Proudly Filipino
Chocolate lovers trooped to the Manila House Private Membership Club in Taguig City for the launch of Auro Chocolate, a proudly Filipino chocolate-producing company.
The company, which empowers local farmers to sustainably create the finest single-origin cocoa and chocolate products, is headed by its founder and president Jacki Go and daughter Kelly Go as comanaging director with partner Mark Ocampo, grandson of lawyer Estelito Mendoza.
Manila House chefs, headed by Selena Ocampo, whipped up a finger-food menu for the event, which included taro chips with white chocolate dip and goat cheese; pumpkin soup shooter with white chocolate foam and chocolate liqueur dust; jamon Serrano, 72-percent dark chocolate and baguette; seared salmon with white chocolate cauliflower puree and scallion oil; and slowroasted beef belly with chocolate barbecue sauce and horseradish. Guests also enjoyed the Auro Chocolateinfused cocktails by the Avenue Bar.
The event was made even more special when soughtafter pastry chefs served their one-of-a-kind desserts: Sunshine Puey (chocolate silk with hazelnut crumble),
Peachy Juban ( Ding, Ang Bato!), Miko Aspiras (Bubbles/Block/Dark of the Moon) and Richie Manapat (Sourdough Rum Baba).
Xandra Rocha-Araneta emceed the event and the retro party music was courtesy of DJ Paul Mauricio.
The night ended with the unveiling of a chocolate wall full of spoons with sumptuous chocolate creations by Auro.
I tried the milk chocolate, white chocolate and three types of dark chocolate (each with a higher percentage of cocoa). I couldn’t decide which one I liked the most since all were very good. I was very impressed with the quality of chocolates from Davao!
(The Auro Chocolate shop will open soon at Fabtech Building, Santiago St., Paseo de Magallanes Commercial Center, Makati City.)