ottawa foodies

Want to know what the world has to offer in terms of high-grade, premium chocolate bars? Head to Kanata South, to the corner of Hazeldean and Castlefrank. No, really. Within 200m, four stores carry a dizzying array of Canadian and imported chocolate bars, and from what I can see, none are duplicated in any other store.

1- JoJo CoCo, NE corner mall, next to Fabricland. SOMA (Dancing in your Head bar, their fantastic 100% bar, barberry-crack Tube, various large discs of awesome), KoKo (I've really liked most of their offerings), various others I still need to try, lots of Canadian small chocolatiers I had never heard of.

2- Pesto's Italian Deli, same mall - while I didn't go myself (yet), I am told they carry Valrhona and Amadei, with their fantastic Chuao, Ampamakia and Gran Couva bars.

3- Farm Boy just north on Hazeldean, specifically for the Gatineau chocolatier Rochef's great bars (Sao Tomé is a favourite) plus currently the limited edition Fortunato No 4 bar, made from rare Pure Nacionale beans. Plus some Rogers from BC.

4- Grace in The Kitchen across Hazeldean, for Dolfin, Vosges and especially Bonnat (except for their 100% or Chuao; the rest are all good to excellent). Plus some Rogers at the cash.

Yes, there's still Miss Chocolat, Maison du Dessert, Truffle Treasures and Stubbe for in-house fresh truffles, but they're all spread out. This is as concentrated a spot for fantastic bars as I've ever seen, anywhere, including Montreal. Park once, spend an hour and as little or as much money as you want. Go home, try a small square from each in turn. Bliss out.

(remember, store all these bars in cool but not cold places - never the fridge, or they will lose half to all their flavour. They are best if eaten within a week or two.)

JoJo CoCo is now open - 471 Hazeldean Road (at Castlefrank) in Kanata.
They carry Local KoKo Chocloates and many other national and international high quality / creative products.
If you are serious about chocolate or serious about WOW gifts you should check it out.
(totally biased but true ;-) )

I promise to offer more details later (names and places and manufacturer). Just landed on this site and my cupboard is tragically chocolate-free.

But let me note that when good chocolate is on the priority list, one can manage to find it in stranger-than-strange places. But you have to look (and you won't look unless it is a priority). I look wherever I find myself.

WalMart--carries a particular European imported chocolate, name escapes me (something extremely common, a person's name, perhaps)---but you would NEVER gravitate to even pick it up by it's packaging. It is cheap and good.

Giant Tiger (yes--historically, but not recently, although I do continue to check). It's usually some generic brand, large bars, cheap, quite often, Swiss, Belgian or German. When I see something, I try one, right in the store (yes, I do pay), and if it is good to excellent, I buy a dozen immediately. Because Giant Tiger buys lots, once gone, it rarely returns.

Kristl

I dropped in to splurge on a few items last week. The owner is affable and able to offer up interesting tidbits of info about each of her suppliers.

It was fun to try all these items, but I found the Kōkō Chocolates Almond Bark was the best of them all. I admit to being a bit of a purist with chocolate -- I like it plain or in a harmonious relationship with nuts. The high quality chocolate filled with thick slices of roasted almond make this bark my new favourite chocolate product.

Miss Chocolat is part of the francophone "tradition" group of Chocolatiers in the Toronto/Ottawa/Montreal corridor. (I can only speak of what I know.)

Like ksw, I also work across from her, and it's been a constant temptation to grab some at all time. She's open to 5:30pm so it's even a temptation on my way to the bus...

Like all places I would call "true chocolatiers", everything is done in-store; you can even see the kitchen right behind the counter and the employees at work. When I started going there, soon after she had moved to the downtown location, she was doing everything herself. She trained assistants when she had to take maternity leave, and now there's five or six people employed in the shop. The quality of the creations has not suffered.

The creations of each of the francophone chocolatiers I've found are all unique, even when going in the same direction. She has a few completely out-of-the-blue flavours that should not work, but do; primarily, the maki praline, combining coriander praline, a thin cookie, ginger and maple syrup wrapped in nori (seaweed sheet used for sushi) has broken more than a few taste buds, but conquered far many more.

Her best-seller remains the Riopelle, which masterfully combines in a dark and milk ganache the soft Québec cheese Riopelle (not ricotta), which was one of her earliest creations in honour of a Riopelle painting exhibition in the Hull City Hall's Art Gallery. It is unctuous, melt-in-your-mouth but not runny, and the cheese flavour is subtly mixed to not be "cheesy" at all, yet you still do taste the cheese's flavour.

