Pranzo

Pranzo is a restaurant with good table service in comfortable surroundings. There is choice of seating inside and outside the restaurant. Yahoo babelfish tells me that "Pranzo" is Italian for lunch.

The "mug" of hot chocolate is served in a bowl. The only other place your reviewer has found serving hot chocolate in a bowl is Blonde Coffee in Angaston. Pranzo is a bit closer for most people in Adelaide. The bowl has proper heat insulation for sensitive fingers and is a delightful way to drink hot chocolate.

The hot chocolate was presented well with a creamy froth and line of chocolate powder on top. The hot chocolate cost $3.70 and the taste was creamy and chocolaty.

Sidewalk Café

Castle Plaza is a suburban shopping centre in Edwardstown with a couple of good eating places. The Sidewalk Café is in the middle of the shopping centre and serves a range of cakes and coffees. The hot chocolate comes in an Aroma Fresh coffee cup and costs $3.50. It comes with two marshmallows. On this occasion the marshmallows were orange and yellow. Your reviewer has speculated on the flavour of the orange marshmallow previously. The yellow one was a banana flavour. The hot chocolate had a creamy froth and a liberal sprinkle of chocolate. The taste was reasonably rich but a bit artificial.

Café Piatto

Café Piatto is a casual Italian restaurant in Rundle Street serving pizza, pasta and a range of meals. For $3.80 you get a good hot chocolate with an interesting malt flavour to it.

It comes in a Vittoria coffee cup with a froth, a well executed semicircle of chocolate powder on top and one marshmallow.

Parisis

Parisis is a fine table service restaurant on King William Road, Hyde Park. Merkel and Myrtle attended there recently and had a look at the menu. Merkel was taken with a drink that was called the Allessandro. This was a hot chocolate with marshmallow flavoured froth and a semicircle of chocolate sprinkled on top. It was served with a piece of biscotti. The drink was fortified with Tia Maria. This was a creamy sweet drink. For a hot chocolate that cost $8.50 it came in a fairly unassuming glass. It was nice for a change but not as good as the Baileys hot chocolate at Spats.

Dolci, Iced Chocolate

Merkel returned to Dolci in the Mitcham shopping centre recently. This time he tried the Iced chocolate. The cost was $5.00 and it came topped with chocolate gelati and whipped cream. The gelati was very chocolaty. The drink was syrup and milk and it was a bit sweet and artificial, more like the taste of ice cream and topping than a serious iced chocolate.

Encounter in Caffe L'Incontro

L'Incontro takes up most of Gays Arcade which is a little offshoot of the Adelaide Arcade. It is a very Italian Café. It has a big fountain in the middle of it. It provides good table service and has plenty of seating in the shop itself and in the Arcade area.

The Café provided a standard hot chocolate and an Italian hot chocolate. Unfortunately Merkel did not check the menu before ordering, so settled for the standard one. The hot chocolate came in a Lavazza coffee cup with a delicious piece of biscotti. The hot chocolate had a creamy froth and a liberal sprinkling of chocolate powder on top. The drink was rich and flavoursome, possibly sweetened with vanilla. The standard hot chocolate was only $3.00 and the Italian hot chocolate was $3.70.

Merkel returned to try the Italian hot chocolate a couple of days later. It was on the menu as Cioccolata in Tazza which Yahoo Babelfish translates as "Chocolate in cup". It came unadorned with cream or froth. A piece of biscotti and a glass of water accompanied the drink. It was smooth and delicious and an excellent example of a thick Italian hot chocolate.

Ciao Coffee Bar

Adelaide Arcade is a picturesque shopping arcade between Rundle Mall and Grenfell Street. Ciao Cakes is shop 14 of the Arcade and Ciao Coffee Bar sits in the middle of the Arcade outside the cake shop. These shops seem unrelated to Ciao restaurant reviewed earlier. There is limited seating at the Coffee Bar and patrons have to be content to have shoppers rush by on either side.
The hot chocolate comes in a stylish tall glass with handle and costs $3.70. The drink is finished with plenty of froth and a liberal sprinkling of chocolate powder. There is plenty of chocolate flavour in the drink. I found the drink very hot and lacking in the creamy texture of a good hot chocolate.

Peppers Espresso Bar

This is a small Café in the centre of the Regent Arcade that runs from Rundle Mall to Grenfell St. It is opposite Billy Baxter's in this Arcade.

