MadridEating; Cacao Sampaka

by Chef Ben posted September 17, 2010 category Chefs. Restaurants., General

One of the typical things you can find in Madrid besides the endless lists of clubs and tapas bars would be the pastry shops. And one in particular worth making a trip to is the chocolate boutique

It was co-founded by Albert Adria together with Chocovic ( a Spanish based fine chocolate company ). However Albert Adria ended his association with the company. But I’m pretty sure he left more than a box of chocolates behind. Cacao Sampaka has its chocolate stamp in cities like Barcelona, Berlin, Dubai and few more. And every shop definitely has the contemporary and rich style that, well at least for me, is associated to that of Albert Adria.

Apart from being a fine chocolate boutique it also houses a cafe where you can enjoy a good cup of coffee with pastries. Favourites like Chocolate con Churros, Chocolate Napolitanas (pan au chocolat), tostade de jamon & croissants can all be found together with a good list of coffees of course.

We had a soft “strip” of sugary sponge fingers, a very tender soft Tiramisu and a glass of Vanilla Coffee (basically it’s like a latte with a scoop of very strong vanilla ice cream). Though we did not really like the coffee we were just happy to be here !

The boutique is pretty detailed with offerings available. Chocolate bars were categorized into the percentage of cocoa it contained and chocolate bonbons sorted by its main character.

1 Original chocolates

2 Nuts

3 Spices

4 Flowers & Herb infusions

5 Wine and Liquors

6 Fruit Marmalades

7 Truffles

8 Innovative pairings

All were available for purchase in sets of 16 or 36.

Besides its detailed bonbon temptations, chocolate snacks, jams, lollies, creams… everything else chocolate… they also retail cookery books… on chocolate and desserts of course. The feel of the place has the feel of a high end fashion boutique only and the service team is inviting and friendly. Showing us and explaining everything in the best English they could muster… hahaaa … and with me throwing in a line or two of dreadful unfamiliar Spanish. When all else fails she throws her trump card! She gives us samples of the bonbons … hahaaa … propabaly to shut me up … lol but it was a great experience and a really nice chocolate boutique with or without Albert Adria. Although you can’t help but imagine if it might have been a bit more special if he was still involved … hmmm ….