Eat, Pray, Love: May 2013

Steven ter Horst Chocolatier has always been on my dessert list since some time ago but I never managed to visit it. And now my wish came true! Being invited by Chloe, the community manager of Yelp, I stepped into Steven ter Horst Chocolatier (finally!) for a chocolate tasting event as part of the dessert club gathering.

The chocolate tasting event kicked off with the introduction and history of the chocolatier by Steven, the founder of the chocolateria. He is an amiable and passionate chocolate enthusiast. His area of expertise is in the sinfully delicious chocolate masterpiece. Together with him, his partner Chantelle, on the other hand, is specialising in the making of luring cakes and other desserts.

Steven started off this chocolateria as a vendor booth at Adelaide Farmer's Market. As his customers grew, he decided to enlarge his business to a permanent spot. In order to serve his loyal customers, Unley Road was then chosen to house this cosy chocolatier as it is near to the market itself. Steven went to Melbourne for training from Paris chocolatiers, as France is famous for its fine chocolate. Bringing back the essence of chocolate making, Steven made some modification by sourcing and incorporating local ingredients into the chocolate. As far as the creativity is concerned, Steven ter Horst Chocolatier still remains one of the top chocolateria in the town due to the quality of chocolate!

Everyone should go for Steven ter Horst Chocolatier's chocolate tasting at least once in your lifetime! This cost of this tasting was $15, which included a cup of coffee/tea/hot chocolate, tasting platter consisting of Nuts about Chocolate and Salted Caramel Tart as well as a hand crafted chocolate of own choice. It was very worth it especially for a chocolate lover like me!

First up on the tasting plate is the Nuts About Chocolate. It consists of toasted almonds, hazelnut dacquoise, chocolate cremeaux, decorated with chocolate chantilly. The layers of this dessert are pretty defined where you can see different kind of ingredients being used. You can never go wrong with nuts and chocolate as they are always a great combination! The crunchiness of nuts, smoothness of chocolate and whipped cream get married in mouth, creating one of the happiest moment in life! Definitely a try!

Nuts About Chocolate

A visit to a chocolateria will not be complete without a cup of hot chocolate. It is by far the thickest chocolate drink I have ever had! It is rich in chocolate and what makes it special is its nutty after-taste. You can literally feel like drinking melted chocolate block when you gulp the hot chocolate down the throat. Thick and smooth, yet with surprise!

Hot chocolate

If you do not like chocolate with thick texture, iced chocolate can be a good option as the ice cream tones down the richness of chocolate. It is my friend's favourite!

Iced chocolate

The salted caramel tart is filled with layers of rich chocolate ganache over salted caramel. It is not too sweet on overall. However, I found it difficult to cut through the outer tart layer with fork. Hence, I adopted the most original way of eating a dessert, using a bare hand. The tart swept my mouth in a typhoon way as it is to my liking!! One of the best dessert in the chocolateria!

Salted Caramel Tart

There are over 20 different types of handmade chocolate to be chosen from! And each of them has a feminine name! Isn't this special? I found it very interesting. Chocolate is like woman, I suppose?

Different patterns on different chocolate

Note the names

More chocolate

After much explanation and recommendation from Steven, I settled on Eliza, a French floral Earl Grey Tea ganache layered with a quince pate de fruits. It is refreshing as the Earl Grey flavour washes out some of the sweetness of chocolate, leaving the floral scent behind in the mouth.

I also managed to have a quick bite on my friend's Hedgehog, the second most popular handmade chocolate in the shop. It is rich in chocolate and most importantly, the shape of the chocolate is really worthy to be adored at.

The most popular chocolate is the Fleur de Seul, which consists of salted caramel within.

Nutty chocolate bar

Desserts display corner

Steven ter Horst Chocolatier also sells hand-crafted chocolate in pack of 4, 9, 16 and 24 with lovely boxes. Gifts will be never be the same with Steven ter Horst chocolate.