Welcome to the Hotel Chocolat, (Hotel Chocolat)

Member Name: duskmaiden

Product:	Hotel Chocolat
Date:	03/12/06 (1195 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: lovely chocolate, wide range, good quality

Disadvantages: no gift wrapping service, not in every town

Warning this review will make you hungry!


Chocolate. It is one of life's little luxuries and a necessity to treat yourself if life is going well or as a comfort if everything is going wrong. I do not know about you but I am a bit of a chocolate snob. Cadburys is OK for an everyday chocolate fix but I do like something better, something richer and more flavourful. Beforehand I would rely on Thorntons but I have found a shop called Hotel Chocolat who really know their chocolate.

Hotel Chocolat are the driving force behind the highly successful Chocolate Tasting Club, the service where you get a box of delicacies and sometimes unusual chocolate. They have had a mail order business for a while now but in 2004 they set out to fond a chain of retail outlets. They presently have 22 outlets mostly in the Midland and south of England. Their stores either seem to be in posh places such as Kensington and Knightsbridge or touristy places such as Canterbury as well as being in big shopping malls such as Bluewater. One great thing about Hotel Chocolat is that all the chocolate they use is Fairtrade.

I visited the Canterbury branch on a weekend visit to that lovely city. I was curious about the shop and was also on a mission to get a gift for my sister who love good quality dark chocolate with a high cocoa percentage.

My first impressions of the shop was very good. It seemed larger than most Thorntons shops with a much larger range of goodies. It was different to Thorntons and other little chocolate shops as there were no glass cases with individual chocolates sitting there shouting eat me eat me. This could be perhaps a downside as you could not get your own selection of chocolates or just get a chocolate or two. Instead it was quite a logical layout with similar types of chocolate or similar themed merchandise grouped together on medium high shelves round the outside of the shop and free standing in the centre. It had a nice atmosphere. Luxurious without being snobby. You did not feel intimidated or you had no right to be in the shop unlike some smaller exclusive chocolate shops.

I wandered around and was in heaven. The selection of merchandise is wonderful. There really is something for everyone of all ages and all budgets (unless you are really skint and tight. I that is the case go to Woolworths) as long as you love the brown creamy stuff. Working my way around the store looking for that gift I had to make a big decision as I could have easily bought half the store. In one corner there were bags full of real hot chocolate. These were located next to the purist range of chocolates. These are bars of chocolate with high cocoa percentages. There is even one with 100 % cocoa for those who love a real chocolate hit. Next to the dark stuff were boxes of chocolate batons for about 36. I was deliberating about getting the dark version of this as I knew my sister really liked the dark batons when she tried one form my Chocolate teasing box of chocolates. There were also raisins and other fruit soaked in alcohol and covered in rich chocolate. Round the corner were the lovely oval boxes of chocolates each with different selections. These cost £14 and looked superb.

For those who on a tighter budget or just want a little treat there was good selection of slab of chocolate and bags of chocolates containing four or six little treats. These are laid out so you can find the type of chocolate you want and cost £2.50 (or £2 each if you buy three of them). I treated myself to an Ebony and orange dark slab which consisted of 72 % cocoa ( I may share my thoughts on this little treat in another review) I also selected a cookies and cream white chocolate slab for Duskman and a honey and milk chocolate slab for Duskman's dad as it is his birthday soon. They have larger versions of these slabs for those who find the smaller size is not enough. These giant slabs are about the size of an A4 piece of paper and are bout £10. Round I went inspecting luscious chocolates. They had a nice range of Christmas themed treats including a cute Teddy bear with chocolate and a chocolate Advent Calendar. The Advent Calendar is at £6.25 a lot dearer than your bog standard Advent Calendar but the chocolate is not usually not that nice. I would really love having a Hotel Chocolat one and they should do a grown up one with really nice little surprises. I would pay up to about £10 for one.

There were some really nice gift sets which would make a nice present. One in particular was a dipping set with marshmallows and different pots of chocolate. This would make a wonderful little engagement or birthday present for the foodie in your life. Hotel Chocolat has a range of chocolate theme books and even a chocolate scented perfume at £44 for the dieting chcocoholic in your life.

Hotel Chocolat also has a range of diabetic chocolates that I did not really notice and label all vegetarian and vegan (mostly the really dark stuff which does nor have milk in it) very clearly.

I ended up getting my sister a 170 gram box of dark chocolates for a seriously dark chocolate fix which cost me £7.99. |it is an understated box but the chocolates inside look very tempting.

I took my purchases to the cash desk. Although the shop was fairly bust I did not have to queue to get served. The service was polite and friendly. The one downside in a place like this was that they did not offer a wrapping service. I would have quite happily paid a couple of pounds to get my box of chocolates looking that little bit more special. I am surprised they have not identified this service as surely most of their sales will be for gifts.

Hotel Chocolat is the place for me when I need an extra special chocolate fix or need a gif for someone special in my life. The selection is large enough really to tempt me. In a way it is too large as I spent half my time deciding what to choose,.

For those not near a shop Hotel Chocolat provides an online and mail order service
www.hotelchocolat.co.uk

Summary: luxury chocolate shop