When a cousin of mine first handed me a piece of Cebu Best Mango Chocolate, I will admit that I was skeptical. Philippine mangoes coated in Belgian chocolate? Sounds fantastic -- after all, it's a given fact that anything, especially fruit, tastes better with chocolate -- but how good is the chocolate? I spent a week pigging out on Belgian chocolate in Bruges last summer, so I have high standards.
After the third piece, any doubts I had were cast aside along with the foil wrapping. This stuff is like crack, mango-flavored, chocolate-coated crack! The Belgian chocolate tastes fabulous, silky and smooth and dark and delicious. I prefer it at room temperature, so the mango is chewy and the chocolate isn't too brittle, so if you're in a cold country, leave it out for a few minutes before that first bite. I've only seen a dark chocolate variety so far which is fine with me, but I think a milk chocolate version would be a hit as well.
The packaging is just as delicious as what's inside. Individual pieces of dried Philippine mango are coated in Belgian chocolate and wrapped individually in foil for freshness. They come in boxes of 12 or 24. The boxes look really nice, like something you'd find in a good chocolate shop, so they make great presents.
The million-dollar question, of course, is where do you find them? My cousin said they were only available at the Cebu Best store in Cebu, but we found the small (12-piece) boxes for sale at Terminal 2 (the domestic wing) of Manila International Airport. They cost a whopping P800 ($20) for 12 pieces, putting them in the chocolate truffle price range, but after doing some online research I discovered that those prices are jacked way up. Cebu Best actually sells them for P300 for the small (12-piece) box, and P600 for the large (24-piece) box. I've also found sites claiming to have found them at Metro Supermarket in Alabang and select Kultura Filipino shops around Metro Manila -- but sadly, I couldn't find any US-based or online stores that carry them. I'll keep checking the Cebu Best website and hoping they find a US distribution channel, because something this good needs to be shared with the world!
Disclosure: I did not receive a sample or monetary compensation for this post. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.
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Its to die for - please let us know where to buy this in the U.S.A.
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