Showing posts with label singapore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label singapore. Show all posts
Saturday, 28 April 2012
A CHOCOLATE SCHOOL IN JAKARTA,INDONESIA?
Yeah, yeah I know. It is the last place in the world chocolate enthusiasts expect to launch into a chocolate career by going to a school. The chances are that if you have dreams of becoming a great chocolatier, you would be considering going to school in Belgium or France. Indonesia? You must be mad, they will tell you to even allow such a thought to cross your mind.
The fact is Jakarta is a great place to go to a chocolate school. And its not because I live here. Jakarta has a long history of cocoa. I fact we had plantations here in the 1700s and were exporting cocoa to Europe in the late 18th century. Great plantations exist three to four hours from here. And it well worth a trip to just to go and look at them. They actually exist on the slopes of central mountain range and the drive up there in the morning is delightful. And the breakfast places along the way serve healthy bowls of great Java porridge. But lets get back to talking about chocolate careers and good chocolate schools.
The Chocolate School is located in Central Jakarta. Just 15 minutes from the main street down town.Here there are a variety of courses offered; A 3-Day Basic Course, Professional and Gourmet Praline Courses and even courses that tell you how to start and market chocolate. The big surprise is the faculty is headed by an experienced and professional Belgian Chocolatier. Those who has discovered the school are delighted to have discovered a "secret" where they get, as even the snootiest French visitors admit, a superior chocolate education at incredible fair tuition prices. The School has drawn students not only from all over Indonesia but also from the Philippines and from the parsimonious Singaporeans on the look out for the best bargains.All chocolate used in the courses are premium couvertures.
The school is owned by FreyAbadi, a chocolate ingredients manufacturer; a joint venture between Petra Foods, Singapore and Fuji Oil of Japan. Which are excellent credentials; Petra Foods is the fourth largest manufacturer of chocolate ingredients in the world and Fuji Oil the world's number one producer of edible vegetable fats. For more information on the School you may email me for sensible guidance; mervynpereira00@gmail.com
Sunday, 16 November 2008
TIME TO TAKE A RIGHT ABOUT TURN WITH CHOCOLATE?
(from which chocolate is derived from)Since 3000 years, chocolate has come an incredible long way. Imagine an Olmec, holding a cocoa pod, scratching his head and saying to his wife, "Can we eat this?" As it turns out his wife, like most wives, was right when she answered, "Honey what you have there, in 3000 years, is destined to be better than sex." It was likely that the wife was subsequently sacrificed to a ferocious Deity. The grieving husband got drunk from the alcohol made from the white mucus that covered the beans inside the pod and was buried with the remains of the drink.
The Aztecs learned to crack the bean, extract the nibs, crush them to paste and make a bitter drink which they believed kept them in excellent vigor.In time the learned to mix it with maize gruel and honey. Montezuma, the great Emperor of the Aztecs, drank it dyed red.And beaten to a froth. In fact, whatever the experts may say, the word "choicolat" means "beaten drink."
Later they experimented with extracts of vanilla, chili and annatto.
The Dominican Friars introduced it to Spain.The ancestors of El Bulli and Chocovic then took over and Chocolate began the first step towards an incredibly wonderful future.
But the chocolate of today bears little resemblance to its origins. It is being sissified so that we, who don't quite measure up in spunk to the Aztecs, Mayans an Olmecs can find it palatable. And pleasureable. Are we missing out in the real pleasure of chocolate?
French pastries are concoctions with chocolate. They do not offer the unique pleasure that chocolate is meant to offer. They use chocolate for sensational gimmickry.The mass manufactured chocolates,rich with alpine milks and cane sugar, laden with nuts, are say what you may are not the stuff that braced up the Aztecs. In some of the mass produced chocolate, you can still taste a trace of palm oil. These manufacturers, would have promptly beheaded by Montezuma. Justly so.
The chocolate revolution led by the Artisans, Amano, De Vries, Tim Childs, Bonnat, Cocoa Farm of Australia(though this one is a bit too civilised) to name a few, that restored some of the mystic and adventure of chocolate. They have brought back the passion and romance and their chocolate can justly be gifts of love on Valentine's Day. Then there are others who have come up with a "new idea" chocolate revolution.
The chocolate experience I took immense pleasure from was a moist,rich velvety, utterly sinful "cake" from "awfully chocolate".It's really not a cake, but a gloriously round of superb chocolate.There a bit of fudginess in it somewhere. This one you dream about.It is not a return to the origins but it has reinvented the chocolate experience.
The company "awfully chocolate" is, I am told was founded by Singapore lawyers. Which explains the exactitude of the definition of chocolate, in 2008, or what it legally should be. The "awfully chocolate" shop in Jakarta, is almost sterile.It's bare. There is no display nor evidence of chocolate at all. You walk up to the counter and ask for the chocolate. There is one ONE kind. Customers keep coming back!I must say, lawyers are far smarter than we usually credit them for.
