Doesn’t that just sound incredible – a chocolate festival?? We thought so – and so did a million other Capetonians. So it was a bit of a bun fight. Unfortunately the ratio of chocolate suppliers to attendees was all wrong (only 4 true chocolate brands were represented at the festival). There simply wasn’t enough space. There weren’t enough suppliers in general (for food or drink which meant long queues filled with irritated people). There certainly weren’t enough chocolatiers.

The event organisers have been lambasted on social media – mainly because the entrance price was set at R150 a ticket, which is pricey when you can attend some really great markets for free. Also a lot of people expected free chocolate – which is a tough ask for small, artisanal chocolate brands that had to pay to be a supplier at the festival but then were expected to supply free chocolate tasters to the masses (who weren’t really buying). Well done to all the chocolate stands for surviving the crush – you guys were awesome! It’s difficult to know how to improve the concept. But here is what we think.

If you’re going to have a chocolate festival then the theme should be chocolate and there should be more chocolatiers. ALL suppliers should be encouraged to have some kind of chocolate offering. Bravo to KWV who offered an aged brandy and chocolate pairing (which they offer at their wine emporium as well). And Arbikie offered two different chocolate martinis. Of course Tuist had an incredible chocolate ice cream on offer. Food truck owners (and there should have been many more of them) could have gotten inventive with a spicy chocolate sauce (aka Mexican mole) on a burger for example. That way the crush around the poor chocolate stands would have been more manageable. We also think it should have started earlier – the 11:00 start time meant everyone arrived at once and there was instant chaos.

We visited and bought from Cocoa Fair, Alexander Avery Fine Chocolates (seriously fine!), Winston & Julia, Gayleen’s Decadence and were very very excited to see Lakrids in South Africa – our most favouritest favouritest chocolate coated licorice from Denmark. What a win!!! And we thoroughly enjoyed the brandy and chocolate pairing as well as the chocolate martini with passion fruit.

We wonder if there will be a next time?