Adam Handling’s Sweetest Creation Yet: Inside London’s Most Ambitious Chocolate Shop
- James Massoud
- Apr 8
- 5 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
London’s luxury food scene just got a serious upgrade. Chef Adam Handling MBE — known for his bold, creative cuisine and Michelin-starred flair — has unveiled his most indulgent project to date: a chocolate shop. But this isn’t just any chocolate shop. Located just two minutes from his celebrated flagship restaurant, Frog, the newly opened Adam Handling Chocolate Shop is a sensory deep-dive into terroir, craft, and cocoa culture. With its jaw-dropping 21 bonbon flavours, single-variety cacao, and 12 varieties of hot chocolate, it’s a game-changing moment not just for Handling, but for British chocolate as a whole.
From Frog to Foraged Caramel: A Dream Realised in Covent Garden
"I’ve dreamed of opening a chocolate shop for a long time," Adam tells The Knife, "and I’ve always wanted to do it properly."
For the chef, this is more than a business expansion. It’s a deeply personal project — "like a kid in a candy shop," he says — and a culmination of years of learning, tasting, refining and experimenting. The result is a boutique that sits at the intersection of fine dining, ethical sourcing, and sheer artistic pleasure.
The shop is located at 17 Maiden Lane, just around the corner from Frog in Covent Garden, but the energy is entirely its own: part old-world apothecary, part contemporary design haven, and 100% devoted to the craft of chocolate. Hand-painted bonbons glisten behind glass, brownies radiate richness from behind the counter, and the scent of warm cacao wafts through the space like a siren call.
The Craft Behind the Cocoa: How a Michelin Chef Makes Chocolate
Adam's approach to chocolate is exactly what you’d expect from one of Britain’s most technically accomplished chefs: meticulous, thoughtful, and rooted in storytelling. He treats chocolate not as a confection but as an ingredient — a fruit, a ferment, a form of edible expression.
"My motto for the Adam Handling Collection is 'Education, Motivation, Inspiration' — and this really applies here," he tells us. "So much research has gone into the history of chocolate, sourcing the best cacao, and understanding the importance of location."
This focus on origin led him to partner with XOCO Gourmet — pioneers of regenerative farming and single-variety cacao. Their beans come from the deep jungles of Nicaragua and Honduras, where traditional grafting methods ensure that each tree produces fruit genetically identical to its mother, maintaining a powerful purity of flavour.
"The single variety grafting method that XOCO uses means the original flavour is never tainted," he explains. "It’s chocolate that literally tastes of the soil it came from."
And every bean tells a story. After being fermented for two and a half days, the beans are roasted and ground in-store by Adam's team. The results? Bonbons that showcase tasting notes usually reserved for wine or coffee — floral, citrus, nutty, smoky — and zero compromise on sustainability or flavour integrity.
Sweet Memories and Bold Flavours: The Bonbon Collection
The bonbon selection is Adam's playground. Each one is hand-painted by his team in Covent Garden — led by Chef Director Jamie Park and Pastry Director Moses Adama — and comes in flavours that walk the line between comforting and cutting-edge.
"Being in Theatreland, we want to surprise guests with a touch of theatre and the unexpected," Adam explains to us. "Nostalgia is a big part of what we do — we take something familiar and twist it into something refined."
Take the Orange Marmalade bonbon: "It makes you think of a Jaffa Cake, but it’s grown up and beautiful." Other flavours include PB & J, Banoffee, Toasted Coconut, Yuzu Sencha, Bergamot & Ginger, and Irish Cream, each as expressive visually as they are on the palate.
Gift boxes are available in four, 12 or 24-piece sizes, while the ultra-premium 21-flavour wooden display box is a chocolate lover’s dream. Each one is a mini artwork — edible design with depth and a narrative.
Hot Chocolate Reimagined: A Twelve-Part Symphony
One of the most ambitious elements of the shop is the hot chocolate corner, offering twelve — yes, twelve — distinct varieties of the classic drink.
Why so many? "We wanted people to be able to explore different strengths and locations," Adam explains. "It’s like choosing coffee. Some people want rich, dark and bitter, while others love light and fruity. Chocolate has that same depth."
His personal favourite? The 70% Mayan Red from Honduras. "It’s got cherry, young red fruit, lychee… just incredibly well-made chocolate. No junk. No filler."
Every hot chocolate can be customised with whipped cream, toasted marshmallows, and spice add-ons — and if you fall in love, seven of the shop’s hot chocolate blends are available to take home.
Though the bonbons and hot chocolate are the stars of the show, the rest of the offering is equally decadent. There are soft-baked cookies (try the Dark Chocolate & Sea Salt or Caramelised White Chocolate & Macadamia), fudgey brownies, chocolate-dipped fruits, and nutty florentines.
Then there are the spreads. Forget supermarket Nutella — these 170g jars are next level. Choose from Milk, Dark or White Chocolate Hazelnut, or go for the luxurious White Chocolate Pistachio. Rich, smooth and dangerously spoonable.
Building Chocolate with Integrity (and a Few Bumps in the Road)
Despite the shop’s polished finish, getting here wasn’t all smooth sailing. "I’ve made more mistakes on this project than any other," Adam admits. "It’s cost us three or four times what we budgeted — but it’s been so worth it."
That tenacity shows. From the bean to the bonbon, every decision has been guided by flavour and ethics — not shortcuts. "It’s a huge learning curve," he adds, "but our main focus is always on creating the best experiences for our guests."
Partnering with XOCO wasn’t just about sustainability — it was about excellence. "The fact they’ve turned barren land into forests of cacao is amazing. But the chocolate? It’s just the best of the best."
Adam has expanded his empire well beyond London, with The Loch & The Tyne in Windsor, Ugly Butterfly and The Tartan Fox in Cornwall — and now this chocolate boutique. So, is this the beginning of a sweeter, broader chapter?
"That would be telling," he says, teasingly. "Watch this space."
Tasting experiences, chocolate pairings, or more boutiques could well be on the horizon. But for now, Londoners have front-row seats to the debut of a chocolate revolution.