The hot chocolate was excellent and came in a good sized cup with a pink and white marshmallow all for $3.20. It had a creamy froth and chocolate sprinkled in a straight line pattern. The drink was rich and chocolaty.

Briccone

Briccone is a new restaurant that has been established in the middle of Rundle Mall. Its address is simply Rundle Mall East because when you build a shop in the middle of what used to be a road the normal street numbering conventions do not apply. Briccone is a table service restaurant with a good menu of Italian food. There is plenty of seating under cover and the service and comfort is good. You can watch the crowds of busy shoppers walk by as you enjoy a relaxing meal.

The hot chocolate was $3.20 and was a light Swiss style chocolate rather than the darker style I expect from Italian restaurants. The drink was delivered in a ceramic cup with a white froth and a sprinkle of chocolate powder.

TG's, Stamford Plaza

Continuing the theme of Hotel Foyers from the Atrium, Merkel and Myrtle had breakfast in the Stamford Plaza's restaurant TG's. This was a buffet breakfast which included tea and coffee but unfortunately not hot chocolate.

The hot chocolate was $4.50 and came in a glass with a paper napkin. It came with ample froth but no sprinkle of chocolate on top. It was not as tasty as the Atrium hot chocolate.

Atrium, InterContinental Adelaide

Adelaide hotel foyers are a good source of hot chocolates as Merkel has found in the Hilton, the Rendezvous and Tiffins on the Park. Atrium is a bar serving drinks, cocktails and Tapas in the foyer of the InterContinental. The Atrium has good live musicians on a Saturday night.

The hot chocolate came in a glass with two shortbread biscuits. The glass was not too hot to hold although Merkel was surprised that no napkin came with the drink. The drink had a creamy froth and a liberal sprinkling of chocolate powder and top. The flavour was great and the main problem was that for $4.50 there was not enough.

Signals, Adelaide Casino

Signals is one of eight bars, restaurants and Cafes at the at the Adelaide Skycity Casino. The name of the restaurant is drawn from the fact that the Casino building used to be a railway station building. Signals has excellent table service and a short menu of excellent dishes.

The hot chocolate was $3.50 and came in a tall glass with a glass handle and an after dinner mint. It had a creamy froth and a sprinkle of cocoa. The drink was nice enough although not particularly chocolaty.

Trip to McLaren Vale

Merkel and Myrtle headed for McLaren Vale on a day that was to be set aside for sampling a hot chocolate or two. Unfortunately the temperature reached the old 100-degree Fahrenheit mark so it was not ideal weather for hot chocolates. In any case Merkel was not to be deterred.

Tin Shed Café
This Café boasted about its achievements in coffee making and barista skills. There was a variety of drinks listed under the title "Hot and Iced" on the blackboard. These included Choc Mint, Vanilla, Caramel and Butterscotch. Merkel asked for the Toblerone hot chocolate for $5.50. There were also liqueur hot chocolates available. These were a "Cloud Nine" and a liqueur mint hot chocolate. The waitress could not explain what the "Cloud Nine" hot chocolate was. The café was consistent with its "Tin" shed title. There was a corrugated iron theme through the café and the air conditioning was struggling to maintain a reasonable temperature.

The drink was light brown and came in a tall glass with a good froth. Merkel had a short spoon for his tall glass and Myrtle had a long spoon for her cup, but that was not the first surprise. Ugh, it was coffee! Apparently the Tin Shed Café does both hot chocolate and coffee in the gourmet flavours but for some reason today they provided Merkel a coffee. The drink Merkel had did not remotely taste like Toblerone. Perhaps it was sweetened with honey, but Merkel is not a coffee drinker.

Touring the District
In search of some chocolate flavour, Merkel and Myrtle walked down the main road to Medlow's Confectionary. Medlow took over the famous Robern Menz chocolate confectioners who were well known for the manufacture of Fruchocs. Medlow's provided a Fruchoc sample as soon as we entered the shop and there were plenty of chocolate treats available for purchase.

Artel Gallery & Giftware had some great local artists and fine crafts but Merkel purchased a packet of Mahalia lush drinking chocolate which is packaged in Robe, South Australia. Merkel and Mytle then proceed to the Almond Train, a restored railway carriage, only to find the same drinking chocolate was available there at less cost. The Almond train had free samples of almonds and other local produce.