It is the right time to go back a 1000 years or so and look at recipes that seemed to have worked well with chocolate,and ingredients like honey, vanilla, cinnamon. annatto and chili. And giving it a good beating in-between.Bring back the boldness and the savage romance!
The Aztecs learned to crack the bean, extract the nibs, crush them to paste and make a bitter drink which they believed kept them in excellent vigor.In time the learned to mix it with maize gruel and honey. Montezuma, the great Emperor of the Aztecs, drank it dyed red.And beaten to a froth. In fact, whatever the experts may say, the word "choicolat" means "beaten drink."
Later they experimented with extracts of vanilla, chili and annatto.
The Dominican Friars introduced it to Spain.The ancestors of El Bulli and Chocovic then took over and Chocolate began the first step towards an incredibly wonderful future.
But the chocolate of today bears little resemblance to its origins. It is being sissified so that we, who don't quite measure up in spunk to the Aztecs, Mayans an Olmecs can find it palatable. And pleasureable. Are we missing out in the real pleasure of chocolate?
French pastries are concoctions with chocolate. They do not offer the unique pleasure that chocolate is meant to offer. They use chocolate for sensational gimmickry.The mass manufactured chocolates,rich with alpine milks and cane sugar, laden with nuts, are say what you may are not the stuff that braced up the Aztecs. In some of the mass produced chocolate, you can still taste a trace of palm oil. These manufacturers, would have promptly beheaded by Montezuma. Justly so.
The chocolate revolution led by the Artisans, Amano, De Vries, Tim Childs, Bonnat, Cocoa Farm of Australia(though this one is a bit too civilised) to name a few, that restored some of the mystic and adventure of chocolate. They have brought back the passion and romance and their chocolate can justly be gifts of love on Valentine's Day. Then there are others who have come up with a "new idea" chocolate revolution.
The chocolate experience I took immense pleasure from was a moist,rich velvety, utterly sinful "cake" from "awfully chocolate".It's really not a cake, but a gloriously round of superb chocolate.There a bit of fudginess in it somewhere. This one you dream about.It is not a return to the origins but it has reinvented the chocolate experience.
The company "awfully chocolate" is, I am told was founded by Singapore lawyers. Which explains the exactitude of the definition of chocolate, in 2008, or what it legally should be. The "awfully chocolate" shop in Jakarta, is almost sterile.It's bare. There is no display nor evidence of chocolate at all. You walk up to the counter and ask for the chocolate. There is one ONE kind. Customers keep coming back!I must say, lawyers are far smarter than we usually credit them for.
It is the right time to go back a 1000 years or so and look at recipes that seemed to have worked well with chocolate,and ingredients like honey, vanilla, cinnamon. annatto and chili. And giving it a good beating in-between.Bring back the boldness and the savage romance!
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
WHAT'S WRONG WITH CHOCOLATE CAFES AND SHOPS?
Chocolate cafes and shops, it would seem, out here anyway, have a high mortality rate.I have noticed this in Sydney(Australia), Singapore and also here in Jakarta. They come and go. At the best they linger on painfully or worse boringly.
Just the other I took a quick look at some outlets in Singapore. An extreme chocoholic I usually am enticed by chocolate cafes. But rarely go in preferring to watch surreptitiously. Perhaps it is because i preferred to keep this wonderful passion private. So as it often happens, late in life rather than sooner, I wandered into several. These are my conclusions:
1)I was overwhelmed with chocolate and thoroughly confused. At one place I was proudly told that there were more than 60 varieties. Another boasted of over 50. There were chocolates from almost everywhere. Green tea figured prominently.
2)The ambiance was exactly, I am afraid,what you would expect of a gourmet chocolate shop. Not quite comfortable and a trifle uneasy to be in.The service to a introvert like me was intimidating. It was, it seems, assumed that I was a chocolate moron. Which I rather resented because I was a chocolate expert having eaten chocolate daily for sheer pleasure for at least 40 years.I should know more about chocolate than people who simply make it.
3)I kept wondering if I should eat more than two and run the risk of ruining my appetite for a extremely promising Singapore lunch. The two I tasted where probably not top of the range of 60 or 50. In the late afternoon I wondered whether I should try one more and ruin a very promising Singapore dinner.
4)Somehow it didn't seem to be the right places to be in at the time. It kept on bring out a sense of launching into over indulgence.
One of my stops was at Max Brenner. It was like the other cafes, sparsely populated by customers. A powerful sense of chocolate and many choices. I felt, too much. With a lean Jakarta wallet, I also found it rather pricey. The first thing you notice here, is the lack of a friendly, chocolaty service.
Max and Brenner(two guys actually) didn't rate very high with customers. As many said they would definitely not come back as those who said they would. Both numbers were less that 20%. The others I visit did rate too well either. Out of 10, they like Max Brenner averaged at a polite 6.
If I were to start a Chocolate Cafe/Shop this is what I would do:
1) I would focus on a few specialities. Cakes, pastries and pralines These would be simply devastatingly superb. The menu would require no more space than a playing card.They would stay on the menu for as long as.....I will keep that a secret.
