This tiny shop doesn’t have the flamboyance or colour of Sydney’s other dessert shops. But what it lacks in decadent cakes, edible flowers and branding it makes up in sheer finesse and quality. Owners David Ralph and Jin Sun Kim are two of the best chocolatiers Sydney has to offer.

Just like their original Darlinghurst store (which now operates as their flagship and production facility), Chippendale shows off all the things which have given Kakawa such a strong reputation in Sydney’s hospitality industry.

The bon bons balance creative flavours (calamansi lime, caramelised olive and tonka beans, to name a few) with impeccable technique. The ice-cream sandwiches carry a rare intensity of chocolate flavour while maintaining strong hints of their buddy flavours (from matcha and caramelised black-sesame to raspberry or simple honeycomb). The pure chocolate range (made only with couverture from France, Belgium and Switzerland) has all the regional inflections and floral complexities good chocolate should have.

The tiny white shop is mostly bare walls, a glass counter, a little window and a small ice cream freezer. It feels almost like a blank canvas to host it all.