The award-winning chocolate brand from Kochi will serve baked desserts, savouries, coffees and of course, their range of chocolates.
There’s a reason why Vikas Temani, founder and business head of the artisanal Kerala-based chocolate brand Paul and Mike calls his soon-to-open store at Kemps Corner, a ‘micro-café’. It is probably the smallest café you have seen in south Mumbai. Although it is small, the retail space that doubles up as a store and a café, packs in a punch when it comes to products and hospitality.
The farm-to-bar company first made headlines for being the only Indian brand to win a silver in the International Chocolate Awards (2020-2021 world final) for its ‘64 Percent Dark Sichuan Pepper and Orange Peel Vegan Chocolate’. After their inception in 2019, the company named after two Latin American cocoa farmers, intended to open their first retail space in Kochi, but the pandemic put a spanner in their works and they focussed on carving a niche for themselves online. The Mumbai store is the first offline venture for the company, who recognised that the maximum city is where their biggest consumer base is. “The idea is that these stores show our entire range and our customers, who want to buy new flavours every month, have access to them,” says Temani.
Back to the store, and the first thing that catches our eye are the framed images of the process from harvesting to the final product. It is then that we turn our attention to the actual products on the shelf. Paul and Mike boasts of a large range of flavours, both in their milk chocolate and dark chocolate variants and we find quite a few of their bestsellers on display. The award-winning Dark Sichuan Pepper and Orange Peel is there, of course. Alcohol-based chocolates such as Rum and Rummy Raisins and Gin & Ginger are here too. From fruit-based flavours such as Jamun, Sitaphal, Alphonso and Golden Berry to beverage-based such as Masala Chai, Thandai and Coffee to florals such as Balkan Rose and Lavender are displayed proudly on the shelf. Chocolate barks, Cobbles (Dragees), drinking chocolates and gift boxes occupy another shelf.
Since it is a café as well, Paul and Mike will offer a couple of hot and cold drinking chocolates as well as a variety of coffees. Temani insists we try their innovation — I Love My Sleep coffee — made with just 25 per cent caffeine as compared to a regular cup of coffee. Made with coffee from Bili Hu, this mild beverage will ensure that your sleep is unaffected. They also plan to introduce a ‘super coffee’ with double the caffeine for an extra dose of energy, especially for those who want to have a pre-workout hit of caffeine.
The bakery section of the café includes a couple of sweet treats made with chocolates from the brand such as brownies, tiramisu, banoffee, cinnamon rolls made with Sri Lankan cinnamon and French pastry called Pain Suisse with vanilla custard and chocolate chips. We try the latter and although the flavours are all in place, the custard could be gooier and the brioche a little softer. Another dessert — Zero to 100 — hits the right spot for its eight layers of goodness and textures, starting from the least to the highest percentage of chocolate on top. Next week onward, they plan to start their savouries as well, including croissants and a healthy breakfast menu.
For now, Temani has his eyes firmly set on Mumbai and wants to open a couple more such cafes and stores before expanding to other cities. “Having your own store deepens your bond with the consumer. We will, of course, continue to retail from other stores as well as online. The idea is to be everywhere people shop from and make it accessible to our premium range of chocolates available to them,” he adds. In his future stores, the entrepreneur hopes to have all seven categories under their roofs — coffee, chocolate, bakery, pastry, fermented foods (kombucha, kefir, yogurts), ice cream/gelato and healthy breakfast. “We also hope to launch alcohol-based chocolates by the end of the year,” he says.
