“Happiness. Simple as a glass of chocolate or tortuous as the heart. Bitter. Sweet. Alive.”
UPDATE: This wonderful place has now closed, but I'm leaving this post here as a memory!
For those who don't know me well, I am a total chocoholic. The above quote comes from the Joanne Harris novel Chocolat, which is about as close to food porn as you can get. If you've read it or seen the film adaptation, you will remember the mystical chocolaterie opened by Vianne and her daughter Anouk in the French countryside.
It left such an impression on my senses that I have genuinely dreamt about one day walking into that shop. Well today, many miles away from France, I did just that.
Upon entering the chocolaterie you don't know quite where to look, it's visually stunning. The next thing that hits you is the subtle aroma, which draws you over to the counter and has you parting with your krone before you can say “to karameller, takk!”
Together with a latte (coffee really is the perfect accompaniment to chocolate) I enjoyed two chocolate caramels and a white chocolate strawberry cream. I also bought a couple of presentation boxes to give as gifts to my mum and Trish on my first trip back to England next week.
The chocolaterie is situated on Niels Juels gate in the Frogner area to the West of Oslo. Frogner is somewhere I've not blogged about much (yet). It's a very middle class, very beautiful area and the perfect location for a venture like this. It's easily reachable from the city centre on the number 12 tram or a number of buses.
My only slight quibble was the lack of a wi-fi connection standard amongst Oslo cafes, however the lack of people bashing away at laptops does add something to the ambience.
It's only been open a couple of months, so if you're in Oslo please do pop in and give the place your support. You can also become a fan on Facebook. Now I know my chocolate heaven exists, I am determined to see it succeed!
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