I’ve already mentioned my nearly unbelievable Chicago burger hop, where I took down a whole five burgers in one day. Well, at the last leg of my journey, Hot Chocolate, I also managed to add in a couple chocolate desserts to put a sweet end to an otherwise very savory day.

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I’ll just give a brief recap of the details, which you can find further elaborated in my previous review (Hot Chocolate: The Burger). As the name would imply, Hot Chocolate is a dessert, especially chocolate, specialist. And specialist is not an overstatement. In fact, when I put my name down on the list for a table, the hostess asked me whether I was there just for dessert or for dinner too. Dessert isn’t just given its fair due. It’s actually the main attraction.

Now, you can’t possibly understand how happy that makes me. If you’ve noticed after 300 posts or so, I’m probably the harshest grader when it comes to desserts, and there’s a reason—most of the desserts you find are garbage, plain and simple. That’s been my overall impression of restaurant desserts in Chicago, at least. I was dying for someone to disprove me.

And if anyone were going to do it, it would be Hot Chocolate’s owner/pastry chef, Mindy Segal. In fact, she has been nominated four times for “outstanding pastry chef” by the James Beard Foundation. If those credentials weren’t enough, though, just a quick look at the menu would convince you that Chef Segal really knows her chocolate.

The hot chocolate menu even features 7 different hot chocolate creations with 3 different chocolate bases, one each for white, milk, and dark chocolates. Even among those bases, though, the dark is the only one kept in its pure form. The others are a complex balance of ingredients, as the white comes with a hint of milk chocolate, eggnog, and nutmeg, while the milk chocolate base comes with a hint of dark chocolate and caramel. Hot Chocolate attempts to perfectly moderate every single chocolate, giving it incredible nuance and complexity.

It succeeds beyond all expectations, too. The hot chocolate here is easily some of the best I’ve had in America, to the point that I’d consider it to rival some of the best I had in Europe. It comes extra creamy and a bit thick yet still liquid enough that you can drink it comfortably. The hot chocolate’s richness means it has a high chocolate content and, in turn, a very intense flavor. It also means that Hot Chocolate must actually melt down its chocolate, rather than use a powder or mix—hence why the quality is incredible. Still, the chocolate goes down so smoothly, it almost feels light. Best of all, the sweetness is always balanced, as much by the chocolate quality as by the use of different types of chocolate and many ingredients. Top it all off with fresh homemade marshmallows, and you have hot chocolate so good you might just not be able to return to typical American hot cocoa. $6 may seem expensive, but once you taste all those ingredients and that complex balance for yourself, you’ll actually think you got a bargain.

That’s not all, either. In addition to the phenomenal drink menu, Hot Chocolate features a full line-up of eight desserts at a time, four of which are house signatures. These aren’t your old-fashioned cakes, though. Instead, every dessert has a specific concept or theme on which it’s based, and that concept is taken to new heights through an intense juggling act with countless ingredients. For example, one of the more intriguing desserts, Thoughts on a Peanut Butter Cup, includes peanut butter mousse, a peanut butter cup, milk chocolate hot fudge, Concord grape syrup, and peanut butter cookie dough truffles. How Chef Segal can jump from a PB cup to Concord grape syrup is beyond me, but I don’t like to question good things. All I can say is she knows what she’s doing.

That’s nowhere better seen than in the Chocolate #1, a combo of a 64% dark chocolate soufflé, salted caramel ice cream, and a house-made pretzel. Hot Chocolate overstuffs the soufflé with an incredibly decadent, strong dark chocolate and yet somehow manages to avoid making it too bitter by adding in just enough sweetness from the caramel ice cream, which it then further balances with the salt from the pretzel and in the ice cream itself. That is nuance at its finest. Some may be turned off at first by the price tag ($11), but trust me, quality like this is very rare indeed.

