph from Wafobel together decided to marry these two things. Both are extremely fond of their respective kids, Nitin a chocolate stalwart and Christoph, the father of Wafobel, decided to the honours themselves!

Rich pure in house Chocolate mixed with the Belgian waffle batter should make any dessert fan go weak on the knees. But if that gives you thoughts of having a super sweet waffle, think again. The batter is folded with chocolate so there is chocolate everywhere. Inside, outside, on the crust, in your mouth; simply everywhere. Then there is more. Friends add spice to life and in the waffle world, friends like peanut butter and banana join in the Peanut Choco Waffle to create a nice variation. When they wanted to be by themselves, they were doing the Classic Fudge, a beautiful classic love story. Thick fudge gives you memories with bitter sweetness. And they get a little creative with the Chip n Nib waffle, where there is both the chocolate chips and the cocoa nibs in the waffle. I guess this happens when the chocolate decides to emphasise its role in the relationship a little more. No complaints.

Bring two wonderful things together is a challenge. You can bring wonderful ingredients, but bringing a DISH, that too a tried tested and loved one like waffle with an INGREDIENT, again a tried tested and loved (OK loved is an understatement for chocolate), is not easy, but these two have pulled it off. I believe there has been a lot of preparation to make sure this works. After all it is the bringing together of two feisty ones! Oh this is an inter-country marriage too. The Belgian Waffle with the Indian Chocolate!

The festival is on till the end May. The fact that besides bringing joy to the tongue, it is also a joy to the heart. Beyond the ‘heart’ in a relationship, I’m talking about the heart that pumps blood. With no butter, no cream and the fat coming purely from cocoa butter, this is healthy. Now that is a winning combination! 

via Blogger http://ift.tt/2p3HhaF

Chocolates and waffles generally flirt with each other. There is some caressing at best with chocolate happy to be a topping as a sauce on the waffle or in the form of a chocolate ice cream in varying stages of blah. But a full time commitment? Rare. But like anything done with commitment, when chocolate decides to commit itself to the waffle, the result is magical. Like any committed relationship, not everything is sweet. Not everything is bitter, but the magic is in the ability to appreciate both. Throw in friends like coffee and banana once in a while, we have a winner!

Marriages more often than not, need a pastor. In this case, there were two. Nitin Chordia from Cocotrait and Christoph from Wafobel together decided to marry these two things. Both are extremely fond of their respective kids, Nitin a chocolate stalwart and Christoph, the father of Wafobel, decided to the honours themselves!

Rich pure in house Chocolate mixed with the Belgian waffle batter should make any dessert fan go weak on the knees. But if that gives you thoughts of having a super sweet waffle, think again. The batter is folded with chocolate so there is chocolate everywhere. Inside, outside, on the crust, in your mouth; simply everywhere. Then there is more. Friends add spice to life and in the waffle world, friends like peanut butter and banana join in the Peanut Choco Waffle to create a nice variation. When they wanted to be by themselves, they were doing the Classic Fudge, a beautiful classic love story. Thick fudge gives you memories with bitter sweetness. And they get a little creative with the Chip n Nib waffle, where there is both the chocolate chips and the cocoa nibs in the waffle. I guess this happens when the chocolate decides to emphasise its role in the relationship a little more. No complaints.

Bring two wonderful things together is a challenge. You can bring wonderful ingredients, but bringing a DISH, that too a tried tested and loved one like waffle with an INGREDIENT, again a tried tested and loved (OK loved is an understatement for chocolate), is not easy, but these two have pulled it off. I believe there has been a lot of preparation to make sure this works. After all it is the bringing together of two feisty ones! Oh this is an inter-country marriage too. The Belgian Waffle with the Indian Chocolate!

The festival is on till the end May. The fact that besides bringing joy to the tongue, it is also a joy to the heart. Beyond the ‘heart’ in a relationship, I’m talking about the heart that pumps blood. With no butter, no cream and the fat coming purely from cocoa butter, this is healthy. Now that is a winning combination! 

via Blogger http://ift.tt/2p3HhaF

Chocolates. Ah. The word brings so much comfort and pain at the same time. Like most things, the mind knows what it has been taught and chocolates are no different. The first time my patient told me that she was on an overdose of chocolates because she read that it was great for health, my response was, "What chocolates are you eating?" Foreign chocolates are an aspiration and those who travel will tell you that the same brand of chocolate tastes different abroad. In this scenario, India is fighting back with home grown bean-to-bar chocolates and handmade chocolates are slowly catching the fancy of those who want more than sugary, milky, vegetable fat laden chocolates.