Bracegirdles, McLaren Vale
Having visited Bracegirdles at Glenelg and at Toorak Gardens, Merkel was keen to try the third Bracegirdles shop located in McLaren Vale. Bracegirdles in McLaren Vale shares accommodation with the Oxenberry cellar door wine sales. This is quite a good cohabitation, as patrons can taste some good wines and enjoy some chocolate treats at the same time.

The shop was well air conditioned but still the iced chocolate was the logical beverage for the hot day. The iced chocolate came in a large glass topped with vanilla ice cream and chocolate dripped on top which solidified on the ice cream to make a hard chocolate covering on top. The drink did not have the variation in colouring that the Billy Baxter's or Duthy Street Deli had but still looked good on a hot day. The distinctive Belgian chocolate taste did not work as well for iced chocolate as it did for hot chocolate. It was a big drink and good to drink slowly on a warm day. The iced chocolate cost $6.00 but did not measure up to Bracegirdle's high standards for its other fare.

There was plenty left to discover in McLaren Vale. This is a fine place to visit for chocolate and wine lovers. Merkel will return, hopefully in more temperate weather.

Marble Bar

This is a fairly new city watering hole on Waymouth Street. It is part owned by Wayne Carey, ex AFL footballer and now auto-biographer. Apparently the man himself was at the bar on the day that Merkel was there but he did not come and introduce himself. They do a good lunch at Marble Bar.

A friend shouted Merkel a hot chocolate at the Bar. They probably are not that used to doing hot chocolates. It came in a glass mug with a white froth but no chocolate powder. The waiter spilt the drink in transit. The drink was a little too sweet and light for Merkel's taste.

brOwn dOg Cafe

This is a little Café in Goodwood with a lot of character. It was popular on Sunday afternoon and provided a good menu and table service. It was cooled only by a ceiling fan so was a little warm on a 35 degree Celsius day. This Café is only a couple of doors up Goodwood Road from the Capri Cinema with its huge art deco interiors and the marvellous theatre organ.

The hot chocolate at brOwn dOg Café is available for $3.20 a cup or $4.20 a mug. The mug came with a marshmallow, a white froth and a liberal sprinkling of chocolate powder on top. The drink was creamy and chocolaty and satisfied, even on a hot day.

Classics Restaurant

It was the Marmaduke patriarch's birthday last Friday evening and the extended family celebrated at Classics Restaurant in Walkerville. According to the website Classics restaurant is housed in a 100 year old homestead. The restaurant is comfortable and spacious and provides good table service. Friday evenings are special at Classics because of the live jazz music that is performed. The Jazz Mellow Trio is are a highly skilled group and made for a memorable evening.

Merkel's choice for pre-dinner drink was a hot chocolate. This came in a tall glass with a handle. There was plenty of froth and a sprinkle of chocolate on top. This was a tasty chocolate and was creamy and light rather than dark. It came with an after dinner mint.

Fresh Fired

This is a new Pizza place at 108 King William St. There are a variety of seating styles inside and snazzy décor. The shop has a number of different choices of coffee. The hot chocolate came in three sizes. Merkel went for the three dollar entry level hot chocolate.

The chocolate came in a black ceramic cup and saucer. It had a good froth and a liberal sprinkle of chocolate powder on top. The drink was creamy but not chocolaty enough for Merkel's taste.

Billy Baxter's

There are 15 Billy Baxter's franchises in Adelaide according to the web site. The franchise has a good menu of light meals and drinks. This makes Billy Baxter's more numerous than Cibo and Bean Bar. Bean Bar still has more Central Business District locations. All outlets feature the Billy Baxter cartoon character.

Mitcham Shopping Centre
The standard hot chocolate and Vienna hot chocolate were available on the menu at Mitcham shopping centre. Merkel chose the Vienna hot chocolate. It was $4.50 and came in a generous mug topped with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cocoa. Merkel pointed out that the menu promised a marshmallow with the drink. After checking this fact, the young waitress brought over two marshmallows (white and pink of course). The chocolate itself was a light Swiss style hot chocolate and had a good flavour.

City Cross
The Billy Baxter's in the City Cross Arcade is on the first floor just up the escalators in the Middle of the shopping centre. There is plenty seating and partrons get to look down on the crowds in the food hall. Merkel had the standard hot chocolate which came in a large Billy Baxter mug with a marshmallow. The hot chocolate was topped with a white froth and sprinkle of chocolate. The flavour was nice and dark but the drink was a little watery. The cost of the drink was $4.20.

