If children's literature has taught us anything, it is that chocolate factories are owned by eccentric tycoons, staffed by mischievous Oompa Loompas and traversed by chocolaty rivers that visitors should drink from at their own risk. So, when the North Shore News received an invitation for a behind-the-scenes tour of Thomas Haas Fine Chocolate & Patisserie in North Vancouver, it was eagerly accepted, but not without some preconceptions.
On a weekday afternoon, the Harbourside Drive café entertains a steady stream of sweet-toothed customers. Some sit down with their cappuccinos and savory selections; others pick and choose from an assortment of handmade chocolates, pastries and confections artfully displayed behind glass in tidy rows and stacks.
Everything is made in the adjoining kitchen, which lies beyond a set of swinging doors with peek-a-boo windows. Owner Thomas Haas leads the way into his boutique production facility, which, not surprisingly, bears little resemblance to Roald Dahl's fictional wonderland save for one important thing: chocolate. And plenty of it. The heady aroma of cocoa hangs in the air as a handful of staff prepare trays of ganache for decoration while others tie gift boxes with orange ribbons. An Oasis song plays softly in the background.
Through the chocolate kitchen and into a special temperature-and humidity-controlled room, Haas surveys the day's work. Several bakers racks are stacked high with tray upon tray of freshly made sweets. There's a dark chocolate ganache with toasted pecans and chewy caramel, dipped in dark chocolate and sprinkled with French sea salt, a crunchy praline with Guinness beer ganache, and countless others. Haas tries out new recipes regularly, he says, the successes largely a result of trial and error. Asked if he has a personal favourite chocolate, he replies with an emphatic "no."
"It's like asking if I have a favourite child," he says with a laugh.
Haas proceeds to another spacious room, the pastry kitchen, where buttery croissants glow golden yellow through oven door windows. Today, staff are also preparing Christmas stollen, a German holiday bread. "We are known for nothing, but we are known for this," says Haas, motioning to a station where chefs brush melted butter on dense loaves before dusting them in a thin layer of sugar. The team produces 280 of these traditional treats per day during the holiday season. And they sell out every day. This is the busiest time of year for the family-run business, which has ramped up production more than 400 per cent to meet holiday demand. But despite a steady appetite for his handmade sweets, Haas limits his kitchen's output, maintaining a strict quality-over-quantity philosophy.
"We've always tried to avoid growth," says Haas, a German-born fourth-generation pastry chef, who started his own business in 2000 with his wife Lisa. "I think growing your business is sometimes so much easier if you don't care about the quality." Haas, a North Vancouver resident, says he and his team focus on self-improvement. "Every year we make our lives more complicated. We get more experience, so I think every year we put it up a notch and we come up with more creativity and more complexity." That inventive spirit is evident in another of Haas's holiday specialties: chocolate art. Edible Christmas trees, penguins, snowmen, elves and globe-shaped ornaments, all of them stuffed with truffles, line the shelves. With detailed features and lively colours the little figurines look almost too good to eat. Almost.
christine lyon, [email protected]