2)The shop will display no chocolate in glasses cases. I think to display wonderful
dignified chocolate behind glass is being rude to chocolate.
3) Instead I would have a superb minimalistic modern kitchen/factory open behind
floor to ceiling glass where customers may watch the real mystical excitement of chocolate being carefully crafted in splendid special masterpieces.
4)The place will be comfortable. Practical with white table linen and sparkling tableware.Providing a dignified setting to chocolate.
5)Beverages will be offered. A few. Specials of course. Not just chocolate but also tea, coffee and wine. I may experiment with one or two juice cocktails.
6)Service would be limited because the range offered is limited. But expert, brisk and friendly.
7) There will be a small in number and small in portion food menu, of other than chocolate. Emphasis o fish. So that customers can enjoy their chocolate as dessert if that is what they prefer. Of course if they simply have chocolate and well chosen wine. With cheese.
8) There will be no distractions. Customers will be encouraged to discover the art of interesting conversation with each other.
Do I have a model? Yeas I was impressed by one place I visited. They had only three types of cake. All Chocolate, Chocolate Banana Cake and Rum, Cherry and Chocolate. There were also three ice creams. All were superb. Yes I bought all three cakes(to take away).Rating of this place was high. They got an overall 8. Actually 10 for ambiance and 8.8 for service. It was called Awfully Chocolate and was at Vivocity, Singapore. I was told they have two outlets in Jakarta. I have yet to visit.
Just the other I took a quick look at some outlets in Singapore. An extreme chocoholic I usually am enticed by chocolate cafes. But rarely go in preferring to watch surreptitiously. Perhaps it is because i preferred to keep this wonderful passion private. So as it often happens, late in life rather than sooner, I wandered into several. These are my conclusions:
1)I was overwhelmed with chocolate and thoroughly confused. At one place I was proudly told that there were more than 60 varieties. Another boasted of over 50. There were chocolates from almost everywhere. Green tea figured prominently.
2)The ambiance was exactly, I am afraid,what you would expect of a gourmet chocolate shop. Not quite comfortable and a trifle uneasy to be in.The service to a introvert like me was intimidating. It was, it seems, assumed that I was a chocolate moron. Which I rather resented because I was a chocolate expert having eaten chocolate daily for sheer pleasure for at least 40 years.I should know more about chocolate than people who simply make it.
3)I kept wondering if I should eat more than two and run the risk of ruining my appetite for a extremely promising Singapore lunch. The two I tasted where probably not top of the range of 60 or 50. In the late afternoon I wondered whether I should try one more and ruin a very promising Singapore dinner.
4)Somehow it didn't seem to be the right places to be in at the time. It kept on bring out a sense of launching into over indulgence.
One of my stops was at Max Brenner. It was like the other cafes, sparsely populated by customers. A powerful sense of chocolate and many choices. I felt, too much. With a lean Jakarta wallet, I also found it rather pricey. The first thing you notice here, is the lack of a friendly, chocolaty service.
Max and Brenner(two guys actually) didn't rate very high with customers. As many said they would definitely not come back as those who said they would. Both numbers were less that 20%. The others I visit did rate too well either. Out of 10, they like Max Brenner averaged at a polite 6.
If I were to start a Chocolate Cafe/Shop this is what I would do:
1) I would focus on a few specialities. Cakes, pastries and pralines These would be simply devastatingly superb. The menu would require no more space than a playing card.They would stay on the menu for as long as.....I will keep that a secret.
2)The shop will display no chocolate in glasses cases. I think to display wonderful
dignified chocolate behind glass is being rude to chocolate.
3) Instead I would have a superb minimalistic modern kitchen/factory open behind
floor to ceiling glass where customers may watch the real mystical excitement of chocolate being carefully crafted in splendid special masterpieces.
4)The place will be comfortable. Practical with white table linen and sparkling tableware.Providing a dignified setting to chocolate.
5)Beverages will be offered. A few. Specials of course. Not just chocolate but also tea, coffee and wine. I may experiment with one or two juice cocktails.
6)Service would be limited because the range offered is limited. But expert, brisk and friendly.
7) There will be a small in number and small in portion food menu, of other than chocolate. Emphasis o fish. So that customers can enjoy their chocolate as dessert if that is what they prefer. Of course if they simply have chocolate and well chosen wine. With cheese.
8) There will be no distractions. Customers will be encouraged to discover the art of interesting conversation with each other.
Do I have a model? Yeas I was impressed by one place I visited. They had only three types of cake. All Chocolate, Chocolate Banana Cake and Rum, Cherry and Chocolate. There were also three ice creams. All were superb. Yes I bought all three cakes(to take away).Rating of this place was high. They got an overall 8. Actually 10 for ambiance and 8.8 for service. It was called Awfully Chocolate and was at Vivocity, Singapore. I was told they have two outlets in Jakarta. I have yet to visit.
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