Do you miss Paul A Young Salted Caramels?
I have good news! But, even if you don't know what I'm talking about: It's Choctober! The next three weekends are filled with chocolate events for everyone!
Hello!
It’s nearly Chocolate Week! 🎉 I think we probably should have brought it back as Choctober though as there’s so much more happening beyond the already extended 12-20 October.
I did the thing again where I tried to ram too much into one newsletter and by the time I was still editing it at 10pm last night and not close to finishing, I thought I should just go to bed instead. This morning I’ve decided to separate out - again! - the Speciality Fine Food Fair round up. Instead of you waiting another week, I’ll send it tomorrow, or maybe later today, and pray that it doesn’t make you unsubscribe because I’ve blasted your inbox twice in quick succession. 😅
Let’s get into the
delicious chocolate things coming up:
Brighton Festival
Cocoa Runners Fair
Chocolate Unwrapped Experience
Chocolate Ecstasy Tour
Salon du Chocolat in Paris
Plus various pop ups, classes and an online meditation happening beyond London, Paris and Brighton.
Brighton Chocolate Festival this weekend - Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th October
Featuring
J. Cocoa
Dormouse Chocolates
Tempt (fully plant based)
Eponine
The Chocolate Tree,
Kreuzberg
Gatos Chocolate
Beancraft Chocolate
Chocolate Seekers
Mayoy Cacao
Cacao Retreat
Ruby Hue.
Some of these are bean to bar makers I haven’t tried yet.
I’m thrilled to see Karen has relaunched Tempt, which was once a fully plant based chocolate shop in York that I wrote about here along with other great places for chocolate in Yorkshire (from 2022).
The Chocolate Tree have created a whole fruit chocolate bar: a 70% Guatemalan cacao bar where the sugar is replaced by dried cacao fruit which surrounds the seeds which we know of as cocoa beans and make up the main ingredient in good quality dark chocolate. I got a sneak preview and I loved it. I’ve tried two other versions of chocolate like this and this has been my favourite. It will be available to buy at the Brighton Chocolate Festival but you can also get it online here.
📌 The Brighthelm Centre, BN1 1YD
🚆 Brighton (a 5 minute walk)
See more about Brighton Chocolate Festival here.
There’s a new bakery in Hove, too. I probably won’t get there on this visit, but in case you want to:
📌 Bayon Bakery, 11 Hove Park Villas, Brighton and Hove, Hove BN3 6HP
🚆 Hove
The following weekend - Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th from 11am until 6pm is
Cocoa Runners Craft Chocolate Fair.
Entrance to the fair is free, but talks and tastings are ticketed. Companies exhibiting include Pump Street Chocolate, Dormouse Chocolate, Chocolarder, Tosier, Duffy’s, Contour Chocolate, Land Chocolate, BeanCraft and Choco Del Sol from Germany and Friis Holm coming in from Denmark.
See more and book tickets for the chocolate tastings.
Then, for one day only on Saturday 19th:
Paul A Young is bringing back his salted caramels
for the first time since closing his shop in July 2023. He and Kate Johns, the original founder of Chocolate Week and The London Chocolate Show (also known as Chocolate Unwrapped), have curated
a four floor, one hour, chocolate sensory delight
which begins with bar tastings (Pump Street, Land Chocolate, Bare Bones, Cocoa Runners), travels through a filled chocolate room (where you’ll find the salted caramels plus Melt, The Chocolatier and The Chocolate Detective) to a dessert room with a chocolate mousse bar and other treats by Le Choux and a build your own dessert bar plus brownies by EK Bakery and beautiful cakes from Lucie Bennett, then finishing in a bar with Knoops customisable hot chocolate or chocolate cocktails (or both!). I cannot wait.
Get your tickets to Chocolate Unwrapped here.
Then, on Sunday 20th October:
I have a few spots left for my public chocolate tour
which will take in a selection of London chocolate highlights, with me!
Starting with hot chocolate after we meet at 10:30am and trying filled chocolates, ice cream, viennoiserie and finishing with all-you-can-manage gelato. Plus London history to entertain you in between. We will finish around 1:30.
Very excited for this, too!
Book your ticket to join me on a chocolate tour here.
Finally, from October 30th to November 3rd is Salon du Chocolat in Paris, the largest chocolate fair in the world.
I went last year and wrote about it here.
I’m going back again. If you’re going and would like me to be your personal guide then you’ll want to join the tour I’m organising.
Other Chocolate Events
Online Chocolate Meditation with Meredith Whitely of Calm Cocoa on Saturday 19th October at 2.30pm.
Marshall & Co popping up at Birmingham Southside on Wednesday 16th October.
Adults and kids chocolate workshops in Worcestershire on Saturday 19th October.
Make sure to keep an eye on the UK Chocolate Week Instagram for announcements of other events that might be added.
https://www.instagram.com/ukchocolateweek
Isigny Croissant Competition Winners
(all photos below from Steve Mulvey Photography)
I can’t wrap my head around how it feels like no time at all since I last wrote to you yet, as well as trying 20 different croissants for the Isigny awards last Thursday (still can’t believe the privilege of judging!), I also tried delicious things from nine other bakers/patissiers between Saturday and today. 🤪
I’ll share some of the other recent delicious things in a future newsletter.
At the competition I was slightly apprehensive as the only non-pastry-chef amongst the very impressive judges, so I felt huge relief and pleasure when I found out that my top three were the average of all of ours, taking the gold, silver and bronze, in the same order. Though I did find it very difficult to choose between the top two and would’ve liked to have tried again if we’d had time (& capacity!).
These are the bakeries that took home the trophies:
GOLD
Chestnut Bakery in Covent Garden and Belgravia (two for two - they won the inaugural competition, last year)
📌 24 Floral St, London WC2E 9DS
🚆 Covent Garden
📌 17-21 Elizabeth St, London SW1W 9RP
🚆 Victoria
SILVER
Two Brothers Bakery
📌 44 Brook St, Warwick CV34 4BL
And the cafe:
📌 26 Market Pl, Warwick CV34 4SJ
BRONZE
Chez Maitre
📌 92-96 Westmount Rd, London SE9 1UT
🚆 Eltham
This photo!
Congratulations to all of the entrants (full list of 20 finalists is here).
I have an announcement about another in-person activity soon too! As always, paid subscribers will get the first opportunity to buy the limited tickets.
Speak to you soon! And please do tap the heart, leave a comment or share it to help it get seen by more people. Thank you!
Jen x
I’d also love to know what you’ve been loving lately! Reply to me directly or share with everyone in the chat below this post where it lives at jenniferearle.substack.com by leaving a comment!
One of these days I really need to bite the bullet and take that train to Eltham...