Baptism of Chocolate Fire

We celebrated Raphael Anthony’s Baptism last March 28, Palm Sunday, at Chocolate Fire. We decided to have a private event — a Chocolate and Wine Baptism with our immediate family and the Ninongs and Ninangs only. I’m glad that Chocolate Fire specializes in chocolate-themed events, and we were happy to be their first event here in Manila. 🙂

Chocolate Fire is a Melbourne-based enterprise and is currently the best Chocolate Cafe in Manila. It’s very interesting that they chose Manila as the location of their first store outside Australia. They opened it here for two reasons: (1) their top customers in their Melbourne store are Filipinos, and (2) a popular chocolate brand has Philippines as one of their top market.

Chocolate Fire is starting to rock the Chocolate trend locally by introducing Top Quality Artisan Chocolates produced here in Manila.  High Quality Chocolates actually do not burn your throat and the dark ones, which are made of pure cacao, are healthy. You can actually eat as many as you like without feeling stuffed.

Here is a photo essay of Raphael’s Baptism. Thank you to the Ninongs and Ninangs for making this a special event in Raphael’s life! 🙂

Raphael Anthony Uy-Diaz was baptized into the Catholic Faith last March 28, 2010.

It was held in the temporary church of St. Michael the Archangel in Bonifacio Global City. The Ultimate Taste Test event’s advocacy is to help build the new St. Michael the Archangel Church.

A Chocolate Event is heaven for the kids as well as adults. 🙂 They can eat as much chocolate as they want without feeling guilty and thinking about the price!

We started the Baptismal celebration with a chocolate platter of the best Chocolate Fire assortment we love.

You have three choices of chocolates: The Dark Chocolate, the Milk Chocolate and the White Chocolate. We prefer Dark because it is made from pure cacao without any preservatives or added extenders. The Milk chocolate is actually Dark chocolate with Milk, while the white ones are not really chocolate and the unhealthiest of them all.

Dark Chili Bark (P180 per 100g). This is my personal favorite because I like the contrast of the spiciness with the dark chocolate-y taste. It is definitely not for kids and for those who cannot stand raw chili.

Dark Gold Bark (P280 per 100g). This one is just Dark chocolate with 24k gold dust. The gold does not really add to the taste of the chocolate, it just adds novelty to it (plus bragging rights that you ate gold with your choco.) This golden chocolate reminds me of that Goldschlager drink.

Glazed Fig in Milk (P100 per piece). The fig is an interesting addition to the platter. We wanted to introduce a different kind of texture, something to break the monotony of just eating chocolates.

Dark Truffles (P45) and Milk Truffles (P45). We ordered the truffles as the centerpiece of the platter and asked them to serve it in halves. The truffles are super soft and are Royce-like in their yumminess (without the need to refrigerate).

White Pyramids (P35). We included white chocolate so that our guests could try the three different kinds of chocolate. We chose the pyramid to add height and texture.

This platter was our sample platter two nights before the event. We decided not to go with the following:
– The Pringles chip with chocolate (potato chip above) — It was just OK.
– The pretzel with chocolate (in the middle) — It tasted ordinary.
– The liquorice with chocolate (dark chocolate stick on upper left) — It tasted weird.

Chocolate and Wine go well together. The Australian Merlot or Champagne will complement it. My brother bought a Smoking Loon Merlot to be served together with the platter. It’s a good thing they allowed us to bring wine without corkage since they didn’t have their wine bar set up yet.

Aidan, Joshua, Carlos and Siobe liked the chocolates. They were on a chocolate high after munching pieces from the platter and they were very happy playing around Chocolate Fire. The thing with a chocolate-high is that the energy it provides is consistent versus a sugar-high, where you will be high for a moment and then down after a few minutes.

During our event, they only had Paninis available to go with the chocolates. In the future, they will offer pasta and soups, too. They prepared the paninis on the spot after we arrived, which is good, but we had to wait for a bit.

Four Cheese Panini (P180) and Italian Panini (P200) with Tomatoes. Personally, I liked the all-cheese panini. The saltiness and overall texture of the panini matched the chocolate well.

Chocolate Fondue (P400). This is the main course served at the event. We loved the Driscoll Strawberries and Bananas. The apple rings were just OK; I would have preferred fresh apples instead.

The Marshmallows are always a hit when there’s a Fondue.

We were allowed to bring our own grapes to add to the Fondue spread. They were wiped out. 🙂

Joshua, Aidan and Carlos enjoying the Fondue. 🙂

Finally, we served Tomato Chorizo (P140 per slice) and Zucchini Quiche (P160 per slice) to round off the event.. 🙂

The secret of Chocolate Fire lies in the hands of the Master Chocolatier, who prepares the chocolates fresh out of the 2nd floor kitchen. His identity will remain a secret. 🙂 I was happy to find out that Chocolate Fire is run by a family passionate about chocolate.

Coby, the daughter of the Master Chocolatier, manages and markets Chocolate Fire in the Philippines.

In lieu of a cake, we had a cupcake (P70) with a white chocolate angel (P55) on top…

…just like our little Raphael.

Large Dark Strawberries (P95) and Medium Milk Strawberries (P65). As a token of our appreciation for attending, a chocolate-dipped strawberry for take-home was given to all our guests.

Thank you to Ninang Tina! 🙂

Thank you to Ninang Dedet, Ninang Meg, and Ninong Spanx! 🙂

Thank you to Ninong Willeus and Shai! 🙂

Thank you to Ninang Tita D! 🙂

Thank you to Ninang Janice! 🙂

Thank you to Ninong Francis! 🙂

Thank you to Ninong Ryan with wife Vivian and Ninang Tes! 🙂

Thank you to Fr. Arnold for officiating the Baptism! 🙂

 

One good thing about Chocolate Fire is that it is open until 12 midnight, so it is a cool place to hang out when you find yourself in Makati. Just a few notes:

1. They don’t allow photography of their displays and menus.
2. They are still on soft opening, so the selections are less than 50% of what they will eventually offer.
3. The second floor has very poor acoustics — you can eavesdrop on the conversations of the nearby table.

Feel free to talk to Coby, Wanda or the Master Chocolatier when you are in Chocolate Fire. They are quite friendly. 🙂

Our bill in the end was P530 / head for 30 pax. We got free corkage for the wine and the grapes — Yehey! 🙂

Chocolate Fire
PDCP Building, Corner of Leviste Street & Rufino Street,
Salcedo Village, Makati, Philippines, 1227
Near the place where they hold the Salcedo Market every Saturday
Telephone: +63 920 6058692
Chocolate Fire Official Facebook Page

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P.S. My brother-in-law, who is a feng shui master, said that the ice cream under the stairs and the cactus or plants with thorns used on the second floor are bad luck. I hope they’ll rearrange or remove those items…