Regent Arcade
In the centre of Regent Arcade there are a couple of coffee shops. One of them is a Billy Baxter's. There is plenty of seating in the shop and a couple of tables in the Arcade.

It was a hot day so Merkel had an iced chocolate. This cost $5.20 and included vanilla ice cream topped with whipped cream sprinkled with chocolate. The drink was made with chocolate syrup and milk. It tasted good but it did not have the chocolate mousse flavour of the iced chocolate at Duthy Street Deli. However this was a better iced chocolate than the one at Duthy Street Deli because there were not so many milky boring bits.

Myer Centre
Apparently this was the first Billy Baxter's established in 1991. It is much like the others with plenty of comfortable seating and the cartoon character everywhere.

As the weather was still very hot and the iced chocolate at Regent Arcade was delicious, Merkel decided to try this drink again at the Myer Centre. It was again, well presented in a tall glass with ice cream, whipped cream and cocoa on top. The chocolate sauce patterns on the side were not quite as marked as the Regent Arcade drink. The drink had been slightly stirred to mix in the chocolate flavour. This was a good tasting, good looking iced chocolate.

Three different types of chocolate to drink

According to the website http://thelunacafe.com/a-gift-of-drinking-chocolate/ there are different terms for chocolate drinks. This is too detailed for Merkel Marmaduke as it is all hot chocolate to him, however it is a informative list of different styles of chocolate drink.

Drinking Chocolate: High proportion of premium, bittersweet (60%-75% cacao) bar chocolate; hot water, milk, or cream, or some combination thereof; optional spices; served still, rather than steamed or frothed; can be made in bulk in a hot chocolate machine (which holds the melted chocolate in suspension at perfect temperature) or made-to-order; very thick and creamy, almost like melted bar chocolate.

Hot Chocolate: Somewhat lower proportion of premium, bittersweet (60%-75% cacao) bar chocolate; hot water, milk, or cream, or some combination thereof; optional spices; made-to-order; served steamed and/or frothed; slightly to considerably thick and creamy but not as thick as drinking chocolate.

Hot Cocoa: Powdered, unsweetened cocoa with added sugar; optional spices; hot water, milk or cream; typically served frothed and topped with whipped cream or marshmallows; only slightly thicker than the liquid used.

Duthy Street Deli, Iced Chocolate

Merkel returned to the Duthy Street Deli to try the iced chocolate. It came in a tall glass with a scoop of vanilla ice cream covered in chocolate powder. The look was quite spectacular with brown and white patterns showing through the clear glass. A good iced chocolate requires a straw, a spoon and drinking from the glass to consume and this required all three. Most of the chocolate flavour came from a rich mousse-flavoured chocolate syrup that drenched the sides and bottom of the glass. This did not mix easily with the cold milk so parts of the drink tasted like unflavoured milk. It looked good though and it would have been a shame to stir it too early. The cost of the iced chocolate was $4.50.

227 Espresso Café

There seems to be some confusion over the name of this coffee shop. The sign on the bar says it is Café 227. The notice on the back of the waitress and the yellow pages refers to it as 227 Espresso Café. I thought it was simply Espresso Café from the sign on the front of the shop. I heard one patron call it Lavazza because that was the coffee brand on the barriers around the outside tables and Adelaide Café Review referred to it as "Lavazza Café Espresso 227". I will settle for the name in the yellow pages.

227 North Terrace is a great little spot for a café. It overlooks the University buildings across the wide boulevard that is North Terrace. There is normal table seating outside. Most of the seating inside is high stools with bar height tables. There is also a small lounge area in the back corner with lower seating.

The hot chocolate came in a small glass without a handle. The drink was topped with a white froth and a semicircle of chocolate powder. The drink was reasonably chocolaty but was not stirred properly. A good stir made the drink richer.

Rainbow Café

This is next to Café Fresh at the bottom of the black stump at 25 Grenfell Street.

The hot chocolate is $3.20 and comes in glass cup with a glass handle. It was finished with a white froth and a semicircle of chocolate powder. The drink was creamy but not chocolaty enough for the taste of this reviewer.

Un Caffe Bar, Hyde Park

This Un Caffe Bar is in a converted old building and sits about a metre above street level. In the evening patrons get a view of the setting sun through the large glass doors at the front of the building.

