The end of Hotel Chocolat.

[Pasithean]

Looks like their selling out to mars. 😭😭🙈🤮

please don’t change it.

🤣🤣🤣

My 5 year-old self, and my DM, loved this chocolate, Fry's 5 boys

https://onlineshop.oxfam.org.uk/frys-5-boys-vintage-chocolate-paper-wrapper-frys-five-boys-milk-chocolate-bar-j-s-fry-bristol/product/HD_301503319?pscid=ps_ggl_OOS+-+Performance+OTHER+CATEGORIES+-+2022_Collectables&crm_event_code=20REUWWS08&msclkid=9347f3591b7616362181960eee3dd20d&gclid=9347f3591b7616362181960eee3dd20d&gclsrc=3p.ds

Rats. Can't remember how to do short link on MN, and was hoping for the picture.

I actually love their chocolate. It's a bit too pricey for me but I love the fact that it's not over sweet.

To my taste it's one of the best, much better than most.

If I make fudge with butter, sugar, condensed milk, vanilla seeds and clotted cream to be sold a a prepacked box and also use vegetable oil to grease the mould that will hold the cooling product, I still have to put vegetable oil on the ingredients list. It does not matter how trivial an amount I use, I still have to put it on there.
similarly if I sell a prepacked, iced cake that has no cornflour in the cake itself but has used cornflour to roll out the icing, I have to put that on the ingredients list as well. I also have to list all the component ingredients of each and every food colouring used in said cake. Individually. Over and over again for each and every compound ingredient.
These are the new food safety labelling regulations that came in a few years ago. It is no longer sufficient to write "red food colouring". You have to add the specific ingredients list from thr specific food colouring you have used.you can't even put "sugarflair red intense colouring. This is why the ingredients list is so massive, not because they are producing UPF style products but because food labelling requires every tiny iota of ingredients that may have come into contact with the food.
Now I am not pretending to know the ins and outs of how Audrey's make their fudge; however just because vegetable oil is listed on the ingredients label does not mean they are using it as a cheap filler, no matter how much you want that to be the case.

Not that bothered. Very expensive for what it is.

I've actually never tried HC chocolate!

Name changed to say that Paul A Young was my neighbour in Walthamstow & he is a thoroughly nice man. He used to look out for an elderly neighbour & would regularly give her (& us) his chocolates. I can confirm his chocolate is delicious!
In terms of Hotel Chocolat I could never get that excited about the actual chocolate but I love their dark hot chocolate with chocolate cream!

Hotchocolatemouse, thank you for that link to Audrey’s chocolates. I’ve been looking for something special for my daughter for Xmas and she loves good chocolates! Xx

He’s closed down. No shop or online sales any more.

My heart sinks when I receive HC as a gift - the chocolate tastes awful, their flavours taste artificial, the textures are all wrong, waxy and unpleasant, even my kids and their friends won't eat them.
Hobbs look beautiful but those colours are off-putting, I'd rather my chocolate looked like chocolate on the outside too. I judge my ice cream parlour by the same standard - blue ice cream for sale, I'll keep walking.

@DarkDarkDark so what do you like then

We knew he was closing the business but I hadn’t thought about the fact that he would no longer be trading online either. He seemed happy about the decision & has now moved away. Hopefully he’ll be involved in some other projects in the future.

@FiniteSagacity I like Chococo too, but have to drive 50 miles for a physical shop. Before I came across Hobbs, Chococo was my first stop for gift shopping. And yes, the lemon favour is paradise.

Grateful for all the recommendations... I shall bookmark this thread and maybe we should keep it rolling, as and when someone discovers something new and wonderful to share.

I'm finding chocolates a bit of a disappointment recently - same with puddings, I've stopped ordering them when I go out. I'm bored with salted caramel, I'm bored with brownies and sticky toffee pudding. I love a good tart but it's rare to find a good pastry. I get the feeling margarine and cheap oils are the issue.

Problem with eating out these days is that most of the food on offer comes on a lorry from Brakes Brothers! That's why so many menus from different places are similar. Most deserts are "pinged", with the only points of difference being the type of sauce, cream, ice cream or custard that they are served with (which are also probably straight off the Brakes van!). It's why many places now rely on their presentation being different, i.e. chips or dips/sauces in a little dish instead on plonked on the plate etc. The food is all the same so they have to differentiate themselves in other ways, such as presentation and sides.

WHAT?? Nooooooo!!
Ah God that's really disappointing! Send our regards @Squirrelvcat we don't live in London but my DH bought a bunch of chocs from his shop and it was great.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/nov/12/notes-on-chocolate-annalisa-barbieri-baked-good-inclusions-raise-the-bar
This is a good regular column in the guardian about chocolate. She tries lots of different artisan chocolate makers, some are more successful than others…..

Yes I will do @ChristmasFullHouse , he did mention it was his decision to close rather than being forced to by the current climate. It’s a real shame though. I’m sure he’ll pop back up again! I was also going to mention AB’s chocolate column in the Guardian.

Oh ...

That's one of the challenges in choosing a restaurant - trying to spot a Brakes menu and avoiding it!

can’t beat a box of quality street 🙂

After reading all the arguments on here, the only conclusion I can draw is that some posters are just pure snobs. All the cries of tastes disgusting, slimy, oily, waxy etc. are completely unfounded. I've tasted their chocolates and I've tasted artisan chocolate. HC milk chocolate contains high amounts of cocoa and no vegetable oil- it's ingredients are similar to any other 'up-market' milk chocolate. Their boxed chocolates are very rich tasting and their flavour style might not be to everyone's taste as the fillings are very sweet- often lots of caramel- but in terms of ingredients they are fairly natural ones, not much artificial in there.

Not everyone cares for artisan flavours of 'matcha green tea' or 'paprika and chilli' in their chocolates like the ones my DH bought in an 'artisan' chocolate shop that were quite frankly unpleasant tasting.

This is where we all have different pallets, I would much rather a bar of 80% dark chocolate and a box of dates, big juice dates or prunes - in fact im considering melting the chocolate and dipping half the date into the chocolate and letting it set, not sure whether to put peanut butter inside or not.

Ive stopped buying quality street as they are not eaten here and we still had them lying around in October for trick or treat. But im not keen on the salted caramel desserts and chocolates either. I do like Cadbury fruit and nut though

https://www.lidl.co.uk/p/j-d-gross-dark-chocolate-85/p131915 this is the stuff I mean and at £1.39 its great value

Quality vs cheap chocolate isn't the same as milk vs dark!