LAHORE: The weekend in Lahore was on fire among the socialites and the media fraternity. With exhibitions, bridal expos and winter collection launches taking up most of our Friday, Saturday and Sunday, a winner emerged out of all these events. Australia’s Chocolate Room launched in Gulberg. With a star-studded opening organised and arranged by the creative team behind Bilal Mukhtar Events & PR, Friday night saw a humongous turnout of people heading to Lahore, right opposite Butler’s Chocolate Café, all eager to get their hands on whatever The Chocolate Room had on offer. Co-owned by business partners and associates Shoaib Hanif Chaudhry and Shahid Iqbal Chaudhry, The Chocolate Room made its debut in Pakistan for the Lahoris only (at least for now). Both the owners are based in Sydney and have forayed into the food business in Pakistan with this venture. “We jointly own a Chinese restaurant in Sydney. The reason why we didn’t think of bringing Chinese cuisine to Lahore was because this city is already saturated with many joints offering this, right? So we decided to bring in something new, something exciting, something never heard of before,” Shoaib said, while talking exclusively to Daily Times. “We’re foodies ourselves. The launch event on Friday witnessed a multitude of people showing up and it turned out to be very heart-warming for us. We love this spirit demonstrated by our Lahori brothers and sisters,” Shahid added. The Chocolate Room was first established in Geelong, Victoria, Australia in 2006, and has quickly grown to become the leading brand in the chocolate café market. It is a specialist destination retail café. The USP of the place is that it offers a brilliant and truly unique chocolate café experience. As of now, The Chocolate Room is present in Australia, India, Oman, UK, China… and now in Pakistan as well. Going by the name, many might consider the place to house only choco-related food and cuisines, however that is not the case at all. From savoury items to main course meals as well as cooked-to-perfection appetisers, the place has it all. So much that the Australian High Commissioner also paid a visit to the place to try out the food and be reminded of her hometown. Some of our personal recommendations from the menu would be the Rocher Nut Shake from the Chocshakes section. We loved the presentation which was at par with international standards and tasted divine. From The Chocolate Room House Special “Famous Fondue” section, we ordered their Belgium Deluxe (dark) with Bananas and Marshmallows dip. Again, a must try! And did we mention their Sundae? Other than these, other desserts are Walnut Brownies, Banana Bread, Nutella Chocolate Brownie, Baked Cheese Cake, Carrot Cake, Red Velvet Cake, Chocolate Custard Tart, Nutella Chocolate Cake and a Chocolate Fudge Cake which was priced at Rs 429 per slice. Shahid and Shoaib informed how they carried out an extensive research and development strategy and according to that, priced their food. Also opening up in Gulberg, which they considered to be the hub of foodies, was their top preference. On Shahid’s recommendation, we ordered prawns from the Starters section along with a side of Fish & Chips, which we absolutely loved. The tartar sauce was a clear winner. Jalapeno chicken along with Jalapeno burger from the Main Course section were our go-to dishes which we gorged down with a Lemon & Mint mocktail. The Chocolate Room is hot and happening as we speak and we recommend all you foodies out there to try it out!