All-You-Can-Eat Chocolate buffet!!!!

When we were in Sydney last month, I was trying to find a reasonably priced "High tea" to visit- unfortunately, high tea in Australia is ridiculously expensive. I really didn't want to spend $70- $100 for a couple of hours of snacking! But if we were going to spend that kind of money, I at least wanted to find a high tea with a lot- a LOT- of chocolate. So I googled "Chocolate high tea" and found something way closer to home: the Sukhothai Hotel in Bangkok has a weekly "Afternoon Tea and Chocolate Buffet". And $30 seemed much more reasonable price than $70! 

Despite the 90 degree (F) heat, we dressed up a bit. The Salon has a dress code- no tank tops, shorts or flip-flops. Considering that both Nick and I are usually wearing shorts and flip-flops, we had to take care to pack extra nice clothes. 

The "Afternoon Tea and Chocolate Buffet" runs from 2pm to 5pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and we made reservations online a couple days ahead of time. We set our time for 2:30pm out of consideration for the other people- I figured I would be eating a LOT of chocolate. 

(They served us the iced tea on the left as soon as we arrived- the waiter said it was "lemongrass tea" but add a little simple syrup and it takes exactly like Fruit Loops. Not complaining.)

The tea included a pot of tea/ coffee, and the food was divided into two rooms:
One "Savory room", which included both Asian foods (like chicken satay and sushi) and traditional high tea savory treats like sandwiches and cheese. It was delicious, but I didn't come to the "Chocolate Buffet" for the smoked salmon. (Nick and Griffin both spent more time in this room than I did)
One "Chocolate room". An enormous table, covered in desserts, particularly of the chocolate variety. There was chocolate fondant cake, chocolate beignets, chocolate-covered mango, chocolate truffles, scones, tartlets... it went on and on.

Plus, there was this guy:

Chef Laurent. Our Swiss chef who has lived in Bangkok for something like 27 years, and who started the Chocolate buffet in 1991 (I think). He knows more about chocolate than anyone. It was impressive and fascinating.

At Chef Laurent's table, we could go and order "liquid chocolate" (or "drinking chocolate") whichever way we wanted, from the 22 varieties of chocolates available. The first one I had was made with two different kinds of chocolate, plus a bit of sea salt and black pepper, and it was heavenly. (I may have had multiple drinking chocolates)

Whipping cream on drinking chocolate

Marshmallows in chocolate fondue

For a chocolaholic like me, the "Chocolate Buffet" was better than Disneyland and Christmas combined. 

After we walked out of the hotel into a heavy rainstorm and took a cab back to our hotel, my body CRASHED. I was sleepy and in need of a nap from all the food, but at the same time hopped up on all the sugar. 

It was like a 24 hour period before my stomach recovered from the chocolate overload.

No regreats!