Guylian Belgian Chocolate Café

Quick facts:

Coffee: 13/20

Whole experience (cafe + coffee): 21/40

Bean: Cinque Stelle by Vittoria

I went along to the Guylian Chocolate Cafe [(B) in google maps] in the rocks on sunday, as a break between two festival of dangerous ideas talks, which as a side note were great, well done @stjamesethics. It's a well known chocolate brand and wanted to see if it could live up to some of its brand hype (note: it's not known for coffee!).

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Starting out, the cafe was crowded, as you would expect for a wet and windy weekend day in the Rocks, however not unpleasantly so. We were found a table quickly by the staff, which was great, and everything seemed clean, which is always a plus. Guylian staff, as I soon found out, are very attentive, and often I would not fault attentive service at a cafe, however the staff liked to hover over the table, asking us frequently if we were ready to order.

Once our orders were made, I found the coffee to come out quickly and the pre-made sweet food, just so. Nerd 2, who I was with, doesn't drink coffee but was quite pleased with the T2 teabag.

Now onto the coffee. I ordered a long black, a drink I am slowly coming around too as my drink of choice, especially when I order some food. The coffee, as you would hope from a chocolate shop, had distinct coco undertones, which were not too overpowering. The coffee had a

generous and clean crema, and not too bitter taste. In the standard coffee test of dragging a tea spoon though the crema, I found that the crema mostly and quickly closed over the open gap (if you have no idea what I am talking about, just grab a spoon, made a gap in the crema and see whether or not it 'closes' over the gap, covering the coffee, if it does not completely cover the surface, its not that great).

The coffee itself, was served in a white cup and presented with some thought from the waitress who made sure she presented the coffee with the teaspoon behind the cup.

Two points to note here! One, in the interests of an equal and fair blog, I am noting the coffee was highly complimented by the food (like a wine, if you get food to go with the meal, the quality of the coffee, and the food can be remarkably improved) and the chocolate undoubtedly improved the taste of the coffee. Two, Guylian does provide you with a small sea-shell chocolate with your coffee.

These two points seem to cancel each other out?

Service was the big let down of the experience, as I noted earlier, staff at Guylian like to hover, so much so that, I felt rushed throughout my drinking experience. The bill was quickly presented to us, well before we had finished our drinks (not taking an unusually long time I might add) and we were made to feel like we were holding back (which we

undoubtedly were) new drinkers to the cafe.

If Guylian management read this: great concept guys, but give your chocolate lovers a little break and hold back on the presentation of the bill till we are done or taking a ridiculous amount of time to leave.

I ended up paying for my coffee at the counter, even though it was a table service place, not that I really mind however, as the staff, having been told to go away, took no further interest in me.

How I rate it?

Scores:
1. Coffee score
Style: 7/10
Experience (taste): 6/10
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Coffee total: 13/20
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2. Cafe score
Style (what’s it feel like): classy, yet kinda starbucks
Cool?: 4/10
Service: 3/10
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Cafe: 7/20
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Whole experience (coffee + cafe): 20/40

I don't plan on going back, but mostly likely will for some reason.