Malaysia Chocolate Fair 2010
Held at Mid Valley Exhibition Centre between 8-10 January 2010 was some what of a disappointment. I was expecting much more. The first booth that I saw near the entrance was Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula. Yes I do mean the skincare products. I suppose this wasn't much of a surprise since Chocolate/Cocoa/Cocoa Butter is not only good for your heart & skin but also an amazing source of anti-oxidant.
The Russian Chocolate booth nearby was rather fascinating. Nothing there was for sale. Everything was for display purpose only. The chocolates on display were from famous manufacturers such as Babaevskiy, Krasniy Oktyabr, Krupskaya, Korkunov, Spartak and Slad&Ko. Russia is known for producing rich, dark chocolate. It has a very high cocoa content, twice that of western chocolate. The pictures printed on the packagings were elaborate. The period pictures depicted an element of granduer. I personally have never tried Russian chocolates before but if I were to buy one of those bars I definitely wouldn't rip it open like I do the Cadbury wrappers. Lol!
Grandjean Frères, a Swiss brand that started about 1992 but still relatively new in Malaysia was also at the fair. This handmade swiss chocolates are made by award-winning pâtissiers, Marcel and André Grandjean from Givisiez, Switzerland. Their most famous chocolate being the the Whisky Truffle (made with the finest Scottish whisky). The non-alcoholic kind was also available.
Another Swiss name, Lindt by Lindt & Sprüngli was a few booths away. A name that is probably recognisable here as you can get it at almost all major supermarkets though with limited variety. The distributors didn't bring in any luxury range or different varieties from those you usually see. It was just the Excellence bars, Lindor balls and the filled centre. Disappointing. (Come to think of it the luxury range they usually bring in for Christmas was notably missing in December. Strange.)
Here's one that you don't see often, Mozart chocolates. Last time I had these was ages ago in Vienna. The Mozart Kugeln & Herzen range are delicate dark chocolates with a hazelnut-cream and pistachio-marzipan filling. Mozart Liqueur-Pralinen range came in 3 different kinds of exquisite liqueur-cream in finest milk-chocolate - kirsch, cappucino & orange. I can't resist marzipan of any kind, so I bought a box from the Herzen range. The pistachio marzipan is fine and just melts *sigh*. This distributor also brought in another Swiss brand, Swiss Confisa. Again, not much variety. I bought a bar of the Extra Creamy Milk Chocolate. The packaging & taste reminds me of Lindt's Classic range.
I passed a local chocolate booth that had printed pictures on them. The quality though I will not comment on. These are quite the rage especially at weddings. They can actually put your picture on the chocolates. Not a big fan of having my face on chocolates.
On my way out there was a chocolate making demo by a French chef. Demonstration was on chocolate with pralines filling and a sculpture. It was intriguing to watch. The container full of melted chocolate looked so heavenly.
Other than the names I've mentioned, the rest were all local chocolate booths. 90% of them. Well it is meant to be a Malaysia Chocolate Fair. I could've gone to a garden themed wedding & take beautiful pictures while I ate *sheesh*. I'm not being biased but local made chocolate is an insult to my palette. They can't compete with international brands. So they say imported cocoa is used in their products, but the other ingredients are still local. Just not up to the mark. Cadbury Malaysia & most chocolates from Nestle Malaysia are an exception though. They've managed to control the quality well.
5 comments
mmmhhhmm....yummy! Chocolate art too, that's a PLUS! :D
ReplyDeleteThe Mozart chocolates are home to my new country of residence! :)
ReplyDeleteYou're so lucky, Austria's beautiful.. & I lurv the Mozart chocolates!
ReplyDeleteWhite water rafting on the Inn River is soo much fun too.. :)
i find the fair disappointing too, well i went on the last day just a couple of hours before it close. Everyone was buzzing around the Hershey's stall buying 4 for rm10 and i heard b4 closing they gave out 5 for rm10.
ReplyDeleteHershey's 5 for 10? That's cheap.. I shoud've gone on the last day to stock up.. Hehe
ReplyDeleteAppreciate your comments >_<