Giselle W, Author at Ultimate Hot Chocolate

Hot Chocolate at Cazenave, Bayonne, the capital of Chocolate in France

First of all, I need to apologize to all of you. While I have been busy drinking a lot of hot chocolates, I haven’t been able to write them up and post them recently. I now have a bigger problem sitting in front of me, a few books with notes on the 300+ hot chocolates I haven’t written up in about 10 different countries where I have travelled doing research on the history of hot chocolate for a new book I am working on (more on that later!). So, I need to think of another way to share this all [...]

Giselle W2020-03-25T00:53:59+00:00March 25th, 2020|Bayonne, France|

A day in and around Kyoto and a Hot Chocolate at Mariebelle, Kyoto, Japan

Kyoto is a truly magical place. I could spend days, maybe even a lifetime, walking through the streets and taking it all in. There are so many little shops where the owner is one of generations of family members making the same thing, in pretty much the same way for many years, and doing it perfectly. We bought chopsticks from a chop stick store, tried milk skins from a man who just lifts the solid skin that forms on the top of hot milk all day, every day. We ventured back and forth through Nishiki market admiring hundreds of different [...]

Giselle W2019-03-14T03:49:26+00:00March 14th, 2019|ASIA, Japan, Kyoto|

A quick hot chocolate at Coco, Kyoto, Japan

I like my beans roasted. That’s my preference. The roasting process just brings out a depth of flavour that I crave and have never found in raw chocolate. The texture, the mouth feel, nothing is quite the same with raw chocolate. But raw chocolate has a serious fan base and because of this, there is usually at least one hot chocolate spot in most cities offering raw chocolate. We came across Coco Kyoto completely by accident (we were actually looking for tea, a change for me!). But I find it physically difficult to not stop when I see a sign [...]

Giselle W2019-03-14T05:18:55+00:00March 6th, 2019|ASIA, Japan, Kyoto|

A Hot Chocolate (sort of) at Amaze Chaya, Hakone, Japan

Hakone is where Tokyo, and many international tourists, including ourselves, come to relax on weekends. Once you arrive at Hakone station it feels a bit like you have been placed on a conveyer belt. Most of the visitors to Hakone will complete the Hakone loop during their stay, a 2 hour loop that takes you from Hakone first on a small train that zig zags up the hill. Then you switch to a cable car, then a gondola over some volcanic vents where you can buy black eggs cooked in the steam from sulphur vents (a real money maker considering [...]

Giselle W2019-02-25T07:48:29+00:00February 25th, 2019|Hakone, Japan|

A Hot Chocolate and Amazing Views at Café Ryusenkei, Hakone, Japan

The Hakone loop is beautiful, and well worth it any day of the year. It can be a day trip from Tokyo although we decided to stay the night. If you have the time do that. It just gives you a bit of breathing time. We took an early morning train out of Tokyo. The earlier the better (the train is called the Romance Car). Before boarding don't forget to pick up a bento box for breakfast. You will never go hungry in Tokyo, and never on the train. the station has several places where you can choose from one [...]

Giselle W2019-02-19T02:15:12+00:00February 19th, 2019|Hakone|

Hot Chocolate at Jean Paul Hevin, Tokyo, Japan

If you are a chocolate lover, Tokyo might not seem like the most obvious place to visit. But it absolutely should be. Not only is Tokyo home to its own amazing home grown chocolatiers and chocolate makers, Tokyo is also where many of the French and Belgian chocolatiers are setting up their first shops abroad. Not London, or New York, Tokyo. Yes you can get KitKats in every flavour imaginable, but there is so much high quality chocolate that it will make your head spin (especially if you add in all of the other amazing food you need to experience [...]

Giselle W2018-10-18T01:48:54+00:00October 22nd, 2018|ASIA, Japan, Tokyo|

Hot Chocolate at Minimal, Tokyo, Japan

When you travel to a new city as a tourist it is easy to fill your trip with destinations that are the most popular with other tourists, the temples, the flashy lights. Sometimes these areas get so popular with the tourists that the locals themselves stop visiting, or visit less. It transforms into something different than what once attracted the tourists to visit in the first place, but still, the tourists keep flocking. So as a tourist we often go searching for those areas that the tourists haven’t found yet. But even those areas, we are often not alone since [...]

Giselle W2018-10-15T02:33:35+00:00October 15th, 2018|ASIA, Japan, Tokyo|

A Walk around Asakusa and a Hot Chocolate at Dandelion in Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo is the most amazing city. You could spend a lifetime here and only scratch the surface of what it has to offer. On the very first day of our trip to Japan, we chose to set up in the gorgeous neighbourhood of Asakusa. Asakusa is famous for its Buddhist temple, Senso-ji, a very popular place for locals. To get to the temple you walk along the Nakamise shopping street, weaving in and out of all the shops so you don’t miss all the interesting things they sell here (including freshly made rice crackers). Wonder away from the market street [...]

Giselle W2018-08-16T02:16:46+00:00August 16th, 2018|ASIA, Japan, Tokyo|