Review: Koko Black’s summer menu

Posted on 12 December, 2014

Are you a Koko Black fan? Do you remember your first visit to one of their salons? I’ll never forget mine. It was way back in 2006, when Koko Black only had stores in Melbourne. I’d gone for a girls’ weekend away with some friends, and one of them had put Koko Black on our ‘must do’ list. Having been once before, that friend sensibly ordered a chocolate mousse and nothing else. The other girl and I, however, were Koko Black newbies.

While we were deciding what to order, we spotted a Belgian spoil being taken to another table (at the time it comprised of a scoop of chocolate ice cream, a serve of chocolate mousse, a mini chocolate cake, two truffles and a shortbread biscuit). “Those look pretty small,” we said. “Let’s get one each. And an iced chocolate each.” I imagine that those of you who’ve ordered these items at Koko Black before are probably laughing at me right now. And rightly so. We very quickly discovered that each item on the plate, while not necessarily big, was rich, and the cumulative effect was a little overwhelming—and did I mention the iced chocolate? Which has TWO scoops of ice cream in it? While this Belgian spoil isn’t available anymore, I’ve included a photo of it just to give you an idea of my folly (see below).

Since that innocent first visit eight years ago, I like to think that I’m now a Koko Black veteran. Over the years, I’ve seen its menu evolve and grow, and two of my favourite additions have been the introduction of seasonal menu items (which gives me an excuse to go back every few months to see what’s new) and dessert degustations (perfect for someone like me who can never decide when there are so many tasty things to choose from). And what could possibly make those two things better? Combining them!

So it was that a friend and I ventured in to try Koko Black’s new summer dessert degustation. The degustations are made up of five desserts. For summer, it consists of a mini chocolate alchemy cake, chocolate hazelnut cluster, and raspberry chocolate dome, and a serve of Belgian mousse, and chocolate ice cream. Since we were sharing, we also decided we could fit in a drink each. My friend ordered a chilli hot chocolate and I, at the recommendation of the manager, Haley Koo (who I think loves chocolate more than anyone else I’ve ever met, so she’s in the right job!), decided to try the salted caramel iced chocolate.

Apart from being delicious, one of the things I love about Koko Black’s creations is their presentation. You may have heard the saying, “You eat with your eyes first,” and Koko Black definitely understands that. I mean, just look at this:

We decided to start with the ice cream as it would obviously melt if we didn’t. We found it creamy and rich, but thankfully not too sugary. Koko Black’s chocolate soil (consisting of milk and dark chocolate with cocoa powder) is the best I’ve had, and its crunchiness combined well with the smooth ice cream to provide a nice contrast in texture, as did the garnish on top.

Next we tried the raspberry chocolate dome (chocolate and raspberry mousse). This was delicious. I’ve said before that I really like desserts with ‘surprises in the middle’, and this was one of them. My friend and I slid our spoons into it expecting the inside to be just mousse and pink all the way through, but were pleasantly surprised to find that in the middle was Madagascan vanilla custard and liquid raspberry.

My friend was starting to feel the sugar rush so suggested that we go for the chocolate mousse next, as it would be lighter (my reaction was to smile knowingly—and then laugh after she had her first taste of it. I know those of you who’ve had it before would have done the same!). While the texture of the mousse was lighter than what we’d already had, it was rich.

After a slight pause, we moved on to the chocolate hazelnut cluster, which was a dark chocolate hazelnut brownie topped with milk chocolate caramel and a gianduja cremeux. Plus some Sandpiper roasted hazelnuts. This dessert surprised me. It looked super-sweet, and I was expecting the caramel topping to be hard, but it was soft, and not as sweet as it looked. This was probably my favourite.

Finally, we tackled the chocolate alchemy cake, which was chocolate cake layered with Madagascan chocolate crème, dark chocolate mousse, and chocolate caramel. While this was nice, I think by then my friend and I had both reached our chocolate breaking points (remember, we’d been having our drinks as well) so we didn’t enjoy it as much as we might have if we’d had it earlier in our choc-fest. Next time I have a dessert degustation I’ll have to try eating them in a different order! Or go with two or three other people instead of one.

As for the drinks, while we enjoyed them (my friend described her chilli hot chocolate as ‘bitey’, meaning it had a bit of a kick to it), we couldn’t finish—but found out you can take your leftovers home in a takeaway cup. And if left in the fridge overnight, you end up with a delicious chocolate thickshake type drink the next day!

If you love chocolate, then you need to go to Koko Black. And if you haven’t been in a while, then do what I do and use the new seasonal menu as an excuse to go!

The author and her friend dined courtesy of Koko Black.

The essentials
The place: Koko Black
Where: Canberra Centre, Bunda Street
When: Monday to Thursday 8.30am–10.00pm, Friday 8.30am–11.00pm, Saturday 10.00am–11.00pm, Sunday 10.00am–6.00pm
Food: Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate
Drinks: Chocolate, tea, coffee
Contact:  Call 02 6230 4040 or visit their website or Facebook page