Hotel Chocolat

I crave coffee at every opportunity but I have some friends that, apparently, are less of a fan. Sometimes I want to find somewhere meet up and drink a warm beverage but whose specialty isn’t coffee. I think Hotel Chocolat is a good option.
It’s a little bit hidden at the back of John Lewis amongst the clothes, but it’s a nice space and you quickly forget you are in the middle of a department store.
They have a good range of hot chocolate, varying from the usual salted caramel type thing through to the 100% darker-​than-​dark cocoa, which I think might be less about enjoyment and more about endurance. Nothing here is sickly sweet though and makes a pleasant change from the sugar-​laden drinks in Starbucks. I like the chilli chocolate myself. A ‘coffee chocolate’ hybrid is available but I think it’s better just to stick with one or the other.
There is the odd sandwich available but this feels more like a place for a brownie or pastry than for lunch. If you want to buy their stuff to take home and don’t want to go across town to the main Hotel Chocolat store there is a well stocked shop with pretty much everything.
It can get busy and weekends when there might be long queues but it’s worth a visit if you want a break from shopping or a change from coffee.

I first tried some Hotel Chocolat products last year when a friend bought me some yummy caramel chocolate buttons. Since then I’ve been in love with their products, (although I must admit I’ve only tried a few things due to the price), so when I found out there was a Hotel Chocolat café in the John Lewis in Edinburgh I knew I had to visit.
The café is located at the back of the store on the third floor so I imagine it doesn’t get a lot of passing trade and it wasn’t overally busy on the afternoon we visited. Now I didn’t know before, but all the chocolate is made on site which means the place smells delicious. You can see the chocolate machine turning, and the beans being ground which is a nice touch.
The counter is displayed with an assortment of yummy chocolate and cake like treats, including croissants, brownies, crispy cake, pastries, popcorn — it all looked delicious. Theres also a menu of main courses and an all day refuel menu. The main options, to name a few include — mac and cheese pie, cocoa dogs and a power brunch — each with chocolate in the recipe — white chocolate mash anyone?
The all day refuel menu has some more breakfast inspired options included chocolate granola and muesli or toasts with chocolate spreads.
Being the chocolate lover I am, I was truly spoiled for choice, but we opted to split the Vegetarian Cocoa Dogs with a Cocoa Balsamic Glaze which had a beer infused dressing on the side, and the Chocolate Brownie with icecream and chocolate sauce.
I also love my tea so I opted for a Cocoa Infused Tea which smelt and tasted delicious with delicate chocolate undertones. They have a fab selection of teas, coffees and hot chocolates! Our teas arrived swiftly but the food did seem to take a while to arrive but was brought out by the chef which did suggest it was all made on site and had been lovingly plated up.
The veggie dogs were very tasty with a sweet and sticky coating that didn’t immediately taste chocolately although the dressing on the side was a bit unusual for my tastes. The menu stated this came in a bun which could be swapped for white choc mash, but it came in what was more like a toasted ciabatta style roll which was tasty all the same. The brownie was the star of the show — the perfect brownie not too cakey or fudgey and the 70% chocolate dressing really intensified the chocolate hit.
Its not the cheapest place and the veggie dog at £7 did seem a bit expensive, but most of the other options were reasonable, especially compared to the price of other Hotel Chocolat goodies. I’d definitely like to go back and sample more of the tasty treats, but do hope they decide to open one in Glasgow!

Great addition to JL and the café is more spacious than it first appears. Also, worth noting that if you can’t be bothered schlepping to Frederick St for Hotel Chocolat then all your needs are met in the store within the café here!
So, came here on the promise of GF griddle cakes. There are GF options (savoury as well as sweet) and they are marked as such on the menu so kudos here.
I had a salted caramel hot choc — lovely and could definitely taste the salted caramel. It probably wasn’t my best choice though as chocolate on chocolate is too much for me.
The griddle cakes were good! Like a pancake and slightly crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, they were yum. Two generous helpings of chocolate spread were provided, as was a little round of cocoa nib butter. The slight saltiness of the butter with cocoa through it was lovely. The chocolate spreads were great too but hence the reason I’d avoid my drink being chocolate when I have this dish again as it was together, all too much sweetness for me (and I am all over the sweet stuff).
So the décor is all dark wood and chocolate tones and staff are friendly and helpful. Despite it being a Saturday, it was fairly quiet (a good thing) so more than happy to return :-)

This awesome new cocoa bar & café just opened in February. According to the John Lewis website, they’ll be opening more in other locations, but Edinburgh has the first. I stopped in with my husband and we each had a fancy drinking chocolate (salted caramel for me, chilli chocolate for him) and shared a brownie. Everything was delicious. Decadent, rich and really enjoyable on a rainy & dreary day!
They have a varied café menu with more than just chocolatey treats, but we’ll have to try those options another time. This is quite the departure from the usual café/​tea room you find in department stores and I’ll definitely be back. Yum.