On the hunt for good chocolate…
Go on, dive in...
What is one to do with late-Sunday afternoon Hot Chocolate pangs?
They had hit, and it was serious.
Little Bro and I had been pacing the streets of central London for a while now, and we continued to be uninspired by the series of chain offerings. With him being another bonafide HotChocaholic, I will one day take him to the bestest hot chocolate I have found in London, hands down (ah, now you’re wondering), but that late in the day I rather suspected they’d have shut up shop, and we didn’t have a moment to lose here. This was a Hot Chocolate emergency.
I struggle immensely to find inspiring cafes centrally – given that all profit-savvy coffee shop owners want to increase foot traffic/discourage dawdlers – so it’s hardly conducive to cozying up on a sofa/in an armchair, mug in hand, and either a good companion for a chat, or a darned good read (incidentally, currently My Cousin Rachel, by Daphne du Maurier – brilliant) in hand.
Ah – but therein lies the clue.
Why didn’t I think of it before?! A bookshop!
Foyles Cafe, on Charing Cross Road to be exact. And it was bound to have its doors open in the hopes of capturing those last few straggling Sunday shoppers. Although at times rather overcrammed with coffee-slurpers and wifi surfers, it nevertheless is the perfect place to hide yourself away and lose track of time if the throngs of tourists on Oxford Street and the crowds pacing the streets of Soho have got rather too much for you (frequently, if you’re me).
A Cozy Corner
Whilst maybe not peaceful, it provides the perfect lovely cozy nest, windows all steamy from oodles of teas and hot chocolates a-brewing. With all the soft wood furnishings and people loafing round languidly reading the papers or playing chess, you’re guaranteed to feel instantly at home.
More importantly and, at this stage, mercifully, they also sell divinely delicious frothy concoctions of our holy grail: Hot Chocolate. Our initial disappointment at being told they could not pander to our every marshmallow/chocolate flake/whipped cream whim (steady), all suspicion was cast aside upon that first, rather velvety sip. More to the point, it kept my lovely not-so-little 6’5″ baby bro content, and quiet, for at least a little bit, until we started sniggering away at the absurdities inside the Sunday magazines.
Thing is, I’m still on the mission to find decent cafes, in particular in central London for when these sorts of pangs hit again. East End, you’re covered. Central? Not so much. I admit it, I’m stumped – if any of you know any secrets I’ve not yet discovered, please share! Until then, my mission continues…
113-119 Charing Cross Road, WC2H 0EB
Wildly overpriced, but rather delicious looking cakes of all descriptions to take your fancy, but more importantly, darned good chocolate at a (still-slightly-overpriced) £2.50. All your usual coffeeshop fare, only with a little more leniency on your book-reading dawdlings…
A blackboard full of lovely things you can't read.
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