Nine To Try: The Best Offbeat and Classic Hot Chocolates in Melbourne

Chilly weather calls for hot chocolate. And while you can whip up a pretty great cup at home, each year Melbourne venues get a little experimental with the drink. Here are six of our favourite slightly offbeat takes (and three classic hot choccies) to try this winter.

Dulce de leche hot chocolate

Good Daze Canteen

This year, Bharathi Ghattamaneni and Isaac Rodrigues’s Fitzroy ice-cream shop – known for flavours inspired by desserts from around the world – is making a dulce de leche hot chocolate. It’s made with 72 per cent dark chocolate, and is topped with roasted almonds, a swirl of house-made banana jam and a dollop of house-made whipped dulce de leche cream.

Tiramisu hot chocolate

Baker Bleu

Sourdough go-to Baker Bleu has teamed up with Melbourne chocolate makers Hunted & Gathered for a tiramisu hot chocolate. This wintery riff on Baker Bleu’s iced tiramisu latte combines espresso and Hunted & Gathered cocoa, topped off with whipped cream. If you’re after something caffeine-free, Baker Bleu also has a classic hot chocolate made with Hunted & Gathered’s 70 per cent dark couverture chocolate and served with a house-made vanilla marshmallow. Both drinks are only available at Baker Bleu’s Cremorne location.

Babka hot chocolate

Ruben’s Deli

Amanda Ruben’s Armadale shop serves a dark hot choc made with its signature mix: babka crumb, cinnamon, and whipped chocolate and cinnamon cream.

Australian natives hot chocolate

Mork

Josefin Zernell and Kiril Shaginov started Mork with the goal of bringing Melbourne’s specialty hot chocolate to the same level as the city’s coffee. This hot chocolate is made with macadamia milk and adds strawberry gum, lilly pilly, native pepperberry, lemon myrtle and anise myrtle to the shop’s hot chocolate blend.

Salted butter ice-cream hot chocolate affogato

St David Dairy & Cafe

Fitzroy micro dairy St David takes hot chocolate from Mork, adds a big scoop of its small-batch salted butter ice-cream and tops it off with shaved chocolate flakes.

Fior di latte hot chocolate

Pidapipo

Lisa Valmorbida’s gelateria Pidapipo has brought back its winter hot chocolate. Fior di latte gelato (with marshmallows folded in) is scooped into velvety hot chocolate made with 70 per cent dark chocolate before the whole thing is topped with caramelised hazelnuts.

Cioccolata calda

Nuvoletta Gelateria

This Carnegie gelateria is making cioccolata calda (Italian hot chocolate). Owners Vera Teodori and Alex Toretto say the rich dark chocolate drink has a similar texture to crème anglaise and is slightly thicker and creamier than the hot chocolates Melburnians are likely more familiar with. It comes topped with a scoop of any preferred gelato flavour and a candied nut crumble.

Chocolat chaud with a torched-to-order marshmallow

Joy Jaune

There’s nothing offbeat about Joy Jaune’s hot chocolate, but it’s the gold standard for the city. Pastry chef Joey Leung says she makes her hot chocolate the French way. Milk is heated to 65 degrees Celsius, then Leung adds 72 per cent Belgian couverture chocolate, lets it melt, and finishes the drink off with a pinch of sea salt. During winter, you can add a homemade marshmallow to the top, which Leung will torch to order.

Hot chocolate with vegan whipped cream

Billy Van Creamy

While the ice-cream shop has a classic hot chocolate topped with whipped cream, the vegan version is just as good. It’s topped with whipped coconut milk, so you get a creamy texture without any dairy.