Customers were queuing out of the door at the opening of the new Hotel Chocolat store in Queen Street. Company founder Angus Thirlwell talks to Thomas Ogg about what makes their products special
FANCY trying some chocolate guaranteed to ‘press your pleasure receptors’ and ‘hit all the right creamy buttons’?
If so, then Angus Thirlwell is your man.
The Hotel Chocolat co-founder and former Jersey resident returned to the Island this month to oversee the opening of the company’s new St Helier store – and his self-confessed obsession with all things chocolate was very much to the fore.
‘My aim with Hotel Chocolat has always been to excite and stimulate our customers,’ he said.
‘We like to push the boundaries as far as we can and be as innovative as possible.’
Situated on Queen Street, the new store is an eye-catching creation – with homely wooden furnishings and display cabinets in the style of chocolate fountains – and is a replacement for the company’s Liberty Wharf shop, which closed last month.
Win a £100 box of chocolates
To celebrate the opening of their new Queen Street store, Hotel Chocolat and SandpiperCI are offering one lucky competition winner this gigantic box of premium chocolates.
Retailing for £100, The Large Chocolatier’s Table is an awe-inspiring selection containing many of Hotel Chocolat’s very finest chocolates. To enter, simply answer
the following question:
In what year did the first Hotel Chocolat store open its doors?
Send your answer to: Hotel Chocolat, Features Desk, Jersey Evening Post, PO Box 582, Jersey JE4 8XQ, or email features@jerseyeveningpost.com with ‘Hotel Chocolat’ in the subject line. The closing date for entries is Thursday 26 November.
‘We’ve done very well in Liberty Wharf over the last five years,’ said Angus.
‘It’s a great shopping centre, but it’s more of a place that people specifically set out to visit rather than somewhere they just happen to pass through, which is ideal for, say, M&S or George, but I think the high street better suits us.’
This would certainly seem to be borne out by the Queen Street store’s opening day, during which customers were practically queuing out of the door.
‘It’s been phenomenal,’ smiled Angus, as closing time approached.
‘It’s absolutely exceeded our already massive expectations.’
It is the latest success of many in the company’s 12-year history.
Formed in 2003 by Angus and Peter Harris, Hotel Chocolat grew out of an internet-only business they founded several years earlier called Choc Express.
‘If someone ordered from Choc Express they would have to wait one or two days for the chocolate to arrive,’ said Angus, ‘but people were prepared to wait, which demonstrated to us that there was an audience interested in our products.’
In other words, their chocolate was hitting the right creamy buttons.
The first Hotel Chocolat store duly opened its doors in 2004, since when more than 80 branches have appeared across the UK and Europe; the success of the Jersey store is of particular importance to Angus, however.
‘I moved to Jersey with my parents when I was younger and stayed for ten years,’ he said.
‘My father still lives here so I visit regularly and have a really deep affection for the Island.’
Angus’s father, Edwin Thirlwell, was one of the founders of Mr Whippy, the world-famous ice cream brand.
‘I suppose I’ve followed in my father’s footsteps as we’ve both made our living creating delicious-tasting food,’ laughed Angus.
‘He always made business look very exciting, and it is.
‘It’s a challenge, but it’s enormous fun, too.’
During his years living in Jersey, Angus managed the Gorey/Carteret ferry company; however, the desire to launch a career in line with his love of chocolate soon prevailed.
Inspired by his childhood in the West Indies, Angus was adamant Hotel Chocolat would grow its own cocoa and, as such, the company acquired a 250-year-old cocoa plantation in Saint Lucia.
It is one of a number of innovative production methods that sets the company apart from its rivals.
‘To my knowledge, no other UK chocolate company grows their own cocoa,’ said Angus.
‘It offers us a direct link to the core ingredients and gives a real authenticity to what we do.
‘For instance, we always use more cocoa and less sugar, even in our milk chocolate, but it still tastes great.’
By way of demonstration, Angus handed me a chunky slab of Choco Super Milk: a cocoa-rich chocolate peppered with crunchy whole hazelnuts and Angus’s own current personal favourite of Hotel Chocolat’s 300-plus products.
Needless to say, it was delicious.
‘Choco Super Milk has as little sugar in it as dark chocolate, yet it’s creamy and mellow and there’s no doubt that it’s a milk chocolate.
‘It’s an amazing crossover: all the taste of milk chocolate and all the health benefits of dark chocolate.’
The company’s dedication to doing things differently even extends to their annual range of Easter eggs: ‘Most chocolate makers make their eggs as thin as possible and put the chocolates on the outside.
‘We do the opposite: our shells are ridiculously thick and all of the chocolates are hidden inside the egg, like they used to be.’
Angus personally approves every new product before it reaches the shelves, as part of a rigorous sampling process that takes place in the company’s Hertfordshire-based Development Kitchen.
