Australia is not the kind of place that you think of when you think chocolate, our weather is mostly too warm for it I always feel (although it doesn’t stop me from consuming it). I always think of somewhere cold with falling snow for chocolate. But here in Australia we have the Max Brenner chain, the Lindt cafes (the only ones in the world apparently) and now the newest addition, Guylian cafe at East Circular Quay. Situated in a prime tourist and eating location, it’s right next to the Dendy Opera Quays cinemas and is so brand spanking new, it has only been open since last Wednesday.
Counter
Cake display
Despite its relative newness, the only telltale sign is the sign saying that the credit cards facility is not working. It’s still packing people in and the service is noticeably enthusiastic. When we enquire about seating the girl behind the counter comes out and shows us the range of cakes, chocolates and breakfast pastries and is more than happy to answer our questions and give recommendations.
Hot chocolate powder, Seahorse bottle of liquer, praline, fondue dip and chocolate tablettes
There are displays of hot chocolate powder ($10), clear bags of individual chocolates ($12) and a large seahorse shaped bottle of Guylian Liqueur ($60).
There are plenty of seashell seahorse motifs adorning the space.
Cakes and biscuits on display
Individual truffles and chocolates
We choose a seat inside so we can observe the comings and goings and of course get some good photos of the displays. Our waitress is very friendly too and takes our order as soon as she notices that we are ready. We’ve had lunch so we bypass their filled rolls and make a choice of cake, waffles with chocolate and ice cream. Items range from 70c for an individual twisted wrap chocolate to $2 for a small biscuit to $10-$11 for a filled roll to $12 for an individual cake or waffles.
Hot Chocolate $6
Our hot chocolate arrives first, we’ve asked for Dark but we actually get Milk chocolate which we only notice when we get the bill, we just thought it was a really weak and not very Dark Hot Chocolate.
There’s a small tile of chocolate at the bottom of the cup and a larger accompanying pot that holds about 1.5 cup’s worth of hot chocolate. It’s not bad but I have to say that Colefax’s is richer and sweeter and more chocolatey.
I do like that they give you a little sampler pot of sweeteners plus a little Caramel Crunch chocolate which is absolutely delicious. Dime or Daim chocolate lovers would certainly approve of it.
100% Pure Pleasure $11.50
Our cake arrives, the 100% Pure Pleasure is plated beautifully with raspberry coulis and chocolate swirls. Inside is a mousse with a white chocolate mousse centre which is slightly more firm than the quivering mousse surrounding it. The whole thing is enrobed in a dark chocolate ganache with crunchy pieces of brandy snap on the side adorning it.
Waffles with 3 types of melted chocolate $12 plus 1 scoop of White chocolate and raspberry ice cream $4.50
The Waffle comes out with 3 individual pots of chocolate all with different strengths from 54%, 60% to 70% (you can choose just one or three, of course we’d choose three). On the side is the scoop of white chocolate and raspberry ice cream. The waffle is interesting, it’s different from the other Belgian waffles that I’ve had, admittedly none in Belgium itself, but in Tokyo where they’re somewhat of a national obsession. However looking up Wikipedia, it is indeed an authentic Belgian waffle, or specifically a Brussels waffle. The one that they sell in Tokyo is the Liege waffle (Liege being in East Belgium). It’s freshly made and lovely with the chocolate although I would have to say that the additional of cream or ice cream makes it much better, it could be perhaps too overpowering, especially if you do like what my husband did. Like only a boy does, he filled up every single crevasse with the chocolate. As for the three different chocolates, the differences in each was very small and even the 70% was fairly mild in strength.
The White chocolate and raspberry ice cream is good, reminiscent of those white chocolate and raspberry chocolate bars. It steers towards more a gelato than a full on creamier than thou ice cream.
Pretty bubble chandelier
Looks like this one could be a birthday cake for next year…
We’re excited to learn that they’ll be open until 11pm to midnight every night which I am happy about as we often find ourselves faced with wanting somewhere nice to have dessert.
Guylian Cafe
East Circular Quay
Shop 10 Opera Quays
3 Macquarie Street Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 8274 7900
Open 7 days: 8am-11pm/midnight
http://www.guyliancafe.com.au/
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34 Comments | Add your own
Oooh yes another chocolate cafe to visit. Adding this to my list … can’t wait for the new chocolate Zumbos, too.
I had no idea this opened up last Wednesday! I even checked the website the other day. I just flew out of Sydney! DAMMIT! I much prefer Guylian to Lindt but I still adore Lindt for their macarons.