Amidst this, an Indian brand decided to take things on in a bigger way. A much bigger way. Factory made chocolates, but treating every chocolate bean the way it is meant to be treated. Curated by chocolatiers. Some big names from around the world. From cocoa beans from around the world. 'What's Indian in this?', you may ask. Let us put some perspective to our "foreign chocolates." Most of the cocoa is grown in the equatorial region. The best chocolates are supposed to be from Europe. The Swiss, the Belgian and the likes. Europe is very far from the Equator, isn't it? Now, the Europeans found out that when cocoa beans are transported with their husk on, they retain their properties for a very long time. So while they are made in Europe, the beans come from Africa and South America! Now those beans are coming to India! At Fabelle!

With factory made chocolates, for the most of us who are non-connoisseurs, it is very difficult to appreciate the quality of chocolates and comparisons are difficult. The Elements, which is a beautiful range, for example. With Acacia nectar representing water, a beautiful chilli representing fire and cinnamon representing wood, these chocolates are made to be among the best factory made in India. Again, very difficult for us to appreciate. How would you know if the chocolate is 72% Venezuelan vs a 68% Dominican? Difficult, right? Will it matter to you if your hot chocolate was made with hand made chocolates? But ITC has chefs! Some amazing ones! At ITC Grand Chola, the food has taken a upward jump over the last 2-3 years. And these guys can play with ingredients. Give them some amazing ones and they can create magic!

And this is where Fabelle clearly stands out from the Godivas and the Lindts of the world. The creations. Take some amazing chocolate which is difficult for us to appreciate and create something that makes us look up and say, "Hey, I like that." For example the almond and coriander tart. Yes, coriander. The one with the red dome in the photo. The almond was the accent here and the coriander stood out. Not overpowering, but not just kissing your throat either. It is all over your tongue without overpowering your palette. This for me, is where Fabelle will stand out in it's quest for global appeal. Not just great chocolates, but great things to do with those great chocolates. And if you want Masterchef type dessert, look no further. Flowers open on your table and other smart things happen!

The price? Rs. 575 all inclusive for most of the plated dessert, Rs. 400 for five pieces of Elements and Rs. 675 ai for about 20 pieces of some amazing Dark Chocolate Ganache that is so melt in your mouth. Oh and if you buy the ganache, Fabelle is not taking any chances with the temperature, so they will pack with an ice pack good enough to keep the ganache in place for a few hours of Chennai heat!

Chennai now has beautiful exclusively chocolate dessert bar! Yay!

Fabelle Chocolates is now open at ITC Grand Chola and soon will be present in luxury malls too!

Chocolate Chicken?

Lamb Rack with Chocolate Sauce?

Chilli Chocolate soup!

When anything and everything on the special menu has chocolate in it, the invite from Crowne Plaza was rather intriguing. One, chocolate is a very tricky ingredient to use in a savoury dish and it takes a huge effort (and confidence) from the chef to pull it off! Two, doing it in India, where there is a real chance that people will arrive at different times and you will have to do appetisers and mains simultaneously takes a certain level of mental preparation!

And that obviously heightens my intrigue.

Special menu or not, the Focaccia with Garlic drenched in oil with a Chutney side is a signature at OTR! And gladly that was served first!!! Being four of us, we could taste a variety of dishes as we all decided to order different options from the menu. Oh yes, the menu, despite being a chocolaty one had four options for appetisers and mains. This chef really has guts! The right word would have been balls, but.......

A yummy Roasted Pumpkin and Chilli Chocolate Soup set the tone for the evening. Our friends enjoyed some Whiskey as this was a Whiskey pairing event besides the chocolates. We had less liver damaging drinks, the one with a chocolate hint was a super hit!

Back to the soup. Served in tiny cup, this was the chocolate version of the Mushroom Cappuccino. Yum!