My last encounter at Un Caffe Bar was in Waymouth Street. The hot chocolate was a high standard so I was interested to try their iced chocolate on this visit. This drink cost $6.00 for a tall glass and a scoop of coffee gelati. Some chocolate syrup and some chocolate milk made up the rest of the drink. The coffee gelati made for a good variety of flavours. This was not as dark as the Cibo iced chocolate but it was a pleasant drink on a warm night.

Roco Pasta, The Cheapest Hot Chocolate in Town

Roco Pasta is a little stall in the Myer Centre food court in the North Terrace entrance.

For $2.40 you can get good standard hot chocolate. It comes with a tasty brown froth and a sprinkle of chocolate. The taste of the hot chocolate is dark and not too weak. This hot chocolate beats many more expensive hot chocolates and is better than the Bakery T.76 that is also in the food court.

Wicked Coffee

It is now cricket season and Merkel enjoys watching the junior Marmadukes play the game with much more skill than he ever could muster. St Peters College main oval was an idyllic setting on a sunny Saturday morning for watching cricket and it was made even more idyllic by the presence of the takeaway coffee van of Wicked Coffee not far away.

For $3.30 Merkel purchased a takeaway hot chocolate to enjoy while watching the cricket. The hot chocolate was made with syrup but had a good froth and a sprinkle of chocolate on top. While the drink was enjoyable it had that artificial chocolate ice cream taste rather than a legitimate hot chocolate with its underlying bitterness. This is the second hot chocolate reviewed that came out of a van. This was a little better and cheaper than Café a Go Go but did not seem to have the marshmallow option.

Crust 'n Crumbs

This is a little shop in the car park of the Cumberland Park Woolworths. It does a range of cakes and pies. For $3.20 I got a generous mug of hot chocolate with a pile of froth and sprinkle of chocolate. The selection of mugs was fairly quaint. This hot chocolate had "Coffee" emblazoned on it. It is one thing to drink out of a branded cup such Vittoria, Altura or Coffex but it is seems to be a bit odd to label a mug of hot chocolate as coffee. It was pity this hot chocolate was so watery.

The Edinburgh Hotel

The Edinburgh Hotel or "The Ed" as it is affectionately known is a busy multipurpose eating, drinking and gaming venue. It has a good restaurant and a number of bars and function rooms. Merkel and Myrtle visited on a warm night to sample some of the hospitality.

Merkel chose the iced chocolate for $3.50. This came in a tall glass but looked more like a milkshake than an iced chocolate. It was an even light brown texture and simply had a light brown froth on top. The taste was light and malty. Merkel prefers to see a scoop of ice cream and some clever work with the chocolate sauce in his iced chocolate. As it was only the second iced chocolate review on this blog it was little disappointing.

Merkel returned to the Edinburgh when the weather was a bit cooler with some friends for lunch. There he ordered the standard hot chocolate. It came with white and pink marshmallows and a chocolate wafer stick which was a surprising cache of extras. The hot chocolate was finished with a creamy froth and a sprinkle of chocolate and came in a glass with a handle. The taste was light and chocolaty and the cost was $4.00.

Bakery T.76

This bakery is in the food court on the Terrace level of the Myer Centre in Rundle Mall Adelaide. It has a range of ready made cakes, quiches and pies available for lunch and also does coffees and hot chocolates. The hot chocolate is only three dollars and came with a fluffy froth and a sprinkling of chocolate on top. The drink itself is thin and lacks any real chocolate flavour. This is an inexpensive hot chocolate but there are a number of other options for hot chocolate in the Myer Centre food court.

All aboard the Cibo Express

There are about 12 Cibo Espresso outlets in the Adelaide metropolitan area. Five of these are in the Central Business District (CBD). While Bean Bar outnumbers them in the CBD, Cibo has more around Adelaide.

The website is very flash but does not have much information about the locations or the costs, so your reviewer will find out more for the readers of this blog.

97 Pirie St, Adelaide
This is the outlet featured on the website. Your reviewer was pleasantly surprised to find that CIBO do a thick Italian hot chocolate. They call it "Cioccolato Italiana" to distinguish from their standard hot chocolate. Alas, the weather was too warm and they had not started up the hot chocolate machine on the day I visited. They do not get enough call for it in the summer months apparently. Patrons take a table number so they can deliver the food and call out your name when your drink is ready.

Your reviewer settled for a standard hot chocolate. This was $3.20 and came with piles of chocolate powder on top of a white froth. This was not a particularly elegant presentation but it still tasted good. My only criticism was the cup was too small. Large sizes were available at higher cost.

