The Willy Wonka who rocked our childhoods has new competition in town. While Antoine Amrani replaced Wonka’s whimsical purple hat with a standard white toque, Amrani’s confections surely earn the coveted golden ticket. Philadelphia’s Wonka gave Street a tour of his new chocolate factory in East Norristown.
Amrani charmed his business partner, Fred Potok, with the splendid treats he made as the pastry chef at Georges Perrier’s Le Bec Fin. Potok, the financial brains behind the chocolate factory’s operation, used to frequent Le Bec Fin for late night pastries. Sitting at his usual spot at the bar, he eagerly anticipated Amrani’s full trays of freshly prepared desserts and chocolates. The rest is history.
The chocolate world has two types of chocolate makers, commercial vendors and artisan chocolatiers, and Amrani belongs at the apex of the latter category. Straight-up, pure and simple, the chocolate impresses, but when Antoine performs his magic, manipulating ingredients and infusing them with different flavors, the phenomenal morsels amaze the taste buds. Amrani Chocolate prides itself in cooking with the freshest, highest-quality ingredients. Amrani often tries to “layer contrasting flavors” that ultimately pair “marvelously” with the star ingredient, the chocolate.
He eliminates the guess work; once the bon bons begin to melt on your tongue, the flavors immediately become apparent. The pistachio, for example (a pistachio white chocolate center enveloped by dark chocolate), imparts a strong and pure nut flavor unparalleled by most pistachio sweets sold elsewhere.
Amrani’s love affair with chocolate dates back to his childhood in Paris; he and his siblings used to trade small bites of each hand-made chocolate that his mother brought home from the local artisan store. As a small boy, Amrani always favored hazelnut chocolates, and thus he takes particular pride in his hazelnut truffle. Trade in jars of Nutella for the real thing. Featuring house roasted whole hazelnuts tucked inside a homemade praline filling, the Hazelnut praline truffle truly stands out.
While the trek northbound to East Norristown may not fit into your class schedule (although we do suggest taking the drive!), this local ambrosia is only a click away at antoineamrani.com. As you salivate over the 17-piece signature series, Amrani continues to wrack his brain for novel and undoubtedly delicious combinations.
Added Bonus: All Antoine Amrani chocolates are packaged in locally produced and carbon neutral boxes — help the environment while you indulge.
Don’t Miss: Hazelnut praline, but you really should try them all.
