Hotel Chocolat Christmas 2015

Regular readers of my blog will know how much I love Hotel Chocolat. This award winning British company which was set up 20 years ago, produce ethical luxury chocolates with amazing flavour. They are especially fantastic as they help support cocoa farmers and their communities in Saint Lucia and Ghana. Not a lot of people know that!

The managing directors of the company are really hands on too. Angus Thirwell the co-founder and CEO eats chocolate every day and personally tests every single recipe. Now that's a job I would love to have - wouldn't you?

Attention to detail is important to Hotel Chocolat. The chocolates in the stores are immaculately displayed. Staff are all dressed in chic black and are on hand to answer any questions you have. Pop into your local store (there are now 81 in the UK) and samples are always available to try, tempting you to buy more.

If you are ordering from the website everything is beautifully packaged. Delivered in a Hotel Chocolat branded bag and stylishly wrapped in tissue paper it's the finishing touches that make you realise what a quality brand they have. Like the card that comes with the delivery.


Today I am reviewing two of the 500g 'Slabs' of chocolate that they make. The Billionaire's Shortbread and the Rocky Road Slab. I normally buy the H boxes and like the dessert style chocolates but I thought I would try these for a change.
The Hotel Chocolat packaging

The Billionaire's Shortbread Slab




First the Billionaire's Shortbread Slab. When I removed the plastic packaging the sweet smell of chocolate just hit me. Each section of chocolate is slightly different to each other but compliments each part well. In the middle the sweet caramel flavour mingles with the slghtly darker chocolate section decorated with dark chocolate stripes, all sitting next to a section of chocolate scattered with crispy shortbread pieces. This addition is lovely as it brings texture and crunch and lifts the chocolate to another level. 

This huge 500g slab of chocolate is a perfect present for a chocoholic and is also great to share with the family. The luxurious taste of the chocolate means a little goes a long way and the different sections means that different tastes are accommodated. My only negative point is that the chocolate is devilishly hard to break!

The Rocky Road Slab


The Rocky Road slab is a little less sophisticated, in fact if I was a teenager I would call it a Hot Mess -  a "state of total disarray while still maintaining an undeniable attractiveness". Tasty crunchy cookies meet smooth white chocolate chunks and crispy puffed rice. What I personally liked about this slab was that it was very satisfying - a little taste goes a long way. The texture was amazing too, the puffed rice added crunch whilst the cookie added a slightly softer but still interesting texture. There is a mix of milk and dark chocolate as well all topped off with white chocolate buttons.

Rocky Road Slab and Billionaire Shortbread Slab

Priced at £16 these slabs are great treats to put under the Christmas tree. They also come in smaller portions too and the Winter Nano Slab Gallery is like a selection box of all smaller individual portions if you want to try all the different flavours.

Well after a few days of stuffing our faces we still had this amount left of both slabs. I think you can see here how thick the chocolate is, mmmm. 



Other Christmas ideas from Hotel Chocolate include Festive Wreaths, Advent Calendars and Christmas selection boxes. I can highly recommend the Christmas Crackers as I bought these before and the jokes are actually funny and the chocolate is totally delicious.

You can follow Hotel Chocolat on Facebook and Twitter which I recommend doing as they are always running competitions.

So no surprises from me here, being a long term fan of Hotel Chocolat, I can highly recommend these slabs of mouthwatering goodness.

Tell me have you ever tried Hotel Chocolat? Would you buy some as a Christmas gift?

12 comments

  1. The rocky road one looks crazy! I have never tried Hotel Chocolat but I am always drawn in by them. Perhaps I should take the plunge. It certainly all looks delicious.

    <3
    Amy
    www.amynoos.co.uk

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  2. I love hotel chocolat, we have one of the stores near my parents place and we could not get enough when we were there and my dad used to work for them too

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  3. Totally salivating. I adore Hotel Chocolat. The Billionaire Shortbread chocolate is amazing - I also love the little packets of truffles you can get of it there. Yum!

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  4. I love Hotel Chocolat. That billionaire shortbread is right up my street. I'll have to try it. x

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  5. Love a bit of Hotel Chocolat here, love those you've chosen to try. I'm thinking I'd give both a go! x

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    1. I normally choose something a bit more sophisticated like the dessert chocolates but the slabs are for when you want a big chocolate hit.

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  6. I love Hotel Chocolat. and these look so good. Save some for me. Wishlist!

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  7. Yummy! I'm a chocolate lover and may have to treat myself over the festive period!

    Chelsea | www.lifeinthenorth.com

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  8. The Billionaires shortbread is an absolute fave of mine, basically anything caramel!

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