The "S" Page
Last updated: 2000.6.12
The Silver Spoon Fine Chocolates & Cafe
2 King Street North (at Erb), Waterloo. 884-7979
Visited: Friday, November 12, 1999, 7-9:40pm.
Dennis:
The club stretched the rules for this one a bit. While
you can get something to drink and nibble on (seating
for 10-12 people), this really a chocolate shop.
The shop is located under the Waterloo Hotel, with an
entrance off of Erb Street.
Seven members of the club attended a free chocolate
tasting event. The Silver Spoon puts on these events
about once a month (usually by request).
We got to taste 6 types of dark chocolate and then
6 types of milk chocolate. You start tasting with
the plate holding the chocolate with the
highest cocoa content, and work your way down to
the plate holding the sludge (sorry, chocolate with
the lowest content). With breaks between each taste
to clear the palate.
My favourites in the dark chocolate were Valrhona,
from France, and Callebaut, from Belgium. These were
the top 2 in cocoa content of those tested. In the
milk chocolate category, the one with the second
highest cocoa content, the Callebaut from Belgium
gained my approval. The rest just couldn't compare.
Except for some Valrhona chocolate bars, I believe
everything else is created by the owners of the
shop. They some very nice creations in the truffle
section (90 cents each; $1 if boxed). They will
also create special order works in chocolate
upon request.
As well as the tasting, we were treated to a
history of chocolate. Quite interesting.
If you like good chocolate, and have money to
spend, the Silver Spoon is well worth the visit.
David:
Silver Spoon is a little out of order, but we thought we'd do
something out of the ordinary this time around. They offer a free
chocolate tasting in the evenings or on weekends, with appointment. Now,
I'm something of a chocoholic, so this is right up my alley. I contacted
Anne-Marie (one of the owners), and set up a Friday night appointment.
Upon arrival we found that Anne-Marie had set out a series of
trays, each of which contained samples of chocolate, dark on one counter,
and milk chocolate on another. The trays were arranged in order from the
finest French and Belgian chocolate down to domestic sludge. Water was
provided to cleanse the palate between chocolate tastings. (Anne-Marie had
earlier suggested bringing champagne to quaff with the chocolate. I, alas,
am not a champagne drinker, and I don't know what beer goes best with
chocolate, so I stuck with water).
I have long been a convert to fine dark chocolate, the darker (and
more bitter), the better. However even I was taken aback by the range in
taste from Valrhona (French) and Callebaut (Belgian) to Hershey's and some
cheap abomination whose name I have blissfully forgotten. You have not
tasted chocolate until you've tried some of these better brands. Even the
sound chocolate makes when you break it into pieces tells you the
difference. Fine chocolate has a nice 'snap' to it, while inferior
chocolate simply crumbles from shame.
Enough about chocolate itself -- back to the Silver Spoon.
Anne-Marie is enthusiastic about chocolate, and it shows. She openly hoped
to convert some of us to the dark side (of chocolate, that is). Not that
there's anything wrong with milk chocolate, of course, but once you've had
black, you never go back. Darlene claims to have been turned
(congratulations, Darlene!), so Anne-Marie's evangelism had some effect.
After the tasting, Anne-Marie spent some time talking about
chocolate, its manufacture and its history. I learned that, besides being
a avaricious, genocidal, megalomaniacal, arrogant, adulterous scum, Hernan
Cortes, conqueror of Mexico, also spread the cultivation of cocoa
throughout the Spanish empire. (Way to go, Cortes, you otherwise nasty
piece of work). The rest of the history was just as fascinating, and
Anne-Marie proved to be very knowledgeable about chocolate, answering
almost all of our questions with ease.
I highly recommend the Silver Spoon just for its chocolate. If
you're looking for an interesting and different way to spend an evening,
get a group of friends together and go chocolate tasting. It's a delicious
evening!