Canadian globe-trotting chocolatiers in Saigon
We were very pleased when Kirsten and Cyrus contacted us to ask for a tour of the Marou chocolate factory. Kirsten and Cyrus own a chocolate shop in Edmonton, Alberta http://www.kerstinschocolates.com/ , and are doing a round-the-world trip with their two children, escaping the harshness of the winter in central Canada, visiting chocolate experts, cocoa growers and chocolate makers along the way (the blog of their adventures are here http://www.thechocolatechronicles.com/chronicles/category/adventures/ ). Having narrowly missed them at the Salon du Chocolat in Paris, we wanted to make sure they’d get the time to see our production facilities and taste our chocolate, because in Ho Chi Minh City we don’t very often get a chance to receive feedback from chocolate professionals.
The day started with an early pick up at their hotel near the famous Ben Thanh central market in downtown Saigon, a phone call the night before had established the fact that after 2 weeks of noodle and vegetable broth for breakfast, Kirsten, Cyrus and their 2 adorable kids were ready for something a bit less exotic, and so we opted for a French breakfast of coffee, croissants and baguette with butter and jam at Une journée à Paris, a nearby bakery that also stocks Marou chocolate. Kirsten insisted on starting the chocolate tasting at the breakfast table and bought a bar of our Ba Ria 76% from the display, which quickly disappeared as everybody tucked in.
We then hopped on a taxi and started the long journey to the factory. At some point when talking about our respective families, Cyrus mentioned that he had been a student at the Singapore American School in the early 80s, quite a coincidence as my wife had been there too, so we quickly planned a SAS Reunion Lunch for after the visit!
It was slightly humbling to open the doors of our factory to people who had only just visited the fabled Bonnat chocolaterie (where pretty much all is as it was in 1885!) or the state of the art Valrhona factory, but we showed that with a bit of hard work we too had managed to create a good chocolate manufacturing facility in Vietnam. Tasting the 4 different bars we currently stock, Kirsten and Cyrus gave us their seal of approval and we promised that Kerstin’s chocolate would be our first retail outlet in Canada!
PS: You can read Kerstin’s blog entry here:
http://www.kerstinschocolates.com/blog/?p=1806
