East Elevation

I definitely don’t trek up to the north side as often as I should. 

I mean, if I did, I would have been able to visit East Elevation a lot earlier, where I pretty much liked everything they did. 

From the round bowls that the coffees come in, who needs handles when a hand hug is more than sufficient, to the hearty and immensely filling dishes on the menu.

Although my usual breakfast drink is chai, being in the house of Monsieur Truffe…well, one must get the hot chocolate, which honestly, is far more delicious than many chai’s I’ve had! Rich in cocoa, but not in cream, lovely and dense, I could have had so many of these. So many.

Brad ordered the King and Swiss brown mushrooms, straight from their rooftop garden with baby spinach and goats cheese on grilled rye. I loved looking at his plate, so overflowing with abundant deliciousness! The thick cut meaty mushrooms just went a treat with the creamy feta. 

As much as I liked Brad’s plate though, I loved mine even more, a solid serving of black pudding with cavalo nero, poached eggs with horseradish, oven dried tomatoes and guindillas on pumpkin bread (although I’m pretty sure I swapped it out for gluten free). Talk about a protein hit! I loved the pickled peppers providing some contrast and lightness to the otherwise rich and heavy black pudding. It was a solid feed, but well balanced. 

The bright and airy space, was simply the perfect spot to stop by on the way home from the airport, and enjoy Brad’s company after not seeing him for a week. There’s plenty more I would love to try on the menu, so might find myself heading up north side a little more frequently…

East Elevation

351 Lygon Street

Brunswick East 3057

 

Mörk Chocolate Brew House

It’s wonderful to see little businesses blossom in Melbourne. From humble beginnings, to essentially, taking over the foodie world. 

Mörk Chocolate has been doing just that, gradually building up a name for themselves, wholesaling to cafes and popping up in many a boutique gift shop in Melbourne. Cafes no longer just served you hot chocolate…they served you Mörk hot chocolate. 

I’ll be honest, when I have had Mörk at other cafes, I’ve not always been completely wowed by it. It’s got a lovely cocoa flavour, it’s not too sweet, but I think it’s often the lack of texture that gets me. I can’t help it, I’m a rich creamy kinda girl. 

So though, now that Mörk Chocolate have their own ‘brew’ house, surely they would be the absolute best people to prepare their own hot chocolate!

Brad and I could not have picked a better day to make our way over too, completely pissing down with rain, cold and windy…it was definitely hot chocolate weather. So we hustled over from our brunch spot, careful not to slip on the angled step in front of the door (a touch dangerous in the wet weather) and stepped into the warm and minimalist haven of Mörk.

The space is clean, and just so beautiful. It’s the details here that really catch your eye. Gold taps, beautifully crafted wooden handles, matte white jugs and mugs lined up like soldiers on the slate counter. It’s a dream. Maybe not very kid friendly though (surprised there aren’t chocolate handprints everywhere!)

The menu is short and sweet. Try the house hot chocolate at different variations of darkness, or something a bit different, like a chocolate soda or more importantly…one of the signature chocolate’s. 

And just because it had been making the rounds on Instagram, I had to give the Campfire Chocolate a go. Hot chocolate, with smoke and marshmallow. 

The smoke is captured in your glass, which just fills the air with the warm, crackly, richly smokey aromas of a campfire, as suggested. I had a family with little girls next to me who wrinkled their noses and exclaimed loudly that they didn’t really like the smell. Maybe not one for the kids, but definitely one for the adults who just want to be curled up in front of the fire place. 

As for the chocolate itself? Far better here than some of the cafes I’ve had Mörk at. Lovely cocoa, and a nice texture to the chocolate as well, not super thick, like the mainstream Koko Black’s and Max Brenner’s, but restrained and elegant. 

And then the torched marshmallow. Yum.

I also asked the staff to recommend me a tart, and I can safely say, the lemon meringue tart is a zesty little treat indeed. The lemon curd almost not quite set, and so molten and soft in the mouth, with a lovely short pastry…and plenty, plenty of zest. Don’t miss out on these little goodies when you make your way up to this very, almost, Willy Wonka place of whimsy. 

Mörk Chocolate Brew House

150 Errol Street

North Melbourne

 

San Churro Winter Preview

Disclosure: I was invited to the San Churros tasting as a guest of the shop

You guys starting to feel that nip in the air? Waking up at 6 to make my way into the city to go to the gym, I'm definitely feeling it and some mornings it's now getting cold enough for me to see my breath in the morning, appear and dissipate, as a quick little cloud. 

