Last week I was lucky enough to experience the Chocolate Tour at the Queen Victoria Building. The tour is new and offers an indulgent treat featuring a delectable tour of five stops as well as tit-bits of history of the QVB, topped off with a fit-to-bursting goody bag.
One of the goodies on sale at Haigh’s
Our first stop was the Haigh’s, an Australian born-and-bred company from Adelaide, which turned 100 years old last year. We saw the raw cacao product and how it becomes the cocoa we know today through roasting. I was given some samples at Haigh’s, including their best-selling pastilles, little silky nuggets of our chocolate, before we moved onto Parisi.
Parisi is famous for it’s chocolate dipped fruit. The business is run by the Parisi family and Julian Parisi owns the lovely cafe in the middle of the ground floor of the regal building. Products on offer included chocolate dipped figs, banana and mango, with my favourite being the white chocolate drizzled berry boat.
Parisi
Adriano Zumbo made his name on Masterchef, and is known for his decadent and crazy Macarons. We were offered one to try and two to take home, which proved more difficult than I expected. From Fairy bread to milo, the ‘Zumbarons’ are far from the delicate French pastries that have risen to fame in recent years.
Koko Black was next, which uses no palm oil in its chocolate, evident of the care taken to maintain the best quality. The care gone into these chocolates was very evident. Flavours include local honey, single malt whisky, and fresh fruit and each chocolate is hand-made.
We finished up at the Palace tea room, with samples of their chocolate tea, their hot chocolate and their Mexican hot chocolate. The sumptuos furnishings created a cozy, regal feel but unfortunately their drinks did not quite live up to the decor, with the hot chocolates leaving us a bit disappointed. It’s a shame that we finished here as it added a down note to the end of the tour, however the chocolate tea was extraordinary and refreshing at the end of a very gluttonous 80 minutes.
All in all, we had a great time. The tour was relaxed and we were fed snippets of information about the building and it’s furnishings, which is one of Sydney’s icons.
I would recommend the chocolate tour for those with a sweet tooth; it’s ideal for a date or perhaps a last minute mother’s day gift?
WHAT: Chocolate tour of the QVB
COST: $65 per person
LENGTH: 90 Minutes
includes gift bag containing: 100g bag Haigh’s milk chocolate sprinkles, two Adriano Zumbarons, one Koko Black chocolate, one hand-dipped chocolate strawberry from Parisi and 100g Palace tea room chocolate tea.
Booking via 9264 9209
More info!..