I just can’t praise Hot Chocolate enough. Not only did it serve me the best burger I had in the whole city, but also the best dessert and easily one of the best hot chocolates I’ve ever had. Factor in the extraordinary energy and trendiness of the restaurant, and you have a truly complete, memorable experience.

What I Tasted

1. Chocolate #1 (64% chocolate, warm chocolate soufflé tart, salted caramel ice cream, and house-made pretzel): The combination is great. I’m not a big fan of the pretzel, although it’s a great presentational addition. But the soufflé and ice cream really work well with each other, and one of the large reasons is that the caramel ice cream is on the salty side, helping to balance out a lot of the sweeter flavors of the chocolate. The presentation is fantastic, too. Just look at the photos to see how the pretzel unites the two central components. All-around, great combo, great flavors, and great artwork. 4.5/5.0
   • Caramel Ice Cream: Smooth as gelato—light, airy, and very creamy. Surprisingly, it’s not actually a sweet caramel, but rather a burnt/salted one, meaning the taste is on the smokier, saltier side, balancing the natural sweetness of the ice cream quite nicely.
   • Souffle: The soufflé is phenomenal. The outer crust is perfectly light and airy, like an inflated muffin top, and it suitably has a very light color to it. When you get inside or look at the bottom, though, you notice an intense dark chocolate, and it has an equally strong flavor to boot. It’s heavier, denser, and with the addition of the very rich, gooey dark chocolate filling, stronger. But it’s never overpowering, and that’s because the sweetness is perfectly moderated. Moreover—and this is the best part—this soufflé mixes a very cakey, buttery, soft portion with a very gooey, rich one and with a crunchy cookie crust on the very bottom.  That texture is a knockout. Usually in soufflés the chocolate lava will dominate, or not enough attention will be given the cake, but here, they feel like perfect equals. One slight complaint I do have is that the bottom is just way too hard to cut through.
   • Pretzel: Very well-made pretzel, with a great thinness and crunch to it. But it’s just way too salty, at least for my palate.
2. Medium hot chocolate (milk chocolate with a hint of caramel and some dark chocolate):  One of the best milk hot chocolates I’ve had. You really get the sweetness, but that hint of dark chocolate helps to balance it out, especially in the finish, so that you don’t feel cloyed. It’s also very milky, as though you’re actually drinking milk (in terms of texture), since it’s very creamy and isn’t all that thick. The marshmallow in the middle is great, adding a chewy thickness and lightening the sugar. To be fair, this hot chocolate is just a little bit too sweet for me, especially with the caramel, but it has an almost perfect balance and is bursting with flavor. 4.7/5.0
3. Dark hot chocolate (72%): Thick, creamy, and rich, as expected, but this one’s a lot, and I mean a lot, milkier/creamier than what you’d expect, meaning you can drink it very easily. Most hot chocolates at this content are overwhelmingly thick, so that you have to eat them. Here, it’s somewhat thick, but you don’t get overwhelmed either by the richness or the bitterness because it’s so smooth and seemingly light and whipped (like whipped cream has been added in) that you will enjoy it, regardless of how dark you like your chocolate. 4.8/5.0

Scores

Ambience: 4.6+/5.0
Service: 3.0/5.0 (not factored in, since I was at the bar)
Taste: 4.7/5.0
Value: 4.0/5.0
Overall: 4.6/5.0

Cuisine: Eclectic; Chocolate.
Specialty: Aztec Hot Chocolate.
Location: 484 Broome Street, New York, NY 10013-2253.
Price: $6/$8/$9 for Small/Medium/Large Hot Chocolate.

While in NYC, I had my fair share of decent chocolate treats. I could not, however, seem to find a great hot chocolate. I had even gone to Jacques Torres, the famed Mr. Chocolate, to try out his renowned Wicked Spicy Hot Chocolate, infused with ancho and chipotle chili peppers. Yet I had left so disappointed that I had decided I must find a great hot chocolate in NYC.