As mentioned, she happily gives workshops (adults and kids) on how to make these yourself - which does not mean you can suddenly recreate all those fantastic ganaches at home! :) I'm lucky I can do a fairly nice basic caramel. Putting in cheese, thai spices, or other ingredients remains her secret.

Being of the francophone type of chocolatier, only a few creations contain alcohol: a beer ganache and a couple of powder-coated truffles (port and Grand Marnier). The rest is without alcohol content. There are some made with maltitol for diabetics, and they don't taste any different. She uses Callebaut pellets, and even sells them to people who have followed the workshops so they can try them at home, and almost without markup.

I highly recommend her shop. She also keeps doing special orders, which is how she started, and her christmas trees and sleighs filled with chocolates remain a favourite gift.

Her place and the newer Chalouin chocolatier in central Hull complement each other quite wonderfully.

This is my favorite chocolate store in the National Capital Region. Nathalie makes everything by hand. She's a very crafty woman. She even made a painting entirely with chocolate!

Her storefront is nicely decorated as well as the entire interior. You can see her making chocolates in her little kitchen.

Nathalie is very passionate about her art. You can even learn how to make chocolates by attending her workshops.

I love her "Riopelle" (combination of Dark chocolate and Ricotta cheese?) and also her Praline Makis.

Please note that she's accepting special orders like chocolates for people who has Diabetes. I've ordered some for my mom and my wife. They loved it!

She also makes wedding cakes, corporate gifts and more. They deliver everywhere in the Gatineau and Ottawa region.

Here's her website in English and French: www.misschocolat.com

Try it and you're not going to regret it!

I work right across the street from this store on Promenade du Portage in Hull.
She makes the most amazing and unusual chocolate. My bf LOVES dark chocolate and this is her specialty. Her truffles are the most amazing things. Soft and gooey on the inside and crunchy on the outside.
You can go in at lunch and pick out one or two chocolates for dessert and she puts them in a little bag for you. Perfect for a taste if you don't want to overindulge.

I received a box of these for Christmas. I thought they were wonderful. I especially loved the nougat ones and the ones that had fruit paste in them.

They also have a variety of homemade chocolate bars. Their "Chocolat Tendresse" is to die for. Dark chocolate with a filling of salted caramel. Absolute heaven in a bar. When I crave caramel, this is what I buy.

Chalouin has currently over 30 varieties to choose from, with the exact amount varying by season and slowly expanding. The photo shows one of three sections dedicated to the chocolates. A lot is identified, both in front of the chocolate and on the chocolate itself.

A sample of the varieties when I was there on February 13: ganaches with rose, jasmine, violet, lavender, cardamom or vervein essence; jamaican pepper, honey & Espelette pepper, ginger, anis, chestnut, arabica, cinnamon caramel, Provence apricot, nougatine, mint.

Currently, the only one with alcohol is marc of champagne. He finds his current clientele not quite big on alcohol-filled ganaches; back home, it was the Scots and the Brits who asked for it mainly, not the French. He may expand, but getting the liqueurs he wants imported is difficult.

Price is $9.74/100g, which is 7 or 8 pieces. (I had 7, but the apricot slice may weigh as much as 2 squares.) Quite in line with other places. Warning, it is far, far too easy to get up to $40 or more... :)

There are pre-prepared boxes for assortments, or you can choose a nice box in which to put the chocolates, but those cost somewhat more than just the chocolates, which come loose in those paper bags with roll-down tops, like for coffee at the supermarket.

Captain C - Thanks for sharing the wrappers... beyond finding great foods, sometimes finding unique things that are associated with food is just as interesting... you've peaked my interest, maybe I'll check this place out.

Another 'cute' candy wrapper.

They have a version of "Little Red Riding Hood".

I was the 'Big Bad Wolf' woofing down the little red riding hood (candy).

Got some Russian made (individually wrapped) chocolates from this deli yesterday.

Not the 'top shelf' stuff ya can get from Belgium .. but for the price and uniqueness, they ain't too shabby.

Notice the picture of the 'courting couple' and the soldier. These images must be from before the cold war.

I went to Stubbe over 6 years ago first and liked it enough, then discovered the numerous chocolatiers in Montreal and Gatineau and left this one a little behind in my mind; I shouldn't have.

