A hot chocolate built from dark Belgian chocolate and a hot chocolate built from a powder are not the same drink, and the difference shows up in the last third of the cup. We do not use pre-mixed ingredients anywhere in the kitchen, and that includes this. It starts at $5, and before it is handed over there is one choice to make.
New York or Paris
New York style comes with a toasted marshmallow rim, so the marshmallow is part of the first mouthful rather than something floating on the surface, and the toasting puts a faint caramelised edge against the dark chocolate underneath. Paris style comes with whipped cream on the side, which leaves the decision with you: stir it through and the whole cup turns softer and lighter, or spoon it separately and keep the chocolate at full strength. The two are genuinely different drinks, not a garnish choice.
The dairy-free milk option
Most of our hot and cold drinks can be made with a dairy-free milk instead, and this is the one part of the menu where that is a standing, everyday option rather than something to arrange in advance. The hot chocolate, the iced chocolate and the dark chocolate thickshake are also made with no added gluten, along with the rest of the No Added Gluten Cakes & Desserts range. The same caveat applies to all of it: our kitchen is small and without exclusive production areas for all of our different recipes, so traces may occur, and nothing is guaranteed safe for severe coeliac disease.
The cold version, and the one with ice cream in it
The iced chocolate takes the same two styles. The dark chocolate thickshake takes the same chocolate and blends it with vanilla ice cream, again as New York or Paris, and it sits closer to a dessert than a drink. The rest of the hot and cold drinks menu runs alongside it, including a Zealong teapot for one from the only tea plantation in New Zealand, which matters when the two of you want completely different things.
What to put beside it
A Pudim Caramel Flan is the one we would put next to a Paris style: a dense, slow-baked Brazilian custard with a dark caramel glaze that is slightly bitter, which is exactly what a sweet cup wants alongside it. The Ferrari Rocher goes the other way, flourless chocolate and hazelnut cake under a crisp dark chocolate and almond shell, and it doubles down rather than balancing out. If you want the whole thing warm, the Matilda Chocolate is made to order in about ten minutes from the hot desserts menu, with hot chocolate sauce poured over it at the counter.
An unhurried hour, and who to bring
Drinks need no notice at all, which makes this the easiest thing on our menu to say yes to on a Tuesday afternoon. Bring the person you keep meaning to sit down with properly. Our tables move, so a pair can have a small one or a group of four to eight can push several together, and nobody is going to move you along. The kitchen is open-plan, so you can watch the work happening while you talk. There are two low tables and high chairs if a child is coming, and the space is dog friendly, with a water bowl and metal table legs to clip a lead to. The patisserie and cafe page has more on the room itself, inside an 1880s building at The Welder.
Visiting and ordering
Nothing here needs booking or notice: walk in, order at the counter, choose your style. If you want a cake to take home as well, most things need two days and the checkout date picker only offers dates the kitchen can meet. Everything is collected from our patisserie inside The Welder on Welles Street in the central city, and we do not deliver or courier anything. We are open 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Friday and 10am to 3pm Saturday. The frequently asked questions page covers the rest.
