chocolate
Lindt Chocolate Cake
I’ve been sick all week. Alec brought me delicious cake from Lindt to make me feel better. Thanks love!
Adora Handmade Chocolates, Earlwood
We’ve been looking at properties a lot lately, particularly in Marrickville. One major draw card in the area for me is a little chocolate shop and cafe called Adora Handmade Chocolates.
Little shop-front – blink and you’ll miss the goodness!
Gift baskets made of chocolate – filled with more treats.
Ohhhh nom nom nom!
Pralines and orange peels and nut clusters, oh my!
Cute little box we took home.
Filled with unimaginable delights!
Adora Handmade Chocolates
10 Homer St
Earlwood, NSW
(02) 9323 5948
Max Brenner Chocolate Cafe
After watching Gran Torrino at Bondi Junction on Australia Day with Alec, Jan and Uncle, we stopped in at the Max Brenner Chocolate Cafe.
I had a hot chocolate with waffle balls (delightfully sweet and milky with crunchy waffle balls) in a Hug Mug, and shared strawberries and chocolate with Alec. All I can say is yum, yum, yum!
How cute are the Hug Mugs? I bought a pair to take home with me so we can enjoy hot chocolate in them next winter.
So many lovely chocolatey things!
See, chocolate is good for you! Max Brenner says so 🙂
Canberra – Day 2
It’s off to the National Art Gallery to see the Degas exhibition. It was definitely worth the long drive down! We joined a tour group and learned a great many things about my favourite artist.
Following the art gallery we took a walk around the Old Parliament House Gardens and had a look at the hundreds of roses that are planted there.
A visit to our nation’s capital isn’t complete without a trip to Parliament House. We had a quick look around, walked over the top, and stopped for lunch. We hadn’t intended to stop there at all, but I’m glad we did as I found it really interesting.
Last stop in the Berra before our journey home was at Koko Black, a chocolate cafe recommended to me by a work friend. It’s a Melbourne company and has yet to open in Sydney. I was a bit of a glutton and ordered way too much, but I wanted to try a few things.
I wasn’t disappointed that’s for sure! The ice chocolate I had was amazing and filled with two different types of ice-cream. Alec’s ice coffee was also great, and the ice-cream martini we shared was absolutely fantastic.
Piggy!
I can’t remember the full name of this, but it was a delicious caramel ice-cream made on the premises with coconut and chocolate and possibly something else.
Gone in 60 seconds!
Lots more chocolate!
After Koko Black we slowly drove back to Sydney … after an immensely enjoyable Canberra mini-break.
Monet Exhibition, Lindt Cafe & Kirribilli
A rare day out in the city with Alec, his dad and his dad’s wife, Lisa.
We started out at the Monet exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
I love Monet, particularly his waterlilies that he painted at his house at Giverny. Alec and I are planning to go there when we are on our France trip in 2009, so it was great timing!
The exhibition only had a few waterlily paintings, but had a range of works from Monet’s early career as well as some paintings by his contemporaries and artistic influences.
After the Monet exhibition we also dropped in at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition that was on at the Sydney Museum. I love, love this exhibition and look forward to it every year. It’s my dream to take photographs of nature like the ones in the exhibition – up close yet in the wild, and so amazingly unusual.
Next stop was the Lindt Cafe in Martin Place. I haven’t been to this outlet before, and was happy to see it was more like a real cafe, where you sit down and have your order taken at your table. So civilised! I just love their chocolate shakes and crave them frequently – just the shakes, nothing more!
Chocolate dream come true.
Their gourmet chocolates. I had a few, including a caramel one, and they were divine.
Alec’s dad and Lisa.
Happy as can be – chocolate has that effect!
Driving back to dinner in Crows Nest, we took a detour through Kirribilli. We came across this amazing spot – what a view! Sydney is such a beautiful city to live in, particularly on days like today when the sun is shining, not a cloud in the sky, and we’re on holidays!
Tourist shot!
Lindt Cafe
53 Martin Place
Sydney
Ph: (o2) 8257 1600
Adriano Zumbo Patissier & Cafe Chocolat
Searching for the perfect chocolate on a Saturday, we drove down to Balmain to try Adriano Zumbo Patissier and Cafe Chocolat.
Quite simply, I’m in love.
The two stores are located within metres of each other, and both serve glorious things that will make you swoon. Our advice? Visit the patissier first and pick up savories and cakes, then take it to the Cafe Chocolat to sit down and order drinks. The patissier doesn’t actually serve drinks or have tables, so if you do it any other way, you will be in a bit of a mess, like we ended up in.