I don't know about you guys, but I honestly love feeling winter roll in (minus the getting sick every now and again). I love the wooly jumpers, jeans, blankets wrapped around me, cuddling with the dog (or the Brad) and of course, a thick hot chocolate, cradled in the hands, keeping the fingers nice and toasty. There's just something so satisfying about eating in winter, as the body craves sustenance to keep warm. 

A few weeks ago I was invited to take part in San Churro VIP tasting of their new winter menu, featuring a mix of hot and cold goodies (because let's be real here, it's never actually too cold for ice-cream). 

For the nippy mornings, I loved their very Spanish breakfast offering of a cinnamon breakfast churro, braided and very, very generously dusted in cinnamon sugar. Available only before midday, I would definitely welcome these first thing in the morning, warm, with a slight crunch and chew and just a touch of sweet to get the taste buds jumping with joy.

Salted caramel makes it's way on to the menu several times, proving it's still a force to be reckoned with (and probably always will be). The iced salted caramel is surprisingly light with a nice gentle touch of caramel and not quite as rich as I expected it to be. The restraint with the salted caramel is again put into use with the salted caramel sundae, which isn't too rich, allowing the melted milk chocolate to make it's presence known as well. Unfortunately the white chocolate ice-cream is a bit light in flavour in comparison, so although it adds the creaminess, there wasn't too much flavour from there.

We did though, all love the cookies and cream sundae, which is exactly what you would expect out of white chocolate ice-cream with warm chocolate fudge, chocolate biscuit crumble and chewy macaron meringue pieces. Not tidy to eat, but loads of fun.

The chocolate volcano is a beast of a cake, even sharing two between 7 people was too much, with it's rich cocoa flavour and gooey, soul-melting, lava centre. Despite complaints of being full, I saw those spoons making a multitude of return trips…

After talking about the ice-cream on offer with the marketing team at San Churro, we had to try a scoop of their chilli chocolate ice-cream, their ice-cream supplier using their own couverture chocolate imported from Spain. This results in a delightfully rich ice-cream with a nice kick of chilli. Winter? What winter? Give me more!

Naturally at San Churro, hot chocolate is on the agenda, and we were a little overwhelmed to receive 6 huge mugs all at once! For the winter menu, San Churros is offering El Grande Spanish hot chocolates topped with either marshmallows and chocolate syrup, crushed maltballs or chocolate biscuit crumble. 

Whilst they initially looked promising, I was slightly disheartened by the marshmallows and chocolate syrup, as it was so sweet I couldn't take more than a sip! The chocolate biscuit crumble was much better flavour wise, but got pretty thick and gluggy quite quick. The crushed maltballs fared the best, and was my favourite, and something I would quite happily return for!

We all thought we were done, but San Churro had saved the best for last. If you only try one thing from the winter menu, make it the salted chocolate coconut shake. Erupting into a medley of oohs and ahhs and happy sighs, it was clearly a crowd favourite. I found it well balanced, with the salted coconut both boosting the chocolate and also capping it's richness, there was a delightfully savoury moreish factor this that made us all wish we had a little more than the mini serves we tried. 

Fortunately we're just at the beginning of winter, and the menu is still available until the end of August, after which they may take away the salted chocolate coconut shake…so I'll definitely be ducking in soon to get my fix!

San Churro

Chocolates for Christmas - Haighs + Luxbite

Disclosure: I was invited as a guest to attend the Haigh's Chocolate Masterclass and also invited to Luxbite's Christmas Party

In the past couple of the years, I'm totally the worst when it comes to presents. I'm not very good at coming up with gift ideas, unless I happen to stumble onto a brilliant light bulb moment, where I think of something personal, thoughtful and totally right for one person. 

…unfortunately that doesn't happen enough. 

One thing I do like to do though, where possible, is get a meal with the person, or just buy a little sweet treat, because really, who would say no to more chocolate? Especially if it's really nice stuff?

For years, for Christmas, I've always bought Haigh's chocolate for my aunt in Melbourne, as I don't see much of her during the year so I figure if I'm going to get her something sweet, I may as well splurge a little (or a lot).

