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THERE’S a real treat in store for those with a sweet tooth as Maya La Chocolaterie (MLC) has whisked up a new fun fondue menu that will surely delight with every bite.
The kingdom’s bespoke chocolate bar recently invited journalists, bloggers, family and friends to its morning fondue focus group at its Seef Mall outlet, featuring a selection of fruits and cakes to dip into velvety melted chocolate.
According to Sonya Janahi, the owner of the chocolate haven, this will be the first of many taste tests to come. The attendees, including Sonya’s daughter, Rona, and her friends Miren Singh and Omar El Tarzi, were smothered with attention and chocolate creations.
The chocolate-loving 19-year-old university students set aside their studies to unwind over an assortment of fondue bowls including hazelnut, white chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, peanut butter chocolate, milk chocolate caramel and more.
Rona, who is studying psychology at University of California, Berkeley, in the US, has been lending her taste buds to her mum’s company from the beginning and was pleasantly surprised by the event. She said: “I thought the focus group was really fun. I usually help or give my mum ideas for her menu but I had no idea what to expect at this event.
“My friends and I couldn’t get enough. My mum advised me to combine strawberry fruit with white chocolate fondue and crushed graham crackers because it tastes like a cheesecake. My favourite was dipping fruits into dark chocolate and covering it in Oreo crumbs. I think people will really like the fondue menu.”
Omar, who lives in Budaiya and is studying economics at the University of California, Los Angeles, was glad he changed his mind about attending the event. He said: “At first when I woke up I thought maybe I shouldn’t go but I am really happy that I did! I love white chocolate and am so happy that they turned it into a fondue. I especially loved white chocolate with pineapple and crushed Oreo.
“I urge people to try the white chocolate fondue. I was told that not a lot of people order it, but trust me you don’t want to miss it. Another good one is the peanut butter chocolate. It was delicious. I really liked the change of taste between the crackers and pretzels; the saltiness was needed during the taste testing.”
Miren, who is studying pre-vet at UC Berkeley, was visiting from Dubai, and said: “I thought it was amazing. I wasn’t expecting it to be so grand. We all got a different set of cake plates which was pretty intense. I can’t pick a favourite as I liked everything but my preferred combination was white chocolate fondue with pistachio cake topped with crushed graham.”
Sitting alongside the happy trio, it was easy to share their delight. I didn’t stop smiling from the moment the servers presented us with plates of fruits and cakes to when we finished off almost every fondue bowl.
The diced fruits were definitely nature’s skittles. It featured apples, pineapples, mango, strawberries, kiwi, bananas and oranges. They were super sweet on their own and the chocolate only added to the juiciness.
A plate of cakes and crackers were also a welcomed treat. The tiny morsels were too cute to eat, but after the first bite, they were all quickly devoured. The plate of pastries included profiteroles, pistachio cake, almond cake, dark chocolate cake, vanilla cake, homemade marshmallows, savoury crackers, pretzels and other delicacies.
I loved the cheesecake combination as well but was mainly dipping banana into hazelnut chocolate and covering it with honeycomb crumbs.
The cakes in hazelnut were also a winner but the flavour combination that really took me by surprise was the cracker and milk chocolate. I eventually got a few people to give that a try and we soon finished off every cracker on our plates.
After devouring almost every last fruit and cake, we completed a report which will be used to improve the menu in order to better serve the kingdom’s chocolate lovers.
This was by far the best breakfast I have ever had … but then again you can’t go wrong with fruits, cakes and chocolates. Sweet!
