Searching for chocolate in the "Land Down Under"

After she retired, my mom made it her goal to travel and see "live" each of the tennis opens. She had been to the U.S. Open and the French Open, and in 2010, she wanted to see the Australian Open. My dad, however, had no such desires. Thus, when the offer came for an all expense paid trip to Australia to accompany my mom, I jumped at the chance. Soon after, a two-week cruise of New Zealand was added to the 4 days in Melbourne in January for the Australian Open.

In researching Kiwi and Aussie sites, I discovered that there were many chocolate destinations. While my mom's big ambition for the trip was to see as much tennis as she could, mine was to sample as much chocolate as I could. And for three weeks, I did - continuing my search for the "perfect" drinking chocolate. Every chocolate drink, dessert, and confection I sampled was photographed. Click here if you don't believe me.

The moment we arrived in Sydney to board the cruise ship to New Zealand, I knew that chocolate would find me on the journey. With a day in the city before leaving port, there was one place I wanted to visit - Guylian Belgian Chocolate Cafe. Though I had mapquested both locations in Sydney, the information was not needed because the shop was literally across the street from the dock. Not able to board ship when we arrived, my "mum" and I shared a wonderful chocolate cake and I sampled my first drinking chocolate in the "land down under."

A piece of dark chocolate filled the bottom of the mug, and began to melt as I poured the warmed milk on top it. To be honest, Guylian drinking chocolate lacked the bold chocolate flavor I desired as it was over-powered by the milk and was sweet. It also lacked the rich, thick consistency. The presentation however was beautiful and a good way to start our trip.

One of the tours offered by the cruise line included a trip to Silky Oaks Chocolate Company in Napier. The package also included a trip to a brewery and a sheep farm. With no desire to see these latter two, I contacted Silky Oaks from the states and arranged a private "Triple Chocolate Temptation" tour for me and my mum. With a museum, private guided factory tour, desserts at the cafe, and a free gift, I was really looking forward to this visit. And it did not disappoint.

Their "Hot Chocolate Extreme" with chili was exactly what I had been searching for. It was thick, rich, and dense with the chili adding a wonderful spicy kick which complemented the dark bittersweet depth of the chocolate. Each spoonful of this warm delicious chocolate brew challenged the La Verna drinking chocolate standard I had set. La Verna was good, but Silky Oaks was with chili better. Add to that one of the best chocolate brownie cakes I've ever had, smothered with a silky dark chocolate sauce, I was ready to move to Napier just to be near this chocolate haven.

The chocolate adventure, however, needed to sail on and soon we were in Wellington, sampling chocolates at Butlers Chocolate Cafe. Though not thick and rich like at Silky Oaks or La Verna, their Hot Dark Chocolate had a rich smooth texture. This 53% cacao dark drinking chocolate was a warm heavenly delight on a cold, foggy Wellington afternoon. Not overly sweet and milky, this cream based drink was a nicely balanced hot chocolate that maintained a slight bitter edge with melted chocolate shavings on top. Also not being watery, it had a nice froth and was smoothingly comforting, making it hard to sip slowly on a damp gloomy day. And the locally baked Cappuccino Coffee cake we had was also wonderful, with a light drizzle of beautiful dark chocolate sauce.

After our New Zealand cruise, the tennis portion of our trip began in Melbourne. Exploring the city's shopping district, my mum and I found the Lindt Chocolat Cafe. Because of Lindt's reputation I was looking forward to this afternoon of chocolate delight. Unfortunately I found myself very disappointed. The "Celebration du Chocolat" cake was just okay, verging on the "too sweet" side; and the dark drinking chocolate failed to impress. A container of chocolate and a pitcher of warmed milk were provided so the chocolate connoisseur could prepare portions according to taste. For me, there was too much milk for the small chocolate creating a bland drinking chocolate that lacked any depth of flavor.

For my mum, Melbourne was all about watching tennis. When we didn't have tickets in the stadium, she wanted to watch the matches in the hotel, rather than explore the city. Being a fan of chocolate rather than tennis, I spent me free time exploring the chocolate world of Melbourne and visiting as many chocolate cafes I could, and I did.

While I visited a some wonderful chocolate places in Melbourne like Chokolait, Theobrama Chocolate Lounge, Cacao, Xocolatl, and Fräus Crêpes & Chocolat, and even tagged along on a portion of Melbourne's Chocoholic Tours and chatted with the guide, my drinking chocolate walking journey had 2 highlights and 1 very low light:

One of the first places I found (and one of the best) was Koko Black, which has "chocolate salons" throughout Australia and two in Melbourne. I visited the smaller one on Collins Street first, and by chance, later that day, found the one at Queen Victoria Market where I had the opportunity to meet the chocolatier. Because my first day of chocolate touring started as a cold morning, I ordered Koko Black's Hot Chocolate with chili. Though not a thick Italian-style, this freshly brewed Belgian-style cup of drinking chocolate was both beautiful to the eyes and the palate. Their traditional Belgian recipe blends full cream milk, cream and 54% dark chocolate, creating a creamy, frothy drink. For me, the rich depth of the chocolate hit first with the chili providing a warm lasting undertone to create an excellent drinking chocolate. The chili heat was more subtle than direct which was nice as the chocolate starred in this drink.

The other highlight was Chocolateria San Churro in the Docklands, which features the best of Spanish chocolate, hot chocolate imported from Spain, churros and other traditional Spanish sweets. Again, not as thick as Italian-style drinking chocolate, the Aztec I ordered was definitely, in more ways than one, "shit-hot" (Aussie slang for "extremely good"). The chili spice, which heats your taste buds in the beginning, brings the creamy dark chocolate immediately to a new level with subtle hints of cinnamon adding a warmed sweetening. Definitely spicy hot, but well-balanced with the chocolate, and a favorite.

The one lowlight was the place I had planned to have lunch. The name, "Hot Chocolate and Fish Chippery" intrigued me, but the whole experience was extremely disappointing. The hot chocolate was simply lousy, milky and bland. And while the Chocolate Cake was dense, which I like, it was a bit chunky in texture, oddly chewy, with a ganache frosting which had a sour chocolate bite. On some levels it tasted like a bad, thawed frozen dessert. In spite how disappointing the chocolate, I did have a nice salad for a balanced meal!

Yes, my time in New Zealand and Australia was "all about the chocolate," and most of it was good, very good (the cruise ship, being the exception, but that's a different story). Even though I did not experience any drinking chocolate just like the one from La Verna, which I still idolize, I learned a lot about the variety of hot chocolate which is out there, in particular the Belgian and Spanish, aka "spicy styles."

In the "land down under," I was also amazed by the numerous chocolate franchises, cafes, lounges, and salons, which feature drinking chocolate, chocolate desserts, chocolate confections, and chocolate "home supplies." Thus, it should not surprise anyone that my souvenirs from New Zealand and Australia were all chocolate-related, intended to help me find my chocolate exlixir and enjoy excellent drinking chocolate at home.

What chocolates did I bring home and how did they measure up? Stay tuned and find out on the blog tomorrow.