Italian luxury chocolate brand Amedei tests the market with a pop-up store

Hongkongers have a reputation for enjoying the finer things in life, and high quality chocolates are no exception.

Even a price rise of up to 40 per cent this year for the raw materials for chocolate failed to dent local demand for the luxury product.

High-end brands Godiva and Jean-Paul Hévin have been wooing local consumers for years. And now an Italian company, Amedei, is hoping to join them.

Amedei, based in Tuscany, recently launched a pop-up counter in City'super at Harbour City. The venture is a bellwether for the brand's latest expansion - if successful, Cecilia Tessieri, owner and founder of Amedei, envisions a permanent outpost in the city in the future.

Tessieri says Hongkongers' tastes have improved in recent years. "This city is like London - it's an international place and people here are attracted to quality. They are looking for the perfect chocolate. It is a universal product."

Godiva's chef Philippe Daue agrees. "Hong Kong and China are becoming more sensitive to quality," he says. "People are more exposed to high-end chocolates through their travels and their consumption, and they are becoming more sophisticated and demanding."