The city chocolate fix

Hur­ray, anoth­er guest post from Heather at Food­ie Gems of Wellie

Where to go in the city for a qual­i­ty choco­late fix between usu­al excus­es — choco­late fes­ti­vals, Valen­tines, East­er, Xmas, nation­al choco­late day, your birth­day, your best friend’s birth­day, White Day in Japan, Choco­late Dipped Fruit and Fon­due day in the US (hmmm, any oth­ers?)?

Fol­low me, and know that the calo­ries will go straight out the bot­tom of your legs if walk­ing…

Start at Bohe­mein Fresh Choco­lates, 109 Feath­er­ston Street (unless it’s Sun­day and then start at the Esque stand at the City Mar­ket in the Chaf­fers Build­ing).  A two-bite sen­so­ry expe­ri­ence of fresh ingre­di­ents, no preser­v­a­tives, and inter­est­ing flavours.  To be eat­en with­in 2–3 weeks if you take some away and can hold out that long. Try the award-win­ning Sea Salt Caramel.

Call past Kirkaldie and Stain’s gourmet shop to pick up your favourite Schoc tablet.  The Xmasy Frank­in­cense, Myrrh and Gold is all go again.

Pop into The Choco­late Cake Com­pa­ny in Cap­i­tal on the [Lambton] Quay (a mouth­ful in more ways than one!) to order a take-home dense and deli­cious choco­late mud cake for shar­ing.  To appease the guilt of hog­ging out all day by your­self.  Unless its Sun­day, and then order online once home and you’ve licked away any tell­tale choco­late mous­tache.

The next stop should be Tempt Cup­cakes in the Old Bank Arcade (front cor­ner of Smiths The Gro­cer) to see if you can resist a Choco­late Caramel or Tra­di­tion­al Moist Choco­late Cake cre­ation.  Just beau­ti­ful to behold.

As you stroll up Willis Street, stop by But­lers Choco­lates near the Man­ners cor­ner.  Whilst not a local pro­duc­er, they offer some nice­ly pack­aged good­ies for Xmas stock­ings, and have a delight­ful­ly sun­ny after­noon upstairs bal­cony for a wee choco­latey rest if required.

For the reg­u­lar­ly-vot­ed best hot choco­late in the city, pro­ceed to Sco­pa on the cor­ner of Cuba and Ghuznee Streets.  One of those expe­ri­ences that just sim­ply should be on your buck­et list.  Although the shot size is very cute, go for the reg­u­lar at least.  If you’re gonna do it, do it thor­ough­ly.

I’d sug­gest a sit down in a dark qui­et room by about now, so loop around to low­er Tarana­ki Street and Hashigo Zake (down­stairs below Zibib­bo), and order up a Rogue Choco­late Stout.  And if you’re hun­gry, one of Hashigo Zake’s famed gourmet pies to go with it.

And for a dessert finale, uplift your stom­ach and mean­der along to Mat­ter­horn oppo­site the buck­et foun­tain in Cuba Street, and order up the Eight Tex­tures of Choco­late ‘Thai Style’.  A clever and deli­cious fin­ish.

From here there are a range of bus­es and taxis near­by, who will take your choco­late-sat­is­fied self wher­ev­er you need to go….