How to eat a coffee cup chocolate
(Picture above: B kindly demonstrates the best way to enjoy a coffee cup chocolate from Belle Fleur)
Of the many fine shops on Darling Street, Adriano Zumbo’s patisserie is a permanent fixture on my must-visit list. Now, the Belle Fleur chocolate shop is on it’s way to becoming a favourite too. I love Belle Fleur’s chocolates, but had never visited their shop until now. A quick detour before my cake class during the weekend, led to me being a little late for my class because I got side tracked by the lovely displays of chocolate – from the exquisite truffles and moulded chocolates at the glass counter, to the showpiece chocolates such as the telescope and giant hamburger.
It’s a lovely little shop decked out in warm tones, with slick displays. The welcoming look of the interior is unfortunately not quite echoed by the service, which was rather perfunctory, though to be fair, I was there at a rather ungodly hour of the morning. Too early, to be thinking, “chocolate”, perhaps. Forgive me if I’m being too critical, but I think Willy Wonka has permanently tainted my idea of the perfect chocolate shop. If the lady behind the counter had been friendlier, I suspect she would have successfully talked me into selecting an even larger box of chocolates (I’m very easily swayed in that regard).
As it stands, I picked a selection to fill a small gift box. The coffee cup chocolate consisted of three layers : a dark ganache on the base, a milkier ganache in the middle, and the white “cappuccino foam” on top. Very pretty and tasty, though not as strongly flavoured as I had expected.
The next day, I turned right onto Darling Street and hit Adriano Zumbo’s shop. Again, another early morning visit, so I was the only one in the shop and had plenty of time to browse. I had resolved to walk away with only one item because B and I had recently been suffering from a glut of desserts (horrifying but true), and settled on one that I had been meaning to try – a nut coated chocolate number with a paddle pop stick poking out of it’s side. It looks a bit like a Golden Gaytime (a chocolate mousse and honeycomb version of the Gaytime wouldn’t be such a bad idea, would it?). I’d forgotten it’s name and would have quite happily referred to it as the One with the Unpronounceable Name, except Lorraine has already reminded me that it’s called Maxiadz. The Maxiadz was two discs of chocolate dacquoise sandwiching chocolate mousse and a creamy raspberry filling. It was very flavoursome, yet light at the same time. Delicious!
Also spotted while on the way to Belle Fleur : a cute selection of mini cupcakes from a bake shop whose name I have forgotten…The Stroppy Streudel..? Can anyone refresh my memory?
Belle Fleur Fine Chocolates
658 Darling Street
Rozelle 2039.
Adriano Zumbo Patissier
296 Darling St
Balmain 2041.
Lorraine E said,
May 20, 2008 @ 12:54 pm
Haha I love that pic-big man+small cup! The service was the same for me but glad that they boxed yours up for you unlike mine :S The Violet one was my favourite and I thought that the coffee taste in the cappucino cup was also quite mild. Which other ones did you try? I got a box of them for my birthday and they were really lovely.
I’d love to try one of those cupcakes. Balmain is such a mecca for good food…
Y said,
May 20, 2008 @ 1:15 pm
Ca’t remember the exact details of my selection (they are long long gone..) but I loved the violet one, and a couple alcoholic ones I got were nice and punchy.
belle said,
May 21, 2008 @ 9:26 am
It’s Strudel Baron.
Y said,
May 21, 2008 @ 10:37 am
Thanks Belle! That sounds better than Stroppy Streudel anyway, doesn’t it.. hehe
W said,
August 7, 2008 @ 8:12 am
B looks like he just popped in to visit Alice, or went home to Brobdignag.