‘We have a number of skilled chocolate makers, all of whom specialise in a different area,’ he said.
‘So there’s someone who makes the truffles, someone who makes chocolate wreaths, and so on.
‘Once a new chocolate has been created and sampled, it is then sent to the Tasting Club.’
Ah yes, Hotel Chocolat’s Tasting Club.
Described by Angus as the company’s ‘secret weapon’, in truth the club is anything but a secret, with 100,000 members and counting.
‘Every month we create a series of new chocolates, all with original and exciting recipes.
‘We then send a sample of each to the club’s members, who have to score and assess each new flavour, and send us their feedback.
‘We even publish league tables and those chocolates with high scores make it into our range and those that score poorly, well, they’re never heard of again.’
It ensures that only the tastiest of chocolates make it onto the shelves.
‘There are hundreds of club members in Jersey alone,’ said Angus.
‘It’s a constant process and it helps to keep us on our mettle.’
Angus is currently focused on Christmas, which, unsurprisingly, is one of Hotel Chocolat’s busiest periods.
However, it isn’t next month’s festivities that he has in his sights.
‘We’re already hard at work on ideas for Christmas 2016,’ he laughed.
Ingredients – Makes 16
300g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
100g shelled pistachio nuts, roughly chopped
200g white chocolate, roughly chopped
50g sesame seeds
150g butter, plus extra for greasing
300g demerara sugar
40 ml rapeseed oil
40 ml sesame oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 vanilla pod, split in half lengthways
Flaky sea salt, to finish
METHOD
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Lightly grease a 25cm square cake tin with butter and line the base and sides with non-stick baking parchment, letting some overhang the sides of the tin, to make it easier to lift out the cake later.
2. Put the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl and mix well/whisk to combine. Stir in the pistachios, 100g of the chocolate and the sesame seeds.
3. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a very low heat, then add the demerara sugar, rapeseed and sesame oil, and the eggs. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod directly into the pan. Heat very gently for three to four minutes, whisking constantly, to combine and warm through – don’t overheat or the eggs will curdle.
4. Pour the warm mixture onto the dry ingredients and whisk until thoroughly combined and the chocolate has melted. Finally, fold in the remaining chopped chocolate.
5. Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for 25-30 minutes, until cooked through. It should be lightly golden and quite firm to the touch. If a skewer inserted into the centre comes up slightly tacky, that’s fine, as it means the blondie will be nice and moist in the centre.
6. Remove from the oven and sprinkle on a generous pinch of flaky sea salt. Leave in the tin for 10 minutes, then lift out, peel away the parchment and place on a wire rack to cool.
7. Cut into squares to serve. The blondies will keep for four to five days in an airtight tin.
Ingredients – Serves 6-8
1 kg minced pork
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tsp dried thyme
2 onions, diced
4 garlic cloves, finely grated
2 green peppers, cored, deseeded and diced
8 green chillies, chopped (seeds and all)
6 ripe tomatoes, deseeded and chopped
150 ml water
½ bunch of spring onions, trimmed and chopped
2 tsp salt, or to taste
1 tsp cracked black pepper
Bunch of mint, stalks removed, leaves shredded
Zest and juice of 2 unwaxed limes
To serve:
Wholemilk yoghurt
Tortillas
Green salad
METHOD
1. Heat a large, non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat. When it’s hot, add the minced pork, cumin seeds and thyme and dry-fry for 10-15 minutes, breaking up the meat and stirring frequently, until it’s dry, browned and crispy.
2. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the browned spicy meat to a bowl. Drain off any excess fat, keeping a little in the pan to cook the vegetables.
3. Return the pan to a medium-low heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook for about 10 minutes, until softened. Stir in the green peppers and chillies and cook for a further few minutes, then return the browned meat to the pan. Give everything a good stir and cook for another five minutes.
4. Pour the water into the pan, add the tomatoes and bring to the boil. Turn the heat to its lowest setting and let the chilli bubble away, uncovered, for around 15-25 minutes, until a lot of the liquid has evaporated. You want the mixture to be juicy but not too liquid and saucy.
5. Stir in the spring onions, salt and pepper. Finally, stir through the mint, and the lime zest and juice, and allow to bubble for a couple more minutes. Take off the heat and leave to stand for 10 minutes to let the flavours develop.
6. Serve with yoghurt and tortillas, with a crisp green salad on the side.
ARE you someone who thinks St Ouen is a ‘long way out’?
I can be guilty of thinking just that but am always surprised when in reality it’s a mere 20-minute drive from my St Helier home.
Last Saturday we headed out to Café Ouen at Plémont.
No traffic to fight through, no parking problems.
Just a drive straight into their ample car park.
The café/restaurant is just by the turning for Plémont beach – it used to be North Point and many will still remember it as Portinfer Tea Rooms.
Since February Juju Roff has been running it as Café Ouen.
