With room left in our stomachs and schedule, Michael and I made our first visit to the Max Brenner chocolate shop in the QV building. This week winter has hit hard for us sensitive Queenslanders and we were keen to snag a seat inside and comfort ourselves with hot chocolate. Much as I love chocolate, I've been in no rush to visit Max Brenner: other chocolate lovers I'm acquainted with, both in the blogosphere and in person, have been fairly indifferent to Max Brenner's brand. And it really is a brand. The alcove of gifts is horrendously overpriced and the website is highly pretentious, in my humble opinion. Nevertheless, the eat-in options are in a comparable price range to Koko Black and other similar chocolatiers around Melbourne. The desserts (in the $7 - 13 range) looked very solidly chocolatey and more than I could handle straight after dinner.
Above is Michael's hot chocolate with orange zest in the Max Brenner patented "hug mug". The mug is a novel idea, but it didn't make up for the weakness of chocolate in Michael's eyes. There was creamy milkiness and a pleasant citrus fragrance, but not enough cocoa to go around. I ordered an even more convoluted take on the hot chocolate, the suckao ($5.50). Here the drink is deconstructed into a small jug of cool milk, a saucer of chocolate buds, and a ceramic setup reminiscent of an oil burner. The method behind this madness is that the milk and chocolate are heated over a tealight candle, with the stirrer also acting as a straw for sipping the resulting hot chocolate. I found the metal straw surprisingly agreeable and our waiter let me know that I could have as many refills of milk as I wished. (Personally I'd prefer a less cute milk jug that might hold more than 70mL of liquid, but that wasn't my most accommodating waiter's fault.) It was a fun and properly chocolatey amusement, but not superior in taste (and certainly not in serving size) than a less imaginative hot chocolate from, say, Koko Black.
My first Max Brenner experience was entirely consistent with the opinions I'd gathered of it beforehand: pleasant but, for all its gimickry, underwhelming. Fortunately, I can speak far better of the proceeding gig. Tim Rogers, a long-time idol of mine, was in fine rambling form on this Tuesday evening and it was a treat to see him in the intimate surrounds of the Bennetts Lane Jazz Club. It's a rare occasion that my dessert is outshone by a subsequent and more pleasing dish!
Address: 25-27 Red Cape Lane, Level 2, QV Square, 210 Lonsdale Street Melbourne
Ph: 9663 6000
Price: hot chocolates ~$5-10
Website: www.maxbrenner.com
I agree with you completely. What's your pick for best hot chocolate in town?
ReplyDeleteI really cannot understand why MB is so crowded because surely people are not there for the hot chocolate. It's just not in the same league as Koko Black (which si where you should head to for the best hot choc, Truffle).
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame really isn't it? Never been - it just seems so well 'marketed' that I thought it couldn't possibly be all that good.
ReplyDeleteNow I know for sure.
Hello, lovely ladies three! I'm glad I visited MB once, but you all know well not to believe the hype. (And now I know for sure too.)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Cin that Koko Black has a well-balanced and indulgent hot chocolate, though I haven't scoured the city yet! That could be a fun winter project...
I had the exact same experience as you at Max Brenner's. I had seen photos of the Suckao and thought it would be great. However, I found it was actually worse than a hot chocolate I can make at home. It was just all gimmick and no substance. The chocolate tasted like cheap chocolate. The candle light was not hot enought to melt the chocolate thoroughly through the milk. Despite knowing that I could get more milk, one serving was more than enough for me.
ReplyDeleteThanh7580, I'm beginning to ask the same question as Cin: who are all these people crowding the shop? Clearly not food bloggers on repeat visits!
ReplyDeleteI,also, totally agree with you as i find the hot chocolate is not chocolatey enuff and they are overpriced for such quality. i guess the reason y they are always crowded is because it got quite a good environment to hang out/chit-chat, without having ppl to chase u out..i remember the drinks & food there were alot alot better for the very first few times i visited MB (when it just opened)...
ReplyDeletesan
Hi San! Thanks for stopping by to comment. As I mentioned this was my first visit, so it's interesting that you enjoyed Max Brenner more when it first opened. (How long ago was that?)
ReplyDeleteI actually liked Max Bremner but I now feel I have to check out koko black - when I have time and room for dessert! What I really liked was an amazing chocolate souffle that was incredibly rich - probably better than the hot chocolates I have had there (the first time the mug was so hot I could barely hold it and the second all I could remember was the souffle)
ReplyDeleteJohanna, we welcome differing opinions here - glad you chipped in! I didn't sample the desserts, so can't judge those at all. It's definitely worth paying Koko Black at least one visit, though. :-)
ReplyDeleteI first went there in 2004, if not mistaken, when MB first opened at QV. i remember the chocolate souffle,too, was v rich n just thumbs up.i tried it again 2/3 times after tt,but not as good as the first time...
ReplyDeleteSan
i don't mind MB, though you're right their beverages aren't anything out of the ordinary. Strangely enough though, a few months ago after dinner with friends in the city, we were very surprised to find MB and other similar establishments in the area shutting down shop and switching off their coffee machines on a friday night after 11. I would've thought an after-dinner hit of caffeine (or theobromine) would've been more than a reasonable thing to expect at that time. I thought it was a strange practice, particularly for a popular place like MB.
ReplyDeleteSerenity Later, I often get Friday/Saturday sweet cravings at that time of night as well! In my ideal world these places would be open until at least midnight or 1am. I must admit, though, there's much more open here in the wee hours than in my home town of Brisbane.
ReplyDeleteBOYCOTT MAX BRENNER!!! They are an 100% Israeli owned company which sends funds to support the Palestinian occupation. A nice hot chocolate doesn't have to come at the cost of supporting horrendous oppression.
ReplyDeleteI first went to MB in 2004-2005 too and it was amazing. Now, not so much..
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