My top 5 hot chocolate places in Toronto

Things I love about winter: fresh snow, skating, cute mittens and most importantly, hot chocolate! 

This blog is all about my favourite hot chocolate places around the city. There's nothing I love more than to warm up to a nice cup of hot cocoa after being out in the cold. I remember when I was a kid I always had to get a cup of hot chocolate from Tim Horton's after being on the ice for a long time. I've come a long way from those Timmies days - I've now graduated from a small hot chocolate to a 1/2 hot chocolate 1/2 coffee! 

There are so many amazing hot chocolate places in Toronto. I came up with my top 5 favourite places after an extensive hot chocolate tasting all around town.

5. Maman

Sometimes all you need a nice cup of hot cocoa. There`s no gimmicks here and it`s not flashy - the drink speaks for itself! A classic hot chocolate with the perfect steamed milk to cocoa ratio. They serve 3 types of hot chocolate: classic hot chocolate, matcha white chocolate and lavender hot chocolate. 

4. Short and Sweet

The most beautiful and extravagant hot chocolate I've ever seen! I got to try their s'more one and their oreo one. As much as I love all things s'mores, the oreo hot chocolate was the winner here. The chocolate is melted into warmed milk and the mountain of toppings added an extra sweetness to the hot chocolate (which I love). This "loco cocoa" is a hot mess - in the best way possible!

3. Sweet Jesus

I believe hot chocolate and marshmallows go hand in hand. From the massive amount of marshmallows in this hot chocolate I think it's safe to say that Sweet Jesus agrees with me! I loved every bit of the marshmallow topping and I was just as impressed with the actual hot chocolate once I finally dug my way through the fluffy marshmallows. 

2. Teddy Story

Teddy Story is an adorable cafe and they serve delicious hot chocolate too! The hot chocolate here is creamy and decadent. They have a pretty large selection to pick from. My 2 favourites are: the toasted marshmallow hot chocolate and their original dark chocolate.

1. Lindt

I love going to lindt for their hot chocolate (and the free chocolate samples). The hot chocolate here is perfect for all Lindt lovers. It's like they literally melted their chocolates into a drinking chocolate. It's thick and rich and just pure perfection. For the coffee lovers, I recommend their mocha - they are on point.

Cluny Bistro & Boulangerie

Such an amazing French restaurant located at the distillery district

I've been a fan of Cluny ever since I discovered their chocolate croissants. This time I decided to try their brunch menu. I had such an amazing experience I actually contemplated moving to one of the condos nearby so I can eat here every day! Apparently all it takes is good food/mimosas to make me relocate.

Everything from the decor, music, service, and most of all their delicious food, remind me of France. Even the waitress addressed me as "mademoiselle". I half expected my cutlery to start singing "be our guest" (this may have been the effects of the mimosa).

In the dining section there's a whole island of just fresh bread and an assortment of pastries. I had to resist the urge to grab one of everything! The garlic rosemary bread is definitely my favorite and I highly recommend it! 

For brunch, I tried the baked vanilla and chocolate french toast (emphasis on the chocolate - they definitely did not skimp on the chocolate part). I love the vanilla and cinnamon combo in the french toast. It felt like I was having dessert for breakfast which just happens to be my favorite kind of breakfast.

Brunch tip: restaurants are not legally allowed to serve alcohol until 11:00 AM. Don't make the same mistake I did and try to order a mimosa before 11:00 AM. Luckily I had a non-judgmental waitress and I still got my mimosa (after 11:00 AM that is).

Can't wait to come back and try more from their menu!

Guschlbauer

Austrian cheese buns. Where have you been all my life? 

Words cannot express how much I love these perfectly light and cheesy buns. They're basically a sweet bun stuffed with layers of melted cream cheese. There's no seating area in this tiny bakery but these buns are perfect for snacking on the go. Or maybe they knew that these buns would be devoured so fast there's no need for seating!

I have not stopped gushing about this place! But to be fair, these oozy cheese buns deserve to be gushed about. I've been stuffing my face with these yummy buns almost every day since I discovered this place. 

I tried 5 flavours: original, chocolate, sweet potato, strawberry and mango. The mango is refreshing and there are actual mango chunks in the cream cheese filling. It's hard to pick a favourite but if I have to choose, my favourite is the chocolate cheese bun. The chocolate is so rich and I love the chocolate chunks. It's perfect for any chocolate lover!

Guschlbauer also have cream puffs stuffed with the same cream cheese filling.

Who would've thought that cream cheese filled buns can bring so much joy?!

Dazzling Cafe

Beautiful & delicious food = happy food baby!

I first fell in love with Dazzling Cafe during one of my trips to Taiwan. The elegant decor and giant desserts made this a high priority food adventure spot on my food map (yes, I have a food adventure map for different cities).

Some people say a specific scent can bring back certain memories, but for me it's food. Certain foods/flavours can bring back a lot of memories for me. In this case, the honey toast really made me reminisce about my visits to Taiwan, however short my visits are each year. The honey toast is just as delicious and beautiful as I remembered.

The lava chocolate crispy toast was unique and oozed chocolate! I don't know how they do it but the center was still crispy even with the chocolate "lava".

I enjoyed the honey toast very MATCHA! This stack of toast is actually hollowed out and filled with mini pieces of crispy and buttery toast, ice cream, whipped cream, matcha sauce and red bean. I've tried multiple items on their menu now and the honey toast is still my favourite. It never disappoints. 

Normally I'm hesitant about floral flavoured beverages because it always tastes like perfume to me. But I liked the subtle hint of rose flavour in the rose latte. So yummy and perfectly sweetened. 

So happy that Dazzling Cafe is in Toronto now and with multiple locations. I've only been to the Markham location but I always leave there with a happy food baby!

Can't get over how cute the bunny ears are on the chairs!