I am used to a very French type of chocolate-making (Chalouin, Miss Chocolat), or what I'd dub the "North American" style (Truffle Treasures) which is a modified German style - and in doing so I didn't properly check out the origin of that style available right here. One can't compare the two quite directly since the aims are a little different.

I also think their quality has gone up since then, too.

In particular, the lemongrass bar is an odd-but-excellent mix of two flavours I would never have thought to mix; the freshness of the lemongrass actually balances the bitterness of the dark chocolate, but in a direction I'm not used (often in a sweet part of the tongue). As well, the Gewurstraminer truffle is just excellent, the spicy wine coming through effortlessly but never dominating. I also love their banana truffle but they either rarely make it, or I always get there between batches after tasting it the first time I was there. (I tried asking to have some made some years ago for an event I was doing, and was told then that they didn't do special batches for the truffles. This may have changed.)

I'm also told by an aficionado that their marzipan is pretty nice, too. :)

So, more for me to rediscover here...

We were happy to find out that their is another Stubbe location in the city - in Kanata. It is located in the corner of the mall found at Hazeldean Rd. and Terry Fox (south east corner). Margaret Stubbe runs this location and has a few different items as well as the gorgeous and delish truffles and cakes. She had dipped chocolate chuck cookies that were totally decadent and of course disappeared incredibly quickly - yum!

The Stubbe truffle tree is to die for. I simply must experiment and consume more of their chocolates.

Glinda: You can pre-order any of the things Stubbe makes to guarantee that they have it. You can also make custom requests. A friend of mine who briefly worked there (Where are you now Katherine?), told me he once made a wicked confectionary chess board...players and all... mmmm. As for me, I can take credit (maybe?) for the addition of coloured marzipan balls on his Christmas truffle trees. I asked for this on my special order many years ago, and noticed he has done it every year since!

I always trot down a week or so before Valentine's Day and get one of their truffle-stuffed chocolate hearts. They are very romantic, and you can choose the truffles you want inside.

I probably shouldn't have said anything--last year I went several days early and they were all out! Maybe you have to phone first.

Their truffle-stuffed Easter eggs are great, too.

Glinda

good truffles supearb baume kukken 'tree cake '
they dont always have this in germany this cake has to be mastered before ther apprentice chefs gradate it is challenging to make has marking in side resembling the rings on a tree produced by using a batter painted on a specil spit to cook this tool the owners inported from germany i am told i have eaten this in germany theres is very authentic.

These guys are terrific. I don't think I've ever had anything bad here, though some might find the white chocolate kirschtorte a bit incendiary, on account of how much kirsch it's soaked in! ;)

3 other friends and I are born around the same time and when we all lived here, we would host a mass birthday party and always got our cakes here. Except for one disastrous year when we went or a change and tried, G-d save us, pastries at (don't laugh too hard) Tim Horton's! Let me tell you - we went right back to Stubbe's, having learned our lesson!

Try the chocolate covered candied orange peel.

You can also get a cup of coffee or tea to go with your sweets.

Stubbe's does everything well. Their truffles are fabulous, but so are their cakes/tortes. Their streusel cake is a regular at our breakfast table.

I say this is really good chocolate and I'm a chocolate snob by birth! :)

Always on the lookout for sources of cheap, high quality chocolate, I had to try this 400 gram Belgian bar for $4 ($4.50 inc. tax)!

It is quite good! Distinctly better than any Hershey product and the French-made PC bars. Waaay better than the Polish and Italian discount chocolates that have become so prevalent. This is very decent chocolate!

I tried the Milk Chocolate with Hazelnut, but they also had Dark, Milk, and Milk with Almonds.

P.S. Yes, I added Walmart as a Vendor here. Sorry. :P

Delectably delicious homemade fudge made by a local artisan fudge maker.

Touted as the best fudge ever tasted!

Comes in a variety of flavors.

Great for gifts, unique catering or a tasty treat.

More info and purchasing info online at: www.etsy.com

Rogers cream filled chocolates are to die for.

Go for fruit filled cream chocolates, they are the best! The orange / lemon cream filled covered with dark chocolates are probably my favorite chocolates ever.

You can buy singles of them at the counter!

I was surprised to hear about this place for where to get imported European chocolate bars, but it's pretty much become the #1 place to look in the whole area. Only in Montreal (Fouvrac and Gourmet Laurier) have I seen a larger selection. I never know exactly what they'll have but some are standards of the last few years: Rogers, Amedei, Valrhona, Michel Cluizel, Dolfin, some Bonnat once, I think Pralus last time I was there, a variety of organics, and always a few surprises. Prices are maybe a couple dollars more than Montreal, which considering the extra transport costs, is pretty good. They keep taking chances with new stuff, so repeated visits yield sudden treasures.

