Dark & Divine

Close by,Nikhil Mittal of Nik Baker’s in Sector 9 who trained in Australia has sumptuous goodies with his baking trays boasting of various kinds of chocolates with almond,cranberry and raisin fillings,soufflés,mousses and his famous truffle cake and oreo chocolate cake. “We only use special raw chocolate that is brought in from Belgium for our cakes,soufflés and puddings. The flavour is pure and rich,that it makes people want to come back to us every time!” admits Nikhil,who has created his own recipes for many of the products. Before leaving,he offers us the creamy snickers ‘n’ mars mousse to eat that tates as good as it sounds! Since we’re at it,we drop in at Rupi Dhillon’s kitchen in her home in Sector 11 to see what’s cooking. She has an eggless chocolate cake ready that takes a lot of self-restraint on our part to not to pounce on it. Rupi is famous in the city for preparing all kinds of cuisines and desserts for birthdays,anniversaries and kitty parties. “My chocolate specialties include chocolate truffle,mud cake and chocolate mocha cake that has a delicious hint of coffee in it,” she has us know as we eye the treat.

With our calorie count ticking away,we decide to call it a day until someone mentions another chocolate haven. Craving for it,we head to The Taj’s Café 17 where Chef Ramit Kohli tempts us with a glorious fountain of melted brown chocolate – the fondue station. Is it fair to test our will this way,we wonder? But we’re in no state to resist,so we allow him to give us a tour of the sweets. “The Chocolate Indulgence,which is a miniature dessert served with a scoop of ice cream and Bull’s Eye,a sponge cake with white ganache and chocolate ice cream are the most sought after. Our recipes are of individual chefs at the Chandigarh Taj itself,so you will not get these anywhere else.” They offer a desserts buffet as well from 12.30 pm to 3 pm in the afternoon and 7.30 pm to 11.30 pm in the night which is a must try. Ready to indulge?