High-end chocolate companies, like Valrhona who created this product, are noticing an increase in demand for first-class quality products High-end chocolate companies, like Valrhona who created this product, are noticing an increase in demand for first-class quality products

Simplicity
With lots of high-quality chocolates flooding the Middle East’s F&B market, chefs are spoilt for choice – a world removed from Chef Micheel’s recollection of only two brands to choose from some 15 years ago.

“Even 10 years ago, people would not accept chocolate bars made with chilli or lemongrass,” he added, “but today, they are very common.”
The shift in the market has opened up new creative opportunities for chefs – yet, despite the wide range of exciting new products available, chefs continue to focus on the simplicity and uniqueness of chocolate as an ingredient.

“I think we’ll continue to see a trend for simple and elegant chocolate presentation over the next few years,” says Al Bustan Palace’s Pellen. “An effective chocolate dish is all about how you balance flavour, texture and presentation.

Story continues below
Advertisement

“Take a chocolate passion fruit cake, for example. The different textures and tastes of chocolate are all wrapped up in a dish like that: you’ve got the dark chocolate mousse, passion fruit jelly, dark chocolate glaze and the crunch of the milk chocolate and praline.”

As chocolate moves away from being a mass-consumer product to something more boutique, end customers become more interested in the nuances, the product’s origin and the artisan elements that make up the taste.
Ironically, the more complex the chocolate market becomes, the more interested consumers become in the simplicity of the product.

Ultimately, chocolate has emerged as a key gourmet product in the region – and as with other gourmet ingredients, chefs emphasise the qualities of the ingredient itself. They allow the product to do the talking.

“I think the secret to a great chocolate dish is simplicity,” concludes Kempinski’s Chef Rebuzzi. “If you’re using a dark chocolate with a high cocoa percentage, then the taste is strong enough. You don’t need to introduce lots of other ingredients. When it comes to chocolate, less is definitely more.”