I had the pleasure of meeting Lori Sword at a Craft Show last week. I picked up some very unique truffles to bring home. Lets just say they didn't make it home. I tried the ITALIAN LOVER and the MARGARITA in the car on the way home and continued to eat the rest of the box! I went back to see Lori later that afternoon. I then bought some other flavours to try, all of which were very very delicious. Lori explained to me that all of her chocolates are handmade. All made from scratch with the highest quality ingredients. Her dedication shows in her chocolates. Highly Recommended.

I picked up some chocolates from 'koko chocolates' yesterday when they had a booth set up at the Ron Kolbus centre at Britannia. I would highly recommend them; they are excellent! We tried a variety. The Margarita stands out for me, as the combo of chocolate, lime, tequila and salt was an interesting combination that I haven't seen before in chocolate. I imagine it's something you either love or hate, but it definitely did it for me despite not generally being a big fan of alcohol-flavoured chocolates. The Thai Chili was good as well; it had a good kick but was not too overpowering. My wife's favourite was the Chocolate Caramel which I also enjoyed. Raspberry and Passionfruit both with a good intensity of flavour as well.

They have some interesting bars from around the world - you know the kind where they tell which plantation the cocoa beans come from.

They also have old school cadbury too.

I really must mention that Farm Boy has been selling the great-to-excellent chocolate bars from Gatineau chocolatier Rochef for some time. He does not have a store (yet), so ganaches and filled chocolates are sold by appointment/order (similarly to KoKo).

The bars are available in several local stores, and Farm Boy offers the best selection. The back of each package even gives suggestions for best type of pairing, be it wine, beer, port, cheese or otherwise.

Today, I found out Rochef offers for a limited time a Pure Nacionale bar: Fortunato No 4. This is a new, fourth variety of cacao bean that was rediscovered in 2009. So far, only a Montreal place has offered a bar of it back in 2009, so I guess now smaller makers can get access to the beans.

Like the other Montreal bar, it's pricey: $18 for 80g. Yes, that's 75 cents a square. The other bar was worth it because it was a completely new type of basic chocolate taste. How does Rochef's compare?

The smell is downright intoxicating... the mouthfeel is not as perfect as the other one was, a little creamier - but at 68%, it is to be expected. The taste is more subtle than the other bar, too. It needs a bit more time to find the base difference, for someone like me who's aware of said differences. For the layman, it would probably be extra-smooth, but not exploding in the mouth, and thus they may not feel it worth the price.

But for anyone who is very curious about what makes different chocolates different, I gather a group of 5-6 pooling money together to buy five Rochef bars at Farm Boy, this and any four of the country-specific bars, and having a dessert-time tasting (with water before and between each square, and ending with this) might come away with a better understanding of what constitutes Real Chocolate.

Not an unabashed recommendation, except for aficionados, unless taken in the manner above. If your palate is not very sensitive and Lindt tastes the same as Hershey, then this is not for you.

I'm not much of a chocolate fan, and the 'organic' variety I bought is a bit too sweet for my tastes; should've got the semi-sweet, but -- still, thumbs up. Nice melt-in-your-mouth real chocolatey chocolate.

We've been having 'fondue nights' with friends about once a month and I've been in charge of the dessert portion lately. I bought the Callebaut foutain milk chocolate a few weeks ago and it was really great. It melted quickly and evenly, had great flavour and stuck well to anything we dipped in it.

Yesterday we tried the dark chocolate version and it was even better. I guess it's so good because it's made to run through a fountain?

I bought one chunk of "Callebaut chocolate" few days ago at Farm Boy Kanata. I always passed by the counter without checking them until Mark mentioned it here. I tried the "milk chocolate" kind. I finished them all in 2 days. Next time, I am going to try the dark chocolate kind. Boy oh Boy, I have gained another 2 pounds! Blame this to Mark for his recommendation!

I have to adjust my previous comment. I mentioned that Victoria and Calgary have 12 Callebaut stores between them, but that isn't quite right. See, those are in fact Bernard Callebaut chocolate stores. Bernard Callebaut is the great-great grandson of the original founder of Callebaut, Eugenius Callebaut. Same name, different company.

