The Perfect Date! Chocolate Ecstasy Tours in Mayfair!

Yesterday Mr F and I had a child free day and went to London for a Chocolate Ecstasy Tour. Both of us have a sweet tooth and it promised to be a fantastic day-date. We met our tour guide Elle in Mayfair at 10am, she was very friendly and put us at ease straight away. Once all of the other guests arrived we were ready to start the tour.

We started off in a restaurant called Sketch. Their parlour is home to a cute patisserie with mood lighting to create a romantic ambiance. Elle used this time to ask us what our favourite chocolates were- mine is Cadbury (or any milk chocolate really).

She gave us a brief history of chocolate- explaining where it is grown, how it is harvested and prepared and how it is turned into the various chocolate types. She also explained how the cocoa industry is in trouble and that is why many manufacturers are reducing the percentage of cocoa in their chocolate (you may be familiar with the Cadbury’s creme egg scandal recently?)

A cocoa seed- before roasting to become a bean.

While we were listening to the history of chocolate and getting to know everyone we were treated to the most amazing hot chocolate! Honestly I have never had anything like it- it is like drinking pure chocolate- so thick and creamy, delicious!!

The best hot chocolate ever! 

An apple turn-over to get us started 

Enjoying my hot chocolate

Once we had finished in Sketch we headed next door to The East India Company. There we tasted various chocolates- coffee, cappuccino and orange flavour to name a few. We then had a look around the shop which was just gorgeous- full of beautiful tea sets!

The selection of chocolates

Beautifully packaged tea

We were invited to taste different teas- I am not a fan of tea but Mr F loves it so enjoyed the different samples.

As we walked through the streets of London, Elle showed us historical points of interest. Here is Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt sitting on a bench in New Bond Street- it shows their great friendship which was the foundation of the alliance between Britain and the US during WW2.

We then entered The Royal Arcade which is home to Charbonnel et Walker, a cute little chocolatier which is endorsed by the Royal Warrant.

A favourite of Her Majesty The Queen

We tried one of these delicious Champagne truffles- I enjoyed them so much I bought a box for my mum as a thank you for having the girls for the day.

Next stop was Fornum & Mason, such a lovely shop I could have spent all day in there! Once again we were treated to some samples of chocolate- by this stage I was coming around to the idea of dark chocolate, not something I ever thought I would hear myself say!

Our next stop was a cute little shop called Prestat- another chocolatier with Royal approval! It is also the inspiration behind the shop in the book My Uncle Oswald by Roald Dahl.

A plain chocolate truffle

I also had a try of their sea salt caramel which was delicious!! Definitely a fan of those now!

Our last stop on the tour was Soho to visit Paul A. Young’s chocolate shop. He is said to be one of the 2 best chocolatiers in Britain and is also well known for the best sea salted caramels in the world!

Once we had browsed the selection we were allowed to choose a chocolate to try- well if you are in the shop selling the best sea salted caramel chocolates what would you try?

By the end of the tour, even though we had only eaten a small selection of chocolate we were completely full and our sweet tooths had been satisfied!

The whole tour lasted about 3 hours which was just the perfect amount of time to walk between each venue and enjoy the delights of each shop. I would definitely recommend it for couples looking for something different to do on a child- free date or for anyone with a love for chocolate and who wants to learn a bit more about the hidden gems of London.

We were invited along to the Chocolate Ecstasy Tour in return for an honest review. All thoughts and words are my own.