Written By: Colin Hinshelwood/ CPA Media

A cart brimming with Thai-inspired chocolate bars, featuring unique flavours ranging from ‘Mango Chili’ and ‘Massaman Peanut Curry’ to ‘Thai Tea’ and ‘Khao Soi Curry’, has trundled into Meliá Chiang Mai in support of local sustainable farmers. The hotel has joined forces with award-winning boutique chocolatier Siamaya, a Chiang Mai company that makes bean-to-bar chocolate from locally sourced organic Thai cacao beans and ingredients and that pays farmers higher prices to ensure they receive a living wage. The chocolate-laden cart is permanently stationed at the entrance of the hotel’s all-day dining restaurant Laan Na Kitchen. Its eclectic selection of dark chocolate varieties range from ‘Hill Coffee and Pomelo’ and ‘Thai Bullet Chili’ to ‘Tom Kha Coconut Curry’. In addition to milk chocolate bars such as ‘Durian’, ‘Orange Cranberry and Almond’, ‘Banana’ and ‘Masala Chai’, the cart also offers ‘Pumpkin Pie’ white chocolate.

Touring a Chocolate Factory 

Travellers craving a chocolate fix in Vietnam’s “IT” destination Cam Ranh are in for a real treat. The Anam Cam Ranh has joined forces with boutique chocolate maker Delice, located in the nearby countryside, to offer an indulgent tour dedicated to everything Vietnamese chocolate. Suited to chocolate lovers of all ages, the chocolate factory tour involves learning about how high quality Vietnamese chocolate is made using traditional European chocolate making techniques. Although chocolate lovers won’t see Willy Wonka, they will witness, step by step, how the beans morph into chocolate.

Wat Chocolate? This Chocolate

Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor and Raffles Hotel Le Royal have partnered with Cambodia’s first high-end chocolatier, Wat Chocolate in Siem Reap, to provide guests with the finest artisanal products in their in-room Raffles Private Bar. Two of Wat Chocolate’s most popular items are featured, including Dark Chocolate With Sea Salt, which combines 70% dark chocolate with sea salt from Kampot, and Manguette, a dark Cambodian chocolate with dried candied mangoes from Ratanikiri province. Wat Chocolate is Cambodia’s first “bean-to-bar” chocolate maker, established in 2019 by a group of friends united by their love for chocolate and a vision to put Cambodian cacao on the global map. Based in Siem Reap, with a café and shop in Phnom Penh, the company produces vegan, gluten-free, single-origin dark chocolate using cacao sourced primarily from the Mondulkiri province in Cambodia’s northeast. This region, with its volcanic soil and tropical climate, provides ideal conditions for growing high-quality cacao, a crop that was virtually unknown in Cambodia until recent years.

There’s a Mousse in the Housse 

Reputed for lip-smacking delicacies, desserts and pastries, The Naga Kitchen in Krabi proudly presents one of its most popular concoctions, Chocolate Avocado Mousse with Roasted Hazelnuts and Honey-Coconut Flakes. It’s a sweet sensation designed to tantalize the palate and is the perfect non-alcohol digestif, served at this idyllic venue at Banyan Tree Krabi resort on Tubkaek Beach, an ideal spot for a sunset facing the sapphire waters of the Andaman Sea.

Bean-to-Bar Artisanal Chocolate 

Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi’s gourmet boutique L’Epicerie offers three locally produced chocolate bars from Alluvia, a second-generation family-run chocolatier that makes handcrafted bean-to-bar chocolates. Their cocoa trees are planted and maintained by local farmers and certified for sustainability by UTZ. L’Epicerie offers three varieties of chocolate bars: 40% milk chocolate, 80% dark chocolate, and milk chocolate “Mac Khen,” which is made with wild forest pepper, a popular spice that’s a must-have ingredient in the local cuisine in northwestern Vietnam. It tastes slightly spicy, followed by a brief pleasant bitterness, and ends with a long-lasting citrusy aftertaste.

Chocolate fit for Royalty in Tokyo

At The Palace Lounge, guests of ‘JAXURY at Palace Hotel Tokyo’ will enjoy a pairing of Suntory’s signature single-malt Yamazaki whisky with Aroma Nama Chocolate, made with rare Japanese Le Lectier pears, by Maison Cacao. The Aroma Nama Chocolate was selected as a parting gift for world leaders attending the G20 Summit in Osaka. Maison Cacao is one of over a dozen brands handpicked by the JAXURY Consortium, to showcase excellence in Japanese craftsmanship. The selection has been brought together into a limited-time stay package at the Forbes Five Star hotel that is designed to enhance the stay experience through sight, sound, and touch.

Spanish Churros and Spiced Chocolate 

Crowning INNSiDE by Meliá Bangkok Sukhumvit, sky-high LUZ Bangkok Tapas Bar prepares its signature dessert of homemade churros with spiced chocolate sauce daily. Spanish Chef de Cuisine, Madrid-born Juan Ignacio García Racionero, who has honed his craft in some of Spain’s top kitchens, and his team use a traditional churros recipe from Madrid, frying the churros in clean, hot oil to perfect their crisp. For the chocolate dipping sauce, cream and milk is infused with cloves, cardamom, nutmeg and a dash of cayenne powder, before mixed into the chocolate sauce. Named after the “Churra” sheep, as churros resemble their horns, churros were popularized by Spanish shepherds who used simple ingredients like flour, water, and oil to create a fried dough treat.

Chocolate For Breakfast 

Alma Resort Cam Ranh has introduced a “Chocolate Bakery Counter” at Alma Garden’s buffet breakfast replete with a chocolate fountain, chocolate muffins, chocolate croissant, chocolate waffles and chocolate pancakes. If chocolate for breakfast is not enough to keep chocolate aficionados satiated for the remainder of the day, Alma Food Court’s French Bakery offers chocolate cookies, chocolate opera cake, chocolate macarons and chocolate brownies. In addition to chocolate drinks and shakes available at Alma Lounge and selected bars, house-made chocolate ice-cream and desserts are also served at Alma’s F&B outlets.

Gelato “Drowned” in Warm Italian Liquor made with Gianduja Chocolate

The Hari Hong Kong’s authentic Italian ristorante serves “Affogato al Bicerin”, made up of double espresso, vanilla artisanal ice cream, bicerin chocolate liquor, whipped cream and white chocolate. A delectable twist on the classic affogato, which translates to “drowned” in Italian, the dessert is underscored by a scoop of creamy vanilla gelato. The gelato is drowned in a warm, rich shot of Bicerin, a traditional Italian liquor made with Gianduja chocolate, paying tribute to the city of Turin in the Piedmont region. Complemented by espresso coffee and topped with shaved white chocolate, the dessert rounds out a hearty meal at Lucciola.