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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54 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!
Unfortunately, I need to warn all future patrons of the Guylian cafe in the Rocks. They have the WORST service. The staff ignore you until you leave in frustration and if you try to call them up on it they state that they are ‘very busy’ (10 people in the whole cafe isn’t very busy). STAY AWAY from this rude, inhospitable environment. Try the French cafe a little further up, the cakes are better and you will receive prompt service for less!!!
What are you talking about!?! I go to the Rocks Guylian all the time as it is on my way to/from work and I think it is brilliant. I am so happy that they’ve opened up such nice place. And their staff is friendly.
There are only two other decent coffee places in the Rocks and none of them is the French cafe. The French are only good for fresh baguettes. Even their crossaints are not that great (way too greasy)
Hello Lorraine, I am glad that you enjoyed Guylian ! Because I am Belgian & I love those chocolates of sea horses!!
Many greets from a chocolate fan in Brussels, Belgium!!!
Hi NQN,
There is another new one opened up at The Rocks! Opposite the Orlean hotel.
cheers!
from your very devoted reader
choclatte
Hi Karina and Kate-Sounds like you two had quite difference experiences which can certainly happen.
Hi Sophie-You are very lucky living in the land of all that wonderful chocolate!
Hi choclatte-Thanks so much, I’d heard about it but have yet to visit the new one. Thanks for reading!
Firstly let me say that I am a Guylian seashells fanatic. They are my favourite chocolate ever since I was a kid, and they still are. Really, I am obsessed with them.
Now… the Guylian cafe. Is terrible. I have actually been to two: the circular quay one, and one at the Singapore airport. I ordered hot chocolates both times – and they both tasted the same – terrible! I was actually disgusted. It tastes like a mxiture of milk with a cheap cocoa powder. And too hot (both times)! I actually burnt my tongue at the singapore one.
I now realise that the guylian cafe should not be representative of my adored guylian seashell chocolates – they are two different classes completely.
I have also been to lindt cafe and max brenners, and their hot chocolates and desserts are amazing in comparison to guylian. Admittedly I haven’t tried guylian desserts but if they can’t even get a standard hot chocolate beverage right, they have no hope. And the review on this page doesn’t exactly leave me wanting to try them. Huge disappointment!
Ooooh I read about this in the SMH Good Living last year. Good, now I have somewhere to go after a movie at Dendy. The cake looks enticing.
Hi michael-Looks like they have some rather crucial things to consider with this page of feedback. It seems like quite a few of you aren’t having great experiences there. I hope they see this
Hi Vidya-Yep that whole area was just dying for a good post movie dessert/coffee/chocolate place!
This was one of our worst dining experiences – we arrived on a busy Saturday night for dessert and the service was the WORST ever – they were slow, they forgot some things and the time from the first drink to the last dessert being delivered was about 1.5 hours! I will never darken their doors again.
Pre mixed hot chocolate – I don’t think that cuts it or the prices.
I took my mum here for waffles one Sunday arvo and mine came out with a big, long hair in the ice cream and on part of the waffle. Being the meek and mild gutless wonder I am I didn’t say anything, I just ate around the hair but I lost my appetite soon into it.
I must say it completely spoiled the experience and I never want to eat a Guylian waffle again! A couple of the young staff members were yawning, looking very hungover, and I watched one of them transfer coffee cups onto a serving tray by picking them up around the rim – not sure why she couldn’t use the handle! Ew.
Hate to be so negative but it was a really negative experience! Boo
Thomas Sampson | September 4, 2009 at 5:17 pm | #
Directors, I always visit your cafe on my yearly vacation in Sydney but not any more are my experience January 2009.
Briefly: My wife ordered coffee and snak. I ordered tea and snak. My wifes coffee came plus snaks for both of us but no tea. I waited and waited and waited.I call waitress and when she could not give me a time that I would get my tea I asked could I change to coffee as it appeared that came quickly. She replied yes but you will have to pay for that too? NB I still had no tea. Eventually my tea came with a strainer that did not work correctly. I called the lady manager and she was rude and insulting, stating it must be me who was using the strainer incorrectly. In fact her words were you do not know how to use the strainer? I am 74 years of age and havee travelled the World many times. I have a silver versiuon of your particular tea strainer which does not malfunction. If this is your instructions to your staff on how to treat customer good luck to you. I will not be coming back this year or in the future. You should train your staff to be courteous and poilite and helpful. Thomas Sampson
Hi Cathy-Yes I went back to this one was unimpressed by the service. What a shame that it’s not up to scratch anymore.
Hi Greer-Hair in food to me is horrifying (just the thought of it makes me gag). Yes I’m definitely seeing a pattern of customers unimpressed by the service in this post. A real shame as the idea of the cafe is great but the execution not so.
Hi Thomas-Oh dear, that is terrible. The staff shouldn’t be talking to customers like that at all
I have been to the Circular Quay cafe a few times and I must say that I love it. Their cakes are absolutely beautiful and very yummy, not too sweet which I consider important. Praline ice cream is my fave. And they serve best coffe in that part of town!
We went there last weekend on Saturday with a large group of people. The place was packed and we still managed to get rather quick service. We all enjoyed it – especially the waffle – that was awesome.
BTW wasnt Guylian just opened few months ago??? Someone on here mentioned going there every year – I am not aware of this cafe being open for more than a year…
WOW !! I must say this is a real chocolate experience for me , quality
is what you get no second class taste or service, about time Sydney put something here for the upper class , people who know and want the real deal yeah !!! BELGIAN CHOCOLATE !!!! and a great experience will come again with my Korean girl friends .
I personly had great experience at both establishments and good luck to the Directors I think you will do well , I as a chef dont drink coffee but make up for it by drinking hot choclate some one saying pre mixed I dont think so the hot ocolate at guylian cafe is quite unique and full of fine chocolate flavour that gives me a feeling that makes go me mmmhh Im going to get one know people like that should use listerine mouth wash !!!!saloutee !!!
I have visited this restaurant/café last weekend and tried the créme brulée,,,it was honestly the best I have ever had! With coco and fresh raspberries but still the pure great taste of créme bruléé,,, Ai can really recommend it to give it a try!
first time going to the rocks i went to a french shop nexst to guylian it had horrible servicefood tasted horrible and cold so i went up to guylian it was amazing choc so nice. the cakes were nothing ive seen before and tasted great. service very good and nice people to have a bit of a chat with so overall it was very nice to take my family there. heads up to guylian cafee
:):)
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