La Chocolaterie

Located in the recently renovated Izumi-ya Japanese grocery store, La Chocolaterie is one of the newest, of Japanese-style shops/eateries popping up around town.  The Japanese style chocolate here is hand-made, and this tiny little shop really gave me this feeling of Japan.  Was it the presentation?  The way the staff greeted us?  I wasn't really sure, but I had to try their chocolate.

Samples of the variety of flavours they produce.  I tried just about every single one, and wasn't a big fan of the yuzu, but really liked the matcha, coffee, and strawberry flavoured chocolates. 

These gift packs are a great idea, I wonder if they wrap them too?

The smaller packs are more appropriate if you like a particular flavour and you just want to nibble on them some times.

Being a student of sado, I've come to really appreciate matcha, and though I'm still quite a beginner, I could tell that the grade of matcha isn't you're run-of-the mill $10 can of matcha from Osaka/T&T in Yaohan - it's actually of pretty good quality, and fresh too.  The chocolate is rich, but isn't overwhelming or overly sweet.  It blends perfectly with the matcha.  I guess one way to discribe it is it's like a high-quality, custom-made Melty Kiss.  But of course, La Chocolaterie's confections are in a league of it's own compared and shouldn't really be compared to a Melty Kiss, lol.