It’s 4.45am on a Sunday and I’m running for a train to the airport with two backpacks strapped to me, trying to eat a banana and call a cab company. Uber have failed me!
I make the flight and set off on my most ambitious Chocolate Adventure yet. Having spent most of the last few years exploring some of the best chocolate shops in far-flung corners of the world, and having worked as a chocolatier, it was now time to get down to basics, to go right back to the beginning and discover what really goes in to creating one of the worlds’ most popular treats.
Rococo Chocolates in Motcombe Street, London, are famous for a variety of award-winning chocolate products, including their 70% House Dark drinking chocolate which is pure magic in a cup. Served in Rococo’s distinguishable china cups with the founder’s own blue stencil designs on them, everything about this hot chocolate drinking experience is pure perfection.
The chocolate they use is an organic 70% house blend using beans from a variety of origins, to add a little richness they have also added organic cocoa powder to the mix giving it a lovely strong flavour and velvety texture, it’s clear to see why this drink won them an Academy of Chocolate award! Sip it from their beautiful cups outside in the little wire chairs, inside the hustle and bustle of the shop, or in their little private magic garden downstairs at the back of the shop. Even after you’ve finished you will notice the heady notes of chocolate linger on your palette for a good few minutes! Aaah, bliss.
A taste of inspiration
It’s not just their chocolates and hot chocolates that are inspirational, the founder herself, Chantal Cody is even more so. A strong minded business woman with a passion for style and chocolate, she founded Rococo Chocolates 33 years ago, the first female chocolatier in the UK to do so, as well as founding the Academy of Chocolate in 2005 alongside several other industry experts and chocolate aficionados. Legend also has it that it is Chantal and her Motcomb Street shop that inspired the book Chocolat by Joanne Harris.
Enjoy a fine cup of Rococo’s hot chocolate in a signature blue and white cup and explore the secret garden at 5 Motcomb Street, London, SW1X 8JU
Great taste in music, a quirky sense of humour, chocolate to die for and some of the world’s best scenery – Iceland really does tick all the boxes.
Even those of you more partial to a bikini-toting, pinacolada-sipping beachside holiday can still find some solace (and outstanding chocolate) in this magical land of elf rocks, blizzards and thermal spas.
The richest of them all! Sketch in Mayfair is a Michellin star group of restaurants in one venue. The first place you may enter as you head into the building is the Parlour, famous for it’s Alice in Wonderland-esque themed decor and tastefully miss-matched furniture. You can lunch here, and also take morning tea or breakfast – here they have a fine range of french patisserie, macarons, a full on varied lunch menu at a reasonable price, and…hot chocolate to die for.
Made using Valrhona’s finest 70% dark house blend, again like all top hot chocolates in London this is pure, melted gold, in a cup! But it’s the combination of this melted gold and finely frothed creamed milk that really makes this particular hot chocolate extra special. So smooth and so thick that you really do need the supplied teaspoon to scoop out the left overs, you’ll be licking your lips and savouring that flavour long after you have scraped the last from the cup!
A Cup of Liquid Gold
Sketch is worth a visit not just for the hot chocolates, the patisseries, the delightful theme of the parlour, but The Glade is a must visit for any coffee lover or fan of scones and cream – Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is staple here and the Glade gives a delightful impression of being in a forest. Before you go, don’t forget to explore the loos – both sets – they are some of, if not the most, exciting in London!
Sketch is found at 9 Conduit Street, W1S 2XG, a stones throw (or very short walk) from Oxford Circus tube station.
After a whirlwind 36 hours in Denmark, including visiting a micro cacao plantation in a greenhouse in the Danish countryside and doing yoga in Christiania with one of its longest-standing residents, it was now time to hit Malmo – Sweden’s third largest city, and one that is fast making a name for itself in the sustainable living category!
An example of Sweden’s pioneering new sustainable development – The Greenhouse, in Malmo
Yet another early start, up at 5.30am heading back to Christiania, nothing beats practicing yoga in a cozy wooden loft, jam-packed with enough Aloe Vera plants to keep Holland and Barratt supplied for a year, above a fragrant apothecary, overlooking one of Europe’s most successful independent, self-governing Freetowns – strictly NOT part of the EU.
Next morning it was an early start as we set off for Tallinn, in Estonia, a 3.5 hour ferry ride away. Now Estonia is a fascinating country, as are many of the far Eastern European countries. Filled with culture, myths and history, often with a fine selection of well-preserved medieval walled towns. Tallinn is one such town, dating back to the 13th Century it’s earliest name was in Russian, but in 1219, after the Danish conquest it became known in German, Danish and Swedish languages as ‘Reval’.
Today was a day for exploring Helsinki city…and to find the elusive reindeer steak we so desperately desired. After our prisoner’s breakfast at the hotel we set off on our way.
It’s the last day of our Waiheke Island tour and I’ve developed a great feel for the place, early morning jogs along the beach, sunset walks, exploring beach-side and inland vineyards to compare the difference in the wine, dining on some of the most amazing fare and explored the amazing chocolate shops and dessert bars of mainland Auckland.
It was time for the last vineyard of our short stay, and we were not disappointed. Passage Rock Vineyard is in the south of the island, near Orapiu Bay.
With a surprisingly light hangover from the day before (once we returned from Man O’War we could’t resist opening some of the wine we’d purchased to take home with us – self restraint is hard with wine so good!) we began the day watching the sunrise from the balcony with a hearty breakfast before hopping across on the ferry to Auckland, for chocolate hunting…
Some sound chocolate advice from my Auckland adventures
The Adventures of Elle Coco 