Beautiful pictures, they make me want to try everything! I think I am just going to sit here for awhile and drool over the pictures until I get back to syd to try everything out.
My bf works right near there, and after all his late nights and weekends working, I think I deserve a Friday night date night at the Guylian Cafe!
oh my! I heard about this place. I think I need to come to Sydney for a chocolate tour! Everything looks soooo good!
x
blythe remembers that guylian was the first proper brand of chocolate she ate (lindt was a bit too posh then).
now she cannot go back to eating regular chocolate.
u know what they say: once u go belgian, u can’t go back (although blythe still does prefer white chocolate).
Ooh we’ve been wanting to check this place out, and a great spot too. We’re always struggling in this area to find somewhere for post movie chats…
Hi NQN
You always have something new up your sleeves, don’t you? While I like to go CQ sometimes, I never paid any attention to this cafe ever.
For my chocolate fix, I always go to Max Brenner hahaha.
It’s open!! How exciting. Do you know when the Rocks one is opening?
Now the dilemma is whether to visit next month, after Sugar Hit is finished… or just go now!
OMGG!!! I walked passed this yesterday haha and planned on blogging it as soon as possible but you beat me to itt haha!! You are too pro ;)mmmm cannot wait to go now!
it’s open!? squee! im excited! oh boy chocolate!
I’m not a big fan of Guylian’s chocolates in general, so wasn’t terribly interested in checking out their new cafe. Still, it’s interesting to see what they’re serving there, and great to hear they open late.
I’m not too fancy with Guylian. Can’t seem find any original taste, seem it’s been mixed with lots of addition. Is the cafe better than Lindt? Why the Belgian Waffle in Guylian is more expensive than Max Brenner?
Hi SydneyGal-I know, there seem to be so many nowadays-which is a good thing of course
Hi Maria-I know, it was all of a sudden and it was there. They said that it was a soft launch so perhaps they’ll make a bit more fanfare later.
Thanks! Hopefully you can come back to Sydney soon so you can try it!
I think that’s a perfect idea for a date…
Hi Iron Chef Shellie - Definitely! Do you have Lindt cafe in Melbourne? If not, a comparison test is surely in order
Hi blythe-Guylian is about the same price as Lindt though? Belgian chocolate is pretty amazing I have to say.
Hi reemski-I agree, a place to go after the movies that will happily accept dessert only eaters is great!
Hi Adrian-Haha I don’t know what you mean up my sleeve but I do like to visit as many places as possible.
Since it only opened on Wednesday it may have been easy to overlook!
Hi flapflap-I’m not sure about the Rocks one. Two so close to each other is interesting! Haha do you dare to go to both in one evening?
Hi FFichiban-Hehe you should definitely go back and blog about it!
Hi chocolatesuze-Sure is! Go forth and eat!
Hi Y-I hadn’t actually eaten Guylian chocolates in years and all I knew was the seahorse/seashells (which I really liked). But I think the individual truffles and other goodies are worth a try!
Hi Lilia-Really? I like their praline centres. My friends asked me this and it’s different from Lindt. Lindt has the delices so that’s a plus but I don’t like the locations at Lindt. Service wise Guylian is excellent (it’s not bad at Lindt but it’s more effusive at Guylian, perhaps because they are new).
I have no idea, you’re asking the wrong person about the pricing!
Wow. I find having a Guylian cafe rather random! I’ve always quite liked the chocolate (havent had it in years though) but never thought of it as ‘gourmet’ or anything. Maybe thats because Ive always referred to them as ‘the shell chocolate’- doesn’t exactly sound luxe! Anyway, off topic but I’ve booked in for Tetsuyas in February!
I’m not even sure we have Guylian chocolates here in the states. Lindt, yes…but I don’t recall running across Guylian (I’ll have to keep an eye out now).
Regardless, this cafe is lovely in appearance. What’s interesting is, even your packaging for Equal Sweetener is different from ours—yours being much more attractive and colorful.
(Have you seen the packaging for Equal sweetener in America? Dull, dull, dull.)
100% pure pleasure indeed!
meanwhile, i think seahorses are some of the most peculiar-looking critters on the earth, but i like the way they look in chocolate.
OH YUM! I can’t wait to come back to make a visit to this place… been waiting for this for a while!
Chocolate is a girl’s best friend isn’t it?
hmm it seems the deserts get more and more expensive?
