Iron Chef Shellie
 

Yarra Valley Chocolaterie

The Yarra Valley just got sweater, with the opening of the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Ice-Creamery.

Travel & Dining

Yarra Valley Chocolaterie
January 10, 2013
Dining

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Yarra Valley Chocolaterie

The Yarra Valley is one of my favourite regions in Victoria. With the rolling hills and vineyards, it’s rather picturesque and not too far out of town. I’m not much of a wine connoisseur, but I am one of chocolate. Lucky for people like me, and families who want something to keep the kids interested on a trip out there, the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie is the place to be.

Just opened before Christmas of 2012, I was invited along with fellow food bloggers April, Sarah and Thanh to gorge ourselves stupid on chocolate. A task little of us had trouble resisting.

The first thing that hits you as you walk in, other than the smell of chocolate is how big, bright and colourful the place is. It’s HUGE. Walls lined with chocolate, people walking around with samples of chocolate, being able to watch the chocolatiers make the chocolate… it’s all chocolate! And if chocolate aint  your thing, they also make their own ice-cream! With a casual café towards the back, you can grab a light lunch, without breaking the bank like you would at many popular wineries. The views are gorgeous too! I forgot to capture them on camera.

We were lucky enough to score an invitation behind the scenes (behind the glass) to see how it’s all done. We did have to don “chocolate making scrubs” for hygiene reasons.  There are 6 chocolatiers working at Yarra Valley Chocolaterie; 4 from Belgium and 2 from France. Apparently they had to get used to making Aussie flavours like Rocky Road.

The cocoa beans are sourced from west Africa, and they are or going to be growing the fruits and nuts for their chocolate on site. When the owners first went to go to the council with an idea for a chocolaterie they got knocked back as it wasn’t agricultural business. But luckily they fought and won, and there is a great new destination place to hit up in the Yarra Valley.

We and our guests enjoyed a little savoury relief at the café, before going all out for dessert.

Pizza – roasted pumpkin, spinach and Yarra Valley Fetta – $18

Panini – $17 

Steak sandwich with caramelised onions on toasted sourdough with house made relish – $20

Dessert Pizza #1 – Mudcake, honey our white, milk and dark couvertore chocolate and icing sugar –  $18

Piping Hot Waffle – with our vanilla bean ice cream and maple syrup – $8

Chocolate Fondue for Two – $14

The Best Brownie – served warm with our vanilla bean ice cream and maple syrup – $7

Sensational Sundae #2 – Summer Love with Wildberry $12

I managed to score some truffles to take home too! With flavours like Early Grey Tea, Chinese 5 Spice, Hazelnut and one with blush tomato, they were all fantastic. Chinese 5 Spice reminding me a little of chocolate coated gingerbread.

With 150 delights to choose from, you won’t have trouble finding something to suit you!

Yarra Valley Chocolaterie & Ice Creamery
Just an hour from Melbourne 
Free entry – open every day 
9am-5pm (except Christmas Day)

35 Old Healesville Road
(cnr Melba Highway) 
Yarra Glen Victoria
P: 03 9730 2777

www.yvci.com.au

Iron Chef Shellie and guest dined as guests of Yarra Valley Chocolaterie thanks to Q Strategies.

Comments

17 comments on “Yarra Valley Chocolaterie
  1. ChopinandMysaucepan

    Dear Iron Chef Shellie,

    The chocolates look nice although I am more of a wine person that one with a sweet tooth. The Yarra has some nice wine and I agree that unlike the Hunter, Barrosa or Margaret river, it’s only 45 minutes out of Melbourne, major plus!

    January 10, 2013 at 2:19 pm
    • Iron Chef Shellie

      I love that it’s not too far away! Perhaps with age I will get more into wine 😛

      January 10, 2013 at 9:07 pm
  2. MoMo & Coco Dessert

    Ooooh! We just visited last weekend and was planning to post sometime next week! We have quite a few pics, too many in fact. Photo culling is such a problem. What were your favourite chocolate products from this place?

    January 10, 2013 at 8:59 pm
    • Iron Chef Shellie

      I really liked the chocolate coated liquorice, the Chinese 5 Spice truffle, the Earl Grey truffle … that’s about all I can remember… So.Much.Chocolate! Look forward to seeing your pics and what you thought of it 🙂

      January 10, 2013 at 9:06 pm
  3. Hannah

    Bush Tomato! I’d be up for that, definitely 🙂

    January 11, 2013 at 1:53 am
  4. Daisy@Nevertoosweet

    You know I’m DRAGGING Ricky there as soon as I land back into Melbourne 😛 hehe everything looks super sinful and delicious! YAY!

    January 11, 2013 at 2:31 am
  5. Heidi - Apples Under My Bed

    What a fabulous task 🙂 Loved seeing your instagram shots of this & now this post is just delicious. I can imagine that smell… mmmm
    Heidi xo

    January 11, 2013 at 9:49 am
  6. Maureen | Orgasmic Chef

    I love driving through the Yarra Valley! What a beautiful part of the country and so many places to stop along the way to eat and drink. 🙂 Now.. gimme a chocolate and I’ll let the hostages go.

    January 12, 2013 at 3:23 pm
  7. Marta @ What should I eat for breakfast today

    It was almost too difficult to read this post. I was in Yarra Valley about 3-4 years ago when I was living in Australia. I so miss this amazing country and it’s goods.

    January 12, 2013 at 11:34 pm
  8. msihua (@msihua)

    Woah! I want those chocolate taps and sinks installed in my house!

    January 13, 2013 at 1:33 pm
  9. Gourmet Getaways

    Everything in the factory looks absolutely amazing! Even the savoury items look really special, I will have to add this to my list of things I must do next time I am down that way.

    January 14, 2013 at 7:13 am
  10. Cara @ Gourmet Chick

    Wow I didn’t know there was a chocolate factory in the Yarra Valley – it looks gorgeous. Now I need some chocolate!

    January 14, 2013 at 7:33 pm
  11. Kimberley M

    Great post and beautiful photos. The parent blogger troupe made it last weekend and we heard about your visit. Such a wonderful place to visit – I couldn’t speak highly enough of it.

    January 15, 2013 at 7:25 am
  12. Nic@diningwithastud

    Those chocolate tubs – zomg!!!!! Good idea starting with some savoury 😉

    January 27, 2013 at 7:50 pm
  13. Thanh

    Chocolate overload that day. I really loved the waffles.

    February 3, 2013 at 8:45 am
  14. Aimee

    What a gorgeous post! I love the Yarra Valley chocolaterie 🙂 It looks like you had an amazing experience behind the scenes and lucky you! Looks like you had your own personal giant chocolate freckle wrote on, they are my favourite out of all the chocolate there 🙂

    January 19, 2014 at 7:02 pm
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Shellie Froidevaux

All content on this site is by Shellie Froidevaux - aka Iron Chef Shellie. Her skills include recipe development, food styling in her kitchen studio, lifestyle and travel photography, restaurant photography on location, styling and shooting social media for her clients and photography workshops for people who really want to change their game :)

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