My DH loves chocolate. No, I mean he really loves it. He can eat chocolate at any time of the day or night, even at 5am on Christmas morning. He has been known to help himself to Easter Eggs he deems to have been "forgotten."Luckily my children aren't that bothered about sweets and after the initial enthusiasm of Hallowe'en treats or Easter chocolate they are happy to let Daddy indulge his sweet tooth with their leftovers.
So with Father's Day coming up in the UK on Sunday June 15 when shopping for a pressie for him we pass by the gardening tools, golf tees and football-themed tat and head straight for the chocolate.
Of course there is chocolate and chocolate. And then there is Hotel Chocolat which deserves a ranking all of it's own generally.
I enjoyed a box of assorted Hotel Chocolat chocolates just before Christmas and it felt like a luxurious treat, akin to a spa session only with, well, chocolate!
As he is a wonderful Daddy to our 7 children I thought DH deserved something special so from their latest range, specially chosen for Father's Day I chose The Father's Day Collection (£15) which includes a selection of white, dark and nutty mini chocolate bars, praline chocolates, a hazelnut Buche and a one-man serving (5cl) of Special Reserve Tawny Port.
We could have chosen a chocolate fossil for the old fossil, or the Beer Selector selection with Belgium Blonde beer blended with high cocoa white ganache served in milk chocolate or a host of other choices.
The gift we chose came, as always, boxed and inside, beautifully packaged in a luxurious Hotel Chocolat bag tied with wide black ribbon. The actual pack was smaller than I expected but the chocolate is so tasty and rich you don't want to eat too much at once.Because my husband is such a lovely man he didn't mind when I suggested he share his gift with some friends who had invited us round for supper - they were delighted to see him arrive with the signature bag!
After our meal we shared out the treats and the general consensus was that as usual Hotel Chocolat had not disappointed. The only bar which didn't get more than top marks from the group was the white chocolate -but since I'm a dark chocolate person and DH prefers milk we thought it was fine.
The Hazelnut Buche (French for "Log") was voted best in pack and I'm told the Tawny Port was excellent by people who know what they are talking about. I'm more a Bailey's after dinner kinda girl....
It certainly went down well and if you check out the Father's day range on the website you'll see there's lots of choices whatever your Pop's chocolate preferences might be.
You can pick up a gift in their shops which are all over the UK (as well as one store in the US and one in Denmark!) , order online and choose from a variety of delivery options (prices from £3.95) including next day and in some cases same day delivery, or choose FREE Click and Collect.
Hotel Chocolat will deliver to the UK, Europe, BFPO addresses and pretty much anywhere else in the world! So wherever your Dad is, however far away, you can treat him to a luxurious chocolate gift to show him how much you care - and maybe choose a nice treat for yourself at the same time for being an excellent son or daughter too!
Disclaimer: We received the Hotel Chocolat Father's Day Collection (RRP £15) free for the purposes of this honest review. Views and opinions remain impartial and my own (and in this case DH's!)