A virus, a fever, a wet flannel on my forehead and what I would call ‘light hallucinations’ saw me stretched out in bed for a week like a laudanum-soaked reluctant Victorian wife. Nothing beyond the neutral spectrum made it past my lips for several days: toast and marmalade, broth and crackers, baked potato and a small amount of cheese. My diet was also heavy with darjeeling and lemon slices as I abandoned my Italian cappuccino roots to crave the astringency and delicateness of tea. But slowly one must rebuild oneself.
My first foray back into chocolate started slowly with Tobago Estate’s Laura (£8.95/100g), a dark milk at 45% cocoa concentration. Pleasingly creamy, safe, comforting. A terrific entry-level dark milk and one I can’t believe I’d not had before. Do try it. It’s no-nonsense, not scary, no tricks just delicious buttery notes.
We won’t talk, for a third week running, about my growing obsession with M&S’s Big Daddy, except to say I must have been craving the salty peanuts, but really you should avoid this bar at all costs if the willpower gene wasn’t uploaded into your DNA when you were born.
Luckily, I soon became strangely fixated with Ducasse’s Amande, Orange Confite and Figue (£10/100g). This is a very fine, yet also rustic looking 75% bar that has had caramelised almonds, pistachios, pine nuts, big slices of figs and candied orange pressed into it. Each bite was heavy on the inclusions and slightly different.
Finally, catch them while you can. Sur’s Chef’s Specials which will be very limited-edition products: currently small bites of sour cherry, pistachio with a yerba mate tea coating. Chewy, slightly marzipan-ish, very pleasing (£7.50/100g).
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