Popular chocolates and desserts brand, L’inouï, opens its first café in Jakkur

Extraordinary, incredible and unprecedented — all these words are what you get if you translate the French word L’inouï, which also happens to be a popular chocolate brand that Bengaluru welcomed last month. Helmed by Anusha A Chowdaiah, this elegant store and café is a haven for connoisseurs longing for fine European-style confectionery.

Bengaluru’s L’inouï blends European ingredients with Indian dessert artistry

How’s that? Although their desserts are crafted in India, all the ingredients are sourced from California, Belgium, Switzerland and quaint European towns where chocolate-making is passed down through generations, preserving the taste and authenticity.

All of which we learnt during a hands-on bar-making session that resulted in a glossy slab of milk chocolate generously topped with crunchy almonds and tart dried cranberries. The smoothness of the couverture chocolates — made with pure cocoa butter and entirely free of vegetable oils, additives or preservatives — was evident even in this simple exercise.

We then moved on to tasting all the dishes on their menu, beginning with macarons first! While one was a subtle pistachio treat, the other, made using fresh blueberries imported from Holland, boasted a mix of sweet and tangy flavours. Next came The Chocolate Velvets — bite-sized squares of pure decadence, notable not just for their silky texture but also their fleeting shelf life of just 48 hours.

The pastry selection was equally enticing. The fine Dark Belgian mousse cake was rich, intense and layered with silky mousse crafted from pure couverture chocolate. Something we could savour several times and still crave. Another showstopper, the Chocolate Almond & Orange Cake, brought together the brightness of freshly squeezed orange juice with the depth of Belgian chocolate. The Belgian Truffle Cake, meanwhile, struck a perfect harmony between bitter and sweet — its soft sponge laced with chocolate and topped with a Swiss glaze.

What took us by surprise was that we had devoured everything that was served, leaving empty plates behind and yet we were not overwhelmed or appalled by the sweetness. However, to cut the sugar, we gave L’inouï’s take on the classic French croissant a try. Flaky, delicate and buttery, they were a comforting accompaniment to a final indulgence — the DIY hot chocolate dip. Simply swirl sticks of pure Belgian chocolate into steaming milk for a cocoa-powder-and-syrup-free drink. These readyto-make delights are available in five distinct flavours — Dark, Classic, Extra Dark, Hazelnut and Coffee.