So while I was in the MarieBelle chocolate store picking up my next batch of bon bons to review, I decided to take a chance on MarieBelle’s adjacent mini-café, which serves up old-fashioned, Belgian style hot chocolate.

As I entered, though, I realized that the café’s vibe is anything but Belgian. MarieBelle instead emphasizes more of a cutesy, dollhouse-like vibe. While everything is polished, it seems a bit too polished to feel all that natural. Moreover, the café is far too cramped to be all that relaxing. Even though there are only a few tables, the space is so small that it seems that even those tables are crammed in too tightly. Still, I appreciate how pristine everything looks, even if it is too akin to a dollhouse.

Don’t let the décor fool you, though: The hot chocolate is authentically Belgian. I took a seat and went straight for the house special, the Aztec 60% Dark Chocolate, made with water (rather than milk). Even with the water, though, the Aztec Hot Chocolate is not the typical, light, watery hot chocolate you get in America. While MarieBelle calls this specialty a hot chocolate, that classification is somewhat misleading, since it’s made the European (esp. Belgian) way, by melting down actual pieces of chocolate rather than using a powder or mix. Thus, it’s more like drinking chocolate than hot chocolate, and it’s so thick that you can eat it with a spoon, though it is still watery enough for you to drink it. The cocoa is, not surprisingly, extremely concentrated and much more pronounced than in the average American hot chocolate, too. Most Americans will probably like their hot chocolate a bit lighter, but I personally prefer this format for its greater intensity.

And that intensity really shows as you taste just how bittersweet the Aztec Hot Chocolate is. The chocolate quality is top notch, having a strongly buttery and slightly nutty taste, which lasts incredibly long on the palate. If you love dark chocolate, there’s no doubt you’ll love this. It’s so delicious that you can just scoop it one spoon at a time, so that you savor it gradually and enjoy the length. It is, however, not for the faint of heart.

Moreover, it does have problems. The big one is by far that it’s very one-dimensional, without much nuance to it at all. Moreover, the intensity can be offsetting, as I’ve mentioned, especially if you aren’t a fan of very strong dark chocolates.

Finally—and perhaps most problematic of all—is the price tag. $8 for a medium-sized hot chocolate is far too pricey for a normal drink at a café, even if it is so heavy that it’s a meal in itself. To be fair, the price is somewhat (but only somewhat) more justified by the fact that you get large quantities of actual premium Beligan chocolate, rather than a powder or mix.

The overall experience, then, comes off as bland. While the chocolate quality is undeniable, MarieBelle fails to deliver a true knockout experience, nor is it all that comfortable of a café.

I thus left a bit disappointed, for I knew I’d have to continue my search for fantastic hot chocolate.

Scores

Ambience: 2.0/5.0.
Taste: 3.7/5.0. Add up to 0.5 if you love very strong, bitter dark chocolate.
Value: 2.5/5.0. This type of chocolate is very difficult to find in America.
Score, for the Hot Chocolate (excludes ambience): 3.2+/5.0
Score, for the Café: 2.8+/5.0

Cuisine: Chocolate.
Specialty: Hot Chocolate.
Location: 2 in NYC. I went to the one at 350 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014.
Price: $3-$3.50 for Hot Chocolate, $2.50 for the Mudslide Cookie.

When you’re in the mood to relax, there’s nothing quite like a cup of hot chocolate. I don’t know what it is about the drink itself, but it’s the one sweet drink that I love to just sit around and savor, especially while I’m traveling. Traveling may at first seem so relaxing, but when you’re on the move, constantly seeing new sights and doing new activities, it takes a toll on your body, and you just need to sit down, chill out, and have a soothing drink in peace.

That was exactly my case in New York. After two days of running around SoHo and Brooklyn looking for my next food adventure, and then having to travel all the way back to the Bronx during the night to my lodging, I needed a pick-me-up, no questions asked. And what better pick-me-up than hot chocolate, especially one infused with some spice?

