Chocolates are an indulgence for many people in the world including us, Singaporeans! So if you know me – you would know that I love to indulge in sweets and chocolates and..that’s probably one of the many reasons why I’m so plump! Hehe~

But moving on from that, I just wanted to introduce an EXCLUSIVE brand of gourmet and luxurious chocolate that is now available in Singapore imported all the way from the United States (specifically Logan, Utah) by T&XE LLP!

So here’s introducing...

T&XE brings gourmet & epicurean chocolates from USA viz. Sterling Truffle Bar. These rich and luxurious chocolates have been featured in many top food channels and magazines like Food Network Channel, MSNBC, CNBC etc. Each bar is hand made and hand painted ensuring incomparable and unsurpassable flavour and quality.

Sterling Truffle Bars blend the best of white, milk and dark chocolates, fruits, nuts and liqueurs with culinary artistry. Each of these one-of-a-kind Sterling Truffle Bars is hand-painted with chocolate, the outer triangular crust encasing natural, chocolate or liqueur-spiked ganache.

With classic flavour combinations like double hazelnut caramel, white chocolate raspberry peppermint and a more Hawaiian pineapple ginger macadamia nut praline, these truffle bars are a perfect gift treat to slice and enjoy. Sterling Truffle Bar truly “makes every occasion a momentous one”.

Sterling Truffle Bar is in the form of solid triangular block and available in two sizes:

• Half bar – 4 inch, 170 gm , 12-14 servings // S$39.90
• Full bar – 8 inch, 340 gm, 24-28 servings // S$75.90

Sterling Truffle Bar unique flavours can be categorised as follows:

The Sweet Indulgence	The Dark Knights	The Fruity	The Unique
1.White Chocolate Raspberry and Peppermint2.Double Hazelnut Caramel3.Hot Fudge Sundae	1.Cappuccino Liqueur with a Twist2.Strawberry Orange Liqueur	1.Banana Honey Caramel	1.Pineapple Ginger Macadamia Nut

Well, I was extremely fortunate to be invited by Sharren from T&XE LLP for a sampling session on Saturday to try out these chocolates. And of course, I naturally leapt at this chance as a chocolate lover! I also brought along Crystal and the bf who were also avid chocolate lover fans to enjoy this sampling session as well(: Cos I always share the good stuff with the important people in my life. Heh!

And so you know with a slogan like that – “expect something extraordinary”, you WOULD put really high expectatations on the chocolate right?

To be honest, at first I was pretty skeptical about the flavours because when I was reading the brochure and details about the chocolates as seen above – some flavour combinations looked rather ehhh to me. 

Pineapple Ginger Macadamia Nut?!
EHHHHH..what kinda combination is that right?

So filled with a little apprehension, all 3 of us got up early on Saturday morning and headed down to their office building at Sultan Plaza for the sampling session with Sharren and Tarun. Ah and I was a little afraid that I wouldn’t really like the chocolates as generally I go for plain milk chocolate so this is really a little adventurous for my tastebuds.

Luckily, my fears were uncalled for. You’ll see why in my review as you read on(:

The sampling session started off with the display of all the wonderful and pretty chocolate out for us to take a look at. And I have to say that the pictures in the brochure that I was given nor my photos taken by my phone..doesn’t do the chocolate justice at all!

Regretted not taking my digicam, but I forgot to charge the night before =.=

They were all so pretty and unique! Like..have you seen chocolates like these Sterling Truffle Bars before?

And super cute too!

But of course, the most important thing will be the taste test..because regardless of how a product looks, I think that the taste is more important right? So here are the samples of all 7 of the Sterling Truffle Bar flavours.

1. Banana Honey Caramel

A hand-painted truffle with contrasting tiers of milk chocolate flavored with banana, white chocolate infused with caramel and dark chocolate with a hint of fresh locally manufactured honey.

This easily became Crystal’s favourite chocolate out of all 7 choices! And I’m not surprised because the banana flavour in this chocolate really balances out very nicely. And yes, you can really taste the banana flavour and it’s not very strong either. A rather popular choice for Singaporeans especially if you like fruity stuff(:

2. Cappuccino With A Twist

An artfully hand-painted truffle filled with the mingling flavors of milk chocolate, coffee-infused* white chocolate, dark chocolate, coffee liqueur and a subtle finish of lemon.
*Only locally roasted artisan beans from Caffe Ibis Roasting Company are used. They are organic, fair trade and Smithsonian Shade certified.

I’m not really a fan of coffee or cappuccino related food products, but to be surprise, I didn’t mind this particular flavour as the cappuccino flavour isn’t as strong as I expected it to be. Not bad. Would recommend it to people who adore coffee though(:

3. Double Hazelnut Caramel

A striking, hand-painted truffle with contrasting tiers of milk chocolate flavored with rich hazelnut puree, white chocolate infused with caramel and dark chocolate with a hint of ground hazelnut.

This is easily my favorite flavour out of all 7 of them, and it’s no surprise that many Singaporeans also prefer this flavour as well as it’s one of their hot-sellers! The chocolate is really really delicious, a little sweet and carries that hazelnut taste which complements the chocolate extremely well. Was very impressed with it – move over dairy milk chocolate! This is now my new favorite!

