LoisonÂ’s Chocolate & Spices Veneziana receives the Best of Alpe Adria Award for best traditional cake

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The year 2019 definitely began with a bang for Dario Loison. January is not even over yet and the first award of the new year was assigned to the confectioners for their Chocolate & Spices Veneziana, a sweet bread that was introduced just a few months prior.

The event in question was the 23rd edition of “Magnar Ben Best Gourmet 2019”, hosted by Maurizio Potocnik at Eat’s Store and Bistro in Conegliano, Treviso, on January 31. Magnar Ben is a gastronomic guide that features over 400 restaurants, 90 premium wines and 70 specialties produced in the regions of Northeastern Italy, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia.

Of the twenty Best of Alpe Adria Food Awards featured in the 2019 guide, 10 went to restaurants, 5 to wines and 5 to craft products. The latter included the FOOD category and, this year, the award for the best traditional cake went to Dario Loison’s Chocolate & Spices Veneziana.

The Veneziana features selected single-origin cocoas, mainly from Cuba and Venezuela. In addition to decadent chocolate morsels, the cake includes a skillfully balanced mix of choice black pepper from Lampong, Indonesia, from Timut, Nepal, and from Jamaica for the right amount of depth and spiciness. It’s not all: the pepper has also been expertly combined with Tonka beans, whose notes remind us of bitter almond, and the delicate fragrance of Mananara vanilla from Madagascar (a Slow Food Presidium) and turmeric powder from Asia.

“I am honored to receive this recognition - said Dario Loison – from the staff of a guide that has been a point of reference for the gastronomic arena for the last 23 years. Through its expert writers, we discover the food and wine history of the Alpe Adria region, a unique and fascinating culture, steeped in tradition”.

The official award ceremony was attended, among others, by Luca Zaia, Governor of the Veneto Region, by Lorenzo Cogo from bistro Garibaldi and restaurant El Coq in Vicenza, by Tomaz Kavcic from restaurant Pri Lojzetu-Castle Zemono in Vipava, Slovenia, by chef Tino Vettorello from restaurant Tre Panoce in Conegliano, Treviso, by chef Stefano Basello from restaurant Il Fogolar Là di Moret in Udine – with his bread featuring barks and lichens from trees that were fell in the Carnia area of the Friuli region last October - and by Gaetano Catalano, head bartender at TerrazzaMare Marcandole in Jesolo, who prepared a cocktail featuring Monologue, the latest gin crafted by Tomaž Kavčič.

The award ceremony was followed by the highly anticipated gala dinner, at the end of which sweet slices of Chocolate & Spices Veneziana were served with a custard cream created by pastry chef Fabio La Commare from restaurant Tre Panoce in Conegliano, Treviso.

To learn more and to see the complete list of awardees, click here.