Chocolate Heaven In The Centre of Sydney (Restaurants in Sydney in general)

Member Name: zoe_page_1

Product:	Restaurants in Sydney in general
Date:	01/11/05 (1106 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Central, unusual set up, lovely setting

Disadvantages: Could have a bigger selection

The home of Lindt in Sydney is the Lindt Concept Store and Café on Martin Place. As far as I can make out, the 'concept' involved is 'chocolate, chocolate and a bit more chocolate'. The first of its kind, Lindt chose Australia for the outlet as it's the quickest growing market for chocolate in the world. Though they won't admit to it, I also think it's to do with the fact that native-Australian chocolate is dubious to say the least. Cadbury's here is no Cadbury's I'm familiar with, and so demand for the yumminess that is Lindt is increased.

In a country that is fiercely proud of home grown / made / packaged items, it takes a strong company to sell exclusively imported goodies. Over here virtually every item will boast of the fact it's Australian all the way: a peanut butter advert over here screams '100% Australian peanuts', chocolate bars are 'made and packaged in Australia from imported ingredients', Aldi, the German supermarket chain, adorns its windows with signs proclaiming '97% Australian products'. In this setting, fully imported items are a novelty and though once deemed a bad thing due to the losses they cause Australian producers and manufacturers to incur, Swiss chocolate escapes this wrath and retains its reputation of quality and luxury.

The Lindt Store and Café is in the centre of Sydney, within easy walking distance of Hyde Park and the Botanical Gardens, and the harbour front. Martin Place is a pedestrianized precinct with fancy, glittering bars, shiny office blocks and a Starbucks. At one end, taking up a huge corner of the street, is the Lindt building, with the letters of the name discretely scripted above the windows. They open roughly 7am - 7pm, and it's not uncommon for people to pop in on their way to work for a hot chocolate and a brownie or muffin. That's my kind of breakfast-to-go.

The café is to one side and offers all manner of goods either made from chocolate or complimentary to it. For example, coffee (perfect to go with small chocolates supposedly), hot chocolate (the make-your-own kind where they give you warm milk and chocolate buttons). They boast a wide range of Lindt truffles and pralines made on the premises, plus a monster selection of cakes. There are the usual bars of chocolate and, finally, a selection of ice cream. Yes, Lindt now do ice cream, and needless to say, it's good. The café is a luxurious one, with plush, muted colour seats, hard wood tables and discrete service. It's a place to relax before, during or after work, or to rest your feet during a shopping trip in the nearby arcades.

The shop is on the other side of the room - it isn't especially large, nor my favourite Lindt shop of all time (that would be a tie between the 5th Avenue one in NYC and a gorgeous little place in Lucca, Italy), but it is perfectly acceptable. They have a decent selection of the tablet bars, and of Lindor truffles and other delicacies, as well as boxes of the fresh chocolates they make on site which taste beautifully fresh. They claim to be the first place in Australia to stock new products, but coming from Europe we'd already tried most of the products they were plastering the 'NEW' stickers on. The prices are reasonable - similar to supermarket prices but with a better range than Coles or Woolworths would have over here, and cheaper than the hospital shop I frequent daily.

I like the way there's just one, open room. It has a friendly, bustling atmosphere where the noise level generally reaches a medium chatter, and people eating or shopping there seem open and happy, no doubt due to the nature of what they are about to eat or buy. It's a cosy place but with plenty of room to move around, and never seems to get the slightly dirty look some cafés get mid afternoon thanks to the crumbs and flakes their patrons have been dropping all day.

One of the best things about the Lindt place is the events they run. October was Sydney's Good Food Month and in honour of it they ran a series of Chocolate Appreciation Nights, which naturally I had to attend. For $60 (25.37 GBP) we got 2 hours of instruction and lessons on how best to enjoy chocolate. We were greeted on arrival hot chocolate and furnished with a tasting plate of chocolate pieces from the Excellence and other range bars. After 'appreciating' (e.g. devouring as quickly as the Maître Chocolatier would allow us to) we were taken through the history of chocolate and its development throughout the world. We were given cocoa butter and cocoa beans and cocoa nib to try, as well as 99% cocoa dark chocolate which is certainly an acquired taste, and then presented with a tasting plate of truffles and pralines. Next came a plate of cake samples and, finally, ice cream. At the very beginning we were given small Lindt bags (that looked like Sick bags but of course weren't as no one in their right mind would throw up Lindt) to take home any samples we couldn't quite manage, though mine remained empty all night…

The ice cream was thoroughly divine - I had a tub of white chocolate vanilla, and some scoops of my companion's 70% Excellence. We were given the chance to make purchases in the shop (and receive 10% off the regular prices) and finally, just as we were leaving, we were handed goodie bags which each included a large box of chocolates and some smaller wrapped goodies. It was certainly a night to remember, and the Maître Chocolatier was very good - he obviously loved chocolate, spoke with a sexy Swiss accent ("cocoa" will forever be "co-co-a" in my mind) and made jokes about the French with no warning, which had me and my British companion in fits of laughter although is seemed wasted on the Ozzies. He gave guests the chance to ask questions, and also provided fact sheets by email for those interested in specific topics like tempering chocolate which enable you to make your own Lindt-style delicacies at home.

Sydney has some good chocolate places - Max Brenner in the city and over at Manly is simply divine - but the Lindt place is definitely up there with the best of them. It's a unique place and ideally located in the CBD, so within walking distance of anywhere you might want to go, and I highly recommend it if you're visiting this part of the world.


Lindt Concept Store and Cafe
53 Martin Place
Sydney
New South Wales
Australia

www.lindt.com/

Summary: Heavenly chocolate in a heavenly setting in heavenly Sydney