Chocolate lovers trooped to the Manila House Private Membership Club in Taguig City for the launch of Auro Chocolate, a proudly Filipino chocolate-producing company.

The company, which empowers local farmers to sustainably create the finest single-origin cocoa and chocolate products, is headed by its founder and president Jacki Go and daughter Kelly Go as co-managing director with partner Mark Ocampo, grandson of lawyer Estelito Mendoza.

Manila House chefs, headed by Selena Ocampo, whipped up a finger-food menu for the event, which included taro chips with white chocolate dip and goat cheese; pumpkin soup shooter with white chocolate foam and chocolate liqueur dust; jamon Serrano, 72-percent dark chocolate and baguette; seared salmon with white chocolate cauliflower puree and scallion oil; and slow-roasted beef belly with chocolate barbecue sauce and horseradish. Guests also enjoyed the Auro Chocolate-infused cocktails by the Avenue Bar.

The event was made even more special when sought-after pastry chefs served their one-of-a-kind desserts: Sunshine Puey (chocolate silk with hazelnut crumble), Peachy Juban (Ding, Ang Bato!), Miko Aspiras (Bubbles/Block/Dark of the Moon) and Richie Manapat (Sourdough Rum Baba).

Xandra Rocha-Araneta emceed the event and the retro party music was courtesy of DJ Paul Mauricio.

The night ended with the unveiling of a chocolate wall full of spoons with sumptuous chocolate creations by Auro.

I tried the milk chocolate, white chocolate and three types of dark chocolate (each with a higher percentage of cocoa). I couldn’t decide which one I liked the most since all were very good. I was very impressed with the quality of chocolates from Davao!

(The Auro Chocolate shop will open soon at Fabtech Building, Santiago St., Paseo de Magallanes Commercial Center, Makati City.)