International Chocolate Day at La Patisserie, Taj Coromandel Chennai

What: International Chocolate Day at La Patisserie

Where: Taj Coromandel, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai

When: Till 18 September 2016

Cuisine: Desserts, Bakery

One of the hidden gems in town when it comes to pastries and desserts (atleast that's how I felt when I first knew the place). La Patisserie at Taj Coromandel is one of the best as well as reasonably priced pastry place among the luxury hotel destinations. Just near the reception area, the pastry shop is set at the tea lounge. I am not new to La Patisserie, have tried their desserts multiple times and they have never disappointed me.

Besides their regular dessert collections, they make sure to craft exquisite pastry creations to please your taste buds. I am a super fan of their orange-basil donut and unbaked saffron cheesecake which was part of their donut and cheesecake day celebrations. And now it is time to celebrate some sinful delights. For the International Chocolate day (which is celebrated on 13 September), they have loaded their dessert bar wit bonbons, dipped chocolate, pastries, cookies and breads.

The chocolate candies melts in your mouth, the bonbons and dipped chocolate coated with chocolate is light, delicious and bursts with flavour. The milk chocolate coated delights filled with filter coffee and orange cream is the best. Orange and chocolate is such a blissful combination; and coffee is an all time delight. It doesn't end there, honey comb dipped with dark chocolate, mango saffron in white chocolate, raspberry in milk chocolate and earl grey in dark chocolate are some more chocolate creations that I tasted. And I did enjoy the mango saffron.

Orange, Earl Grey, Honey Comb, Mango Saffron, Raspberry and Coffee

Black Forest Eclair is one thing I still couldn't get over, the cherry confetti that oozes out as you bite the finest, soft and crumbly choux pastry is drool-worthy. They have nailed the flavours of black forest.

Brittle Almond and Chocolate, the almonds crunch and the chocolate-cream layers are light and melts in your mouth, they did remind me of tiramisu but this again is delicious.

Chocolate Hazelnut Marquise, this bar of eggless chocolate is smooth and silky, it just melts in your mouth. The hazelnut adds crunch and that element makes marquise interesting for me. Textures of Chocolate is a bingo for me, the dark, bitter and rich gooey layers of chocolate just sticks to your mouth.

Textures of Chocolates

Chocolate Elsys cake, the crispy French biscuit helps to cut through the richness. The layers of buttery cream, chocolate and moist cake is an overload of sweetness. But the orange stole all the attention; the subtle essence of orange blended with chocolate layer and the contrasting yet strong zest of pistachio makes Orange Chocolate cake a deliciously deadly combination.

Chocolate Elsys

Spiced Asian Chocolate cake, the intense flavour of spices makes this one seem a less sweet until you experience the delicious mango cream. The cake's texture is rich and gooey but personally this isn't my type of dessert as I would prefer more sweet. And finally some cookies and hot chocolate, the Triple Chocolate cookie is chocolate overload. The chocolate was dripping out of the cookie as you bite the crumbly biscuit. I wish for that cookie and some milk everyday!

And the most impressive part was pricing, the pastry price starts from Rs. 220 INR and a pouch of cookie Rs. 500 INR. And chocolate lovers, it's ideal to go for a box of bonbons that costs Rs. 1000 INR and holds 16-18 chocolates, individually they cost around Rs. 65 INR each, and all that's inclusive of tax.  

Breaking Down Points

Location & Parking: It's Taj Coromandel at Nungambakkam! Nothing more to say.

Ambience: La Patisserie is set at the tea lounge, setting a perfect ambience for anytime over a cup of coffee or tea.

Food Variety: A range of pastries, cakes, cookies and chocolates, so that reads to "everything delicious". They have ample varieties to choose from.

Taste: Whatsoever I have tried, it was delicious. The sweet delights are my favourite, especially the cashew chocolate bars.  

Quality & Quantity: They score most points here, intricate details in their pastries and quantity of their creations are a positive.

Service: Courteous and attentive.

Price: Costly. Cost for two is Rs.800-1000 INR (including taxes), the money spent is totally worth. Also the pricing IMHO is very competitive and par with some standalone pastry joints.

So my Verdict!

La Patisserie at Taj Coromandel is all set for celebrating chocolates. The International Chocolate day's special creations will be available till 18 September 2016. Also they have happy hours from 8 - 9 PM when the prices are slashed by 50%. Also don't miss the éclairs and bonbons if you stop by.

  

LA PATISSERIE !!

P.S. On-the-house blogger invite for International Chocolate Day celebration at La Patisserie, Taj Coromandel Chennai. Remember, no two person's palate can be same.