You may be wondering, hot chocolate and spice? Who would dare it, and does it even work? Well, that’s exactly what I was thinking when I saw Jacques Torres’ Wicked Spicy Hot Chocolate featured on Food Network’s “The Best Thing I Ever Ate.” On that fateful day, tuckered out from all my traveling, I knew it was the perfect time to give the combination a shot, at the very least to spice up my day a bit.

As I entered Jacques Torres’ store in SoHo, I was immediately taken aback, both in a good and bad way, by the almost pristine image the shop exuded. The café itself is a bit on the cutesy side, which isn’t really for my taste, and the small miniature tables aren’t the most comfortable. Still, everything is near spotless, with much more polish than the typical café. Moreover, the café verges on the grandiose, setting out not just a simple selection of filled chocolates, but also a whole bar for mixed drinks, endless numbers of mini-chandeliers and shades made of glimmering beads, and a display case that spans practically the whole length of the enormous café.  It may not be the best place to sit in, given how over-the-top the café can look, but it’s still nice to see a chocolatier shooting for an extraordinary experience.

The food, too, seems to be a case of semi-successful experimentation. I wasn’t able to try a wide variety of the menu, though it’s rather limited to begin with, so I decided to focus on two of my absolute favorite chocolate desserts: hot chocolate and cookies.

I’ll start off with the Wicked Spicy Hot Chocolate, which comes with a hint of ancho and chipotle peppers. It was honestly kind of a downer, as it wasn’t really all that bold or flavorful. Don’t get me wrong—it can be nice. It’s very creamy, rich, smooth, and kind of nutty. But as far as wicked is concerned…I don’t think so. You only really feel the peppers after a while, as a pronounced but not overly aggressive spicy kick gradually picks up, as though you’re ingesting ever-increasing amounts of cayenne pepper. Still, this hot chocolate does nothing innovative. It does have some spice, but that doesn’t cover up how very bland it is. It has barely any sugar and a really bitter finish, on top of being kind of watery. On the more positive side, it does taste a lot better once it cools and you can take larger gulps, allowing you to feel the intensity of the spice. Score: 3.0/5.0

The Mudslide cookie, on the other hand, fared quite a bit better. It’s an intense, rich dark chocolate cookie with chocolate chunks and walnuts, and so it not surprisingly has a very strong chocolate taste to it, especially because there’s not too much sugar. The nuts are on the subtle side, too. This cookie stands out, though, for the texture, which is a bit flaky and very buttery, making it extremely smooth and easy to eat. And here’s the kicker: A gooey dark chocolate lava interior melds with the cookie so well that everything just melts in your mouth. You thus get the satisfaction of a crisp crunch but without the grittiness. Finally, this cookie is huge and dense. Even if it costs $2.50, it should be a meal in itself. Score: 4.3/5.0

Overall, though, I was just a tad disappointed. While the cookie thrilled, I had really come for the infamous Wicked Spicy Hot Chocolate, which didn’t have enough of a kick for me. The café is still a great spot to relax and have some decent chocolate, but the hot chocolate is certainly not worth all the accolades it has received.

Scores

Ambience: 3.5/5.0
Taste: 3.5/5.0
Value: 3.5/5.0
Verdict: 3.5/5.0

I’ve already mentioned my sweet tooth in the past. Sweets are one of those guilty pleasures that I just can’t survive without. Georgetown had thus been a culinary heaven for me, as I was surrounded by not just one, not two, but a good six different bakeries that I frequented just in my neighborhood.

Having moved to Boston, though, I was suffering from withdrawal. Harvard Square has its benefits, but one thing it does not have is a wide range of bakeries, at least from what I’ve seen so far. Moreover, in the infernally cold Boston weather, nobody wants to make a long trek to get a decent sweet.

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Hence why I was excited when I heard that my favorite American chocolatier, LA Burdick, had a café on nearby Brattle Street. I’d had LA Burdick’s chocolate collection before and been blown away by the flavors, the complexity, and the amazingly low price. I hadn’t, however, heard that it also did hot chocolate and cake.

