Quality Chocolate in Bangkok

[rickudon]

I don't think Cadbury's manufacture chocolate in Thailand. but may have a sales office. The last Cadbury's bar i bought here was made in Malaysia. And, as said, not the same as British Cadbury's chocolate. They use a different recipe with possibly more sugar and different fat formulation, doesn't have that typical melt in the mouth feel.

[fordguy61mi]

16 hours ago, blackcab said:

 

That place sold me some nasty tasting chocolates.

Okay, good to know. I was just trying to help the guy out because I saw that place. Maybe he will steer clear of it now.

[tartempion]

I am lucky to live 10 kms from Corne Toison D'Or Belgian chocolate factory.
They have a factory shop where they sell their chocolates (amongst other offerings) in 1 kg boxes, buy 2 get 3. I stay 5 months in Thailand and bring 3kgs each time, have domestic connection with in 4h and 1h drive home. Chocolades in perfect condition.
Takes me 2 months to eat all of them.
Duc de Praslin is probably the best made in Thailand, I understanding they import ingredients from Belgium.

[honu]

I write a blog about tea but did just review a Vietnamese specialty chocolate that I bought in Bangkok, from Maison Jean Philippe bakery in the Thong-Lo Commons:

 

http://teaintheancientworld.blogspot.com/2017/01/reviewng-marou-vietnamese-bean-to-bar.html

 

Of course I'll still ramble on here about chocolate, starting with the price, 250 baht (about $8 US) for a bar.  Oddly that's on the low side for this level of chocolate in the US, where the bars tend to cost $10.  It's a bit much.  It's really not the same thing as even Lindt dark chocolate though, processed from locally sourced cacao beans, made in smaller batches using slightly different methods, etc.  Then again it helps to be obsessed with chocolate to really appreciate the differences, and I'm not.

 

An online contact is a chocolate enthusiast / blogger / chef (she makes chocolate candies, in Canada), and she claims it's the real thing, good even as the general category goes.  There must be a middle ground, some of the versions mentioned here must fall in between Lindt and this in terms of quality and price.  This review goes into trying to taste all the most subtle level of differences, and being a tea blogger that's sort of familiar territory, so I did get a little past "tastes like chocolate."  But I can't really defend the category as worth the expense, and I won't be buying very many more $8 / 250 baht chocolate bars.  It was cool to try.

 

In the research, mentioned in the post, it was interesting noting that Hershey's is 11% cacao input (with those running 70 to 80%).  That can be separated into cocoa--processed chocolate solids--and cocoa butter, in some listings, with processing steps varying.  Part of the whole idea of those types of specialty products is to not use industrial style processing to break initial ingredients into parts and then recombine them.  Those bars aren't milk chocolate, and Hershey's and other commercial bars from Europe and Australia would typically contain more milk than cacao, and maybe any number of other ingredients.  For a chocolate enthusiast / purist that's just awful but for the average person results might work out well that way.

[LALes]

I have yet to try a Vietnamese chocolate that was worth a dime.  I go over every year and try some stuff each time.

The last batch was from a new, specialty chocolate shop in Danang.  Nice, yuppie packaging but the chocolate ain't up

to snuff.   There are a few cheap Viet brands that aren''t even worth mentioning.  I'll stick with Royce for high end.

[honu]

As I mentioned I'm not a "chocolate enthusiast," and this was my first experience with trying that general type and level of chocolate, so I'm not really able to judge it against others of the same type.  But the brand does come highly recommended by people into that sort of thing.  I've had Royce chocolate, only soft versions as I remember, and it was good.

 

If someone likes milk chocolate then it's not the same thing they're looking for; they don't seem to add milk to any versions, so it's all dark chocolate, most at pretty strong cacao levels (Hershey's Special Dark is 45%, their bars start at %70).  

 

Here's that one chocolate blogger's take on some of it:

 

http://ultimatechocolateblog.blogspot.com/2016/09/marou-chocolate-tasting-line-up-lives.html

[Kinnock]

Godiva have opened some shops in Central Chidlom plus other Central stores in Bangkok.  Not cheap - but makes a nice gift.

[LALes]

230 baht for a chocolate drink at Godiva!    At least a Royce bar will last some time.