I found this single origin bar at Haigh’s Chocolate Shop in Sydney.
Last year, I found single origin Ecuador and Dominican Republic bars at the same store. Like those bars, this one was very chocolatey and had its own signature aftertaste, in this case a cherry and citrus flavor that lingered after the chocolate was eaten. I really liked it, and so did my co-workers. I think Haigh’s shines when it makes single origin bars.
I got this bar at the Haigh’s store in the Queen Victoria building in downtown Sydney. That’s the building on the cover of this label!
The back of the label explained that this bar was their Centenary Edition. Haigh’s has been making chocolate in Australia for over 100 years.
I shared this bar at work, for the first chocolate eating meeting since my return from Australia. And despite it being just 52% cacao, the chocolate flavor was quite pronounced, and everyone enjoyed it. I still think their 70% bar is better, but this one was no slouch, and it has a much prettier label!
While in Sydney, I bought some more chocolate at my favorite chocolatier, Josophan’s.
This bar was small but good. The chocolate did not taste as dark as I expected, so it was probably around 50%, give or take. It had a somewhat floral note to its chocolate flavor, but it was not a single-origin bar.
All in all, this was a good bar, but not nearly as good as their dark chocolate hazelnuts or their single-origin São Thomé bar. Those were fantastic, and I think they have spoiled me a little. And yes, I bought those both again, and they were just as good the second time.
While in Dubrovnik, I also got this Kraš chocolate assortment.
I am not sure what is assortment is supposed to celebrate. There is no writing on it, but I liked the little roses on the box, so I got it. Inside were just three different types of pralines.
The first one, the rectangular one, was called Bajadera, and it was a hazelnut-almond paste with chocolate on the top and bottom. I liked it. It reminded me of a fancy Reese’s peanut butter cup.
The second, the round red one, was called Griotte, and it was a small little cherry in a sweet liqueur filling, all covered in milk chocolate. I thought it was good too, and not nearly as sweet as an American cherry cordial.
Finally, the last praline just said Kraš on it. It was a milk chocolate shell with a nut paste filling, probably hazelnut and/or almond like the Bajadera one, but some of the nuts pieces were still in it, leaving it crunchy. I liked it too.
All of these pralines would have been way better as dark chocolate, of course, but I was surprised at how much I liked them. They had a good chocolate flavor and were not overly sweet like American pralines.
While in Dubrovnik in Croatia, I went to visit Old Downtown, where they film many of the exterior shots of the show Game Of Thrones on HBO. I ate excellent seafood near this narrow street.
I really liked this old church.
I found a Kraš chocolatier store on this street.
I bought this box of chocolate wafers there.
The box was huge, over a pound, and inside was two layers of 28 wafers each.
These wafers were quite good, very crispy and light, and not too sweet. I liked them and thought the chocolate flavor was very good, but of course, I wished for a darker chocolate. My co-workers loved them though, and I had enough to share with a LOT of co-workers.
This was my first Croatian chocolate, but it would not be my last.
I ate the last Jacques Torres bar.
Like the pistachio bar, this bar good. Not great, nothing special, just a nice dark chocolate bar with roasted almonds.
In a way, I am kind of glad I am done with these chocolate bars. Not that they were bad, they weren’t. They just weren’t amazing in any way, and I think my personal bar (pun intended) has been raised so that I want really good chocolate bars or nothing at all.
I cracked open another Jacques Torres bar at work. Sorry for the fuzzy photo. I guess I was excited to get into the package!
This bar was their 60% bar was some roasted pistachios on the underside. Like that bar, it tasted darker than 60% cacao, and I liked the pistachios, but otherwise it was nothing special. Just a good bar.
