Next  up, we try the ice cream scoops served in Mexican coffee bun, presented as plated-desserts. Chocolate and orange zest and the Kashmiri rose berry ice cream appear interesting. Our impression is ruined soon enough. While the bun is dry, the ice cream melts into a puddle. Since it is made without preservatives, it is likely to melt fast we are told, but this hurried experience is no fun. The ice cream flavours are unique and would do well if the quality is improved.

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The chocolate menu is vast with bon bons, ganache cubes and enrobes. The Jack Daniel’s bonbons don’t have enough alcohol and are too sweet. Baileys bonbons and Amarula bonbons are bold in their flavours but again, on the sweeter side. The banofee bon bon seems to have just a banana mash as filling, while the apricot filling had gone stale. Same is the case with strawberry mousse—a greedy bite makes us regret our temptation.

We try the organic coffee almond praline bark (Rs 475) and the salted caramel bark with butterscotch nuts (Rs 475). The latter has coated breadsticks that are crunchy but the chocolate fails to impress us again. All chocolates are made in refined sugar as well as khandsari sugar variants. We even try some ganache cubes that just about pass the average mark. In some, the texture disturbs us and in others, the chocolate quality.

“We follow the SLO approach [sustainable, local and organic] and source the beans straight from Kerala farmers to make our own coverture chocolates,” says owner Rahul Bajaj, who has travelled to Kerala and Garhwal with his team to  understand the process of growing, harvesting, and processing cacao with his team in the past few years.

His research and experimentation with desserts and chocolates is what intrigued him to launch The Blue Gourmet. “Our teams took online courses with artistes from Stockholm, Paris, Belgium in chocolate processing that has 11 steps including, roasting, fermenting and winnowing,” he adds.

Over the years, brands like Entisi, Ether, Fabelle and La Folie have raised the bar for quality chocolate products and we have been spoilt for high-end choices. At Blue Gourmet, we don’t find any reason to return for a craving.