4. Hot Fudge Sundae

A distinctive abstract grid of green, yellow, red and white stripes enhanced with a filling of milk and white chocolate, toasted almonds, marshmallows and a hint of vanilla.

I actually thought that I would only like this chocolate flavor the best out of all them when I initially read the brochure and was reading the ingredients. But in the end, this ended up to be the bf’s favourite chocolate flavour instead! He really loved the unique marshmallow center, taste of almonds and overall taste.

5. Dark Strawberry Orange Liqueur

A vividly hand-painted truffle filled with dark French vanilla ganache enhanced with the flavors of strawberry and aromatic orange.

This is probably not as memorable as the rest because the only thing I can recall distinctly that I could taste the strawberry flavour (not my favourite) in the chocolate. It’s very simple chocolate flavour – that must I can say.

6. White Chocolate Raspberry & Mint

A pink and green polka dot design enhanced with fillings of white chocolate and raspberry ganache. The taste culminates with a mild mint essence.

This chocolate will most likely be one of those that will catch your eye first because it’s the only white chocolate flavour out of the 7 flavours available. But it’s not a very popular choice amongst Singaporeans (but for others like Indians and the Japanese if I remember right) because it is very, very sweet. But actually, in my opinion, as I liked sweet stuff, I found it pretty alright – it reminded me ALOT of candy cane because of the mint flavor and colors. It’s like the perfect choice for Christmas really!

7. Pineapple Ginger Macadamia Nut

Contrasting flavors of dark chocolate with a crunch of macadamia nut praline, white chocolate with candied ginger and pineapple all encased in a hand-painted study of abstract strokes.

This has got to be the most unique chocolate combination ever! Initially the combination turned me off a little, but I was still looking forward to trying it. Both Tarun and Sharren said that generally only older generation prefer this because it’s an acquired taste that usually mature people prefer. I tried it, and guess what? I did quite like it! Contrary to my initial belief that the taste of ginger would be overpowering – it was not! In fact the top portion tasted strongly of pineapple while the bottom (with all the candied ginger) tasted more of the macadamia nuts. As I said, surprisingly, this tasted really good!(:

In general, the bf, Crystal and I had an enjoyable time sampling all the chocolates and basically this is the round up after a very interesting and long chat with Tarun and Sharren:

• The Sterling Truffle Bars are visually pretty chocolate with a unique taste that is not overwhelming but suitable for different palates
• There are no eggs used in the making of Sterling Truffle Bars
• The chocolate is very smooth, for example there are no little bits of nuts, just flavours that you can taste
• There is no need to bite/chew the chocolate much as it just melts in your mouth since all nuts are grounded finely. But you can still taste the flavour
• There are in total of 7 flavours only – as these chocolates are made with the belief that everyone will always be able to find one that they like most out of all 7 of them whichever your taste preference is.
• You can even customize the design to your liking, but of course, there’s a minimum order and additional cost involved
• All the chocolate is handmade and handpainted in the United States before being flown to Singapore by air freight
• There is also a shelf life of 6 months so you can take the time to slowly enjoy this delicious gourmet chocolate – meant to be savored best with wine or coffee.

Also, if you were wondering what inspired T&XE LLP to bring in Sterling Truffle Bars into Singapore, Tarun said that it was due to one of these videos that he saw on Food Network TV that featured it (as seen below). And he thought it was an interesting and unique concept/product that has NEVER been brought in to Singapore before. 

And there you have it(:

After the sampling session, Sharren and Tarun kindly gave us a couple of truffle bars to bring home to share – of which we could choose and it was no surprise what we selected each!(:

1. Crystal’s Banana Honey Caramel Truffle Bar (Half) // S$39.90

2. The bf’s Hot Fudge Sundae (Full Bar) // S$75.90

3. My favourite – Double Hazelnut Caramel Truffle Bar (Full Bar) // S$75.90

Ah and if you were wondering about the difference between the half bar and full bar sizes..here’s a comparison!(:

• Half bar – 4 inch, 170 gm , 12-14 servings // S$39.90
• Full bar – 8 inch, 340 gm, 24-28 servings // S$75.90

If you do wish to purchase these yummy truffle chocolates then here’s what you can do:

1. Shop Online: http://www.shoptxe.com/
2. Call 62910737
3. Email: manager@txellp.com

Free local delivery. No minimum order required

Oh and let me give you a couple of hints:

• In the middle of April (15th April if I’m not wrong), they will be pairing with Deal.com.sg to offer a 30% discount off their chocolates, so that’s a GREAT opportunity for you if you wish to try the chocolates
• They are still looking to open a retail outlet in Singapore, but so far tentatively the plan is to open an outlet at Changi Airport. Will update the location once it’s been confirmed.

So yes, with Sterling Truffle Bars – expect something extraordinary!

I would like to end off this post by giving my thanks to the lovely people at T&XE LLP for inviting me to this sampling session, for the lovely truffle bars and most importantly, for introducing me to these wonderful chocolates to share with everyone!(:

>> Click HERE to Purchase Sterling Truffle Bar Chocolates <<
>> LIKE Sterling Truffle Bar Imported & Distributed by T&XE LLP on Facebook <<

Till later,
♥ mitsueki