I’d given up on finding my ciocolatta di calda densa after the owners of Campo de Fiori in the next town went home to Italy,
But Tomasso at Caffe Delle Stelle here in Greystones, Co. Wicklow, put a bit of colour into my grey winter’s day.
Chocolate is a gift from the gods so much so that the Incas believed it had magical spiritual powers.
So who am I to disagree?
And here are a few of my favourite hot chocolate dens.
The Caffe Pedrocchi, Padova https://www.caffepedrocchi.it Venice has its St Mark’s Square and Rialto Bridge and its masses but there’s a quieter, hidden Veneto city.
Where Giotto’s handiwork inspired Michelangelo and you can find St Anthony’s tongue!
This grande cafe dates back a hundred years and hits the right note between posh and prego.
And for more Padova perambulating… Padova – city of frescoes.
The Old Chocolate Shop, Bruges, Belgium: I can’t recall Colin Farrell sipping hot chocolate here in the cult movie In Bruges.
But he would have been more chilled if he had.
This canal city is famous for its choccies but don’t press your noses up against the windows… come in.
The Old Chocolate Shop https://www.oldchocolatehouse.be looks straight out of a nursery rhyme… and you should deffo try the gingerbread and truffles too.
And Bruges is a great release at the end of my World War One Battlefields Tour with https://www.gadventures.com. A pilgrim’s prayer
Jacques Torres Chocolate Shop, New York: I’ve developed a mantra as I’ve evolved… only choose friends who hail from wonderful places.
And it also helps if they have fantastic jobs… as is the case with my old University pal Kate.
She is the Editor of a Food and Drinks magazine in her native New York and took La Famille Murty to…
Jacques Torres’ Chocolate Shop https://mrchocolate.com/blogs/locations/soho-hudson near Greenwich Village where we sampled the rich and silky Wicked.
That is after sampling the bacon-flavoured chocolate in their tasting kitchen. We left with a hamper. And you know what I think of New York but here’s a reminder… Old New York: Hamilton
The Cafe Savoy, Prague: Everyone raves about Vienna, and it’s not to be missed.
But cafe society permeated throughout the whole of the old Austro-Hungarian Hapsburg Empire.
And finds itself stamped all over Prague… Hope springs eternal
The Savoy http://cafesavoy.ambi.cz/en/ is the place to go for your hot chocolate (or two hot chocolates)!
Its Savoy Hot Chocolate which uses hot milk hails from the Dominican Republic; the Savoy dessert hot chocolate is made of Valrhona chocolate and hot chocolate.
It is served with whipped milk and you can add it to the cup to melt with the chocolate.
Hot chocolate is one of life’s little gifts to yourself.
Barcelona for hot chocolate
It can be drunk in hot and cold weather despite what my waitresss Mardy Maria thought as we lunched inside from the 30C Barcelona heat… Surfing the seas in Barcelona
My Catalan isn’t that great but her hand gestures suggested f****** eeji or something like that.
Tell me where your fave hot chocolate is and I’ll share the love.
MEET YOU IN THE CAFE
