Hotel Chocolat opens 'Roast + Conch'

Hotel Chocolat, the luxury British chocolatier and cocoa grower, is delighted to announce the opening of London Roast + Conch in the Seven Dials district of Covent Garden.  It’s a brand new concept that brings together all of the company’s activities under one roof – from cocoa growing and chocolate making, to innovative new cocoa-based drinks and food.

Small batch chocolate making in the heart of London

Cocoa beans are delivered fresh from the company’s Saint Lucian plantation, Rabot Estate, straight into the small batch roasting and chocolate making kitchen in Monmouth Street.  Customers can see, smell and taste the entire, delicious process in action – from roasting and winnowing, to conching, mixing and tempering.  Small batches of rare chocolate will be made daily in the store’s basement kitchen, which takes theatre kitchen to a whole new level.

Cocoa Versus Coffee Bar – a revolution in café culture

Customers can explore the revolutionary new Coffee Versus Cocoa Bar.  It features a range of exclusive new drinks made possible by cocoa roasting techniques newly developed by Hotel Chocolat.  Customers choose from a drinks menu written in familiar coffee language and decide whether they would like their latte, flat white or cappuccino prepared with cocoa freshly roasted on the premises or with coffee beans.

Cacao cuisine dishes for lunch and dinner

At Roast + Conch, customers can also taste Hotel Chocolat’s exclusive ‘cacao cuisine’ menu, developed at the company’s Boucan Restaurant on its Saint Lucian cocoa estate.  Innovative lunchtime wraps and open sandwiches include duck confit with roasted cocoa nibs and goats’ cheese with walnuts and dark chocolate, as well as sweet options with salted caramel, or cocoa whipped cream and chocolate.  An atmospheric supper club is planned for later in the year.

Also on offer are chocolate and wine pairing – featuring an expertly paired introduction to Cheese, Chocolate and Red Wine Pairing with three specially chosen cheeses, three small batch chocolates and a glass of vintage Chateau Chocolat red wine.  And, of course, customers will also be able to shop the full range of Hotel Chocolat goodies on the ground floor.

Angus Thirlwell, Hotel Chocolat CEO, said, “From our cocoa estate on Saint Lucia, straight to our cellar in Seven Dials – we are the first to be able to make small batches of rare chocolate from our own beans in the heart of London.  It’s an utterly unique opportunity for customers to see the whole process in action, taste the differences between terroirs and experience a direct connection with our cocoa estate.  Forget ‘bean-to-bar’, we’ve moved on to ‘Tree-To-Bar’!  This is something that very few chocolate makers in the world could even consider doing and we are thrilled to be the first.”