So let me recap: One of my favorite chocolatiers produces a large line of hot chocolates and chocolate-based cakes, all just a few blocks away from my new dorm! Can you get any more lucky? Before the thought had even sunk in, I headed over to check out the café.

As I entered, I noticed how simple and even bare-bones it is, very fitting for this old-fashioned, home-style chocolatier. It’s small enough to be cozy, especially since there are only about 7 tables, so you never feel too cramped, but at the same time, finding seating may be difficult at times. Still, it’s well-lit, with mirrors running along the walls, making it feel a little bit bigger than it actually is. It’s kind of boring, but it’s a great place if you’re just looking for a quiet getaway.

The treats, too, have that same straightforward simplicity. Don’t expect to be floored here with innovative ingredients and combinations, as you might with the line of chocolates. Instead, it’s all about doing simple chocolate with consistent excellence

Still, the selection, at least for the hot chocolate, is incredibly impressive. Even the best chocolatiers and cafés rarely serve hot chocolate, and those that do typically have a menu that, at best, offers only a couple options. The very few that do offer a large selection, moreover, do so by introducing all types of extra ingredients into the chocolate, transforming the very taste of the cocoa.

LA Burdick, though, will have none of that. Here, the chocolate is the star, first and foremost, and the intent is to keep it as pure as possible. And yet, with its vast knowledge of different cocoa beans, LA Burdick manages to create a relatively large menu of 9 hot chocolates—Burdick’s own dark, milk, and white chocolate blends, plus an additional six dark hot chocolates made with beans drawn from different regions of the world, from Grenada to Madagascar. You might wonder at how different six dark chocolates with no added flavorings might be—and I really can’t say whether LA Burdick delivers on the package, since I haven’t tried that part of its menu—but I do know that this movement towards single-origin chocolate, meant to maintain the purity and flavor of the cocoa, has been becoming ever more popular in the world of gourmet chocolate bars. It’s nice to see that LA Burdick has caught on and tried to apply that gourmet touch to something as simple as hot chocolate, and to my knowledge it’s one of the first.

The pastry selection is almost as impressive, featuring at least 10 cakes and a few smaller French sweets, like croissants and macaroons. Of course, there’s thankfully an overrepresentation of chocolate, as I counted 7 cakes that had some form of chocolate in them, perfect for any chocoholic, like myself.

With so many options, it was a bit difficult to choose, but I decided to go with the house specials: a slice of the Burdick cake with Burdick’s house dark hot chocolate and white hot chocolate. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say this lineup can even hold a torch to LA Burdick’s wonderful chocolate collection, it was still all consistently tasty. The dark chocolate had just the right density and was incredibly drinkable for dark chocolate, while the white chocolate was rather nicely balanced with an almost honey-like milky quality that controlled some of the natural sweetness of the chocolate. The cake was moist and flavorful, combining the fruitiness of a meringue, the bitterness of rum, the crunch of nuts, and a very rich, heavy chocolate. Still, nothing stood out, except for perhaps the white chocolate, as something I’d really go return to order.

There are, moreover, many complaints lodged against LA Burdick suggesting that the hot chocolate is very small and overpriced. It is on the smaller side, even for the “large,” but it’s not that pricy for good quality, gourmet hot chocolate, especially considering the single-origin purity of numerous options on the menu. It is, moreover, cheaper than what I’ve seen at some of the other famous chocolatiers.

Unfortunately, though, I still can’t give LA Burdick’s café my whole-hearted support. It’s not that anything is actually bad. In fact, if this were a normal café, it would have probably surpassed my expectations. The disappointment, though, is that the café experience simply doesn’t match the culinary sensation I had with the chocolate collection.

I will, however, return for some of those single-origin hot chocolates one day.

