Bite of Belgian chocolate at Mandarin Oriental

By Bruce Emond

JAKARTA (JP): Time was tick, tick, ticking away and there was still no sign of our guest of honor at the Mandarin Oriental's Kafe-Kafe coffee shop. Flurried explanations amounted to the cooking demonstration was actually scheduled for 3 p.m., and that the Belgian ambassador ("a very busy man, you know") would also grace the event with his presence.

As it had just turned 1:30 p.m. and we had been seated for more than an hour, I was in two minds whether to fumble through my bag for that unfinished copy of War and Peace.

"They think we're all running on jam karet," the woman next to me whispered conspiratorially.

The restaurant manager steered us back to the subject at hand by proffering his musings on the meaning of chocolate; this was, after all, the first day of Kafe-Kafe's Chocolate-Chocolate promotion (try saying that quickly-quickly five times).

"Chocolate doesn't have to be just chocolate bars," he said earnestly, nodding to the line up of assorted cakes, tortes and puddings on display. "And good chocolate doesn't just come from Switzerland, it is also produced in Belgium."

No kidding. Along with coal from Newcastle, cigars from Havana and oil from Saudi Arabia, I thought.

As any chocolate lover will vouch, Belgium is as synonymous with chocolate as it is with gems (or french fries, which incidentally should rightfully be called Belgian fries as its people consume more fried potatoes than anyone else on earth). The event was organized by Puratos, a major Belgian chocolate confectioner.

We moved on to sample the dessert buffet spread, a popularity contest of sorts for the chocolate desserts. The cakes and flans most favored by diners during the promotion through July will become a permanent part of the Mandarin's bakery output.

The lineup consisted of the Egyptian, a chocolate sponge cake filled with mousse, shaped into a pyramid and studded with dates; Chocolate with Cherries, a tart chocolate cream flan; the Japanese, a layered hazelnut and chocolate sponge; Belgian Truffle Cake; Tagli almond sponge with Tiramisu filling; the Cafe Noir cake; Chocolate Flan with Pears; and the rich Praline Bomb.

"Do any of these contain alcohol," we asked the helpful chef divvying up generous portions of cake.

She cheerily answered in the affirmative, adding hasty qualifiers when she realized we were not in quest of an alcohol high.

"These two don't, and you can always substitute other flavorings and essences for the alcohol in the rest of the cakes," she said.

At that moment, David Austraete, the Puratos representative and the man we had been waiting for, entered the room and saved her from further damage control efforts.

"He looks like Van Damme," my companion murmured to me in reference to Belgium's most famous acting export. Stifling a response that he probably could give Jean-Claude a run for his money in the thespian skills department, I tackled Austraete on substitutes for alcohol in the recipes.

"You can use concentrated fruit essences and other flavors instead," he said. "The alcohol isn't essential, it's up to your taste."

Charming and well-spoken, Austraete travels the world six to eight months of the year demonstrating use of Puratos products.

"I learn a lot from traveling around," he says. "I learn how we can do things differently, and how we can adapt a local recipe by using our chocolate."

Chef Austraete named Belgian Truffle Cake as one of his particular favorites, and this scrumptious melding of butter and praline cream and sponge proved to be heavenly. Another exotic diversion was the Egyptian, which shows there is more to cooking with dates than just chopping them up for a fruit cake.