5 minute read
Colors Cafe Chocolate Week
A perennial favourite of the Four Seasons calendar, Chocolate Week sees the Hotel's pastry team enrich their cocoa-themed portfolio annually with new and alluring delights. This year's edition featured the expertise of maestro Antonio Bachour, whose Midas touch led to chocolate gold.
It’s a beloved tradition, perennially steeped in creativity, but the Hotel’s most recent Chocolate Week came with a particularly rich coating of inspiration. Antonio Bachour, among the world’s most celebrated pastry chefs, was invited to curate the November 2023 edition. He mentored the Four Seasons’ dessert masters through a week-long training programme and ushered in innovative ingredients and approaches. The result was not only a collection of 23 show-stopping desserts, but also the fulfilment of a key milestone in the Hotel’s history. “Chocolate Week was an opportunity for us to not only showcase his pioneering work, but also to celebrate our cooperation and friendship - something which we intend to continue for years to come through future exchanges in chocolate and pastry-making,” explains the hotel group’s Food and Beverage Manager Yiannos Gregoriou.
Culinary Gold Dust
Such interaction with industry experts is a key value of Four Seasons’ operations, and Bachour’s insights are intellectual gold dust for pastry-makers worldwide. Parallel to his restaurant empire in Miami and Mexico, Bachour has received international acclaim for his unrivalled reign in the pastry world. “It’s a far cry from my teenage years, helping my father in the family bakery in Puerto Rico,” says Bachour. After a series of stints in renowned establishments, such as the W Hotel in South Beach and the Soho hotel in New York, he then became the dessert right-hand man of Jean-Georges Vongerichten and his international restaurant group. This background helped earn him the title of Best Pastry Chef in the World in 2018 and 2022 from the Prestigious Best Chefs Foundation, the world’s leading culinary award platform. His consultations and collaborative dinners have also seen Bachour rub shoulders with global culinary greats, such as Massimo Bottura and Joan Roca.
The Essence Of Chocolate Week
It was, therefore, a great privilege to interview Bachour, who elaborated on the thought process behind Chocolate Week. “I believe in accentuating the natural flavour of cocoa with two core principles, which are to keep the sugar content at the bare minimum, and to use simple recipes with a limited set of ingredients,” said Antonio. “It’s where the clichéd term ‘Less is More’ takes on a whole other meaning.” Indeed, the signature servings at the Hotel were borderline salted, but nonetheless mastered the balance of flavour that is characteristic of Antonio's work. “We share a conscious effort to minimise the exaggerated sweetness of conventional dessert-making, and instead elevate the taste of nuts, fruits, spices and other natural elements,” says Gregoriou.
Colors Brigade
Our pastry chefs at the chocolate bar station took dark, milk and white chocolate sheets and converted them into favours, with features that included meringue, caramelised ginger, coconut and other tempting treats.
A Tour Of World Chocolates
The Chocolate Week shortlist was, therefore, a whistle-stop tour of the world’s grand cru chocolate varieties, from milk to white to dulce de leche. Their aroma, richness and texture dominated the taste profile of tarts, financiers, craquelins and other dessert staples and techniques, such as ganache, pannacotta and mousse. Each chocolate formation came with its own consistency, shape and colour palette; Antonio pointed out the ‘Rocher’, which was a sphere of Jivara – a milk chocolate famed for its pronounced cocoa notes and hints of vanilla – encrusted with crystals of caramel-coloured feuilletine. These chocolate sculptures were presented alongside classic brioches, croissants and pains au chocolat pastries, since Viennoiseries are among the legendary specialties of Antonio's craftsmanship. “My personal Viennese favourite was the Dulcey Flan, as it demonstrates Antonio’s sheer ingenuity in croissant-making,” adds Gregoriou.
The event also introduced chocolate followers to the work of Valrhona, the French premium chocolate house with its revolutionary fruit flavours, featuring freeze-dried raspberry, strawberry and passion fruit, added to ground cocoa beans. Many guests were also able to purchase personalised gift boxes with Antonio's chocolate bonbons, a rainbow of delectable bites in the shape of miniature cocoa beans. Each coloured bonbon referenced the individual Caribbean and Mediterranean flavours hidden in every mouthful, from yuzu to pistachio to mint. Ultimately, it was a Chocolate Week to remember for both visitors and the Four Seasons’ pâtissiers behind the scenes, for while maestro Bachour may have stayed only a few days, sweet memories were made all round.
Our pastry chefs at the chocolate bar station took dark, milk and white chocolate sheets and converted them into favours, with features that included meringue, caramelised ginger, coconut and other tempting treats.
Our pastry chefs at the chocolate bar station took dark, milk and white chocolate sheets and converted them into favours, with features that included meringue, caramelised ginger, coconut and other tempting treats.
Our pastry chefs at the chocolate bar station took dark, milk and white chocolate sheets and converted them into favours, with features that included meringue, caramelised ginger, coconut and other tempting treats.
Our pastry chefs at the chocolate bar station took dark, milk and white chocolate sheets and converted them into favours, with features that included meringue, caramelised ginger, coconut and other tempting treats.
Our pastry chefs at the chocolate bar station took dark, milk and white chocolate sheets and converted them into favours, with features that included meringue, caramelised ginger, coconut and other tempting treats.
Our pastry chefs at the chocolate bar station took dark, milk and white chocolate sheets and converted them into favours, with features that included meringue, caramelised ginger, coconut and other tempting treats.
Our pastry chefs at the chocolate bar station took dark, milk and white chocolate sheets and converted them into favours, with features that included meringue, caramelised ginger, coconut and other tempting treats.
