The weeklong yoga workshop with yogi David Swenson – the rockstar of Ashtanga yoga — and his equally rockstar (ette) wife, Shelley Washington, behind me (I was so relaxed and at peace I found myself in a state of complete and blissful emptiness), I returned to Paris, unpacked, repacked, and immediately hopped the 6:43 a.m. Eurostar to London, naturally first grabbing a croissant and café at Paul at the Gare du Nord for the 2:29 hour journey.
After dropping off my suitcase at my hotel, I headed to Notting Hill, and went straight to Melt, where they make fresh, handmade chocolates each day.
I’m no pushover when it comes to chocolate, and living in Paris, I’m surrounded by chocolate shops, all of which make pretty good little sweets.
But there is nothing like Melt in Paris. Or perhaps anywhere else in the world.
The Sea Salted Praline (shown above) is absolute genius, and the most exquisite chocolate that I’ve ever tasted. You bite into its crisp dark chocolate shell, crunch the hazelnut, and — oh my gosh! — the dark chocolate ganache filled with sea salt crystals opens up, and the result is a chocolate-sea salt-hazelnut explosion!
Nothing else comes close to this sort of fun… well, there is also this other little chocolate, the award-winning Sea Salt Caramel, a round little bon bon that once you bite into its hard dark chocolate shell reveals a creamy, caramelly, salty center that’s simply divine.
But that’s really only part of the chocolate story here. There are Chili Cubes, dark chocolates spiked with Bird’s Eye chiles; Green Tea Bon Bons, and chocolates with rosemary, jasmine, bits of raspberry, cinnamon, blueberry, and fresh coconut, too. And many, many others, including chocolate cubes on sticks, meant to be dunked into hot milk, to make your very own hot chocolate. If, that is, you can resist eating the hunk of chocolate before you get home.
Melt makes small batches of around 18 different chocolates daily in an open kitchen in the back, which gives the little store a very homey feel. There are square teak trays and tongs for you to pick your very own mix. (In other words, none of that chocolate shop elitism – Don’t touch the chocolates! Let the uniformed sales people do that! – going on here.)
Louise Nason, a former print specialist at Christie’s, opened Melt three years ago when she realized that the gastronomic scene in London lacked a good, handmade chocolate shop. Her idea was an instant hit, and it doesn’t hurt that it’s located in one of London’s coolest neighborhoods (Sienna Miller, Elle MacPherson, Stella McCartney, Bjork, and Robbie Williams live here).
“Literally, we have people knocking on our doors for caramels,” she says.
Before the caramel-hoarders arrived, I stuffed my pockets with the gooey palm-sized dark chocolate ones, and still have two left. However, my box of chocolates is empty. Needless to say, I am planning another trip London soon.
Melt
59 Ledbury Rd., London
44-(0)20-7727-5030
