Chocolate Bar Sheffield: We tried Britain's 'best' hot chocolate at city's new cocoa-themed cafe

Chocolate Bar has opened at Leah’s Yard, the beautifully reimagined former little mesters’ workshops off Cambridge Street.

It’s the latest venture from Max Scotford, the man behind Bullion, which is based in Kelham Island and was one of the UK’s first bean-to-bar craft chocolate makers when it launched in 2016.

Bullion imports carefully selected cocoa beans and transforms them in Sheffield into delicious gourmet chocolate.

The chocolate hit is intense and you can really savour the unique cocoa flavour in each batch, much like the experience you get with freshly ground coffee or a fine wine made from the best grapes.

The star of the show at Chocolate Bar is the hot chocolate, with more than 1,200 mugs of the stuff devoured within the first 10 days.

That’s little surprise given Bullion hot chocolate was named one of Which? magazine’s ‘best buys’ in the UK, and was crowned the best small-batch drinking chocolate by BBC Good Food.

We decided to try it for ourselves.

The first thing to note is that you don’t just order a drinking chocolate. You get to choose exactly how it is made.

Do you want it hot or iced? What sort of chocolate do you want, from white, with 28 per cent cocoa solids, to intensely dark 90 per cent chocolate? Do you want dairy coconut or oat milk? And do you want any added flavourings, like orange, mint, gingerbread of chilli?

Intensely chocolatey

You can even choose to add a shot of alcohol from a list including coffee liqueur, amaretto, spiced rum and bourbon.

Given the passion and skill that goes into making the chocolate, it would be easy for them to be snooty about how you drink it. But there’s no judgement here. It’s all very laid back.

I was recommended to try the 60 per cent dark milk, with a touch of sea salt, and I didn’t regret the decision.

It’s hard to describe it as anything other than richly chocolatey - a really grown up alternative to the often sickly sweet powdered hot chocolates you get from the supermarket. At £4.50, it’s not cheap but the portions are generous and you get what you pay for.

Chocolate cocktails

There’s much more to Chocolate Bar than just drinking chocolate.

There’s also an indulgent selection of sweet treats made with Bullion chocolate, including pains au chocolat, cookies and brownies, and ice cream made using Bullion chocolate by Sheffield’s own Our Cow Molly. We tried one of the dulche de cornflake brownies and it was immense.

The signature cocktails at Chocolate Bar, which is open till late at the weekend, include a ‘Bullirium’ espresso martini, a cocoa fruit colada, and a negroni made using Bullion’s 90 per cent dark chocolate.

Or you can try a whisky pairing flight, with three tipples from Filey Bay carefully chosen to complement Bullion’s different single origin chocolate bars.

Even the house lager, the Budwar Dunkel, available on draught, was chosen for its chocolatey notes.

Sandwiches, sausage rolls and pasties

Not everything comes with chocolate. There’s a range of freshly made sandwiches, along with home-made sausage rolls, cheese and onion pasties and vegan plant pasties.

The drinks menu does have some chocolate-free cocktails, including a daiquiri and a margarita, and there is a range of wines and draught or bottled/canned beers.

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You can also buy chocolate bars, cocoa-scented candles and other Bullion merchandise at the cafe.

Chocolate Bar is open seven days a week, from 8am-6pm on Mondays and Tuesdays, 8am-10pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8am-11pm on Fridays, 10am-11pm on Saturdays, and 10am-6pm on Sundays.

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