I am always up for tasting new chocolates – solid or liquid, I might add. Thus Hot Chocolate is included in that list especially when it’s made from real chocolate (instead of cocoa powder) like at SAID in Soho. You simply cannot get as rich, smooth or thick (your spoon will literally stand in it) cup of Hot Chocolate anywhere else in London as you can at SAID. SAID London simply is THE to-die-for destination for London’s chocolate lovers! This tiny Italian chocolate shop opened its doors about a year ago and it is the only sister-shop to the original SAID in Rome. The mother-store in Rome has been a well-established chocolate shop since 1923. SAID in London is a fabulous mix of chocolate shop and cafe. No wonder that it is hugely popular!
The must try item when you visit SAID truly is their Hot Chocolate which comes in different strengths. It is so rich that a small espresso of Hot Chocolate is plenty to satisfy your sweet tooth. But as I am me – I did not believe this the first time around and took a regular sized Hot Chocolate (below). It was absolutely delicious and just melted off my tongue like hot sweet lava. From then on I have curbed my bigger-is-always-better policy and have been super content with the espresso sized Hot Chocolate.
SAID is a tiny shop with shelves and more shelves of stacked chocolate bars on the walls. The shelves are actually old window shutters. There is an impressive wall covered with old chocolate moulds as well. Most of the decorations are from their chocolate factory in Rome. So it’s no wonder that the London shop has that old Rome feeling about it, which is like a breath of sweet Italian air in the middle of London’s busy Soho district. Such a lovely place to enjoy a sweet pit-stop on a Saturday afternoon!
All the chocolate products are SAID’s own brand and have vibrant and attractive packagings that just seems to be screaming ‘You must taste me!!’ There are so many varieties and flavours to choose from that leaving the shop with only one chocolate bar is a pure impossibility. Not to talk about all the ‘loose’ chocolates in jars and tins.
All the chocolates are high quality and taste absolutely divine. The lovely packaging makes them ideal gifts. Christmas shopping already done – tick!
One of my absolute favorite chocolate bars is Caffé. It has a coating of crushed espresso beans which makes it like a solid mocha. Delish!
I am usually not a huge fan of dark chocolate, but all the SAID’s dark chocolates I have tasted have been rich and strong-flavoured but not bitter. Bitterness in dark chocolate is a deal-breaker for me. SAID has made me a newly converted dark chocolate lover. As long as the dark chocolate is as high quality and smooth tasting as the ones in SAID.
Find more about SAID after a jump here.
Find SAID London in Soho at 41 Broadwick St, London.
Photos: Fashion Addicted Foodies
