HANOI —Sometimes, everything just needs to be about chocolate. The Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi is admitting as much in its Spring Arome Festival May 6 – 10 when the landmark hotel woos the sweet teeth of locals and guests alike.
No mere chocolatier will do for this spring indulgence. The hotel is calling in World Champion Pastry Chef Olivier Bajard from Perpignan, France to anchor the five-day festival of chocolate.
The program will feature chocolate stirred into a plethora of cocktails and put upon pedestals of a daily chocolate buffet. A jazz diva will complement the buffet on Thursday; a fashion show will complement the buffet on Friday.
And Bajard will hold court in the kitchen, managing the chocolate, of course, but cooking up some of the cakes he’s famous for in France. His career as a pastry chef includes the top title in the World Championship of Dessert Crafts of 1995.
In 2005, he founded the International School of Pastry in Perpignan, France. He currently owns and operates three pastry shops in France.
The Spring Arome concludes with a Mother’s Day Brunch on May 11. The festival’s sponsors include Moët & Chandon, Belvedere Vodka, Hennessy and Puratos Grand-Place, a Vietnamese chocolate company.
