When Chocoholic meets Shopaholic……………….

In my earlier post on Notting Hill, I mentioned that my main purpose of visiting Notting Hill was actually to visit …melt chocolate boutique, located in the fashionable area of Westborne Grove, the heart of Notting Hill may seem unusual but actually it does make sense because of it does make you feel like shopping in one of those special little shops. I came all the way was for its freshly silky texture in-house ice cream  at the beginning but the longer I stayed the more gems I found.

The blueberries ice cream was very refreshing and perfect for a hot day, and of course I would not miss having a scoop of chocolate ice cream too. Sophie, the shop assistant was very friendly and patient answering all the questions I had. Looking at the French style interior decor, I asked Sophie if the chefs are French and surprisingly, none of them are French. The head chocolatier,Chika Watanabe is Japanese and it’s a SHE !!! The other two chocolatiers are Nadra from Spain and Michele  from Australia.  Having an international team, it is believed to melt the creative ideas and experiences to one pot. 

Sophie offered me a sea salted caramel (award winning) to try and it was absolutely divine, the oozing sea salted caramel gave me a heavenly feeling, I could not help myself and exclaim with a delighted: hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. This has not become my the most favorite chocolate flavour.

With most of the time having prepacked chocolates, these fresh chocolates are certainly more special and an excellent treat. The shopping experience at Melt is something worth mentioning too. Usually most chocolatiers will keep their chocolate behind their glass shelves and you will be served by the shop assistant. But here at Melt, they use a self-pick setting. Simply pick a wooden tray and clip, and choose the ones you prefer. Take your time, you would not feel to having time pressure at all nor being watched whatsoever. Can you imagine one can have so much joy shopping for chocolate?

If you come to a shopping area and could not find anything you like or if you do not want to spend an awful lot of money on unnecessary clothings that day, pay a visit to this chocolate boutique, it will certainly fulfill your shopacholic desires, it worked for me that day !!!  

Melt’s chocolate is also available in Selfridges Food Hall but not all the items are available there and it’s a totally different shopping experience which the pleasure cannot be offered by a crowded department store.

Must-try items:

• Sea salted caramels (award winnning)
• peanut butter with jam (award-winning)
• Liquid Gold: single origin hot chocolate blocks
• Marshmallow hot chocolate
• AND their ice-cream of course (in the summer)

 So if you visit Westbourne Grove in London next time, don’t forget to indulge yourself with some of

…melt’s chocolate….

Links to my other chocoholic posts:

• Chocoholic I: haute couture chocolatier in Basel, Switzerland
• Chocoholic II: chocolate exhibition in Lucern