The best chocolate shops in Melbourne

Takeaway or delivery: Pickup only. Order online with 24 hours' notice.

Bibelot is an ambitious proposition: espresso bar, gelateria, pâtisserie, café, and chocolate shop. You can spy on the chocolatier tempering away in the chocolate room, sit on the stylish-but-stark seats at the front and spy on Coventry Street, or occupy the emerald-green sofa in the café space at the back. There’s a glass-and-gold chest of drawers in the centre, stocked with Bibelot’s bags of grown-up lollies at grown-up prices: cocoa pop and orange-infused white chocolate; caramelised puff corn with milk chocolate and pink salt; chocolate nougat and so on. If you're going to give yourself a toothache, why not do it with style?

Takeaway or delivery: Both. Order online for pickup or delivery. Delivery is free on orders over $100, and you can even get same-day delivery.

This artisan chocolatier is located in the historic Royal Arcade, and it's not out of the ordinary to find a line snaking out into Bourke Street to get inside. Having mastered the fine art of European chocolate making, this luxury chocolate retailer sells everything from chocolate blocks and chocolate-coated roasted almonds to praline gift boxes and delicious hot chocolates. 

Takeaway or delivery: Both. Order online and pick up your chocolatey goodness in person if you're close to the North Melbourne premises. Otherwise, Mörk ships Australia-wide.

Any Melburnian chocaholic worth their smoked salt already knows about Mörk’s artisan hot chocolate powders served in Seven Seeds and other café stalwarts. Mörk means ‘dark’ in Swedish; these chocolate powders come with a hefty cacao count. Husband-and-wife team Josefin and Kiril source cacao liquor from Venezuela, cocoa powder from Ghana and unrefined coconut blossom sugar from West Java, blending all three in their ‘brews’. Tarts, cookies, pralines and marshmallows are Mörk-made.

Takeaway or delivery: Order online for free delivery Victoria-wide (for orders over $100, and you can certainly stretch to pay that much for chocolate, can't you?). 

This Brunswick chocolate factory roasts, winnows, grinds and refines its chocolate from raw cacao. Here, you'll find perfect chocolate made from ethically sourced beans. Learn about the origins and the production process and buy blocks of the finished product, distinguished by country of origin. Or, get your chocolate in drinkable form with a hot chocolate you could stand a spoon in. 

Takeaway or delivery: Both. Order online, and shipping is free on orders over $60.

Ratio Cocoa Roasters is a bean-to-bar chocolate store that uses single-origin cacao beans to create handcrafted chocolate bars. Ratio’s tart – but delicious – dark chocolate is made up of only two ingredients: cocoa nibs and organic raw cane sugar that’s sourced from Brazil. Head to the Sydney Road store and try it for yourself or take part in one of Ratio’s behind-the-scenes chocolate tours, which give insight into the very Willy Wonka-like chocolate-making process.

Takeaway or delivery: Yes, both. Order online and pick up your treats or have them sent to your door.

From humble beginnings at the Farmers Markets, The Ministry of Chocolate opened its own retail store supplying Melbourne with the finest of chocolate in 2012. It makes everything in-house, from its boxes of chocolates to seasonal treats like chocolate eggs, Christmas goodies and Valentine's Day treats for your loved ones. 

Takeaway or delivery: Both. Order online and get your chocolates shipped, or pick them up if you live close to 2 Kembla Street, Cheltenham.

Grab a box of Cacao's finest. This chocolaterie specialises in beautifully made filled chocolates, macarons and all manner of sweet treats. Cacao is owned by pastry chefs and chocolatiers Laurent Meric and Tim Clark, whose skills have taken them around the world. Cacao's retail store has now closed, but you can still order from them online or find them at select stockists. 

Takeaway or delivery: Both. Order online or visit the chocolatier at stall 88A in Aisle B at South Melbourne Market.

Next time you take a stroll through South Melbourne Market, be sure to visit this bean-to-bar chocolate shop on your way out. Atypic, run by a French pastry chef turned master chocolatier, crafts single-origin small-batch chocolate on site, sources its beans from farmers in the Pacific Islands who grow, ferment and dry the cacao. The result is an authentic and distinct flavour profile true chocolate afficionados will appreciate. At the market, you'll be tempted by mouth-watering handmade blocks, desserts and lovely little gifts to take home with you, and inn the warmer months, you can also treat yourself to an indulgent swirl of chocolate soft serve. Heaven. 

Takeaway or delivery: Delivery. Order online.

After becoming a landmark stop-over for families traipsing through the Yarra Valley, passionate chocolatiers have opened a new location along another popular holiday route. The Chocolaterie and Ice Creamery indulges kids and adults alike with more than 250 creamy European delights for sampling and purchase. Along with chocolates and truffles, there can be nothing more refreshing during a hot summer road trip than homemade ice cream. The café is also worth stopping by, which uses garden produce to provide meal options with a fondue, hot chocolate or ice cream to finish.

Takeaway or delivery: Find it in Coles, Woolworths and independent grocers.

Chocolate that's dairy free, soy free, gluten free and vegan shouldn't be this delicious. In fact, we'd suspect that the folks behind Pana Chocolate's rich, smooth delights were wizards from the future if they didn't clearly outline their chocolate recipe on their website (spoiler: it involves cacao powder, agave nectar and coconut nectar). 

Takeaway or delivery: Both. Order online and pay the flat $15 delivery fee or visit one of the store's many beautiful outlets around Melbourne.

Haigh’s is an oldie but a goldie and the most beautiful outlet in Melbourne is arguably the one in the Royal Arcade. Since 1915, these folks have been bringing fine chocolates to the masses, with some even winning awards over the years. The Haigh's promise is to use quality ingredients, including premium cocoa beans, and to remain at the forefront of inventive chocolate making methods and techniques. 

Takeaway or delivery: Some of the stores offer local delivery. 

These guys have been doing the chocolate-factory-cum-café gig for years before it was A Thing (as they somewhat tersely mention on their website). Expect traditional truffles and a bowl of hot chocolate the size of your head to drink while browsing. There are locations in Blackburn, Croydon South, Doncaster East, Geelong, Heidelberg, Balwyn North, Upper Ferntree Gully, Montrose and Greensborough Plaza. 

Takeaway or delivery: Both. Order online or head into the cafe to dine in or take your goodies back home.

If you like your artisan chocolate with a dash of exotic flavour, then Xocolatl in Kew is worth a place high on your chocaholic hit list. Known for their bean-to-bar chocolate that manages to get its sweet to bitter ratio on point, Xocolatl also isn't afraid to experiment with diverse ingredients in its creations. Freeze-dried raspberries are enrobed in dark couverture chocolate, salted peanut brittle is smothered in swothered in milk chocolate, and around Valentine's Day and other special occasions, Xocolatl's balsamic strawberry love heart creations have proven to be a hit.