William Curley has several locations of his chocolate shops throughout London, but the flagship store is by Sloane Square. It’s a full cafe with seating, pastries, chocolates, drinks, and edibles. The staff members are helpful, the store is clean and comfortable, and it’s not too busy or loud.
I find that the best way to judge the quality of something is to usually go to for the purest option (which also usually happens to be the option I generally like the most). In this case, we tried the classic dark chocolate truffle. This is not their house truffle, though it’s similar in concept. This dark chocolate truffle is my favorite – it is square-shaped, the dark chocolate is the perfect percentage (on the darker side), the texture of the inside has such a smooth, thin, nearly liquidy feel, and it just melts in your mouth as you bite into it. It’s not really chewable much, it just melts and dissipates. It is divine.
A close second is their Japanese black vinegar. You wouldn’t really know that there is vinegar at all, but it acts to bring out the flavor of the chocolate. The vinegar adds just a hint of something extra and if you weren’t paying attention, you may not notice anything other than just a rich chocolate flavor. It is so so good.
We also tried the classic dark hot chocolate (70%), which the staff kept insisting was very rich. To be clear, it isn’t melting chocolate, just shaved chocolate pieces with milk, but she had us convinced it was rich nonetheless. It was absolutely not rich and truthfully not even that great. I certainly would not seek it out. It was also served luke-warm and not even close to hot. I didn’t care to finish it.
But their truffles are spot on. I would love to take on the challenge of finding anything better in London.
