Archived: Hot Chocolate
I’m slightly partial to a thick hot chocolate.
This may explain why I’ve chased them around the world.
I’m back from the Aroma Festival at The Rocks, buzzing quietly after — and this is only a guess, I lost count somewhere around 2.30pm — three coffees and four hot chocolates.
I sampled every European-style thick hot chocolate on offer, I think prize for thickest goes to the website-less Gourmet Beverage Company's hot chocolate (pictured). Granted it’s a sissy purple plastic spoon, but it stood standing unassisted for at least thirty seconds while it was photographed from every angle.
That’s worryingly thick.
I’m a simple man so I stuck with the original chocolate version, steering clear of flavours ranging from chilli pepper (chilli and chocolate being a match made in heaven, as evidenced by the sadly discontinued Dangerous Liaisons Tim Tams) to the slightly disturbing sounding Yellow-flesh peach and chocolate.
On an unrelated note, my vote for best coffee was hands-down Toby’s Estate. That’s a tasty, tasty coffee.
Posted on Sunday, July 22, 2007
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I think I’ve found a solution to my internet woes. More on that soon.
In the meantime, I’m heading down to the Aroma Festival in The Rocks tomorrow, and aside from tasting a lot of coffee, I plan on reporting back with any hot chocolate based findings.
Posted on Saturday, July 21, 2007
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The second (and last) photo in my short-lived secret lives of architecture's model citizens series, from Madrid.
There's still time to score some Belgian chocolates for the most creative suggestion of why I would make an overnight trek to Brugge. I'm back in London now, and the chocolates (and postcard) are sitting right next to me waiting to be mailed out.
Posted on Monday, January 29, 2007
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Before I forget, I did manage to grab an interesting hot chocolate before I left Perth, in this case it was the Mexican Chilli Hot Chocolate at the Wild Fig cafe on the coast near North Beach.
It was a little feisty as far as chilli hot chocolate goes, it's got a real kick to it (by comparison Koko Black's was more of a subtle hint of chilli). I'm a bit of a chilli fan so I stuck it out but some other people asked for theirs to be diluted with normal hot chocolate to bring it back to something pleasantly drinkable.
I'm looking forward to checking out the hot chocolates in Europe (Italy, Belgium and Switzerland, I'm looking at you) so this won't be the last hot chocolate-related post in the next few months.
Posted on Friday, September 15, 2006
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Another trip to Melbourne, another overdose on hot chocolate. Here's this year's trip in a flashback-style highlights reel. Now with addresses, in case you're playing along at home.
Thursday: Little Peninsula
Little Peninsula's hot chocolate is somewhere between thick, rich Italian hot chocolate and the usual drinkable hot chocolate in cafés. It's served with a spoon, but still pretty liquid so you can just as happily drink it. This little wine bar is on Little Lonsdale just near Melbourne Central's office tower.
www.littlepeninsula.com.au - 308 Little Lonsdale Street.
Friday: Koko Black's Chilli Hot Chocolate
If you do happen to visit Koko Black (in the Royal Arcade, just off Bourke Street) make sure you go upstairs. Little tables and if you're lucky, big winged armchairs by the big arch windows onto the arcade are a great accompaniment to chocolate bliss. A little more la-de-da than the other purveyors of hot chocolate on this trip, Koko Black might be a bit stuffy, but their chilli hot chocolate is silkily warm with a nice chilli kick. Bonus points for the spider's web syrup decoration on the top.
www.kokoblack.com - Royal Arcade, Bourke Street.
Saturday: Brunetti, City Square
Ahhh, Brunetti. How do I love thee? Sitting with good company under the heaters outside as they close up the store around us at 10.30pm, sipping thick, Italian hot chocolate. Quite possibly the perfect way to end a Saturday night that began with a chinese meal, wine, and discussion of scary dreams, embarrassing rock moments and segway polo. When (not "if") you visit Brunetti, make sure you ask for cream on the side so you can dip teaspoonfuls in to the drink, which measures out the liquid-chocolate overdose.
www.brunetti.com.au - City Square, 214 Flinders Lane.
Sunday: Trampoline
Trampoline (who I've previously raved about for their great gelato) also have a chocolate fountain at their Brunswick Street store. Ask for a hot chocolate—it's not on the menu, but the posters all over the store advertise its "Not too thick. Not too thin"-ness—and they'll show you a paper cup about one-third full of chocolate (at this point it's polite to either giggle, drool quietly or generally swoon). Added to this is some frothed milk (think cafe latte) which is mixed, then topped with flaked chocolate. Tip: to avoid becoming laughter-fodder for staff, ask for a spoon to scrape the chocolate bits from the bottom of the cup. I get the impression we weren't the first to spend minutes waiting for gravity to bring the last of the chocolate within reach.
www.trampolinehq.com.au - 381 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy
Monday: Max Brenner
I've raved in the past about Max Brenner's hyperventilation-inducing menu of hot chocolates, so if you've previously missed that, feel free to brush up now. In summary: if it's hot and chocolately, you'll probably find it here. I'm still yet to try the sucao DIY-approach, but everything I've tried has been good. Not amazing, but consistently good. And the hug mug is always good for a laugh.
www.maxbrenner.com.au - Menzies Alley, Melbourne Central, 300 La Trobe Street
Honourable mentions
There were a couple of places I didn't make it to on this last whirlwind trip to Melbourne, but I think they deserve a mention.
