The story of Hoda & Chocolat started more than 40 years ago, and is now taking a new turn with their just opened atelier boutique in Achrafieh. Sneak peek at this pioneer artisan chocolatier made in Beirut, with appetite for life.
Mona grew up in a gourmet household, her father was into culinary arts and her mother Hoda started the chocolate factory. Hoda took her grandmother’s recipe for ‘cupidons’; caramel wrapped up in chocolate with honey, as well as her secrets for almond fondants coated with granulated sugar, and learned to master these techniques through years of experience. A forerunner artisan chocolate maker in Lebanon, she honed her skills with Robert Linxe, founder of La Maison du Chocolat, in Paris. Her business quickly became a wholesaler for notable pastry shops across Lebanon, Europe, and the Middle East. Her daughter Mona moved back to Beirut from Dubai 12 years ago and decided to launch the Hoda & Chocolat brand. Inspired by oriental flavors, this family of artisan chocolatiers introduces our palate to intriguing flavors alongside their star product ‘cupidon’; white chocolate filled with sahlab popsicles to melt in warm milk, chocolate truffles a holiday favorite, chocolate dices with accents of mastic or even cardamom or saffron. ‘It’s a delicate process balancing flavors, adding a little vanilla here, a little sugar there, a dash of patience, but it’s also fun’ she tells us. Her number one secret for a good recipe? Never compromising on ingredients, ‘if we do not find what we need, we do not replace it. It’s a pinch of science, a pinch of art.’
With the crisis in Lebanon, everything slowed down, wholesale orders started dwindling since businesses were all affected, and Mona started making plans to settle down in Paris. She continued to support Hoda & Chocolat employees, ensuring a livelihood for their families. One month ago, Mona was walking around Sassine Square in Beirut, and saw a space that was ‘for rent.’ She made a call on an impulse and a new project was born; the opening of the first Hoda & Chocolat boutique. Peaking through the windows, we get a look inside the boutique, where delicacies are wrapped and ready to be devoured. Upstairs is the atelier where we can observe the artisans first hand, crafting the mouthwatering chocolates, filling them up with homemade ganache. Mona reveals she is planning to introduce upcoming chocolate courses for amateurs. She also tells us there will be a little corner in the shop to enjoy a hot cocoa and a bite. This new chocolatery is set to liven up the neighborhood, and Mona embraced this new plan in her life. ‘I like good food’ she concludes ‘and it is our way of not giving up on our country.’ We found the silver lining from Lebanon hitting rock bottom; bold and courageous entrepreneurs like Mona, creating sustainable ventures, who realized that when there is nothing left to lose, everything must be built again.
Sahlab is a flour made from the tubers of the orchid genus Orchis.
