You don't need an excuse to eat chocolate, but Thursday July 7 is National Chocolate Day which means you have carte blanche to eat all the chocolate. Whether you're happy with a bar of Cadbury's or feel like a fancy bonbon, here is a list of Melbourne eateries doing special things with the sweet stuff for National Chocolate Day.
1. Mork Chocolate Brew House
Let's start with a bang shall we? Mork Chocolate Brew House in North Melbourne make the best chocolate milk (hot or iced) around, so it's no wonder they've come up with this genius idea. It's CHOCOLATE CEREAL. Why our parents never thought to do this with our morning cereal, we'll never understand.
2. L’Hotel Gitan
If you are dining at L’Hotel Gitan on National Chocolate Day, don’t forget to celebrate with their Tart au Chocolate. This chocolate tart is a chocolate lover’s dream with feuilletine base, chocolate ganache, milk chocolate mascarpone cream, chocolate anglaise and exotic coulis.
3. Grosvenor Hotel
Here’s one for you Nutella fans. The Grosvenor Hotel is celebrating with its Grosvenor Gateau, combining crunchy hazelnut feuilletine (flaky French pastry) with flourless chocolate biscuit, passionfruit cremeux and a luscious chocolate Bavarian mousse.
4. The Hotel Windsor
Celebrate National Chocolate Day between July 7-17 with a heavenly afternoon tea. Spend $69 on weekdays ($89 on weekends) to enjoy chocolate scones, chocolate filled pastries, a decadent chocolate fountain with many dipping options and of course some tea. If you head out on the weekend, you also get to enjoy a dessert buffet showcasing chocolate cakes and pastries. Book online or via phone 9633 6004.
5.Huxtaburger
This burger joint invites chocolate lovers to come indulge in their rich choc-mint milkshake to celebrate National Chocolate Day. This slurp-ready chocolate treat is made with a rich housemade syrup that’s infused with mint oil and creamy vanilla bean ice cream. Pro tip: get a serve of fries and dunk a chip in the milkshake. Yes, really.
6. East Elevation
What better way to celebrate National Chocolate Day than to visit a chocolate factory? East Elevation shares their space with chocolate factory, Monsieur Truffe, so you can watch the gourmet chocolate bars being made while you eat breakfast from the cafe. Head here on July 7 to try some iced chocolate, or a Monsieur Truffe Chocolate Fondue for two.
7. Hash Specialty Coffee
Order the eponymous Hash hot chocolate, which is a beaker of chocolaty goodness that seems more like melted chocolate than a hot chocolate drink, but we’re okay with that. This social-media-friendly beverage is made with 85 per cent Mork hot chocolate poured into a cup piled high with milk-flavoured fairy floss, where it melts into a cup of deliciousness on contact.
8. Bibelot
Bibelot tempers chocolate out of some seriously quality stuff from France and Belgium. Their fancy bonbons come in flavours like caramel, peanut butter and celery and raspberry. Each little chocolate bit has an outer layer of white chocolate, milk chocolate, or dark chocolate with a filling in the centre.
9. Doughnut Time
Doughnut Time has been conquering the east coast with their doughies and there's plenty on the line-up this week to fill all of your chocolate cravings. Their National Chocolate Day winner in our books is the so-chocolaty-it's-almost-pornographic Love At First Sight doughnut stuffed to the gills with Nutella.