Theobroma

Today I was wandering around the mall buying yet another Barbie Doll (or, in this case, much cheaper Barbie rip-off) for the Nieces 4th birthday present. After that trying experience, I took and urgent sanity break at a wonderful new shop. The Westfield Mall in Christchurch recently opened a mezzanine floor and one of the new shops is a fantastic chocolate shop/ cafe called Theobroma. As we know, Theobromine is the alkaloid in cocoa which causes that 'flushed and happy' feeling. It's also the component to which dogs and some people are violently allergic, but that didn't concern me. I was just in search of a dark, Theobromine infused, hot chocolate and it was well worth the calories. However many there may have been in there, every one was delicious and I'm not going to think too hard about it.

It's about time Christchurch got a chocolate shop that rivaled the fabulousness of shops such as Koko Black and Max Brenner, both of which have the disadvantage of being in Australia. New Zealand may be a close neighbour but it's still 3 hours in an aeroplane for a pricey box of quality chocs. Now I have my own local source of awesome chocolate. It's still kind of pricey at about $3 for a single chocolate, but when it comes to luxury foods, I'm a fan of 'less but better'. Quality not quantity. Fabulous without flabulous. Indulgence without over-indulgence is the new black, or at least, very dark brown.