by Chrissy Iley
LA is not really the place you think of as chocolate heaven – in fact I don’t normally eat American chocolate. An auntie gave me some Hershey’s kisses once. As much as I loved her actual kisses and her, the chocolates tasted like cardboard. I never longed or lusted for chocolate in the US again.
It didn’t bring the comfort of a bag of Malteasers. It just didn’t cut it.
I came across Compartes by accident. It is tucked behind a sceney coffee shop on Melrose, the kind of place that encourages size zero, not chocolate eating. But this is not just any old chocolate.
I was attracted first by some gold leaf lips and then saw a cabinet full of multi-coloured truffles each with a design that looked like nail art and then I saw the bars. The bars are gorgeous.
Whoever said that style couldn’t triumph over substance was wrong. These bars are the most stylishly designed on the planet. Flamingos tell you that you’re set for a pina colada chocolate experience. Blue and white Toille de Jour tells you you’ve got dark chocolate honey. Each one is as beautiful as the next.
I was compelled to pick a bar with a picture of Marilyn – the white pleated dress flaring up over the air vent in the Seven Year Itch. This chocolate bar is called ‘The Blonde Bombshell’. It is white chocolate infused with butterscotch. Apparently not just white because white means blonde and blonde is Marilyn. Apparently Marilyn was not only a fan of white chocolate but she used to drop into the Compartes shop originally in Brentwood.
The blonde behind the counter says, “She loved white chocolate cherries and strawberries. In those days that was the range. Traditional.”
You wonder if Marilyn would like ‘The bombshell’ chocolate. Of course I had to buy it, who wouldn’t want to buy Marilyn’s chocolate. It was highly scented, vanilla, creamy, perfect.
I also bought the ‘Coney Island’ because the box has a picture filled with unicorns.
This one was milk chocolate with caramelised chocolate waffle cone. It was very smooth. You couldn’t really taste the cone but you could taste the caramel. The packaging is spectacular. Anyone getting a box of Valentine’s truffles may just find they are too beautiful to eat, but not me, and not Marilyn.