What I Tasted

1. Burdick Hot Dark Chocolate (Blend of shaved chocolate steamed with milk): This really is quite delicious. Unlike other “gourmet” hot chocolates I’ve tasted, this is actual hot chocolate (rather than drinking chocolate), so that it’s not too heavy or thick but rather quite light and foamy, like a frappe. It’s thus very much the traditional hot chocolate, going with the overall idea of Burdick’s chocolates. Still, it’s very well-done, as the milk is not too heavy, being used mostly to make the chocolate go down smoothly. And even though this is dark chocolate, you’re not overpowered by it because it is so drinkable and smooth. It has a nice bitterness to it at the end that leaves your mouth puckering, but it’s pretty moderate. To be fair, it is very simple, with almost no added flavoring—just chocolate and milk. So this is the purist’s hot chocolate, and it’s really not bad. 3.8/5.0
2. Burdick Hot White Chocolate: I never thought I’d like white chocolate so much, but it seems to go incredibly well in a hot chocolate. Burdick’s version is especially nice, because while it retains all the characteristics of white chocolate, especially that heavy buttery sweetness, it combines that with a nice honey milky flavor and some darker chocolate powder on top to balance it all out. The effect is really quite different than what you might expect—not cloying at all, but rather incredibly drinkable. And to top it off, the way the hot chocolate is made helps make the white chocolate that much more drinkable, as, like the dark chocolate, it’s on the foamy, light, airy side, so that there is no cloyingly rich creaminess. It’s slightly too sweet (esp. with the honey flavor) for my taste, but it’s great nonetheless. 4.2+/5.0
3. Burdick (Layers of meringue and rum ganache): This cake has it all. It’s incredibly moist, has a very complex taste, is very intensely chocolaty, and has an excellent texture. First, the moisture. It seems like the rum helps to give it a wet feel, so that every layer is perfectly soft. Next, the complexity. You have a slight rum flavor that comes through, the slightly tart fruity meringue, a layer of (crusted?) powdered sugar on top, and a very satisfyingly gritty and slightly crunchy chocolate/nutty/cakey interior. Especially delightful is the flaky, cake portion with the gritty sugar, making for a great contrast. The sweetness is there, but you never lose sight of the chocolate. My few complaints: 1) the sweetness can seem to conflict with the chocolate a bit much; 2) the layers of chocolate are a bit too rich, like a very heavy mousse, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but which has that cloying sensation to it, especially since the cake has about three layers of it; and 3) the cake portion, which is in fact my favorite part, is completely dominated by the overwhelmingly rich chocolate. 3.7/5.0

Scores

Ambience: 2.7/5.0
Taste: 3.9/5.0
Value: 3.0/5.0
Overall Score as a Chocolate Bakery (excludes ambience): 3.5/5.0
Overall Score as a Café: 3.2/5.0

Cuisine: Chocolate Café.
Specialty: Hot Chocolate.
Location: Six Stores in America. Mine was at 951 W. Armitage (at Sheffield), Chicago, IL 60614.
Price: $5 for a tall glass of hot chocolate.

If there’s one weakness I have, it has to be chocolate. Whenever I enter a chocolate store, I always get swept up by all the different treats, ending up with far more than I bargained for, in addition to a gigantic sugar rush.

It was no different when I went into Vosges Haut Chocolat, Chicago’s premier chocolate store. I had just gone to pick up some of the renowned chocolate bars for the road. Upon stepping inside, though, I transformed into a kid again, overwhelmed by the overabundance of chocolate treats and the almost fairytale-like magnificence of the store.

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You walk in and you’re overtaken by Vosges’ peculiar mix of the classy with the bizarre. Expect chandeliers, tons of bright lights highlighting numerous precious displays of different chocolate assortments, and a fantastic sitting area that is reminiscent of the tea party in Alice in Wonderland. My one complaint would be that the seating is all communal style, with just one table, which can be a turn-off for some. Nonetheless, I found it comfortable and beautiful. The seats are large and high-backed, much more cozy than what you typically find, while the central table even has grooves around the edges to make it look like it’s just been carved from a real tree. The table also features a gigantic Japanese wishing tree as a centerpiece, allowing you to make a wish and tie a white ribbon for $1—a bit overly gimmicky, true, but aesthetically very pleasing.