I was surprised by how varied the menu was, everything from full breakfast options, Sunday roast lunches, easy lunches like soup and sandwiches, staple favourites, a children’s menu, and afternoon tea with plenty of tempting cakes on display.
The greeting is friendly, the ambience homely and informal with a seaside setting.
I liked the seashore poetry (like I Do Like To Be Beside the Seaside) stencilled on the tables.
They have seating for 40 people, as well as a further 20 outside in the courtyard where dogs are welcome.
When I saw it on the menu, I just fancied lasagne, and it was lovely.
I can be quite particular about restaurant lasagne, it can be too tomato-ey for me, or too garlicky, but this was perfect and the addition of chorizo made it slightly different but tastier.
Mr M opted for the pan-fried haddock in lemon and garlic butter.
It came with sauté greens and peas which he said made a refreshing and tasty change.
As we were saving ourselves for a boozy night out, we did not have a bottle of wine, though we noticed that the house white was available at a very reasonable £14.50 a bottle.
Mr M, never able to turn down the offer of dessert, couldn’t resist trying a huge slice of mocha cake, and so (just to keep him company, you understand) I had a hot chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream.
It just happened to be gluten-free.
It was suitably gooey without being over-rich.
We are tempted to go back to try other things on Café Ouen’s menu.
The sandwiches looked interesting – including grilled goats cheese, lightly spiced tomato salsa, rocket and a balsamic glaze, and flaked mackerel, red onion marmalade, with lemon and chive mayo.
Now that’s different from cheese and pickle.
I also fancy returning for the traditional afternoon tea served with a glass of chilled Prosecco.
Café Ouen really is suitable for everyone – passing cyclists, dog walkers, families, holidaymakers who are lost in the wilds of St Ouen, and it’s very wheelchair-friendly too.
It’s only four minutes from St Ouen’s Village, and – let’s face it – a mere 20 minutes from St Helier. It’s really not that far!
ON THE PLATE
Caroline ate: Lasagne flavoured with chorizo, with garlic bread and fries.
Mr M ate: Pan-fried haddock in lemon and garlic butter with sauté greens and Lyonnaise potatoes.
The Offer
Two-for-one on lunch, £14, until the end of December. Call 510274. For opening hours see cafeouen.co.uk. To get your voucher, or to see more on other great deals, go to jerseylovesfood.com
Now on three cook books and two Michelin stars, Tom Kerridge talks to Ella Walker
TOM Kerridge is grinning.
A big burr of a man, the Salisbury-born chef is all Adidas shell suits and West Country twangs, but he’s just as at home in his two-star Michelin pub, The Hand And Flowers, in Marlow, and is currently celebrating his third cook book, Tom’s Table.
It’s all about extracting as much flavour as possible from food, and making it social, he explains.
‘They’re all recipes and dishes that I do eat, want to eat and make at home.’
One of his favourites is the ‘phenomenal’ green chilli con carne.
‘It’s dry roasted mince, it goes really crispy – tastes fantastic,’ he says, going off into a reverie.
When he first started cooking, for his little brother after school, the menu was a tad less gourmet and featured a lot of fish finger sandwiches, Findus Crispy Pancakes and Birds Eye Potato Waffles.
‘I don’t still cook those things – that’s a complete lie actually! My wife Beth was desperate for a fish finger sandwich last week, so I did make her one,’ he says, ruefully.
His celebrity clientele wouldn’t appreciate that kind of fare though.
The Hand has served Liam Neeson, Tom Jones, George Clooney and Bill Murray, although annoyingly Kerridge missed Murray.
‘I was absolutely gutted,’ he admits, adding he was with his wife in hospital after she had an operation.
They also get quite a few premier league footballers in, and Kerridge loves his football.
‘A pub is part of a community and if we can help another community project like Marlow FC, then we do in any way we can,’ he says passionately.
‘Young chefs, young footballers; there’s a synergy.
‘By the age of 40, you’re too tired to be doing 18-hour days cooking in the sauce section.
‘It’s the same for footballers; you’re not going to be running round the pitch.’
Between TV commitments, an upcoming pop-up at Harrods, the books and the pubs, it’s difficult to imagine 42-year-old Kerridge slowing down.
‘I work on caffeine and adrenaline,’ he confesses.
‘I’m always thinking about what we’ve got next.
‘It’s like, if I was still nine, I’d be riding round on bikes in the car park, getting on a skateboard and then playing on the swings!’
When it comes to his favourite ingredients, he narrows it down to two.
First pork, because ‘without pork there is no bacon’, and second water: ‘A lot of chefs overlook water.’
Not Kerridge; in fact, in another life, he’d have made water his livelihood.
‘I always fancied being a fisherman on a trawler.
‘I like the camaraderie and hard physical work.’ Then again, he is allergic to shellfish…