41 Gouger St, Adelaide
It is not obvious from the Gouger street outlet but there is plenty of seating inside. The shop is deep and narrow. Your reviews was handed a table number to display on the table. He was also meant to take a thing that looked like a spaceship that would summon him when his drink was ready.

It would seem that "Cioccolato Italiana" is standard fare at CIBO although some outlets do not make it available in the hot weather. The Gouger street outlet fortunately had it available.
Cioccolato Italiana came in a small cup with a dollop of cream. This was a simple but delicious chocolaty treat. The cream helps to balance out the rich smooth chocolate taste. The cost was $4.50. It was good to find another Italian hot chocolate venue in Adelaide and update the earlier posting on this subject.

1/156 King William Rd, Hyde Park
The outlet is not in the Adelaide CBD but on trendy King William Road. It is a corner shop so there is plenty of room to watch life pass you by whether you are sitting inside or outside. The patrons take a red disk that beeps when your drinks are ready.

This outlet also had the "Cioccolato Italiana" machine in action but your reviewer decided to pass on this as it was a warm night and only a few hours since he sampled "Cioccolato Italiana" at the Gouger street outlet. Instead he opted for the iced chocolate. This is the first time on this blog that an iced chocolate has been reviewed. The Cibo $5.80 version comes in a tall glass with a scoop of chocolate gelati. The mixture involves chocolate syrup as well as the chocolate drink making a pattern that can be seen through sided of the glass. This was very chocolaty and not too sweet.

7/82 King William St, Adelaide
Not only was the King William Street outlet out of "Cioccolato Italiana" but it also did not have any cream so a Vienna hot chocolate was out of the question. It was the standard hot chocolate again for your reviewer, and again the froth was topped with piles of chocolate powder. This was not particularly decorative but it helped the flavour when it was all mixed up. It was $3.20 for the fairly small cup and an extra 90 cents or two dollars for larger cups.

The King William Street outlet is a bit more cramped and the décor is a bit different but it still has the same menu as the others. There seemed to be no beepers to summons the customers but the waiter did hand out a table number to display at our table.

7/161 The Parade Norwood
The "Cioccolato Italiana" machine was not operational but they had enough cream for the Vienna hot chocolate. The Vienna hot chocolate cost $4.00 and came in the same small cup but the cream seem to take up more space so your reviewer got even less drink. The cream was fluffy and well presented in a "bunch of grapes" style rather than the standard mountain. There was a liberal sprinkling of chocolate powder on top of the cream.

There was plenty of seating inside and outside. They also used the standard red beepers to summon the customers to the counter when the drinks were ready.

112A Rundle Mall, Adelaide
The Rundle Mall outlet does not have any internal seating and there is not much seating nearby although there are a number of places along the mall to take your take-away coffee or hot chocolate. Your reviewer did not make any purchases here but ascertained that that the "Cioccolato Italiana" was not being offered in the hot weather.

218 Rundle St, Adelaide
The Rundle Street Cibo outlet has seating on the ground floor and a lounge area on the first floor. There are a small number of tables outside where patrons can contend with the crowds of people who walk around the corner of Frome Street and Rundle Street. The Rundle Street venue had the beepers to summon patrons when there drink was ready but they were coloured blue.

The "Cioccolato Italiana" was available and your reviewer took advantage of this. It was indistinguishable from the one he had at the Gouger Street which was not a bad thing at all.


The Cibo Espresso outlets all are efficiently run and décor is consistent and comfortable. The fare and prices are also reasonable and consistent. Some patrons may find the beepers an oddity. Also Cibo tapes together your knife and fork which is a little peculiar. While the "Cioccolato Italiana" is not available at all outlets in the summer months it was available and Rundle Street, Gouger Street and Hyde Park.

Utzi Espresso

This café is in the middle of the main part of Burnside Village shopping centre. Unlike Jardine's which faces the outside village square area, this is inside the shopping centre in the middle of the main walkway. I am not sure where the name comes from but am assured it is nothing to do with Otzi the 5,300 year old iceman from the Alps.

The Vienna hot chocolate came in ceramic cup with a white and pink marshmallow balanced on top of the cream. This was an interesting innovation. The marshmallows were not dunked but could be retrieved if you did not want one or both in the hot chocolate. It also looked very decorative. The hot chocolate cost $4.10 and tasted good and chocolaty.