Notes on chocolate: bars with crazy names bring back happy memories

There is going to be a stupendous amount of name dropping in this column. But as I once said to Obama, is it really name dropping if they are people you know? I’m in Copenhagen, where everyone seems really happy. I reflect on this to someone. ‘We are very happy,’ she affirms, ‘because everything works and there’s nothing to worry about.’ What must that be like?

In almost every supermarket/newsagent, there are dispensers of something called Simply Chocolate. The first time I saw them, in Irma, a small chain of supermarkets (not as omnipresent as 7-Elevens and Joe the Juices, which were everywhere), I really fancied a Creamy Carol (who wouldn’t?), which is dark chocolate and caramel. But that had sold out.

The next day I metup with an old friend, Mark, who I first met at the opening of the Guggenheim in Bilbao, 25 years previously. He is now Sweden’s Kevin McCloud, hosting Grand Designs in Sweden. We reminisced about the madness that was the Guggy opening and how we ended up having dinner with Frank Gehry, Dennis Hopper, Jeff Koons, Robert Rauschenberg and Claes Oldenburg. Dennis had the most amazing skin. Mark took us to a lovely little cake shop called Conditori La Glace, Denmark’s oldest patisserie, where we feasted on chocolate and coffee cake and then walked the darkening streets dodging puddles and passing a fabulous Cafe called Café Bastard – it’s all about the board games.

I did find Creamy Carol later that evening, but by that stage I’d decided on a Grainy Sue instead. Sue is stuffed with oats, spelt, peanuts and caramel. These bars are fun and tasty with mad names: Salty Fred, Santa’s Favorite, Crispy Carrie. If you fancy something different for stockings, they ship to the UK.

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