So I was very excited when Haigh's invited me to a little chocolate masterclass, to see some of the creations they had come up with at the factory, and try some of the  Christmas release chocolates. Who can turn down running around a closed chocolate shop with bubbles in hand? Really now?

Haigh's really has an amazing heritage, turning 100 in 2015, and a very dedicated following of chocolate lovers. Some of the people I met at the event had been loyal customers of over 20 years, and knew the ranges and varieties as well as most of the people who work there!

After nibbling on some delicious canapes, the little goat cheese tartlets were an absolute delight, we headed down into a kitchen in the Intercontinental Hotel where we met Ben, the chief chocolatier, who hails from Switzerland and talked passionately about chocolate with his lovely French accent. 

We went through the process of how chocolate is made, I was surprised to learn that Haigh's actually import and roast their own beans in Adelaide. This means their chocolate blends are unique and special to them, since they can source the beans that they want to use and combine them in the way they want to. 

The cocoa beans, even in their outer husks, are so aromatic, and even more so after they've been cracked open and turned into cocoa 'nibs. We nibbled on the raw coacoa nibs, were had a lovely nuttiness to them, but then went into crazy choca-holic mode, when they gave us the cocoa nibs coated in chocolate. Oh. Em. Gee.

Ben proceeded to show us how to temper and prepare chocolate, although many chefs use sugar thermometers, he had this rather cool spatula which could measure the temperature for you…so will have to have a little google of that later!

A few spiced chocolate balls and profiteroles later, and we finished the night sampling the chocolate from the Christmas range, an egg nog cream and blueberry mousse.

For me, the egg nog cream is very rich and decadent, as I've never been the type of person who's into chocolates with cream fillings, it was honestly a bit too intense for me, being quite sticky and sweet with a good drop of rum in there. 

However, I totally fell head over heels in love with the blueberry mousse, almost glittering with the blue pattern on the top. It's so smooth, with a very elegant and fresh, fruity flavour. Not too sweet and very natural. Going completely crazy. I've already bought heaps for presents for friends. 

This Christmas, I'm also loving what Haigh's is doing with their packaging, steering away from the typical red and white and instead wrapping everything up in a gentle star studded blue with a golden tie to finish it off. Hint hint Brad, I hope my stocking looks like the Haigh's Christmas catalogue this year…. ;)

Although I am loving the new blueberry mousse, for me, I still can't help getting excited over Haigh's Christmas Pudding Brandy Truffles, which to me, is Christmas encapsulated in two bites. I always buy these every year, so was very pleased to have one in our goodie bags to take home!

Whilst Haigh's is all heritage and heart, for those who want a different kind of chocolate treat to give away this year, Luxbite is expanding their repertoire and damn, they're doing it well. 

When I popped by for their Christmas party a few weeks back, which was all smiles, and old school R&B tracks (which made me very happy), alongside their adorable candy cane macarons and beautiful Christmas themed log cakes (I thought the pink ones were super cute), and a new range of chocolates!

Gorgeously colourful asymmetrical shapes, beyond looks, they were also just sublime in flavour and texture. On the outside, the chocolate may look quite hard and rigid, but they were actually surprisingly soft, giving way to reveal an array of delicious fillings. I went ape for the salted caramel filling, soft and smooth, and also loved the green tea and pistachio, equally smooth and just bursting with flavour. 

Also on offer is passionfruit and kaffir lime and a mandarin jaffa flavour. Oh decisions, decisions. 

Other highlights from Luxbite's Christmas collection include the collaboration they are doing with The WonderSnack Company. 'Summer in a Bag' is a bag of bright and summery flavours, inspired by a pavlova, strawberry marshmallows, pineapple jellies and sugar frosted almonds and cashews…very moreish and such a delight.

The 'Christmas Be My Love' is a creamy and lush chocolate mousse with raspberry cream and a shining chocolate glaze, and I'm always pleased to see the lemon tart make an appearance in all it's zestiness, this time topped with the strawberry marshmallows and pineapple jubes for a little extra flavour.

Luxbite really know how to throw a party in the house (and in the mouth (see what I did there?!)) and I'm definitely looking forward to checking in throughout summer for my sweet sugary fix...oh and I guess pick up some Christmas treats for others as well…may as well share…I guess….

Haigh's Chocolate

Luxbite

38 Toorak Road

South Yarra

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