I was lucky to have been invited to the Lindt Chocolate Studio at the Good Food & Wine Show in May, not only to receive an update of its unusual ‘Spice up your Chocolate Life with Lindt Excellence’ range, but also to taste the superb cooking of One&Only Cape Town’s new Nobu Executive Chef Fred Faucheux, at his Chef’s Table.

Cape Town Lindt Head Chocolatier Dimo Simatos, who has been part of the South African Culinary Olympics’ pastry team, explained that Lindt’s Excellence range is all about flavours and tastes, and how to combine and mix them.  The very slim Dark range already consists of 70% Cocoa, A Touch of Sea Salt, and Chilli.  At the event the Wasabi flavoured Lindt Excellence was launched, available to the public from this month onward.

Lindt used the culinary skills of Chef Fred to demonstrate their Excellence chocolate range at the event.  He commented about their range: ‘Working with new and exciting flavours is what I love most about cooking, and being able to work with chocolate that contains some of my favourite spices – Wasabi, Chilli, and Sea Salt – has introduced me to brand new taste combinations’.

Chef Fred prepared tasting portions of Kingklip sashimi and dry miso enhanced by the Lindt Excellence Touch of Sea Salt chocolate, which he topped off with olive oil, yuzu sauce, and Maldon sea salt.  The chocolate slab only consists of cocoa butter, which melts quickly in the mouth, thus releasing its flavour quickly, we were told. The hand- harvested ‘Fleur de Sel’ comes from Brittany, and is blended into the Lindt Dark chocolate.

This was followed by Prawn yuzu anticucho and vegetable shavings, which were topped with a Lindt Excellence Chilli chocolate sauce, reflecting Nobu owner Nobu Matsuhisa’s unique Peruvian and Japanese cuisine mix.  The Chilli slab has ‘one drop of Essential oil of chilli pepper per 100g slab‘, to flavour it, and its taste is subtle due to the slow release of the spice.

Then Chef Fred served Goma Beef fillet with white sesame, Lindt Excellence Wasabi chocolate dressing, and shavings with Sake green vegetables, a dish he has added to Nobu’s current winter menu.  The wasabi flavour melts away once tasted.

To end off the tasting feast, Chocolatier Dimo prepared a Wasabi Miro dessert made from caramelised white chocolate, dark chocolate fudge cake, pear, vanilla, and ganache, topped with a Lindt Thin.

Lindt has an impressive Chocolate Studio & Boutique in the old Cape Quarter building in De Waterkant, Cape Town, at which one can buy all their chocolate ranges and also participate in their chocolate workshops on desserts, décor, and praline making.  There is a Lindt Studio in Fourways too.

Disclosure:  We received a most professionally packaged Lindt Excellence media pack, with recipes, chocolate slabs, and background information, literally good enough to eat!

POSTSCRIPT: 31/7: Lindt’s PR company Communication Services Africa delivered the two latest Lindt Excellence flavours today, being ‘A Touch of Vanilla’ and ‘Coconut Intense’.  The Madagascan Vanilla aroma is embedded in the white chocolate slab.  The Coconut flakes are enrobed in fine dark chocolate.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio : www.whalecottage.com Twitter:@WhaleCottage