Chocolate soup has been on the menu at Arbutus for years now. To me, it's the ultimate finish to a meal.
In the 90s, everyone was doing fondants - I wanted to do something different. I wanted to create a dish that wasn't a cake, but wasn't a mousse, either. I suppose it's most like a flourless souffle really. I have coeliac disease, but this dish predates my diagnosis.
I think my chocolate soup is the recipe I'm most proud of. It's the dish that my peers always praise me for. The cocoa content has to be high, and I like to serve it with either almond or milk ice-cream - that's just so refreshing.
Aside from food, my other passion in life is gardening. So I'd choose to eat my last meal in my own garden, surrounded by alliums, with my wife and sons, Max and Otis.
I'd choose to eat my chocolate soup at four o'clock. In France, it's a bit of a ritual to have something sweet at that time, and my boys are absolute buggers if they don't get their treat then, so it would be a move to keep the peace! If I could eat a little spit-roast chicken from a market in the south of France first, that'd make me very happy.
I'd definitely want to make it with Max and Otis - they'd get pretty messy, I imagine. Otis is a fellow chocoholic, but Max isn't bothered by it at all really. All the more for us!
On that note, I think I'd invite fellow chef Claude Bosi from Hibiscus along. He has a similar view to Max, and I like the idea of my sendoff, eating chocolate soup, being the moment that he changes his mind.
I wouldn't want any alcohol, just a double espresso. There aren't many marriages as classic as coffee and chocolate - it's the perfect match.
I loved Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry so much when I was younger, so I'd want to listen to something by them. Probably a ballad, as I'm a romantic at heart - and let's face it, that would complement the chocolate.
Warm chocolate soup
Serves 4
250g extra-bitter chocolate
50ml whipping cream
50g butter
4 whole eggs, separated
Milk, almond or vanilla ice cream, to serve
1 Melt the chocolate and butter until just melted. Add the egg yolks and combine lightly. Gently fold in the lightly whipped cream and whipped whites. Immediately transfer to individual bowls ready for baking.
2 Bake at 100C/210F/gas mark ¼ for 9 minutes. Serve with a scoop of ice-cream.
Anthony Demetre's final spread would mostly feature chocolate.