Valrhona Chocolate ♥

Found out that the Valrhona chocolate counter is located in ThreeSixty Marketplace at ION Orchard (Level 4). If I were a thief I'd some here and steal all their chocolate bars!

Their pretty Easter display.

Easter poster, colorful ♥

Some of their assortment of truffles and pralines. I'm not so much interested in these as...

The treasures~ ♥ Dark chocolate! I don't really like milk chocolate or white chocolate or chocolate anything (chocolate milk, chocolate cake, chocolate cream, no thank you!) But I looove dark chocolate, especially the bittersweet ones that leave a lingering taste ♥

The 8 types of flavors of Valrhona Les Grands Crus. The descriptions:

Manjari (64%): Fresh & Tangy

Tainori (64%): Fruity & Intense

Caraïbe (66%): Balanced & Velvety

Guanaja (70%): Bittersweet & Elegant

Alpaco (66%): Floral & Oaky

Abinao (85%): Power & Tannic

Jivara (40%): Creamy & Chocolatey

Taniriva (33%): Sweet & Caramelized

Some gift ideas in boxes and squares.

They come in tins too.

Came back with these~ Guanaja 70g square and a mini set of all dark chocolate 6 flavors. The extra mini Guanaja was kindly given by the lady as a sample ♥ I knew Guanaja would be the one for me after seeing the word "Bittersweet". And it's packaging is red, on of my favorite colors! ♥

The mini set, S$9, a good way to try out the dark chocolate flavors and great for gifts! Sadly it doesn't include Jivara and Tanariva (both are milk chocolate flavors). So far I've tried Caraïbe (blue), Alpaco (green), Tainori (yellow) and Guanaja (red).

My favorite is still Guanaja. It's really an intense mix of flavors: at first it's bitter, a bit of coffee, a bit of an acidic taste, very slightly fruity and changes to sweetness as you let it melt in your mouth and swallow. But not the sugary sweet, rather the bittery sweet. It's not overly bitter and the bittersweet taste reaaallly lingers! Makes me feel good and keep reaching for more.

Alpaco is fresher and lighter, with a hint (not very strong) of a floral taste? It would go well with tea I think. It's not so bitter but you can tell it's dark chocolate. This is my second favorite!

Tainori has a noticeable fruity/citrus flavor attached to it, it hits you the moment you take a bite. I ate this in one bite cos I was in a rush so I didn't really have time to savor it!

Caraïbe is so-so, it has a nice smooth texture, but the flavor was a bit bland/no kick for my liking ^^ It didn't stand out to me - no hint of tanginess or sweetness and the taste doesn't linger. After swallowing the taste is gone.

I have high hopes for Abinao as it has the highest cacao content and is described as "Power & Tannic" :D I suppose the two adjectives they give are a rather accurate description of the flavors (for the 4 I've tried at least!). And as expected with Valrhona chocolates, all of them have a superb texture that melts smoothly in your mouth ♥

**edit** I've tried Abinao, it's wow, it's really a powerful taste. And it's tannic, there's that dry sensation after swallowing. It's strong and bitter, very aromatic. The taste really lingers, but unlike Guanaja it's more bitter than bittersweet. Perhaps good for when you're feeling down or in a bad/sad mood, like I was when I ate it. But I suppose it'd be a bit too overwhelming for most people's liking ^^

Also tried Manjari, it's fresh and light. It has a fruity flavor like Tainori but is less intense.

My order of preference would be Guanaja>Alpaco>Abinao>Manjari>Tainori>Caraïbe. But I'm biased towards bittersweet chocolates and I'm generally not a fan of chocolates with orange flavors, so if you like milk chocolates or dark chocolates with lower cacao content then you probably wouldn't like Abinao. Or maybe even Guanaja.

The 70g bar is S$11.50. The 20g bar is S$4. Both sizes also have a "special" of a set of 8, one of each flavor, at a few bucks less than if you were to purchase all separately.

Inside the box is a sealed foil that houses the chocolate square, which is precut for ease of handling and snacking :D The pretty logo embossed at the bottom.

The Valrhona section also sells baking chocolate, but I didn't photograph that as I was busy drooling over the dark chocolate! ♥

Also spotted this at ThreeSixty, Prosciutto di Parma! ♥ I miss youuu, haven't had you in a long long time! (Ham is really overpriced in Singapore, in Italy 100g was ~1.50euros, here 100g is ~S$9!!)

And these as I was exiting, strawberries my love! ♥♥♥