Say it with flowers, yes. But your words will be even sweeter with a box of chocolates in tow.
We don’t have to be the ones to break the news: There is no Valentine’s Day this year. Not in the usual sense — sharing pasta, Lady and The Tramp-style, over a candle-lit dinner — anyway. Instead, proclamations of love will have to be carried out with a little more creativity: Do it over a specially planned lunch. Or a cute at-home date. Flowers, of course. And don’t arrive empty handed without a pretty treat — guaranteed to make your gesture a little more sweeter than usual.
Sweeten your sweetheart with these chocolate treats:
Messina’s Valentine’s bon bon box
Maybe you’d stop by Messina for an after-dinner date with a scoop of the signature gelato — good news, Messina will be releasing two Valentine’s Day flavours, True Romance, a peanut butter with smashed caramelised brownie, and Red Velvet Underground, a twist on the classic red velvet cake with peach gelato and lychee cream. Otherwise, go for a pretty box of Australian brand’s own chocolate bon bon, 12 handmade pralines in three tempting variations: milk chocolate peanut, macadamia and coffee and hazelnut.
Messina, G/F, 37 Pottinger Street, Central, Hong Kong
Fortnum & Mason’s heart-shaped box of chocolates
Is there any going wrong with a classic heart-shaped box of chocolates? Probably not. But what would make this Valentine’s Day gift a little more impressive is if they came from Fortnum & Mason’s selection. Not just because the British fine-foods grocers has been doing this since 1707, but their chocolate selection is a versatile range of interesting shapes and flavours: salted caramel, ruby chocolates, milk chocolate honeycomb or shaped as flowers — just anything to suit the fancy of your dear Valentines. Maybe a hamper for that picnic you’ve been planning?
Fortnum & Mason, Shop 022, G/F, K11 Atelier, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong, +852 3916 8181
La Maison du Chocolat’s exclusive Valentine’s Day chocolates
It’s not Valentine’s Day without a box of chocolate. La Maison du Chocolat ticks all the heart-shaped boxes of the consummate Feb 14 gift with 14 pieces of chocolate artfully puzzled together within a — surprise! — heart-shaped box, tied together with a bow. Instead of the creamy truffles you’d typically expect, this selection is an exclusive assortment of the French chocolatier’s classics, including three new recipes crafted especially for the holiday: roasted pistachio praline, mango and guava praline and lemon and ginger praline. And hidden between the rectangular bites, two heart-shaped Akosombo bouchées that’ll say it all.
Order here.
La Maison du Chocolat, Shop 2006, ifc Mall, 8 Finance Street, Central, Hong Kong, +852 2801 4880
Jouer Valentine’s Day macarons
You can say it with flowers; say it again with chocolate. Or for those who just can’t wait, say both at once with Jouer’s gift box, a duo of stunning blooms and equally stunning sweets crafted by the boutique cake shop. There are red roses if you lean towards tradition; pink, if they’re a true romantic and a choice of either cake truffles or an ombré selection of heart-shaped macarons in dark chocolate bourbon caramel, Sichuan peppercorn raspberry white chocolate and strawberry cheesecake. And should you be itching to say more, handwrite your remaining thoughts in the attached personalised card and note.
Jouer, various locations including G/F, 1 Sau Wah Fong, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, +852 2528 6577
Casa Cacao’s chocolate bon bons
Casa Cacao’s selection isn’t just your typical chocolates in a box. They’re, first of all, called Bon Bons, delicate drops of decorative chocolate that reflect their premium bean-to-bar make. The Spanish chocolatier, from the noted El Celler de Can Roca, sources their cacao pods from a select list of artisanal growers from Ecuador and Venezuela to India, which also means each bar adopts a unique flavour profile depending on where it’s grown. Previously, they sourced bon bons from Peru and Colombia with flavours like Elderflower and Cherry or Fresh Cacao Plup; for Valentine’s this year, Casa Cacao crafts a similarly irresistible selection of renewed flavours.
Order here.
Casa Cacao, Shop 3, 23 Graham Street, Graham Street Food Hall, Central, Hong Kong, +852 9612 0988
Charbonnel et Walker’s heart-shaped pralines
Whatever their love language may be, chocolate hearts are sure to hold a dear place somewhere in between, especially on Valentine’s Day. Send the perfect message with Charbonnel et Walker’s milk chocolate praline hearts, each dipped in a gleaming coat of gold with a smooth sea salt and hazelnut centre. And of course, you can’t forget the classic red heart packaging.
Charbonnel et Walker, Shop 104, 1/F, Landmark Alexandra, Central, Hong Kong, +852 9303 6782
Mandarin Cake Shop’s Valentine’s Day cakes
There’s all kinds of love to be celebrated on Valentine’s Day: friend-love, family-love and — perhaps the most exciting of all — true love. So it only makes sense there’s a piece for any occasion and every grand gesture. Mandarin Oriental prepares three for the February holiday: a classic red heart of dark chocolate hazelnut for those longtime, enduring loves; a cut-out sable heart with raspberry and yuzu for early love; and a vanilla and berries tart for those budding, yet-to-be-declared kind.
Order here.
Mandarin Cake Shop, M/F, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, 5 Connaught Road Central, Central, Hong Kong, +852 2825 4008
Sift’s Valentine’s Day cupcakes
They might be expecting a big bouquet of roses. Or a sparkling piece of jewellery. Fluffy teddies clutching an embroidered “Love” cushion. What they’re bound to love though, is Sift’s cupcakes. Especially when it’s decorated with a little Valentine’s Day touch. The confectioner’s Valentine’s Day selection is a series of familiar holiday icons: two teddies sharing a loving moment, chocolate roses, a ring pillow and a pretty pink cupcake decorated with a banner scripted with a sweet message. All pretty and all very delicious, too.
Sift, various locations including Shop 240-241, Prince’s Building, 10 Chater Road, Central, Hong Kong, +852 2147 2968
Butter’s White Chocolate Cheesecake
And if not with a box of chocolate, then show your love with a chocolate-flavoured cake. Butter’s Valentine’s Day special is a sweet, fancy tribute to the loved-up holiday: a raspberry white chocolate cheesecake. The smooth, creamy favourite is flavoured in white chocolate and set over a crumbly vanilla base. And on the top, a chain-link of delicately dotted raspberry jam hearts that goes round and round the glossy glazed surface for a delicious indication of your enduring adoration.
Available from now through 17 February. Order here.
Butter, G/F, 34B Staunton Street, Central, Hong Kong, +852 2810 0660
“You’ve Got Mail” from Dang Wen Li by Dominique Ansel
No chocolate in sight, but there’s no saying no to cake. Especially when it’s decorated like Dang Wen Li by Dominique Ansel’s “You Got Mail”. It’s a little different than the email exchange between the characters of Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks in the 1999 flick of the same name, but the intentions in this 2022 pastry is a much better move. Pen your declarations of love and slip it atop this mailbox-shaped cake — an almond genoise sponge with layers of strawberry, raspberry and cherry jelly — and gift it to your special someone.
Order here.
Dang Wen Li by Dominique Ansel, various locations including Shop 2, G/F, H Queen’s, 80 Queen’s Road Central, Central, Hong Kong
Header image courtesy of Fortnum & Mason
Lorria Sahmet
Editor
After two years writing in luxury retail, Lorria now covers food and drink happenings in Hong Kong. When not taste-testing for the best fries in the city (shoestring, always!), find her at home obsessing over tableware and attempting a fruit garden on her tiny bay window. She is happiest by the ocean with a giant fishbowl-glass of Aperol Spritz.
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