A visit of Seleuss is a moment of luxury. You need to ring the doorbell and wait for someone to let you in. Don’t worry, they will. No passwords are needed. But for that brief moment before he does open the door, we must all look like little kids with our noses pressed up against the glass window, drool starting to form at the corner of our mouths as we look at the spread of chocolate delights, all perfectly presented (they should have a livecam pointing towards the door…could make for funny watching). There are enough bottles of liquor displayed on the walls to turn this into a neighbourhood cocktail bar, but that would be a waste because they all find their way into his chocolates. Think Kavanagh Irish cream and Kavanagh Irish whiskey enrobed in milk chocolate, Chambord Raspberry liquor infused chocolate truffles and Cognac and dark chocolate. Once you are let in to this tiny little shop, it is impossible not to get overwhelmed by the sheer variety of bonbons. I had my hot chocolate radar on high so I ignored these and ordered.
You have two options while you wait for him to prepare your drink; either you can continue to drool over the chocolates from the counter or you can drool over the chocolates while sitting on the luxurious black sofa (aka throne) which feels a little French chateaux like…but like the Queen was going for something more modern and daring. There are a few excellent books on chocolate in Seattle to flip through. Who knew there was so much chocolate in Seattle! It’s raining outside, so I’m in no rush.
I was lucky enough to have the founder and chief chocolatier Alexander Long himself make me my hot chocolate so we had a good chat about chocolate and Seattle and taste a generous amount of samples (all delicious). The hot chocolate is incredibly generous and is almost a liquid dark chocolate with whipped cream on top (you can choose milk or even white if you want). A word of warning; the hot chocolate at Seleuss is huge, so big that my body went into chocolate shock. I’d say the first half was really enjoyable…but then it all just got to be too…much…chocolate (yes that is possible). Bring someone you don’t mind sharing germs with and share one (date night in a pre COVID world?). Or bring along two fancy mugs and serve yourself and pretend for a moment you are actually in the chocolate room of your chateaux. If you forget your porcelain, the hot chocolate does come in a take out cup so you could save some for later.
