It was 11 a.m. at the Good Earth store in Rutland gate, and those trickling in were momentarily distracted by the display of a range of exotic chocolates and cookies. They were wrapped in dark, classy boxes with the brand name — Royce — written in bold lettering, and two men in stiff white shirts offered samplers of the Japanese luxury chocolate to curious customers.
“We brought Royce to India in July 2013 and have since then launched five stores in four cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Calcutta,” said Samir Gadhok, director of Burgundy Hospitality, which was set up to bring international products to India. “We set up the three-day pop-up sale in Chennai to gauge the market and see if there is enough demand here to sustain a full-time store,” he added.
During the three days of the weekend pop-up sale, the customers that came in included intrigued first-timers, expats who recognised the brand and well-travelled Chennaiites who were pleased to see the chocolates they had sampled elsewhere. “In India, as far as exotic chocolates are concerned, people are only aware of Swiss and Belgian brands… but this is Japanese.” A box of Royce chocolates ranges from Rs.495 to Rs.1095, and the brand, says Samir, has it’s biggest markets in Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, New York, Korea and, of course, Japan.
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Nama, meaning ‘pure’ or ‘raw’ in Japanese, is their signature range of chocolates. They are so delicate that they come with a special fork, and so sensitive, that they are enveloped with a gel pack to prevent any temperature abuse. They come as cubes dusted with cocoa, in three flavours — mild cacao, Ecuador sweet and Ghana bitter. “An important attribute of chocolate is its texture; that’s what this range is about,” explained Samir.
The mild cacao stands testament to the light, velvety texture of the range; it practically dissolves in the mouth. The Ecuador sweet, made from a sweet Ecuador bean, is darker, and hence, more bitter. The Ghana bitter, though it comparatively contains lesser cacao, is made from the bitter Ghana bean, which lends it a deeper, more robust bitterness. “The nature of the bean and how it is roasted or treated determines the bitterness of the chocolate,” explained Samir.
The Royce catalogue in Japan offers 300 varieties, apart from seasonal specialities. In India, 20 varieties of chocolates and confectioneries are available, including salty potato chips dipped in sweet chocolate, prafeuille chocolate berry-cube (thin slabs that look like chocolate, smell like strawberry and when you bite into it, taste like raspberry, blueberry and, of course, cocoa), criollo chocolates (made from the rare, high-quality cacao bean of the criollo variety, which offers deep and intense flavours, and is found largely in South Venezuela), coffee chocolate (made from ground Dominican Republic coffee beans), melt-in-you-mouth nama chocolates and many more.
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