ASINfully Delicious: Try Tsokolate with Asin-tibuok at Chocolate Chamber in Bohol

BOHOL, Philippines — As World Chocolate Day approaches on July 7, on a recent trip to Bohol, we stocked up on tsokolate — the delicious drink made from pure cacao beans — as well as dishes that feature chocolate as an ingredient.

After a visit to Lasang Farm in Maribojoc town, we sat down for dinner at the Chocolate Chamber branch at Moadto Strip in Panglao.

Founded by the Queen of the Table, Raquel Ochoa, the restaurant serves dishes that all contain chocolate. So, if you are a chocolate lover, this is definitely the place for you!

To start, we tasted Sikwate, an unsweetened hot chocolate made with premium green tea. It was imperative to start with this bitter drink so that we could later enjoy the dishes once the flavors were added.

“You should enjoy it by following the 5 principles: First you swirl the contents of your cup before you smell it. Then you sip and swirl it—let it linger on your palate for a bit—and then you swallow it! The enzymes in your saliva break down the flavors in the pure chocolate drink, making it easier to digest. The cocoa butter melts at body temperature,” explained registered dietitian Hannah Ochoa, the fifth sister in Raquel Ochoa’s family of eight. Raquel earned the nickname “Tablea Queen” for elevating cocoa to a sought-after commodity.

We continued our meal with Tablea Mushroom Soup, a creamy, chocolatey soup grated with Bola cacao and asin-tibuok (whole rock salt), accompanied by Tablea Salt Bread and Tablea Chocolate Peanut Butter. And when you stir your soup, you’ll find a chocolate truffle nestled inside. It’s a delicious mix of salty and sweet.

The Margherita Chocolate Pizza with Grilled Sausage is followed by a chocolate-infused crust, spread with mole, a Mexican dough made with a dozen distinct ingredients, with chocolate as the key element. It is topped with sausage or tomato and mozzarella, sprinkled with cacao nibs and grated with cacao de Bola. The crust also contains three types of chiles: labuyo, espada and bell peppers. The pizza is cooked with cacao oil.

Our pasta dish, Spaghetti Mole, was loaded with grilled sausage and tossed with mole, a Mexican paste made with a dozen separate ingredients and drizzled with cocoa-infused oil.

To end on a sweet note, we were offered Puto Sikwate, sticky rice soaked in coconut milk, with a hint of ginger and topped with mango jam, accompanied by muscovado sugar for sweetness, then accompanied by unsweetened sikwate made from premium tablea.

We finished our sumptuous meal with Chilled Salted Caramel, a sweet tablea cocoa powder flavored with salted caramel and grated with asin-tibuok.

“La Factoria is our chocolate factory that makes our chocolate products. The Chocolate Chamber has branches in Cebu, Bohol, and soon Singapore. We prepare our dishes with the ingredients we find in our outlets, so our menus are different in each location,” Hannah shared, at the end of our intimate dinner at their Panglao Island branch.

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