While other hotels and resorts usually celebrate milestone anniversaries such as their fifth, 10th or 20th, Resorts World Manila is pulling out all the stops to mark its fourth anniversary this year in style.

For three and a half months, the lifestyle resort complex is hosting events including a festival of all things chocolate. If your concept of chocolate is limited to sweet treats, pastry fillings and desserts, this festival is out to change your mind.

Until Sept. 15, RWM will host renowned chocolatiers like Machiavelli, Villa del Conte, Composite, Nestlé, Bruges, Marriott Café and Café Maxims at Newport Plaza Mall. Purchases can also be made through premium online store iGrab until Sept. 15.

Two spreads

At the launch last week, guests were served savory dishes enhanced with the smokiness of cocoa, all concocted by the kitchen staff.

There were actually two spreads at Taps Genting Club at Maxims Hotel that afternoon—one savory, the other sweet.

On one side were bite-size pieces of free-range chicken flavored with alamid coffee and Bailey’s sauce; salmon roulade with a tablea beurre blanc, while the traditional German dish of

spatzle (dumplings) had a chocolate butter cream sauce.

Also on the menu were chicken liver mousse flavored with Madre de Cacao, and Potato Gratin with a hint of cinnamon and white chocolate.

At lunch, one of the wait staff went around offering guests chocolate-infused cocktails.

“These items were all dreamed up by the Maxims staff; they didn’t exist a few days ago. I’m very proud of the chefs and their teams because they managed to come up with these new dishes after being told that they had to incorporate chocolate into the recipes,” Hubertus Cramer, vice president for food and beverage at Resorts World Manila, said.

A pastry chef by training, Cramer was also pleased with the dessert station that was designed to look like a patch of garden complete with chocolate brown trees, its boughs lit with tiny lamps.

Underneath were chocolate fountains and petit fours like flourless chocolate cake, choco cheesecake brownies and hand-molded pralines.

“The benefits of eating dark chocolate have been extolled by many, but one still has to realize that moderation is key,” Cramer said.

Rich and aromatic

Chocoholics who head to Resorts World Manila this month will be spoiled for choice because all of the resort’s F&B outlets and many of the restaurants in the complex will offer at least one dish and/or drink incorporating chocolate.

Villa del Conte is offering praline balls, praline sticks and dark chocolate eggs with hazelnut filling. At TWG Tea, guests can try tea-infused chocolates like the Earl Grey Chocolate, which unites pure dark chocolate with a rich and aromatic black tea accented with bergamot.

Crisostomo puts chocolate in traditional Filipino desserts through Soledad, a combination of mango and suman (rice cake) with hot chocolate.  At

Café Mediterranean, guests can explore a trio of chocolate desserts. The Chocolate Triple Suicide consists of Chocolate Fudge Cake, a decadent chocolate cake; Tartufo Al Cioccolato, an intense frozen chocolate dessert; and Panna Cotta, an eggless cream flan with chocolate sauce.

At Opus Lounge, party-goers can cap the night with Dali, a chocolate bacon and hazelnut cigar with dry caramel, or have a Warm Chocolate Soufflé a la mode at Café Republiq.