Chocolate Indulgence (aka the chocolate trap)

I’ve just spent a wonderfully indulgent couple of hours surrounded by chocolate. No, my willpower did not stand up to it, in case you’re wondering.

Chocolate truffles to die for!

I actually went for coffee with a friend but those clever people at the Margaret River Chocolate Company have very kindly put a café in the middle of chocolate heaven. With factories in both the Margaret River and Swan Valley wine regions their cafes are perfectly placed as an alternative when you need a break from the wine tasting.

Now we all know that chocolate is good for us – fact. It contains a range of vitamins, is high in antioxidants (particularly the dark chocolate) and is well known for giving us that ‘feel good’ feeling. The Margaret River Chocolate Company has certainly honed in on our lack of willpower when it comes to anything that is going to make us feel good. They are not short on variety either with a range of chocolate products in white, milk and dark chocolate.

How can you resist?

Their range of hand made truffles makes it extremely difficult to choose, so, in an effort to combine a couple of indulgences, I chose the Rum truffle and the Cointreau one. At $1.95 each they’re not cheap but well worth the outlay. My only other purchase (I was very restrained) was a pack of their dark chocolate pastelles. These are just straight forward chocolate buttons but I don’t think you can go past them, chocolate coated fruit and nut, honeycomb, ginger and lots of other varieties are available, but give me plain chocolate any day.

Too many choices!

Continuing the theme in their café they have a range of chocolate cakes and brownies to try plus a hot chocolate made from their own chocolate (stating the obvious there I guess). I opted for coffee but my friend assures me that the hot chocolate was bliss. The chocolate brownie was one of the best I have tasted and came drizzled with chocolate and with a small scoop of ice cream on the side. Yuuuuuum.

A view over the vineyards

On West Swan Road in the heart of the Swan Valley near Perth, and with the café on the verandah overlooking the neighbouring vineyard, it is a perfect place to relax for a while and regroup before heading for more wineries. Unfortunately to get to the café, and then back out again, you have to run the gauntlet of chocolate. You can try focusing on the exit when you leave the café but, you will get sucked in. The chocolate will get to you.