Order a chocolate milkshake at our counter and the question back is New York or Paris. That is not a flourish; it changes the drink. Both start from the same dark Belgian chocolate, and there is no syrup pump anywhere in the building, which is the short version of why these read as desserts rather than as drinks with chocolate flavouring added at the end.
The Dark Chocolate Thickshake, and why we call it that
The Dark Chocolate Thickshake is $14: dark Belgian chocolate blended through vanilla ice cream until it is dense enough to hold a spoon upright for a second. Thickshake rather than milkshake is a literal description, not marketing. It is cold, heavy and slow to drink, and it is built around the chocolate rather than around sugar, which is the same principle the cabinet runs on. It is made with no added gluten, though 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.
New York or Paris
New York style means a rim of toasted marshmallow around the glass, so every mouthful comes past something soft and slightly burnt on the way in. Paris style means whipped cream served on the side, which keeps the drink itself clean and lets you add richness at your own pace. The same choice applies across the chocolate drinks, hot and cold. Hot chocolate and iced chocolate are built on the same dark Belgian chocolate, so the difference between the cup and the glass is ice cream and density, not quality of chocolate. A dairy-free milk option is available across the drinks menu, which is the one place on our list where that is a standing, everyday choice rather than something to request. As with everything we make, 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 other three at $14
- Banoffee Cookie — real bananas, a ribbon of dulce de leche, whipped cream and cookie crumbs.
- Tiramisu — a double shot of espresso, mascarpone chantilly and lady fingers.
- Crème Brûlée — vanilla ice cream and milk infused with real vanilla, finished with a sugar crust torched at the counter.
Each one is a cabinet recipe taken apart and rebuilt so it can be drunk, and the four together make up our dessert-inspired thickshakes. If you want something shorter and sharper, the affogato is espresso poured over vanilla bean ice cream.
Two glasses, one table
The cheapest experiment on this menu costs nothing extra. Come with someone, order the Dark Chocolate twice, one New York and one Paris, and taste them side by side: same chocolate, two different drinks, and a clear winner by the halfway mark. With four of you, take one of each flavour and pass them round. There is no booking, no setup and nothing to tidy up afterwards, which makes this an easy hour rather than a plan. Tables here move to seat four to eight, the kitchen is open-plan so you can watch the work while you wait, and the room is dog friendly, with a water bowl and metal table legs to clip a lead to.
What to eat with a thickshake
A shake and a plated dessert between two people is usually the right amount; two of each is a lot of sugar in one sitting. The made-to-order desserts take about ten minutes in store, and the Matilda Chocolate is the obvious chocolate pairing: warm dark chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream, dark chocolate crumble and hot chocolate sauce poured at the counter. If you would rather have something to cut, the cake slices are in the cabinet. There is more on how the hot chocolate is built and on our cold drinks list.
Ordering and visiting
Every drink on this list needs no notice at all, so a thickshake is a straight walk-in with nothing to book and nothing to plan. Made-to-order desserts take about ten minutes on the day. Anything ordered online for collection needs two days as a rule, and the checkout date picker only offers dates the kitchen can meet. Orders are collected in person from our patisserie inside The Welder on Welles Street in the central city, because we do not deliver. We are open 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Friday and 10am to 3pm Saturday, which makes a late-afternoon shake the simplest version of this visit. For the wider chocolate range, see our chocolate desserts.