The world famous Belgian chocolate manufacturer, Callebaut, merged with a rival company (Cacao Barry) in 1996. The new company is called Barry Callebaut but the chocolate is still branded as Callebaut. The company headquarters are now in Zurich, Switzerland. So it's Belgian chocolate but it's actually Swiss. ;-) This is the stuff they sell at Farm Boy!

Thanks kt! The store in Westboro is "Truffle Treasures" and I just added it Truffle Treasures. :)

There is a small chocolate shop in Westboro that also carries Callebaut. She does not sell in bulk but all of her chocolates are made with Callebaut chocolate and she sells huge bars of their chocolate. I believe the shop's name is Truffles (just a few doors down for Mountain Equipment).

Farm Boy now carries Callebaut chocolate, and it's awesome! We don't have a Callebaut store in Ottawa yet (Victoria has 3, Calgary 9) so this is the next best thing.

Just nibbling on a Ragusa here. ($2.29/100g)

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm tastey !!

The picture is a real scan.

Is this the Crack of Chocolate ? It sure is instantly addictive.

Got a few more brands in the Kosher section.

PS: Speaking of Kosher. Just picked up some Kosher salt. $2.99/3lb in the Kosher section and $4.29/3lb in the non-Kosher sectioon ... Huh ?? Different Rabbi rates ?

On a whim, I decided to do comparisons of some brands of dark chocolate offered at Loblaws (College Square).

1. President's Choice Organics European Dark Chocolate (70%), Italy - $1.99
2. Schmerling's Kosher Finest Bittersweet (72%), Switzerland - $2.79
3. Lindt Excellence Dark (70%), Switzerland - $2.99

All bars were 100 grams. I tasted them in order of increasing price.

1. The PC bar assaulted my mouth with a harsh sourness. Poor chocolate flavour.
2. Schmerling's was very good and seemed sweet after the PC one. Good chocolate flavour with an interesting depth.
3. Lindt seemed a little sour in comparison to Schmerling's. Good chocolate flavour but a bit harsh.

Schmerling's (from the big Kosher aisle) was the clear winner for me. Slightly higher in cocoa and fat content, and slightly lower in sugar than the other two, this one actually tasted sweeter to me. A nice find!

I tasted the Schmerling and Lindt bars a number of times while writing this, then went back to the PC Organics bar. I almost threw it out! I'll have to eat it with coffee or something, just to get it down.

I should add that I've yet to try an "Organic" chocolate that doesn't taste bad. I've tried many of the pricey options out there and they're just no good. Camino makes good hot chocolate mix but their chocolate is yucky. Your taste may vary. ;-)

Found another gem! In the Kosher aisle (go figure) at the College Square Loblaws they carry Ragusa. This Swiss confection consists of a truffle filling with whole hazelnuts and a coating of good dark chocolate. First time I've seen it for sale on this side of the Atlantic!

I made dark chocolate truffles from the dark Suisse bar and they turned out exceptionally well. I have been banned from bringing them to the office again as I ruined everyone's New Year Resolutions. Of course this is also available at Your Independent Grocer and other stores that carry President's Choice branded products.

Loblaws carries a good selection of Swiss Lindt chocolate. They also have a gem of a product, the President's Choice "Suisse" chocolate. This is actually a rebranding of the Swiss "Mahony" chocolate, made by the Migros company to compete with Toblerone. I think it's better than Toblerone, and my 91-year-old grandmother in Switzerland agrees! Highly recommended.

very yummy indeed!

Yep, it's the same company as the one in Westboro: www.truffletreasures.com

There are reviews already of the chocolate they make here. Personally I enjoy it, although I agree it can be a tad too sweet. I tend to stick to the dark chocolate stuff, which cuts back on the sweetness.

A Truffle Treasures just opened in the Glebe. Anyone know if this one is the same, another location, and is it any good? I can walk up before Valentine's day--will save me from going to the Market if it is as good as Stubbe's.

I'm not a chocolate expert, but the 'Alprose' (www.alprose.ch/) dark w/almonds 74% bar I picked up here ($2.95) is a real treat.

This is one of the few locations where I can consistently find Dolfin Belgian Chocolate. It seems you can find it anywhere in Montreal and in a greater variety of flavours.

At Budapest they usually only have about 3 flavours at a time but the ones they carry vary. I haven't tried one that I haven't loved.

More info on the chocolate:

www.chocosphere.com

They sell a variety of italian chocolates here, most notably the Tuscan brand, Amadei.