Unlike our Asian neighbors, there aren’t a lot of chocolatiers in the Philippines. So if you want to taste chocolate that’s not from the supermarket, I can only think of a few: there’s Royce’ from Japan, Patchi from Lebanon, and the homegrown Machiavelli.
The latest addition to the short list is Villa del Conte from Padova, Italy. It comes to Manila by way of Vincent and Rhoda Aldanese, a couple passionate about Europe, luxury, and chocolate, who discovered the product during one of their frequent trips to Italy.
A year ago during a pilgrimage to St. Anthony of Padua, they met the family that owns and runs the 75-year-old company in a very small town called Villa del Conte.
They found the owners very simple, even as their chocolates are favored by royalty, such as the Imperial Family of Japan.
Spanning three generations of chocolate makers, Villa del Conte was started by Nazzareno Cattapan, whose passion was to create the finest artisanal chocolate using only premium ingredients.
He passed on each recipe to his son, Orfeo Celestino who in turn, passed it on to his son, third-generation cioccolato connoisseur Enrico Nazzareno, who now heads the operations.
What sets Villa del Conte apart is while Swiss chocolate is all about milk, Belgian is all about cocoa butter, and US chocolate is all about sugar, Italian chocolate is all about cacao.
Only handpicked cacao beans are used to ensure that beans of the highest standards are used in making the artisanal creations.
Last July 15, 2011, Vincent and Rhoda Aldanese opened their first Villa del Conte shop on the 3rd level of Shangri-La Plaza, right across from high-end fashion boutique, Homme et Femme.
Among their offerings are Praline Balls in milk or dark chocolate with different cream fillings; Praline Sticks in fruity flavors; Gianduja, dark chocolate with hazelnut cream filling and whole hazelnuts; and Ovicini, sugar-coated dark chocolate eggs with hazelnut cream filling.
While the chocolates may be stored in the chiller, they are best eaten at room temperature. When you bite into a praline ball, you can actually stick your tongue inside to lick the creamy filling.
The special packaging with the orange box featuring a picture of the Padova Square and luxurious dark brown ribbon may remind one of Hermés. But Rhoda says the orange tone is a color particular to that region of Italy, where some houses are painted in that shade.
Bestselling flavors are dark chocolate with coffee and milk chocolate with cereal. As for the praline sticks, banana is a bestseller, followed by strawberry.
Villa del Conte sells chocolates by the gram, packaged in three box sizes: the Samples box costs P480-P580 for 100 grams. Medium costs P780-P980 for 250 grams. Large costs P1,480-P1,780 for 500 grams.
Customized orders, personalized packaging and corporate rates are also available.
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Villa del Conte is now open on the 3rd Level, Shangri-La Plaza mall. For more information, call 621-2101 or 893-2575, log on to www.villadelcontecioccolato.com, e-mail info@villadelcontecioccolato.comor