Hotel Chocolat - Feeding my chocolate addiction (Hotel Chocolat)

Member Name: KLockwood75

Product:	Hotel Chocolat
Date:	04/03/09 (126 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Delicious chocolate, wide range, lots of flavours

Disadvantages: Slightly on the expensive size, bad for the diet!

I'll start with a confession - I am a chocoholic and I am proud of it.

I 'discovered' Hotel Chocolat a couple of years ago when Santa put a few small things from that shop in my Christmas stocking (and yes, I do still believe in Santa!) They tasted delicious, and from then on, I was hooked. I think the chocolate tastes great and the range of products that they offer is incredible. Their catalogue dropped through my letterbox last week and I seriously wouldn't be able to choose what to buy - luckily I have a fantastic husband who knows how much I love it and is prepared to feed my chocolate addiction.

So, what are my favourites? I've had the deluxe Advent Calendar for the last couple of years and if you're looking for an indulgent pre-Christmas treat, I would definitely recommend that. It has dark chocolate, milk chocolate flavoured with orange and white chocolate with strawberries, all cut into intricate Christmas shapes such as angels, Christmas trees and presents.

And, with Easter approaching, I can definitely recommend the eggs. The one I had last year was the 'Your Eggscellency Extra Thick Easter Egg' and I can honestly say it is the best Easter egg I've ever had (and this is with my husband buying me eggs from Godiva and Leonidas in the past). One half is made from 40% milk chocolate and the other half is 74% dark chocolate. Inside are 10 absolutely delicious alcoholic truffle eggs filled with pink champagne, rum & raisin, orange liqueur, kir royal and whisky. At £20 it isn't a cheap option for a egg, but if you want to spoil somebody special, then it is a lovely gift.

The other thing that I love is their signature chocolate slabs. These are big thick slabs of chocolate - some are studded with fruits, nuts or sweets, some are swirls of different types of chocolate and all look amazing. You can also buy them in boxed mini versions, but it's the giant ones that appeal to my desire to eat as much chocolate as possible. My favourite is the Triple Chocolate Wham Bam, an enticing mixture of milk chocolate, caramel chocolate and a small amount of white chocolate. The giant slabs are £11.75 and the mini slabs are £3.75.

And if you don't want to eat chocolate, why not drink it instead - they do a fantastic range of drinking chocolates. My favourites are the Caramel Kiss Kiss and the Winter Liquid Chocolat which is spiced with cinnamon and praline - perfect for wrapping your hands round a steaming mug of it when you come in from the cold. The jars of hot chocolate are priced at £7.00.

They do a lot of selection boxes as well which would make fantastic gifts - I've got my eye on the Chocolatier's Table which contains 65 individual chocolates, designed to give you a taste of a wide variety of different chocolates.... Should keep me going for a few nights in front of the telly or writing reviews on here anyway! If you're tempted, it costs £40.00.

The Hotel Chocolat website is at www.hotelchocolat.co.uk and is really well set out. You can browse for chocolates designed for a specific occasion (Easter and Mother's Day at the moment), by the person you are buying for (man, woman, child etc), or by the type of chocolate you want to buy. Delivery times are 3-5 working days and delivery costs £3.95 for one item, or £4.95 for two or more items. One recommendation if you are ordering online, Quidco offer 13% cashback at the moment so it's definitely worth going through them. And, if you don't want to buy online, go and visit one of their stores. They seem to be opening more all the time around the UK so hopefully there will be one where you are - only problem is that the chocolate is even more tempting in store.

Overall, I love Hotel Chocolat. It's bad for my diet, and it's not great for my bank balance either as it's definitely not cheap, but it tastes great and I am really looking forward to trying even more of it in the future. I think it's the type of chocolate you'd love to receive as a gift, or treat yourself to on an occasional basis, rather than a chocolate for everyday but sometimes you just need something that is a little bit special. So, have I tempted you yet?

Summary: My current favourite chocolate store - go on, give it a try