L'Aperitivo
This is where it all started back in 2004... I think it's still the best Italian hot chocolate I've found in Melbourne.
340 Glenhuntly Rd, Elsternwick
San Churro
I've heard and read many good things about this Spanish chocolate cafe. Check out this photo on flickr of their three shots of chocolate and tell me you don't want to pay them a visit.
www.sanchurro.com - 277b Brunswick Street, Fitzroy
Still no word on Italian hot chocolate in Perth, mostly because I'm otherwise absorbed at work.
And lazy.
Posted on Sunday, August 6, 2006
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I left Melbourne a little over a month ago and already it feels like an age since my holiday.
I mention that because this hot chocolate review is a little late and may be a little sketchy on the details.
Max Brenner. Where to start. If you were slightly giddy at the option of either Hot Chocolate or Italian Hot Chocolate on the menu at L'Aperitivo or Brunetti, you'll pass out when you see the menu at this hot chocolateria (okay, so I made that up).
Page after page after drool-soaked-page of different types of hot chocolate.
Going from sketchy chocolate-fuelled memory, we're talking at least five pages of different types of hot chocolate. Five. I'll wait for you to contemplate that a moment longer.
Right.
They've got your traditional liquid-state hot chocolate, mixed with a variety of amazing-sounding flavours (that photo's blurred because I'm about to chug some dark-chocolate-and-orange flavoured goo). These are served in the hug-mug, which is "specially-designed for the chocolate drinking ceremony."
Yes, they said ceremony. They take it that seriously. If Mr Brenner starts a religion, I know a lot of people who'd join.
They've also got a decidedly elaborate DIY option called Suckao, which involves an egg-shaped mug with a tealight candle underneath being brought to the table along with some freshly-mined blocks of chocolate and a small jug of milk. You're then free to mix up your own hot chocolate, which is drunk through a metal straw-spoon.
I've left that option for next time I happen to be in Melbourne. Or Sydney. They're in several convenient locations in either city. Just not in Perth.
Posted on Monday, November 21, 2005
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If this last trip to Melbourne had a plan (which it didn't - the whole thing had a lazy aura of unplanned-ness about it) it would be Mission Hot Chocolate 2: This Time With Added Pizza. My 2004 trip to Melbourne started out with the stated aim of trying a stack of gourmet hot chocolate places, but the first one I made it to was so mind-bendingly good that I kinda forgot about the rest.
Or when I tried they were closed.
Which happened surprisingly often for a cosmopolitan, 24-hour-trading city like Melbourne (and to the one that made malteaser hot chocolate, just to make things worse) but it was mostly that I kept going back to L'Aperitivo for another hit of the thick molten goo they called Italian Hot Chocolate.
This time around L'Aperitivo was closed for the first week of my holiday, so I had no choice but to get my hot chocolate hit somewhere else.
One of the stops on my hot chocolate tour of Melbourne was Brunetti City Square in the CBD, for their Italian Hot Chocolate. It's not as thick as L'Aperitivo (ie you can't stand the spoon up in the middle of the glass) but it's still disgustingly rich and slightly bitter. If you're after something sweeter, you can get some whipped cream in a little jug on the side which you can add to taste. Or just use the teaspoon to scoop, dip and eat as Mot recommended.
Brunetti's Italian Hot Chocolate: perfect for the mid-afternoon chocolate hit. I'd be a regular if they were in Perth or I were in Melbourne (sigh).
Posted on Tuesday, October 25, 2005
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My previously subdued love of hot chocolate was awakened on my last trip to Melbourne when I discovered the molten chocolate joy that is Italian Hot Chocolate at L'aperitivo's in Elsternwick. Since then I've been trying to track down one in Perth (with no luck yet) or to find the chocolate mix that cafes use to make it (no luck there either).
My Dad did some researching on Google the other week and found a recipe for Spanish hot chocolate which sounded close enough to warrant some experiments. This tracks with things I've been hearing about the thick hot chocolate that's served up with doughnut-style things called churros that's reportedly worth the cross-world trek to a market in Spain. (Google for info)
We've tried making it once before with reasonably good results, so we gave it another go last night as a birthday dessert. It works pretty well, though getting the not-quite-set consistency right is hit and miss.
Anyway, on with the recipe...
Continue reading "Spanitalian Hot Chocolate"
Posted on Thursday, June 16, 2005
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Today I finally made it down to L'Aperitivo, just down the road from where I'm staying in Brighton, for the first serious entry in mission: hot chocolate.
And oh man, I had no idea what I was in for. It's insanely good. Imagine a cup filled with molten milk chocolate, and then a slightly crusty top and you're close.
The Age's review said "closer to a dessert than a hot drink" which is erring on the side of caution, unless you can think of any other drinks that can only be consumed with a spoon.
The question is, does anyone in Perth make real Italian hot chocolate? If so, let's book in a hot chocolate trip when I'm back in town.
Update: Still no sign of Italian Hot Choc in Perth, but I did find and try out a recipe (June 16, 2005)
Posted on Tuesday, August 24, 2004
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While pondering some great suggestions for things to do in Melbourne, I was hunting down some more info on Natalie's suggestion of Koko Black (otherwise known as chocoholic heaven).
Just quietly, I want to live in a city which warrants a detailed review of the hot chocolate on offer across town (drool).
Posted on Thursday, August 12, 2004
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And the rest...