A premiere luxury hotel chain, Le Meridien in New Delhi, hosted a Chocolate Soiree on July 7 in a bid to celebrate everything and anything related to chocolate. They unveiled the unmistakably rich flavours of chocolate on the occasion of World Chocolate Day and as they like to name it, it was a tribute to ‘mankind’s greatest culinary creation’. 

The executive pastry chef at the hotel, chef Vivek Chauhan and his team curated a delectable melange of the most unique chocolates. The soiree was an excellent display of a palette of gob-smacking sweets with innovative shapes and saw multiple culinary experts being a part of it as well.

He said: “It is all teamwork. Everyone comes with their own ideas, we do trials, keep an eye on what’s happening around, what we can blend and finally present to our head chef who further enhances it.”  

It is a month’s hard work and creative exercise of brainstorming and experimenting with flavours. It took almost 6-8 days to complete the dishes on the menu. Chef Vivek Chauhan was awarded Pastry Chef of The Year in 2018 by Indian Culinary Forum. 

That’s not all, there was a special chocolate room designated for chocolates as it requires a certain temperature to be maintained under. Weather conditions also have an impact on the procedure of making such delicacies. Chef Vivek further said that it takes almost 7-8 days to carve the chocolates to get the desired shapes and give some time to settle on the moulds and acquire the structure thus planned.

While the exquisite tableau of chocolates is something we relish within a few minutes, it takes a lot of sweet perspiration and makes everything work out.

The award-winning pastry chef added that the world of chocolates was impacted due to Covid too. The availability of ingredients, the ones which are also imported from other countries, the entire business took a hit. Therefore, with this chocolate soiree, they have made a comeback.

The team at Le Meridien had moulded chocolate in intricate and unique shapes like – a chocolate chess board, a chocolate piano, high heels chocolate, cakes, flavoured macarons, chocolate lollipops and so much more. See for yourself, and sorry not sorry to make you drool.

There are a selection of photos below: