Rococo

We were given a selection of 6 chocolates, each placed on a paper square, to try. Tea was served in delicate porcelain cups, exquisitely fresh and delicate.

Chantal Coady is the owner of Rococo. Her accountant sat opposite us.

“I’ve never tried the chocolate” he said “so I thought it was about time”.

Coady wanted to avoid the cream filled truffle end of the market and only sell sophisticated dark chocolate with exotic flavours.

Her accountant admitted that Coady first started she soon realised that to make money she’d have to compromise. Personally I love cream filled truffles and don’t really like dark chocolate. I’m not a chocolate snob. 

The first chocolate I tried was white peony flavoured with Bitter milk and silver flakes.

“Is it best in the morning?” I quipped.

Nobody laughed. Peonies prefer morning sunlight in a garden. I guess the joke was a little too niche.

The next was Ivoire ganache/Griotte (sour cherry). I love sour flavours. My favourite was the Griotte jelly/Manjari and raspberry ganache sour chocolate. Extraordinary.

There was also a silvered Jasmine Green tea/Caraibe ganache. You got a pleasant hint of metallic taste on the tip of your teeth. Another chocolate, grapefruit jelly/Ivoire ganache had gold in it. Gold or ‘Aurum’ is a homeopathic remedy for depression. I’ve tried it. It is like homeopathic ecstacy. I think it is good for your health to eat a little precious metal.

At the end I tried the Irish coffee-Ivoire ganache with whisky flavouring. “A good choice for the end” declared the French chocolatier Laurent Couchaux.

I don’t know why though, perhaps it was my paranoia, but I felt uncomfortable there at Rococo, surrounded by South Ken types sipping celebratory champagne.

As I left with my daughter, I said this. 

“Well der” she spat. “You aren’t posh enough for them”