Honest Chocolate

12 July 2019

HONEST CHOCOLATE

64A Wale Street, Cape Town

Chocolat is one of the wife’s favourite movies, amongst other reasons, because (a) she loves chocolate and (b) a younger Johnny Depp is in it. It’s a wonderful evocation of the magical properties of chocolate, something like the alleged power of coffee, I’ve always questioned.  I like coffee and I like chocolate, but I’ve never felt that my day sucks until I drink my first litre of coffee or that a slab of Cadbury’s chocolate will lift me from the depths of suicidal depression.

So, from that perspective, the existence of Honest Chocolate has never been a shining beacon of light in my life nor have I ever been there until today.

I had an early morning periodontist appointment and afterwards wandered down Kloof and Long Streets to see what was shaking, and I can tell you, as lively as Long Street might be at night, so deadly quiet it is just after 09h00. This isn’t so much the city that never sleeps, as the city that likes sleeping in after a late night.

Honest Chocolate is deceptive. When you step inside, you are in a converted old shop (echoes of Chocolat!), with primeval, exposed ceiling beams, several small gueridon-style round tables and a service and display counter abounding with sweet treats, and that comfy, charming, olde worlde feel. When nature calls you to the restrooms at the back, you pass through an exquisite tiled courtyard with exposed brick walls on either side, one large communal table and more round tables. If the front is for the couple or the individual, the courtyard is for groups, well, threesomes, as the smaller tables, curiously, all have only three chairs.

Better still, the courtyard gives access to The Gin Bar and its extension which looks more like a lounge and was open during the mid-morning, where the main bar was not, and it attracted a good deal of custom, at least a bunch of people went in.

Back at the chocolatier, you can have what your chocolate desiring heart desires, if it desires variations, shades, and elements of chocolate. This is not a breakfast place for those who look askance at starting the day with a sweet pastry. To make it perfectly clear: there are no savoury items on the menu, unless coffee without sugar counts as a savoury.

I had the gluten free and vegan buckwheat chocolate tart (R45), washed it down with a double shot espresso (R22), and then fired up MacBook and powered my writing with a “tall and milky” hot chocolate (R35.)

I’m not a fan of 70% or, for that matter, 85% cocoa dark chocolate but I also dislike desserts that are overly sweet, so this tart was the perfect compromise, deeply chocolaty and smooth with a touch of crunch from the tart case. The same went for the hot chocolate, minus the crunch, of course. The espresso was good, too, and not acidic at all.

I reckon the front room is the place to be on a cold, wet Cape Town day, when you can look out onto the wet pavements and sip your life enhancing chocolate drink, and the courtyard is for mild days like today when there is a palpable ambience of a tranquil street café somewhere in Europe.

The coffee-centric Bean There is next door and, if memory serves, also serves, at best, only the odd muffin, and coffee.

Worth the visit for a sweet indulgence.