Box Chocolate Review

Chocolat Moderne

Info Details
Country USA   (NYC)
Style Classic      
lo
med
hi
CQ
Sweetness
Intensity
Complexity
Impact
Fashion pollution: when lost, go to France. An update on Frantz Fanon, author of Wretched of the Earth; one of those miscarriages that somehow survived birth but, with rare exceptions, never should’ve.

France still colonizes chocolatiers into subjugation, seizing their minds & emotions thru its language & style. So instead of Fanon’s other well-known work Black Skin, White Masks, everything in this milieu oozes ‘Chocolate Brown, French tact’.

In reality, gimcrack: coral-colored boxes, clear glass-enclosed museum-like display cases, adorned in Mannerist art gallery images, sporting titles that smell of English Lit majors from jr liberal arts colleges, all complete faux bull-roe. Comes with recommended wine-pairing lists, a necessity to help boost a product in need of support, leading to the false comfort that ‘more is better’ instead of ‘better is better’. This is the bad news.

For the good news... read on to see if this could grow into one of those exceptions.
Presentation   4.8 / 5
a mix of bold eye-catching geometric designs, antique molds, & enrobed appliqué, all at mega-wattage temper
Aromas   4.6 / 5
deep, dark, & anise-accented
Textures/Melt   8.3 / 10
Shells: (other the walnut shells) semi-thin
Centers: variable from evenly smooth & sultry to major crunch (incl walnut SHELLS in the Baklava piece)
Flavor   41.7 / 50
simulacrum, but continually improving; recently, bold ingredients transformed to delicate crèmes & caramels – e.g., otherwise powerful flavors (like soy-miso & kalalmata olive) are ever so lightly infused & redefined in a new context
Quality   23.9 / 30
Better balancing than in the past. Traded in the ham-handed touch for more sheer. From pre- to post- to non-moderne to current conclusion: mod-confusion.
Selections
Couverture: Valrhona
Raspberry Rendez-vous – Smuckers Parisian-style
Parlez Pistache – spoken like true mulched nut spittle
La Dolce Gracefruit – heavy-handed misdirection, squelchy detergent clean-up
Soy-Miso – Dark Choc encases liquid caramel w/ slightly sweet & subtly tart FXs
Shisho – delicatia; light gooey, not chewy
Baklava – crispy, airy & salt ‘n sweet crunch
Kalamata Olive – Dark ganache mellows the sharp strength of olive to a whisper; excellent (Vosges could learn from this)
Havana Heat – a scorcher w/ no sea breeze
Havana Heat Bistro Bar – moderne goes for ancient Aztec superstition; peppered caramel covered in dark shell; more gumption than guts & more style than substance

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