Only the Finest Decadence from Van Houten Chocolates

Chocolates. I’ve always loved them ever since I was a little kid. I mean, who didn’t enjoy the sweet flavors of chocolates when they were children? Back then, I only knew how to chomp them all up ’til my nanay would tell me I’ve had enough. It was after over 2 decades when I learned how to enjoy chocolates the "right" way. And a few weeks ago, at Society Lounge in Makati, Van Houten reminded me of how I can truly savour the decadent goodness only quality chocolates can offer.

Van Houten has been around for 180 years. I remember having my first taste of it when a family friend who came from the US brought us a canister of their chocolates back when I was in my teens. I can still recall thinking that they were indeed imported, high quality ones because I haven’t tasted anything that good from any loot my nanay brought home whenever she goes on her bi-monthly sweets shopping for us.

Van Houten is widely available here in the Philippines and they now offer varying flavor combinations that would surely please the cocoaphile in you.

Cocoaphilia, as Van Houten defines it, is the genuine passion for all things chocolate. Cocoaphiles are true blue chocolate lovers who can easily discern which ones are of inferior quality and which chocolates are delightfully made from the finest cocoa and other ingredients. As much as I’d love to say I am a 100% cocoaphile, I’m still getting there. 🙂

I so LOVE this box. But, I recycled it for Ken’s truffles that we raffled off at our media partner’s event.

In the past 8 years, I’ve learned that to truly enjoy chocolates, you need to let it linger. You need to let it tease you into complete indulgence. And during the Van Houten introduction to Cocoaphilia, we were enlightened on how to do just that.

With the help of Lori Baltazar of Dessert Comes First (one of my favorite food blogs!), I was again evoked to completely enjoy chocolates the right way – by engaging all your 5 senses.

LOOK
Good chocolate should have a consistent color, texture and a natural-looking finish, free of air bubbles and blemishes.

As you can see from the photos on this post, Van Houten produces one of the finest chocolates you’ll ever find. The color and even how each bar is molded and how each nut or raisin is coated with their high quality chocolate show they know how chocolates should be handled.

SMELL
Savoring chocolate begins the moment you unwrap it and take in its deep aroma of fresh cocoa.

Whenever I’m alone with an exquisite bar of chocolates, what I do is I open the packaging carefully then I rub my thumb on the choco bar. And as soon as I do that, I can smell the aroma of the cocoa and even some of the ingredients that came with that chocolate bar. I particularly love the smell of hazelnuts and almonds with cocoa.

TOUCH
Your sense of touch will tell you how smooth or how even a chocolate bar is. When we touch the chocolate, it should not melt immediately in your hands, this is an indication of how well it has been tempered and stored.

This is actually one of my true tests of the quality of the chocolate bar I’m about to enjoy – if it doesn’t melt easily in my hands.

LISTEN
What sound does it make when you break a piece off a chocolate bar? You would want to hear a nice snap. Higher quality chocolates have higher levels of cocoa butter, smaller particle size and are well tempered which will yield a crisp, clean snap.

Oh yes, Van Houten definitely passes this test. Plus, the pieces you snap off a bar of their chocolates are clean. So, if you only want to enjoy a small piece, that’s what you’d get.

TASTE
This is what matters most. Fresh chocolate has intense but refined flavors and subtle textures. Quality chocolate tends to have a long, pleasant aftertaste that lingers in your mouth. Allow the chocolate to rest on the tip of the tongue to savor its full flavor.

I’ve been doing this ever since my love for chocolates matured. I would place one small piece of it on my tongue and then I’ll press it to the roof of my mouth. Then, I just let it stay there, melting away to my utmost enjoyment. I can have a piece or 2 a day of Van Houten chocolates and the chocoholic in me will be completely satisfied.

What I love most about chocolates is it’s my favorite pick-me-up. Whenever I’m down or not in the mood to do anything, I settle into my bed and in just a few moments of chocolate goodness, the high it gives kicks me off to a brighter mood. 🙂

I’ve been adventurous with chocolates lately. I’ve enjoyed it with a glass of wine, brandy and rum. Chocolates kept me from getting a lame hangover the next day. 😀 And I bet I’d have more chocolaty dishes soon ‘cause of our soon-to-be-chef in the family. 😉

And, of course, who wouldn’t enjoy chocolates with coffee?! This is exactly what we experienced when Chef Patrice Freuslon of the Society Lounge and Lori guided us to a coffee and chocolate pairing like no other.

They paused just for this photo, taken by Ken. How cute! 🙂

First was a shot of ristretto paired with Van Houten’s Semi-sweet Chocolate with Whole Roasted Almonds and the plain Semi-Sweet variant. The flavors vividly lingered that I thought I wouldn’t be able to finish that small shot of espresso when I first tried it. But, I did. The nuttiness and bitter-sweet flavors of the Van Houten chocolate tamed the boldness of the ristretto.

Next was a shot of caffè lungo. It was lighter, but more bitter than ristretto. So, pairing it with Van Houten’s Milk Chocolate with Whole Fruit and Nuts and a plain Milk Chocolate piece was perfect!

It was truly a learning experience for me. From the faces of everyone around me that day, I knew they were all glad to have been there to have a taste of these pairings as well.

Aside from all the chocolates and coffee we were served, we also got to taste of some specially prepared dishes by Chef Patrice using Van Houten chocolates:

Enchilada Chocolate Sauce with Tacos

Chicken Mole Negro
(Pardon the photo… it was my first time to use my new DSLR camera.
Obviously, I was having trouble with focusing 😀 )

The Chocolaty cake

And here are some Society Lounge menu items that were slightly edited for the event:

Shrimps Ceviche

Cauliflower Soup Truffle Oil and Mozzarella Sesame Crispy in the background

We were also served their Basil Chicken Spring Roll, Beef Burritos Avocados Dip and Mushroom Vol Au Vent that we all LOVED! Yeah, the food was overflowing! 🙂

For desserts, we had their Red Fruit Express with Caramel Popcorn, Blueberry Cheesecake and Creme Brulee.

Here’s me with Chef Patrice who prepared all the mouth-watering dishes that warm, chocolaty afternoon.

He was very accommodating that he came to our table to ask us about what we think about all the chocolate-infused dishes he served and the coffee and chocolate pairings. 🙂

Thank you Van Houten for pleasing the chocolate lovers in me and Ken. To end this post, here are our reasons for loving chocolates…

Ken’s bitter-sweet response 😀

Oh, yeah… I love that chocolate high on a slow day. 🙂

To know more about Cocoaphilia and Van Houten chocolates, follow them on Facebook -(www.facebook.com/Cocoaphiliaphilippines).