Chocoatl

[SBonner]

And the saffron truffle is incredible.

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I just bought some of these to finish off dinner we are having at our place with Daddy A and the Michael and Hiedi from Joie tonight.

Cheers,

Stephen

[Daddy-A]

And the saffron truffle is incredible.

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I just bought some of these to finish off dinner we are having at our place with Daddy A and the Michael and Hiedi from Joie tonight.

I'll tell J to skip her afternoon cookie!

A.

[Sylphid]

I too would like to emphatically recommend this place. The hot chocolate is excellent, the owners are very friendly and obviously very dedicated to what they're doing, and the one owner (who is from Mexico -- Themis?) even indulged my shaky Spanish with a short conversation en castellano.

I don't think it was mentioned above, the owners are planning on offering various courses (all choco-related, of course) in the near future.

(PS: First forum post. Hello!)

[sanrensho]

(PS: First forum post.  Hello!)

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Let me be the first to welcome you to Egullet!

Does anyone know if they are now offering pastries? If so, are they made on-premises?

[gingerfreak]

Went chocolate hunting last night - this place absolutely lives up to the praise! First, the owners are wonderful with such incredible passion for what they do.

Much as I love chocolate, I'm not a big fan of overly sweet stuff, so went with the absolutely divine azteca which has just the right amount of spice. Per the recommendations here I also tried the saffron truffle - incredible indeed. Also loved the white chocolate with matcha, and who can go wrong with a piece of valhrona.

They have a small selection of pastries; I forgot to ask if they're expanding the repertoire, but my friend had the baclava which she quite enjoyed. For her hot chocolate she went with the hazelnut - loved it.

What a great addition to the area; I definitely will be returning.

Oh, and Sylphid, welcome, and you made my day when you said they're doing courses! I will be all over that!

[winegeek]

My wife and I dropped by here twice over the week end. It's definately as good as

advertised! Saturday night we dropped in for a couple of chocolates, one with coconut and the other something with orange (sorry, if it's longer than 24 hours later, I'll probably not remember specifics). Yesterday, after walking for almost 4 hours, we dropped by for some hot chocolates. Colleen had a white chocolate orange and I had a hazlenut. We both preferred mine.

We had a nice conversation with Themis(?). He has such a great personality that he can't help but succeed in his business.

[maxmillan]

Thanks for starting this thread. Had I not seen it, I may have waited too long to try it out. I biked back and forth looking for this little place and found it across Circolo. It's easily missed. I tried the white matcha butterfly chocolate and it was smooth and delicious. I purchased a few more assorted chocolates and my chocobeau will be the lucky taster.

The owner certainly is enthusiastic and he pleasantly explained his products. He is planning to roast his own Mexican chocolate beans...mmm what a treat. He will be very busy soon as there were two media people getting info on his place for print.

Pastries are to come in a week. He said he couldn't produce enough pastries for the demand so he is contracting out his baked goods. He is also going to be selling packaged ingredients such as his Mexican cinnamon sticks. He wouldn't sell it to me today so I can hardly wait when he does. This will send my baked goods to another level. Chocoatl has late hours (till 10pm weeknights and till 12 midnight on the weekend.)

On a last note, a customer was explaining to the owner that an entrepreneur opened a yoga/chocolate business. After a yoga session, participants proceed to a sit down treat of chocolate. Sounds pretentious to me but I'm sure the Vanouver yoga crowd would eat it up.

Edited March 21, 2006 by maxmillan (log)

[Memo]

The March issue of Northwest Palate - in their Recent Openings section - has a report on Chocoatl by Shelora. Excellent photo of Themis as well.

Memo

Edited March 23, 2006 by Memo (log)

[barolo]

I stopped in yesterday. I didn't try the hot chocolate but I picked up a few filled chocolates and truffles to sample and share.

The truffles were a bit rustic - one had a flat bottom with the filling showing through, another had odd lumps; not important to me, but some may care. The enrobing chocolate was very good, velvety and smooth with a very long, persistent finish. The centres were rich and creamy, although some flavours weren't strong enough to really emerge clearly from the chocolate ganache. I had a similar reaction to the molded, filled chocolates (a dark chocolate matcha and a praline) - great snap to the exterior shell, great flavour with a long persistent finish, the fillings were soft and creamy but, in the case of the praline, without a really distinct flavour beyond the ganache.

Great little shop and product.

[Ling]

^I agree. The flavour of the fillings are very subtle. Shell is a little thicker than most molded chocolates.

[barolo]

There's a couple of articles in today's Sun featuring Chocoatl one on chocolate/drink pairing and one on Chocoatl itself.

"Currently, they have 16 different chocolates from Latin America, The Caribbean, Africa and Indonesia.  Chocolates, like coffee, have their own subtle flavour differences, depending on climate, soils and other factors."

[Zucchini Mama]

News Flash! Themis is making his own desserts again!

If you get a chance, try the cheesecake. I repeat, try the cheesecake. White, light, tangy and creamy cheesecake topped with ganache and tiny dark cherries. Tell me what you think.

[chocomoo]

Is Chocoatl still open? I'd like to go back with my friend at the end of August...

[barolo]

Yes they are still open.

[chocomoo]

Thanks barolo!