Sydney-based, Australian author, food and travel writer, Sally Hammond, shares her world ... and her table

SYDNEY IS CHOCK FULL

There’s no excuse for anyone in Sydney to suffer chocolate cravings. I could name a dozen great local chocolatiers (and I may well do that another time) but at present there is also a new slew of international stars. We have had Lindt cafes for a few years now, but the latest chocolate maker to hit the city is the delicious Guylian.

It was a gala evening at East Circular Quay the other night when hundreds of celebrities, politicos, media darlings, and international VIPs packed the stylish esplanade outside the model-slim Guylian Belgian Chocolate Cafe to celebrate its sumptuous opening by NSW Premier Nathan Rees.

There were champagne and Guylian cocktails for all, along with oysters, canapés – and of course chocolates. A second Sydney location in the historic The Rocks precinct is due to open soon, making these two among the first Guylian Belgian Chocolate Cafes to open outside Belgium.

Both cafes will be open every day from 8am until late for breakfast, lunch, morning and afternoon tea, and après dinner, and of course all chocolate at the Guylian Belgian Chocolate Cafés will be imported directly from Belgium.

For further information: www.guyliancafe.com.au

If all you want for Christmas is Chocolate and Champagne, Guylian Belgian Chocolate Café  has the answer. Now in two new locations – East Circular Quay and The Rocks – both cafes will offer chocolate lovers the opportunity to create their very own Chocolate Christmas Hampers – for the first time ever in Australia. They will be custom-made by chocolate lovers and can include any one of the following Guylian Cocoa Powder, the Wagner Chocolate Brownie from the Guylian Belgian Chocolate Café’s Opus Collection, the Biznit Almond Praline Nougatine from the Guylian Belgian Chocolate Café’s Opus Collection, the Rossini Butterscotch from the Guylian Belgian Chocolate Café’s Opus, or the Luxe Ballotin Chocolate 32-piece gift box.