Melbourne has the most beautiful markets. Truffles worth hundreds of dollars are sold next to loose spinach, and you enter thinking you’ll save some money buying direct from the makers and leave with a bank loan but a fridge full of goodies, and no regret.
Prahran market is the perfect example of this. Everything looks beautiful yet is all just a tad more than I expected to pay. But spend we did. The butchers look so snazzy in their matching uniforms it made me feel like was a privilege for me to be able to buy one of their cuts of meat. And once you start, you can’t stop. One stand had the most dazzling display of mushrooms you’ve ever seen, enough to turn a picky 7 year old into a lifelong fan. So yes, we bought some. There is a specialty coffee shop (Market Lane Coffee) offering over a dozen choices of beans for your espresso (no hot chocolate, but I did have a cascara tea). One of the best cheese shops in the city (Maker and Monger) owns the centre spot, selling not just hard and soft varieties but is even kind enough to offer to place a few slices between two pieces of sourdough and toast them for you, which of course we had to do as well (and buy more cheese, obviously). And this continued for some time. I even bought a cookbook at The Essential Ingredient, a cooking equipment store that makes you desperate to run home and do some cooking, on herbs just because the cover was beautiful, and I figured I had already spent so much that a 35$ book wasn’t going to make the difference (the book was Herb by Mark Diacono and it is beautiful inside too).
And the icing on the cake? Or perhaps the cake and the icing. Within its walls lies a chocolatier serving interesting hot chocolates. And it’s yummy. We chose the smoked Mexican hot chocolate with chili, Himalayan salt and orange bark, an unlikely, not very Mexican combination, but delicious and well executed. The woman tried her hardest to balance the piece of orange bark on the edge of the cup but shouldn’t have been surprised when it instantly fell in, not that we were fussed. We ordered one and took our little paper cup around with us, taking in the sights and sounds while sipping it. It costs $9.50 for a small, $11.50 for a medium and $13.50 for large. They also have a signature hot chocolate with hazelnut praline as well as a silky “Belgian” hot chocolate which suggests that they are using a Belgian couverture (my guess is Callebaut) for their chocolate. A note on the table says they use 55% dark for all their hot chocolates.
Güras Cacao was founded by chocolatier Samrat Karki. His CV includes everything from being a Yogi to working in world-renown restaurants. Originally from Nepal, the inspiration behind Güras’ logo is the Rhododendron flower which Samrat first saw on a trek in the Himalayas in Nepal, inspired by its resilience and delicate beauty. Please don’t only order their hot chocolate but also a few of their bonbons which are beautifully made and delicious.
If I had one request it would be for them to serve it in a mug, not a flimsy paper cup. Like that I could walk around with it, do a full lap of the market and then return the cup at the end. But if they did that, I’d visit more often which would cost me far too much money. But think of your mental health I hear you say. Ok, fine, meet me there in an hour…and bring a mug and your wallet.
Prahran Market, 163 Commercial Rd, South Yarra, Melbourne, Australia gurascacao.com
