Executive Pastry Chef Diogo Lopes and Pastry Sous Chef Jennifer Carvalho Launch a Limited-Edition Valentine’s Day Chocolate Collection at Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, Executive Pastry Chef at Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon Diogo Lopes and Pastry Sous Chef Jennifer Carvalho are launching the Hotel’s first Limited Edition Valentine’s Day Chocolate Collection. “It all starts with a passion for chocolate! And that's the only way it can begin,” says confessed chocaholic Diogo.  

The Limited-Edition Chocolate Collection includes some of the Pastry Chef’s most coveted creations – 10 chocolates, to be exact: Pick Me, Love Birds, xoxo, Amor, Cupid’s Arrow, One Thousand and One Nights, Sweetheart, Scarlet Kiss, Beijo and With Love.

It can take up to three days to make a full batch of chocolates, and each bonbon is meticulously hand-painted to illustrate the flavour inside. The Limited-Edition Collection is composed of some more consensual flavours, and others that are a little more irreverent. Speculoos Spice Blend, passion fruit and banana share the stage, or box, with the hand of Buddha, black sesame and raspberry, Bergamot Sansho pepper and Cherry and even Pastel de Nata (Portuguese custard tarts). “Our vision is to make the highest quality chocolate that is not only delicious, beautiful, but also surprising, all at once,” says Diogo. Other seductive flavours include Coffee and Hazelnut, Banana, Rum and Caramel, Coconut and Almond, Chocolate, Macadamia and Caramel, Passion Fruit.

Guests looking for a heart-melting Valentine’s Day present should take note for the chocolate lover in their lives. The question is, which one will they taste first?  

When speaking about the inspiration behind this collection, Diogo explains that “the sweet tooth child inside me tells me that chocolate is the best thing in the world! And the Pastry Chef in me feels that it is the most challenging and multifaceted ingredient to work with. I think our collection is born from both.”

“Both Jennifer Carvalho and I are lovers of the complex and the simple. The colourful and vibrant. And also, a blank canvas. We respect the process and always begin with the best Valrhona chocolate,” he adds.

The Pastry Chef and his team seek to make an artisanal product where flavour and texture are at the very essence; where each bonbon is made with meticulous attention and detail at each stage of the process, all this in search of the perfect chocolate bite.

Guilherme Costa, the Hotel’s General Manager, reveals that the Valentine’s Day Chocolate Collection is the first of a series of special collections to be launched for annual occasions such as Christmas and other holidays, allowing the Pastry Team to create new combinations and to take the best potential out of each seasonal ingredient.

Guests can purchase their Valentine’s Day Chocolate Collection gift box at the Hotel. If they’re lucky, their significant other might even be feeling loved up enough to share.

• A box of 6 Limited Edition Valentine’s Day Chocolate Collection costs EUR 20
• A box of 18 Limited Edition Valentine’s Day Chocolate Collection costs EUR 50  

In addition, guests can purchase the following cakes:

• Heart Cake: Cocoa cake, black and milk chocolate mousse, caramel and crunchy hazelnut – EUR 55
• Cupid’s Arrow: Bergamot, raspberry ganache, juniper and bergamot gel and crunchy white chocolate – EUR 30

• Ritz Delicatessen Take-Away orders email: ritz.delicatessen@fourseasons.com
• Ritz Delicatessen Take-Away orders phone number: (+351) 21 381 1400