Superfood chocolate. This is a thing. Doisy & Dam make chocolate with great things inside it. Healthy things. Things that won’t make you feel the least bit guilty. Things like Goji Berry, Maca, Spirulina and Hemp Seed. The packaging is unique, eye-catching and does a great job of drawing the customer to pick up a bar. I can vouch for the mulberries, chia seeds and spirulina dark chocolate.
South Place Hotel is a company first for D&D and has 80 bedrooms, four bars, five private dining rooms and two restaurants right in the heart of the City. For one week only, they’ve teamed up with the guys at Doisy & Dam and are collaborating with cocoa to celebrate Chocolate Week.
Le Chiffre, is a bar and games room named after the poker-playing villain in Fleming’s Casino Royale and is usually restricted to members of the Hotel’s Spies Society, and Hotel guests but for now, it’s flung open its doors to chocolate and is a Wonka-esque cocktail parlour for everyone to enjoy.
The Dirty Duck lives up to its name, but tastes delicious. The squeaky duck holds a very special secret ingredient and the second picture shows my gin transformed into a chocolate-fuelled Martini.
The inventive barman here has come up with three Chocolate-inspired cocktails which can be enjoyed in the bar and their Secret Garden.
Drinking cocktails is never advisable on an empty stomach, so a quick lift ride down to the ground floor and Mr and Me visit Fish Market their 70-seater restaurant.
There’s something for everyone on this menu but as we’re eating in the Fish Market we decide to order seafood.
To begin, I had the prawn cocktail. Crisp, butterhead lettuce with large pieces of prawn and a delicate mayonnaise sauce, was a generous starter.
Mr had difficulty choosing but opted for the scallops and black pudding which were both sweet and succulent, a beautiful plate of food he had no trouble in finishing.
The service I should add. is impeccable and the staff really know the menu, including wines-by-the-glass which we were really impressed with. Mario was charming and Perry, the restaurant manager, was light of foot and touch around the restaurant making sure everything was just so.
Mr had a large sea bass with sea vegetables which included al dente Samphire and Sea Aster. Fresh fish, seasoned and cooked well under a grill is wonderful. A side of buttered potatoes is all that’s needed as the fish is the star of this plate.
My Monkfish main course with red lentils was a really tasty plate. A thick piece of Monkfish steak sat precariously on top of delicately spiced lentils. I love it when simple flavours aren’t messed with and the chefs at Fish Market have nailed it.
A small pause and another Chocolate Week dish in a Lemon, poppy-seed and white chocolate blondie. We managed the ice cream but realise we simply can’t eat anymore and we leave with a box of spoils.
Two coffees end an amazing meal.
I shouldn’t forget that we pop the chocolate truffles – another Doisy & Dam inspired treat.
You can sample the Chocolate Week specials at the Hotel until October 18th.
South Place Hotel, 3 South Place, London EC2M 2AF
020 3503 0000
We were guests of South Place Hotel.
