Growing up, I was utterly fascinated by the Hansel and Gretel tale of a chocolate house in the woods. It’s one of my favourite fairy tales because come on who would pass up such a brilliant thing. And when you are a sucker for chocolate (the dark kind), it appeals all the more! Icing on the cake is if there are some interesting flavourings added to enhance them.

While vacationing in Uttarakhand, I headed out for a day trip to Mukteshwar and realized they boast of a chocolatier there. I let my imagination run amok as to what this chocolate house would look like. I have been bewitched by the telling of the tale in the famous book by Joanne Harris (Chocolate) and so have a very romanticized notion of a chocolate shop 😉

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Ummmm so okay the shop was not as I had been envisioning – its a little cottage set off from the road and also has a cafe extended onto one side. In fact there seemed to be rooms for stay too above it, so maybe its all one homely affair. The shop turned out to be a souvenir shop cum chocolate haven.

Sadly there was no tasting and I ended up picking a few boxes merely on a hunch. Cappuchino I felt was the safest bet while the chilli, pepper, rum, etc beckoned excitingly too. I prefer dark chocolate, so stuck to picking up flavours in that and boy was I right about it. The hit of coffee was just right and the sugar content was not high at all. This one was perfect for me.

Didnt enjoy the pepper or the chilli flavours as the subtlety was missing big time. I had got one hazelnuts in milk chocolate too which was very creamy, sweet and not to my liking at all though my nephew loved it. Oh and the orange one in milk was pretty decent too.

Overall I would say that buying these chocolates is a great idea – perfect gifts for peeps back home and a great after lunch sating of that Kuch meetha ho jaye wali feeling 🙂 Very well packed and presented and well worth the money.

Just a word of caution, do keep the chocolates refrigerated at lower altitudes as they melt pretty fast.

Side Notes:

• I had driven upto Mukteshwar from the Sitla side and the drive through the Sitla forest was just divine.
• Mukteshwar is roughly an hour’s drive from Satkhol, district Ramgarh.
• The chocolate shop is right on the main road and you cannot miss it at all.
• I had taken the Kathgodam Shatabdi from Delhi and then a taxi from there to Satkhol. Train takes about 6 hours and then its another 2 hours by road.
• I recommend breaking for lunch at the I heart cafe, just before Bhowali; Pizza and cold coffee are to die for.

Check out this chocolatey post by me here