Appetisers were killer! The crab with chocolate was a real stunner, both visually and gastronomically! While sea salt and chocolates are known to be a match made in heaven, the sea freshness with the raw hand made chocolates seems not too far behind. Chocolates can complement everything, I guess. The Grilled Asparagus with White Chocolate and the Polenta with Creamy Chocolate sauce was also great. Each of us got one which we shared!

And then things went slightly wrong. I don't know if it was because the chef had to keep sending appetisers to other tables while mains were coming to us, the mains simply did not live up to the standards set by the appetisers. The lamb and chicken weren't exciting enough. However there was one dish that stung all of us hard! The Single Origin Dark Chocolate Ravioli! Whoa my God! It was simply fantabulous. The ravioli was just perfect, slightly large in a good way and had flavours that were contrasting in a great way! That was the only main course that lived up to the hype and we requested an extra portion of it!

Dessert was pretty good. The Chocolate with Raspberry was a great end to a mediocre main course!

The evening itself was exciting. The founder of Earth Loaf chocolate is there to share his passion and details about chocolate making and you can learn a thing or two about using palm sugar for chocolates!!! The menu is available till the end of the week ending Jun 25th and is priced at Rs. 2999 plus taxes. 

I love the tagline, Luxury is Personal!!!! It summarises the definition of luxury in a single line! What is luxury to me maybe a passé to you and vice versa! Of course there will be many for whom luxury is similar! Yesterday, it was the love of chocolates! The story is amazing - Our hot shot friend makes to a trip to Belgium and brings back premium Marcolini chocolates, gives it to the executive chef at Park Hyatt and he whips up a meal entirely of chocolates. And invites us to join the party!!!

Chennai is growing as a food destination and experiments like this will go a long way in our evolving city. Perfuming pairing at Taj, Masters of Food and Wine by Park Hyatt were all glowing examples of how hotels in Chennai were moving away from their comfort zone to experiment with food. While the demand for such is still small, so what? There is a demand, however small and the foodie in me is ecstatic that I don't have to go abroad to experience these once in a while! Yes, while on the topic, I was away for sometime, so I hope my writing skills have not taken a beating. Let's find out! I also used this to try out a little foodie video. I hope that's okay!!! Do not attempt to view the video in less than 720p resolution!!!!

So, the evening! A 5 course meal crafted with chocolates and the chef took the safest option for the amuse-bouche! The portion was much more than amuse, so I am going to call this the first course. A safe chocolate cheese pairing. Only this time, the cheese was blue! With a nice crusty chocolate filled with blue cheese, no ingredient overpowering the other, he nailed it! Yes, I loved it! The second course arrived in style! A beautifully plated bitter chocolate brittle, with pumpernickel crust, goat cheese and beetroot parfait. This was a miss! Ingredients overpowered each other and the end result was too sweet for my liking. That, however doesn't mean, I didn't finish the dish!

The third course was a shocker of a dish! Shocker in a nice way! We are given a plate of chocolate coloured pasta! Wow! OK, it was a tagliatelle. And instead of parmesan cheese, chef went around the table shaving our premium chocolate all over. Half way through the pasta, he grated more and left us wanting for more. My only temptation to not ask for more was the fact that there were two more courses to come! The palate cleaner was a nice raspberry sorbet with shaved chocolates that was wiped off! But at this time, I must make a special mention of the dark chocolate espresso crafted by the beverage manager, Abhishek. Different people like coffee differently and this is how I love my coffee!!!!

The main course was the amazing chicken with chocolates! There was a leg terrine and a blanquette with chocolate sauce poured over. It was excellent as no ingredient over powered anything else and the balance of the flavours were spot on. Spot on from a foodie's perspective! Slurp! Any guesses what was for dessert? A mini 5 course chocolate dessert that is going to need some explanation, so, I am not going to explain! Common, I am coming back after a break, so I can use the luxury!!! OK, one word explanation - excellent.

What a wonderful welcome to India and a great meal to start writing again. As for the break, keep checking this space for some excellent food from around the world, packaged into one blog post at a time! Next post will be much sooner. I promise!

Oh yeah. I know creating food is art, but the chefs took the words literally and painted a couple of pictures with chocolates. Chocolate paintings!!!

More about Park Hyatt's Luxurious offerings at www.myluxlist.hyatt.com