Blanxart Chocolate

[Kooky]

(A Bob-style PREview)

Somewhere between Mayan rustic and Italian glossy is Blanxart, a half-century-old chocolate manufacturer based in Barcelona and another new name in Australian imports. From the smoky, tobacco-like perfume of its single-origin Ghana blocks (80 per cent cocoa, $14.50) to the matte, almost floury austerity of its 72 per cent Chocolate Ecologico (dark organic, also $14.50), it's another cocoa-bean experience altogether. Melt a few gritty sugar and vanilla-scented squares of Blanxart's Chocolate a la Taza ($16 a block) into steaming hot milk and pretend you are at the 16th-century Spanish court where this potion-like beverage was first consumed in Europe. There are Blanxart powder sachets, too ($16 a packet), mixed with a little cornflour for a traditional custard-thick hot chocolate - the kind you drink with churros.

Test the range - and the churros y chocolate - in Barcelona-esque surrounds at Delicado's cafe, restaurant, tapas bar and wine shop. Owner and sommelier Ben Moechtar also does a tasting plate with a glass of sweet, dark Pedro Ximenez ($12) for the full Spanish effect.

Delicado, 134 Blues Point Road, McMahons Point

How good does that sound? Bloody wonderful, 'cos it's round the corner from me.

Tas! Daff! JJ? I think we need a girls' "lunch".

[daffodil]

I don't think drinking chocolate is in my City-to-Surf training plan

[Kooky]

You need it to warm you up.

[Mabel]

Oh, that sounds divine!
You're entering the City to Surf, Daff? Good for you! When is it run?

[Lili Von Shtupp]

OMG. I'm in awe. That sounds like my heaven.

[Kooky]

I know the deli well as it's the supplier of many of my soy lattes (and gluten-free goodies) and where all the retirees hang out during the day with their pooches, sipping coffee and reading the papers. Huddling round the space heaters...

Here's the article with accompanying photo, although not from Delicado.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/good-living/ ... 29240.html

Do we still have a drool icon?

(Yes, I do eat chocolate, so long as it's high on cocoa, low on sugar and dairy-free. I think this counts. )

[azzam]

Daff, are you all right darling? You do know it's not bolly in those little white cups they hand out, right?

[daffodil]

It's not?!!

I foolishly agreed, at my Birthday lunch, to run the City to Surf with my team. That will teach me to stay off the bubbles on a schoolday lunch, eh?

It's on 10th August, Mabel. And thus far, we've only managed one training session!

However, feel this is preferable to our Ops team that have signed up for the Oxfam trailwalk the following week!

[Lichtgestalt]

Are you gonna wear a funny costume as well?

[daffodil]

No funny costume, I suspect the sight of me being pulled across the finishing line will provide enough humour!