My sense of wonder only increased as I headed to the back of the store, where I saw a whole ice cream, hot chocolate, and truffle bar! Sure, ice cream and hot chocolate may not seem much at first glance, since you can get them nearly anywhere—and with a much larger selection, too. But these aren’t your normal chocolate treats. Instead, you find unique options, like the herby and tangy Bianca, a white hot chocolate made with French lavender flowers and lemon myrtle; the Aztec Elixir, a dark hot chocolate packed with cinnamon and different chili spices; and, best of all, the Red Fire Ice Cream, a direct play on Vosges’ Red Fire Bar, which features the same flavor combination as the Aztec Elixir. It’s an incredibly small selection, with only 3 hot chocolates and 1 ice cream variety served in-store, but even so, how could I resist? Simply the thought of a treat that mixes three of my favorite things—spice, ice cream, and chocolate—makes my mouth water.

So I sat down and ordered the Bianca and the Red Fire ice cream, prepared for a chocolaty overdose. Neither disappointed at all. The Bianca is light, but perfectly sweetened, never becoming cloying like most white chocolates. The tangy zest from the flowers makes it easy to drink and enjoy, leaving the palate refreshed. The Red Fire ice cream is even better, moderating the bitterness of typical dark chocolate with a healthy dose of an herby cinnamon sweetness that is never overwhelming, as well as with a very strong spiciness that gradually picks up until the mouth is left literally burning in the aftertaste. These flavors aren’t just unique for the sake of innovation. They actually pack a huge punch, leaving your mouth almost confused with their complex balance of flavors.

The price is rather fair, too. While Vosges’ chocolates tend to be on the pricey side, $5 for a gourmet hot chocolate is about average, given that Vosges serves you a relatively large, tall glass of it. I’ve forgotten the price of the ice cream, but even though it was a tad pricey for a scoop, it’s still a flavor that I’ve never seen anywhere else—and a superb one at that.

The one true complaint I can levy against the shop is its overly touristy gaudiness, which truly detracts from the otherwise semi-mystical aura of the shop. The main problem is that the store sells a whole line of paraphernalia, including T-shifts, alongside the chocolates. It makes everything seem a bit tacky, especially since the aim is to be a high-class, chic chocolatier, rather than a gimmicky vendor of cheap wares.

Overall, though, this is a café to remember. It might be located in a chocolate store, and it might have one of the most limited selections of any café I’ve seen, but as far as chocolate goes, you’d be hard pressed to find much better.

