This Saturday, September 12th, marks the return of a sweet Boston tradition, the Chocolate Bar at the Langham Hotel's Cafe Fleuri (we went last year, too). Every Saturday from September 12th through June 26th, the Langham offers an all-you-can-eat chocolate extravaganza. This year, Langham’s new pastry chef Jed Hackney has cooked up quite a theme as well as a few age appropriate additions. The theme for this year’s Chocolate Bar is, appropriately enough, Boston. The desserts explore a few of Boston’s famous neighborhoods and landmarks with a plethora of chocolate creations. The seven locations that inspired this year’s chocolate creations are: the North End, the South End, Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Chinatown, Faneuil Hall, and of course Fenway Park. After the jump, our experience previewing the bar.
If you’ve visited the Chocolate Bar in previous years, it’s likely that your waiter has given you the beverage tutorial. Whether water, tea, soda, or coffee is the best accompaniment to chocolate bliss seems to depend upon personal preference and individual consumption intentions. However, a few years ago we were informed that the correct beverage is never milk: it fills you up too fast, impeding the joy of consuming as much chocolate as possible. This year, to celebrate the Chocolate Bar’s 21st birthday the beverage menu is expanding: chocolate-complementing cocktails, such as champagne and distinctive chocolate martinis, will now be offered at an additional cost.
This Bostonist was lucky enough to get an invitation to a preview of some of the goodies that will grace the banquet area of the Langham’s Café Fleuri. Anything involving a mousse is this Bostonist’s weakness and this event was no exception. The favorite from this tasting was marjolaine, a delicious cake/mousse combo that was a perfect blend of smooth textures, light and rich all at the same time with a well balanced mix of chocolate and hazelnut.
The surprise hits of the bar were the white chocolate macadamia nut tartlet and the peanut butter slice. While this Bostonist is not a fan of white chocolate or macadamia nuts, the tartlet was a collusion of nutty, sweet and salty flavors that was undeniably amazing, despite any dislike for the component parts. The peanut slice was very smooth and contained just the right amount of bitter chocolate to go with the sweet (but not cloying or overwhelming) peanut flavor. Tiny peanut bits added a slight crunch and proved that a little peanut goes a long way—we were all checking our teeth for peanut skins after finishing this dessert.
Considering that the full chocolate bar will consist of 85 different desserts, this was a very small preview of the delights to come. Some of the desserts not previewed include intriguing neighborhood-based options such as: dessert sushi, five-spice chocolate soup, Boston cream pie, chocolate maple pecan tartlets, homemade crackerjacks, cotton candy, chocolate-covered peanuts, Zuccotto and bittersweet chocolate chestnut mousse.
Cafe Fleuri offers this chocolate sinfest for $38 per person for adults and $25 for children ages 5-12. Reservations start at 11:00 am and go until 3:00 pm and are highly recommended. You can make reservations on OpenTable.com or over the phone. If you love chocolate, you will (not surprisingly) adore this event.
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