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From Bean to Plate:
Chocolate as Craft with Mikkel Friis-Holm.

At Monaco Yacht Show 2026, Maison del Gusto hosts Danish chef and chocolate maker Mikkel Friis-Holm for a masterclass in single-variety cacao, blind tasting and chocolate as a working kitchen ingredient.

Published
1 September 2026
Location
Captains & Crew Lounge
Reading time
5 minutes
Tags
Captains & Crew Lounge, Mikkel Friis-Holm, Monaco Yacht Show

Chocolate usually arrives at the end of a meal, when attention is softening.
Mikkel Friis-Holm asks for something different:
to start again at the bean.

At Monaco Yacht Show 2026, Maison del Gusto will host Friis-Holm for From Bean to Plate: Chocolate as Craft, a masterclass at the MDG Terrace in the Captains & Crew Lounge.
The session is planned for Thursday, 24 September 2026, from 14:00 to 17:00.
Its subject is chocolate, but its real discipline is attention: how origin, variety, fermentation, roasting, refining and restraint can turn cacao into an ingredient with the complexity of wine, coffee or olive oil.

Craft
Chocolate maker Mikkel Friis-Holm working chocolate by hand
Craft

Chocolate as a working ingredient

For yacht chefs and private hospitality teams, chocolate must be reliable, flexible and elegant. But reliability does not have to mean neutrality. A chocolate may carry citrus, nut, caramel, fruit, tannin, acidity or depth not because something has been added, but because the cacao itself has been allowed to remain legible.

The masterclass begins with a blind tasting of single-variety origins. Different cacaos are placed side by side so guests can taste what changes when nothing is blended away and nothing is corrected for convenience.

Who
Mikkel Friis-Holm
Founder of Friis-Holm Chocolate
What
From Bean to Plate
Chocolate as Craft masterclass
Where
Monaco Yacht Show
Captains & Crew Lounge
When
24 September 2026
14:00-17:00
Why
Cacao as craft
Single-variety tasting and working-kitchen recipes
Shop the collection
Cacao, Craft and Consistency

Friis-Holm Chocolate

In Herslev, Denmark, Mikkel Friis-Holm transforms directly sourced, single-variety cacao into precise, expressive chocolate, preserving the distinctive character of each origin for chefs who take ingredients seriously.

Read the story
Kitchen
Kitchen

From tasting to recipes

From the tasting table, Friis-Holm will move to the stove. The session is expected to include two or three recipe demonstrations built around his chocolates, with a downloadable recipe card prepared for working kitchens.

The aim is not spectacle. It is usability: how to take a chocolate with character and build a recipe that respects it rather than smothering it.

The programme

From Bean to Plate

A masterclass built around tasting, technique and chocolate as a serious ingredient for working kitchens.

Programme dates
24 September 2026
Programme format
Masterclasses, tastings and conversations

  1. Tasting

    Blind tasting of single-variety origins

    Mikkel Friis-Holm
    – Captains & Crew Lounge

    Compare cacao expressions side by side and identify how variety, origin and post-harvest work shape flavour.

  2. Conversation

    Chocolate as a working-kitchen ingredient

    Mikkel Friis-Holm
    – Captains & Crew Lounge

    Discuss how serious kitchens select chocolate by structure, acidity, body and aromatic profile.

  3. Demonstration

    Recipe demonstrations

    Mikkel Friis-Holm
    – Captains & Crew Lounge

    Two or three recipes built around Friis-Holm chocolates. Final dishes to be confirmed with Mikkel.

  4. Guest resource

    Recipe download

    Maison del Gusto
    – Captains & Crew Lounge

    A recipe card is available to guests.

Consistency is craft

The best chocolate does not erase difference. It makes difference reliable enough for chefs to use.

Friis-Holm’s international recognition gives the session authority, but the awards are not the most interesting part of the story. The deeper point is what repeated results reveal: consistency is not the enemy of craft. It is one of its hardest forms.

For chefs, this is where chocolate becomes more than indulgence. It becomes an ingredient that can be selected, questioned and paired with intent.

Maison del Gusto as curator

The encounter connects yacht hospitality with producers who understand their material deeply.

This is why the masterclass belongs at the Captains & Crew Lounge. Yacht hospitality depends on precision under pressure. Ingredients need to travel, behave, hold their identity and still feel alive in service.

MDG’s role is to bring those ingredient conversations closer to the chefs and teams who use them.

Useful questions

More from the MDG journal

Maison del Gusto

Explore chocolate as craft

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