All of the cakes at the patissier look so amazing we don’t know what to try.
We settle on a Charles de Jour to share, and two quiches ($5.20 each) and a sausage roll to get the savory stuff in before the sugar overload begins.
Back at the cafe, the patient staff have our drinks on hold. We score a large table – and begin the feast.
Old school drinks menu. I had a butterscotch shake. Totally delicious, but not big enough.
Inside – the chocolate.
I took a few home for Alec to try, but the consensus was while they were lovely, the big draw card here is the desserts.
Macaroons – I tried Chocolate Orange, Chocolate and Chocolate Caramel – the Chocolate Caramel was by far the best. I will get it again! ($2 each)
Cute interior at the Cafe Chocolat.
Food – ready for go time!
Lisa’s cherry hot chocolate. It was far too heavy and sweet – it didn’t help that the day was about 30 degrees either!
Happy girls with the nom nom food.
Love the chandelier.
Finally – the Charles de Jour! Tart pate sucree, vanilla ganache, vanilla creme chantilly, vanilla water bursts and vanilla glacage.
One of the most amazing things I have tasted in my life.
For some reason we ordered a chocolate brownie as well ($6). In retrospect we should have ordered something more exotic, but we lost our heads for a few minues.
Leaning tower of chocolate! Nuts, chocolate, mirangue.
Adriano Zumbo Patissier
296 Darling Street,
Balmain
(02) 9810 7318
Mon – Sat, 8am – 6pm
Sun 8am – 4pm
Adriano Zumbo Cafe Chocolat
Shop 5, 308 Darling St
Balmain
(02) 9555 1199
Open 7 days, 7am – 6pm
Guylian Chocolate Cafe, Sydney
Time to try the new Guylian Belgian Chocolate Cafe on George St, in The Rocks, after a night of shopping.
It didn’t start out well – the doors slipped closed when we were about to enter, and the doors locked from the inside, causing Bev to lose the final straw after a frustrating day, and nearly break the doors trying to get in. In hindsight, I like to think it was a sign from abut trying to prevent us from entering.
Famous seahorse!
Nice decor.
Friands.
Mmmmm …
Good range of chocolate, but nothing really unique.
Desserts! Note the price is take-away – add an extra $4 – $5 to have these at the table.
We were quite stunned at how pricey it all was. The prices in the window looked OK, but when we compared them to the menu and saw the price hike, we shied away from the expensive desserts on principle. Compared to the Lindt Cafe, which is a higher quality grade chocolate, they were even more expensive, and didn’t taste anywhere near as good. Very disappointing!
Cranky Bev – with very good reason!
My classic shake – good, but not spectacular (about $7)
Hot chocolate (about $7)
Going for the money shot all at once.
Peanut and chocolate cookie – quite try and bland and cost about $3.
Chocolate cookie – same again.
Bev ordered a croissant and chocolate dips – about $7.
One chocolate was liquidy and tasty, the other like a bowl of solid chocolate.
Yum!
Guylian Belgian Chocolate Cafe
The Rocks,
91 George St
Sydney
Sunday
We spent the day watching The Kite Runner (review to follow), having lunch at Rozelle and getting chocolate from Belle Fleur.
Second hand books from the market – three for $25.
Beginning of the tongue photos.
Belle Fleur window display. I love Easter, it’s the chocolate holiday.
I Am Legend and San Churro
After eating and then eating some more and shopping, Bev, Lisa and I went to Chatswood to meet up with Matt, Alec and Alec’s friend from work, Sean to see I Am Legend.
Beverly suggested the movie because she has a thing for Will Smith. I should probably have spoken up and said I don’t like zombie movies, but I didn’t realise how much of a zombie movie it actually was!
The general premise is that in the year 2009 a radical cure for cancer is discovered, but instead of being the miracle it is thought to be, it spawns a retro-virus that wipes out 90% of mankind. How this happens is skipped over however. There are quite a few plot holes and the exposition is told through random flashbacks that don’t quite fill in the gaps in the story.
There was a lot I liked, such as Will Smith looking buff and the cute dog, but also a lot that I didn’t, such as believing Will Smith masquerading as a scientist. The story could have done with more clarity around a lot of areas, such as the actual zombies and their intelligence. There seemed to be one who was smarter than the rest, but who he was and why he was smarter wasn’t explored.
After the movie we went to San Churro so Bev would try the magical churros.
Alec reluctantly posing for Lisa.
Must …. photograph … the … churros!!
