Hotel Chocolat for Millenium Hotels
The lovely folks over at Millenium Hotels have teamed up with Hotel Chocolat to give their guests some tasty treats. They needed some help deciding which ones to go with though, so as difficult as it is to eat complimentary chocolates, I agreed to help out.
Hotel Chocolat for Millenium Hotels
I know, it’s a tough job but I dove right in and had chocolates for breakfast.
Now, I had to try and come up with some sort of scoring system, so each chocolate will be ranked from 1 (worst) to 5 (best) in categories of packaging, uniqueness, taste, sickliness (5 is not at all sickly so you can eat lots), generic appeal(chances of appealing to more people), desire to try and which were polished off first. Ready? Time to nom.
Hotel Chocolat ‘Billionaire’s Shortbread’ for Millenium Hotels
Hotel Chocolat ‘Billionaire’s Shortbread’ for Millenium Hotels
I did like the crunchy texture of the shortbread balls against the smooth praline filling, but I’m sorry, billionaires shortbread should have caramel, not praline. And I don’t like praline. That said, it wasn’t the most icky praline I’ve tried, the size was substantial but still bite-sized and it looks interesting.
Packaging: 4
Uniqueness: 5
Taste: 3
Sickliness: 2
Generic appeal: 3
Desire to try: 2
Polished off: 3
Total: 22
Hotel Chocolat ‘Gemstones’ for Millenium Hotels
Hotel Chocolat ‘Gemstones’ for Millenium Hotels
I thought these would be boring, but I was wrong! They are a little pedestrian looking and the packaging is so so boring and cheap looking, but they are quite delightful and moreish. They are just little balls of chocolate but it’s swirls of dark, milk and white chocolate that are so silky and smooth they almost melt the moment you shovel them into your gob. They’re also not a funny flavour that could turn many people off so they’ve got a good widespread appeal.
Packaging: 2
Uniqueness:3
Taste: 5
Sickliness: 4
Generic appeal: 5
Desire to try: 3
Polished off: 4
Total: 26
Hotel Chocolat ‘Eton Mess Slab’ for Millenium Hotels
Hotel Chocolat ‘Eton Mess Slab’ for Millenium Hotels
I’m a bit of a sucker for Eton Mess themed confectionery. The little freeze dried strawberry bits and crunchy meringue sprinklings make the white and pink chocolate slab quite interesting, and I personally really enjoyed it. After some of the other sickly chocolates it was almost refreshing.
Packaging: 3
Uniqueness:4
Taste: 4
Sickliness: 3
Generic appeal: 1
Desire to try: 4
Polished off: 5
Total: 24
Hotel Chocolat ‘Salted Caramels’ for Millenium Hotels
Hotel Chocolat ‘Salted Caramels’ for Millenium Hotels
First of all the packaging. It’s awesome. This might be my industrial design education rearing it’s geeky head but I just loved the individual pockets for each chocolate – hopefully you can make them out in the image. They’re like little capsules. The chocolate though – a little disappointing to be truthful. The caramel was a little runnier than I’d like and it was so sickly. I’ve tried a fair few salted caramel chocolates and this was by far one of the worst (some I do very much like) and I still haven’t finished all six. They also look a bit like boobs with the dot of milk chocolate on the top like a nipple. Childish perhaps, but still.
Packaging: 5
Uniqueness:2
Taste: 2
Sickliness: 1
Generic appeal: 2
Desire to try: 5
Polished off: 1
Total: 18
Hotel Chocolat Lollipop for Millenium Hotels
Snore. Plain milk chocolate, albeit nice chocolate, on a stick. Great for kids, not terribly sophisticated for grown ups.
Packaging: 1
Uniqueness:1
Taste: 2
Sickliness: 5
Generic appeal: 4
Desire to try: 1
Polished off: 2
Total: 16
Recommendations
Technically the Gemstones win. I’d happy scoff some in a hotel room, but the packaging is a huge let down for me. It’s that sort of plastic that can look a little tatty after being handled even a little bit. If they were in a cute little box or even a jar they’d be so much more tempting.
For a signature chocolate though I think perhaps the so-called Billionaires Shortbread might be a bit more impressive, despite praline not being to my taste. The lollipop is perfect for rooms with children though – easy, entertaining and not sticky!
If I was going to stay at a Millennium Hotel I think it would have to be Mayfair because the restaurant looks lovely – I don’t always pick hotels for logical reasons!