What I Had

1. Bianca (White Hot Chocolate with French Lavender Flowers and Aboriginal Lemon Myrtle): I love the presentation here. I’ve never seen a hot chocolate presented in such a tall glass. Not only does that glass look great, but it helps to keep the chocolate warmer for longer, so it has both aesthetic and functional value. As for the taste, the Bianca really took me by surprise. Typically, white chocolate emphasizes sweetness, yet here the emphasis is on the citrus, which is very refreshing and tangy. The chocolate is very milky and smooth, without much thickness to it, so you can’t scoop it up and eat it like you can with many of the other top hot chocolates. Instead, this is a real American-style hot chocolate, and it’s smooth and milky as it should be. That doesn’t mean you don’t taste the white chocolate and sugar, though. They are just moderated and balanced very well, without being overly rich. Moreover, I like that there’s a slight foam on the top and a slight grittiness to the chocolate, giving the texture some variety. The grittiness comes from the flowers I think, and it tastes almost as if there are actual, miniature seeds in the drink. My one big problem is that the Bianca can be a bit too fruity for its own good, but that’s just a slight complaint. 4.3/5.0
2. Red Fire Ice Cream (Ancho and Chipotle Chiles, Ceylon Cinnamon, and Dark Belgian Chocolate): Actually, while the description of this ice cream sounds like a mess, the taste is delightful. The chocolate, as expected, is exceptional. And, while it does have the dark chocolate taste, it’s not too bitter. Belgians really like their chocolate sweet, so I’m not too surprised. In turn, you get a very moderate, long cocoa taste that lingers on your mouth and hits your whole palate. Adding to that is a spiciness that you actually do feel. Your tongue burns a bit as the ancho and chipotle chiles come through with an almost cayenne pepper-like spiciness that gradually develops on the palate until your mouth is left smoking a little in the aftertaste. Finally, the cinnamon hits you, leaving you with a slightly zesty sweetness. Best of all, though, the synergy among the flavors is amazing, as everything works to counterbalance something else. While the chilies heat you up, the ice cream cools you down. While the cinnamon and ice cream’s sugar sweeten everything up, the dark chocolate brings the sweetness down. Really, it’s a phenomenal balance, and even people without a love for spice can enjoy it. Finally, the texture just makes it better, as it’s creamy but a bit pasty, so it feels like you are eating a good, thick chocolate. 4.5/5.0

Scores

Ambience: 4.4/5.0
Taste: 4.4/5.0
Value: 4.0/5.0
Verdict: 4.3/5.0

Good dark chocolate flavor to balance the sweetness of the nougatine. Still, way too sweet, on top of an overly strong hazelnut flavor. It’s satisfying on the first bite, and that’s about the only bite that can be enjoyable. Becomes way too cloying, like a candy bar. I can’t believe people pay $9 for this garbage.

Overall score: 0.0/5.0. For value: 0.0. Luckily, this was a gift—I wouldn’t pay even a dollar for this.

Alfajors in Buenos Aires:

1. Cadbury Tres Sueños (White covered with milk): Way too sweet. White and milk are a horrible blend. Never get it again. So bad, no rating is needed. It just shouldn’t be eaten.
2. Havanna Alfajor, Chocolate Mousse: Harder than the other alfajors I’ve tried. It has a strong cookie crunch. Cookies are not dry, but they blend with the chocolate very well. The chocolate is well-balanced, though a tad sweet. 3.2+/5.0
3. Havanna Alfajor, Dulce de Leche: Excellent! Cookies are a little dry, but the dulce de leche is so creamy and perfect that it in large part covers up the dryness of the cookies. 3.8/5.0

In Bariloche:

1. Bonifacio Alfajor: Good flavor. Cookies grow on you, but they are overpoweringly dry. The chocolate is good, but there isn’t enough dulce de leche flavor to the alfajor. 2.5/5.0
2. Abuela Goye, White Chocolate: Keeper! Great texture and balance of flavors. Cookies taste great and blend well with the chocolate. The dulce de leche is just right, with lots of chocolate blending in well. Surprisingly good for a white chocolate alfajor. 4.0/5.0
3. Abuela Goye, Dark Chocolate: Keeper! Even better than the white chocolate. Different from other alfajors, but very interesting. The dark chocolate cookies work great. They give the alfajor a fresh, intense chocolate taste. The only flaw is that there isn’t enough of a dulce de leche flavor, but it’s very easy to overlook because this alfajor is just so good. 4.2/5.0
4. Fenoglio Alfajor: Great, rich dulce de leche (best I’ve had so far). It blends well with the chocolate. The weak link is the cookies—too dry, little flavor. 3.5/5.0
5. Turista Alfajor: Mega Keeper! This is by far the best I’ve had. It has creamy and rich dulce de leche, probably the best I’ve had so far. The chocolate is also rich and melts in your mouth. The sweetness is perfectly tempered, which is surprising, considering there is so much dulce de leche and chocolate. About as good as it gets. 4.5/5.0