Princess Coco, Sydney

There are some places that are best visited with girlfriends  Usually these are of the afternoon tea variety and if I were to hazard a guess, places with Princess in the name aren't really meant for your blokey other halves or their ilk. Why girls? Well our love of sweets is legendary but what my friends also have is the ability to eat dessert just after you've already had dessert. A marketable skill no? ;)

After a dinner in Chinatown, Ute and I take a walk down to Day Street just near Darling Harbour. Admittedly, both of us  Sydneysiders had never heard of Day Street but turning the corner, we saw the displays of liquid chocolate being poured from jug to jug in a gilt frame and purple velvet love seats and we knew that even if we hadn't arrived at Princess Coco, it had to be called Princess something.

Thankfully we were at the right place because walking the distance in my new heels was proving foolhardy and we cross the big Princess Coco welcome mat and happily sank down on one of the velvet love seats and survey our surroundings. It's quite full this Thursday evening and inside the decor is Parisian salon chic. A display of individual truffles made with Valrhona chocolate sits centre and there is a small but comely array of cakes and macarons to the right made by the ex pastry chef of Sokyo.

Neither of us are hungry but that's probably a good thing so we decide to share a hot chocolate, cake and some chocolate. Service is very friendly and they are happy to describe things and recommend them. The hot chocolate menu is slightly confusing, two of the items that appear on the book menu are not available, one is about to finish as it is a winter hot chocolate and one is about to start-and of course they were the two that we were interested in.

We were going to go for the traditional hot chocolate but the waiter came over and pointed us in the direction of the Jivara hot chocolate. It's a milk chocolate hot chocolate but we both have to admit that it is divine, never too sweet even for a milk chocolate. With a smooth creaminess, it is pure silk.

The chocolates were a hard decision based purely on recommendations. Chocolate are sold on weight and these range from $1.52 to $2.97 for the Palet d'or. The dark grey scorched almonds are crispy fresh with a crunchy outer shell. The palet d'or was a dark 70% number which was rich with a dark Grand Cru Gianduja centre with bits of gold leaf on top. The Rinnette Ivoire is a lovely little rectangle with hazelnut praline and white chocolate. The two favourites however are the Carafutti Abricot which is a milk chocolate with a centre of luscious apricot preserves - the way you dream fruit centred chocolate should be. The Gianduja Citron has a delicate balance of lemon and hazelnut gianduja which is just heaven.

Do you ever order something based on looks not quite reading through it all? I think I got seduced by the look of the Reve Princess Coco but didn't realise that it came with mandarin which I don't really like with chocolate. This has a little theatre at the table as they pour melted chocolate over the thin sphere and it melts. There is a mandarin compote, a manjari mousse a layer of hazelnut cremeaux (like a mousse) and a bottom layer of chopped macadamias in chocolate. It was a lovely dessert and the mandarin cut through the richness of the dessert. The only component I didn't love was the macadamias which were a little soft, I prefer macadamias when they're crisp and fresh.

It's getting late so and we're both tired so we ask for the bill which comes with a feather  and filagree pen. It strikes us both that all bills should come with a feather and filagree pen! ;)

So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever eaten two desserts in one night? And are you team dark, milk or white chocolate?

Princess Coco

158-166 Day Street, Sydney

Tel: +61 (02) 9269 0881

Open til late