At 1 am on a muggy night in Chandigarh, the Sector 9 inner market is shut but opposite a vibrant artwork adorn wall, Mozimo is bustling away with chocolate and caffeine lovers. I enter this cacao haven, after a hearty dinner only to be further tempted with tubs of gelato — there’s pistachio, strawberry, tiramisu, and of course, chocolate fudge!
Curiosity peaks upon sighting chubby jars of hazelnut and pistachio spreads. The latter seems unusual, so without much expectation I request for a tester scoop. But alas, this silky green pulp intoxicates me and how! Few seconds and more scoops later, I start scribbling mushy messages on the wall-mounted menu board only to be shaken and stirred back to reality with a glass of iced-hot chocolate. Yes, that’s what they call their take on hot chocolate served ice-cold.
Oxymorons apart, Mozimo is a cute, Europe-inspired bean-to-bar chocolate cafe that was launched last year by a young couple — Mritanshu Agrawal and Priyanka Gupta -both 40. Parents to two lovely young girls, the couple also runs three super popular microbreweries in Chandigarh tricity.
“We were the first to roll this concept out in Chandigarh and our oldest microbrewery is the 14 year-old Hops n Grains,” says Amritanshu and adds, “but our quest for giving north Indian the taste of artisanal single original chocolate began in 2021. Priyanka and I love travelling and food and this shared passion took us to the remote cocoa farms of Kerala, where we spent a week, exploring fermentries and forging relationships with cacao farmers in the state Idukki district) and made them our cacao bean suppliers.”
The couple visited multiple farms — both small and big. “We then exported cacao beans from various farms for quality check to the chocolate machine manufacturers in Italy,” shared Priyanka.
Cut to Mozimo, where you can sign up for chocolate workshops every Sunday at noon. “On level two, watch the cocoa beans being roasted, cracked, winnowed and refined in-house, and then climb down to level one to create your own chocolate bar with molten chocolate. Finally, on the ground floor there’s the chocolate-aging cellar, where two to three tonnes of chocolate is stored at 16-20 degree centigrade at below 50 percent humidity.
I tried my hand at shaping a bar of 45 percent milk chocolate under the guidance of the head chocolatier only to be met with entry-level success, as expected. Meanwhile, Amritanshu gave some valuable insights on the temperature at which chocolate must be stored (read 16-degree centigrade) and consumed within six months of being manufactured. The varieties with dried fruits, however, can last upto a year.
Mozimo is choc-a-block with crunchy dragees, pretty pralines, silky spreads and inclusion bars along with a host of hampers for all occasions, Diwali being the latest addition. Their sweetness is matched with the smiling faces of Mozimo’s founders and staff, who keep shutters up till 2 am on weekends and spoil their customers with cacao and coffee.
And better still, Mozomo goes an extra mile to make you a social media star with its cool AR artwork — check out their Instagram handle @mozimo.com to use the cool filter and watch the magic unfold.
As Priyanka aptly says: “There’s always something to please all palates and preferences at Mozimo!”
sociomartini.com 
Leave a comment