Valrhona Chocolate Afternoon Tea - Origins at Sheraton Hotel, Perth

Ever dreamt of being able to eat your way through a house or restaurant made of chocolate, where there's so much chocolate you can eat to your heart's content until you feel sick... rest 5 minutes and then eat some more? Well, maybe not quite so dramatic but I managed to make a fair dent into the world chocolate supply at a massive chocolate event filled with many decadent chocolate creations.

As part of the Eat Drink Perth Festival of 2010, and running only on 28 March as a pre-paid event, Origins at the Sheraton Hotel offered a special "Valrhona Chocolate Afternoon Tea" event. The event was part of the "Indulge" section of the festival and was obviously designed for chocolate lovers. The afternoon tea cost $50 per head and ran from 2:30pm to 5:30pm.

Valrhona is a French chocolate maker that has been around since 1922. According to Wikipedia, it is one of the foremost manufacturers that focuses on high quality chocolate to the world for both professional and private consumption. What better way to have a chocolate event than to use luxury chocolate? But you would expect nothing less from a place with a reputation like Origins, and so you can expect to be in for a real chocolate treat.

As I first approached Origins for the afternoon tea, the distinct smell of chocolate filled the air. Stronger and stronger the smell became as I made my way to the front desk where you wait to be seated. As I approached our table, the large buffet chocolate display was evident.

Chocolate in many forms including chocolate decorations filled the upper level of Origins that looked pretty impressive, that it felt a shame to pick at it and ruin the carefully placed chocolate treats. The chocolate decorations included some big chocolate multi-level and centrepiece like creations that gave me brief naughty thoughts of eating through it thus ruining what seemed like the product of a lot of time and skill.

The chocolate creations on offer included:

• A chocolate shooter topped with cream that was served at the beginning by a waitperson
• Valrhona chocolate pralines, truffles, and strawberries
• Chocolate jaffa mud cake
• Valrhona white chocolate and vanilla fondue
• White chocolate pannacotta with passionfruit and basil
• Chocolate brownies
• White chocolate and raspberry friand
• Rocky road
• A big chocolate fondue fountain with fruit and marshmallows
• White chocolate fondue with raspberry; and
• Hot cross buns and Easter eggs to match the Easter festive season.

To accompany the chocolate overload a large range of coffee and tea was included as part of the chocolate afternoon tea, or other drinks such as French champagne were available for additional cost.

It's a little hard to describe all the chocolate treats except to say that if you are a lover of chocolate, you'd be sure to find many things to bring you chocolate joy. All chocolate creations looked expertly made and what you would expect from a place like Origins.

In the end, I think I had enough chocolate to last me a year. OK, maybe a week. But man, even though I don't normally eat much chocolate, was this a good way of treating myself to chocolate galore. Maybe they'll run this again next year?

Valrhona Chocolate Afternoon Tea
Sheraton Perth Hotel
207 Adelaide Terrace
Perth WA 6000
(08) 9224 7777

http://www.eatdrinkperth.com.au/eat_drink_indulge.html
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=240

Date: 28 March 2010, 2:30 to 5:30pm