Monday, June 2, 2014

Chocolate Fondue at Theobroma

Theobroma Chocolate Lounge 
http://www.theobroma.com.au/


A couple of months ago, I got myself into a coupon frenzy and bought maybe 4 or 5 in one hit. One was for a chocolate fondue experience in Southbank. I'm not even hugely into chocolate fondues; my rationale is that chocolate tastes just fine without being tainted by fruit (I realise I sound like such a child) but somehow, the photo that Theobroma presented totally won me over.


Plenty of time passed before I was actually able to use my coupon because I had no one to go with. How sad :(
Marc kept telling me this was too feminine for him and that I should take one of my girlfriends. I tried to go with Kat one weekend but either something came up or we went somewhere else instead. Finally, the coupon expiry date was nearing and the pressure amounted. Jaws volunteered to come with me but on the day of our booking, he had to babysit his nephew. I ended up dragging Marc along after all.

We made a mini date night of it, which is easy to do because Southbank Parklands is just gorgeous at night. Date night Cora-style means pigging out to the point of bursting. We started with a serve of nachos each at Guzman Y Gomez (no sharing for this hungry couple) before waddling across to Theobroma. I knew where it was because I remember seeing it when we had dinner at Torba.

First off, I'll admit that I didn't expect this chocolate café to be all that busy. It was late on a Thursday night, which is a moderately busy night for food vendors, but with the scope of nearby competition (hello, San Churros or Max Brennars anyone?) I thought anyone willing to venture another chocolate café was crazy! However, there was a good amount of customers in Theobroma. Enough so that the waitstaff were rushing around trying to seat/take orders/deliver food to everyone and it created a pleasant buzz of activity.

We had a booking but because it was so rushed, we ended up a waiting a moment for a table. Marc and I didn't have to choose from a menu since we were entitled to a shared chocolate fondue and hot chocolate each. I had a look at the menu anyway and was surprised to note that Theobroma sells savoury food too.

Chocolate fondue for two

The chocolate fondue was brought out as a dish of molten milk chocolate atop a tealight and an assortment of sliced fresh fruit to dip into it. Unfortunately, our tealight blew out as soon as it was set down on our table. I thought about letting someone know but aside from the look of the thing, I didn't think it was actually necessary in keeping the chocolate warm.

Choc-coated strawberry

Dipping chocolate in fruit was kind of fun and maybe not as pointless as I first thought. The traditional chocolate-dipped strawberries didn't excite me much. The sweet chocolate made the strawberry taste a bit sour. I thought it worked much better with the banana and kiwi.

Hot chocolate

As for our hot chocolate, we were allowed to choose between milk and dark. I had the milk chocolate and on this slightly chilly night, it was very nice. I always think these things are going to be sickly sweet but this version wasn't too sweet for me. It was definitely hot chocolate with actual chocolate, rather than the powdered stuff, so that's a good thing.

Theobroma was perfectly adequate but I'm still not sure how it's going to do. To me, the churros at San churros are to die for and the waffles at Max Brenner are unsurpassed. If I was to go for a chocolate café, either of those options would be a preferred destination. The only exception is if the lines are too big, in which case, if I REALLY needed a chocolate fix I might head to Theobroma for a hot chocolate.
Theobroma Chocolate Lounge on Urbanspoon

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