Orange Chocolate

My favorite kind of chocolates are dark chocolate with orange rind.

My holy grail is Leonidas’ Orangette. But it’s so freakin’ expensive.

For more affordable chocolates, I have found several good ones from my travels all over. Some were given by friends who know my quirk in chocolates. Note: It has to be dark chocolate. I don’t eat milk or white chocolate.

Villars Chocolate Noir is only found in Manila and Singapore duty free shops. For me it’s best in the bar category. It has real chewy dried orange peel and the chocolate is dark, smooth and full bodied without being too bitter.(6/7/11- I can’t believe Villars chocolates are now being sold in Unimart. They had several varieties including my favorite dark chocolate with orange peel.)

2nd runner up is this Lindt Noir Orange that my friend Tisay got in Paris. I loved it so much that I kept the unopened bar for a year until it expired because I forgot about it. Thankfully, this is now available in CitySuper in Hong Kong for HK$55. It has bits of orange crunch. It’s very creamy. The Lindt Creation 70% I got in the US for US$5. I don’t like this as much because it has a liquid center.

3rd runner up is Monbana Chocolat Noir Orange. It contains 60% chocolate. This is a new discovery from HK. It’s available in CitySuper for HK$14.

In the truffles category the winner is Royce from Japan. Again from Tisay.

Special mention is Dark Chocolate Orange Twigs by Mademoiselle de’Margaux supplied to me by Ariel from San Francisco. It’s hard to stop munching these flavorful twigs.

For the affordable and accessible category, Frey Bouquet D’ Oranges is a recent discovery from Unimart. I bought this only because it was 50% off or P50. It was pleasant surprise. The chocolate was dark and smooth with bits of orange crackles.