Can’t wait to try it out…too bad about the long walk to the quay though, guess a chance to walk of the calories.
Now i have somewhere new to buy my cakes…was getting a bit tired of lindt cakes.
Hi Bria-I was a bit surprised when I heard about it but pleasantly so (the more chocolate he merrier for me)
Excellent, can’t wait to read all about it!
Hi Sandie-Oh really? Wow, I thought you guys had everything over there! I remember being stunned at the level of choice
Hehe really? Ours is more attractive? I googled it and yes ours is more interesting looking!
Hi grace-Seahorses are quite weird looking creatures, I used to be scared of them because they looked so strange. Doesn’t stop me from eating the chocolate version though
Hi Teresa-Yes indeed, you’re right-along with shoes and bags of course
Hi lyn-Yes I thought that the Lindt cakes were a bit pricey at $10 each but these are a bit more. I actually like the location, I think it’s a picturesque walk
this cafe looks really nice .
OMG. that is me and the kid at the corner table in the last photo. i just blogged it. we were simultaneously overwhelmed and underwhelmed.
Hi snooky doodle-Thanks, it was!
Hi bowb-LOL I thought it might be you but I wasn’t sure and I wasn’t in the mood for harassing strangers that day!
And here was I, thinking that the Cadbury’s Cafe in Bath was decadent. This looks amazing!!
Hi Angela-I think a trip to Sydney is definitely in order. For comparison purposes you see
I will be visiting Sydney from the USA next month. I’m adding this to my list of places to visit! I’ve enjoyed reading your posts! Any advice?
Hi Barbara-Oh cool, Sydney has so much food wise to offer
Advice wise, sure, what sort of food are you after and what is your budget? I can definitely recommend staying at the Park Hyatt, the rooms, service and view are stunning!
Thanks for your help! We have rented a house in the Rocks for six nights. Since there are seven of us, most nights I would prefer to pick up takeaway food and eat at “home”. We love Asian food, Italian food, Greek food, and Mexican. One night I’d like to have a romantic dinner with just my husband, something not too extravagant - the food doesn’t have to be fancy, just delicous. Any ideas? Thanks!
Our party of 4 decided to try this cafe after attending a work function. We arrived in our formal attire at 11.00pm and were given the dirtiest looks the entire time we were there. Yes, it was late, but there were about 3 other tables occupied and 2 parties came after. The manager and the barista continued to look over in our direction and was very hostile. Our server however, was very nice. The food was ordinary. The waffles looked nice when they arrived but nothing to write home about. Also, we were not given 3 choices of chocolate. We were told to pick 1. The ice cream was okay at best. Nothing compared to Gelatissmo down the street. Overall, I would NEVER go back due to the horrible customer service, the extaordinary prices and the average food.
Hi Barbara-Hmmm let me think about this carefully (I take my role as food advisor seriously
), I’ll let you know tomorrow!
Hi silvia-That’s terrible to hear and bizarre that they didn’t allow you to choose all three chocolates for the waffles, especially since it says that you can on the menu.
I’ll look forward to tomorrow! Thanks!
Hi Barbara-Just some ideas around the Rocks are:
-Sailors Thai Canteen is the more casual version of Sailors Thai (the restauarant is next door). The canteen has a large share table and I particularly liked the green papaya salad with the sweet BBQ pork although it has been a long time since my last visit
-Nakashima Japanese in the Rocks is in a cute little location and has decent lunchboxes
-La Renaissance for cakes and snacks in a lovely leafy courtyard
-The Park Hyatt is my favourite Sydney hotel and a drink at their bar is lovely
-For the pick of the foreshore restaurants, I’d say Quay is the best although it is not cheap
-Further south but a walkable distance from the Rocks is Darling Harbour which is near Chinatown for some great eats
-Sydney has great beaches and a beautiful harbour and a ferry trip to Watson’s Bay to have fish and chips or a seafood platter at Doyle’s is very nice
-Manly beach is worth a visit and the ferry ride over. Right near the Ferry Wharf is Sky Phoenix Yum Cha and Max Brenner (a chocolate chain)
I hope this helps! Have a great time in Sydney, I hope we put on some good weather for you
This is just the kind of information I was hoping for - thanks!
Hi Barbara-Great, you’re welcome!
All looks very pretty and soooo sweet! Love the displays. And I love a good, crunchy/chewy waffle!
Hi Maria-It was a very pretty cafe indeed!
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