Leonidas Belgian Chocolates Vancouver – Cocoa & waffles

One of the great things about Vancouver is that there is -always- something going on.

Oh, and that Groupons make them even more accessible, of course. ;)

Last week, I got a Groupon for $5 hot chocolate and Belgian waffle from Leonidas and it just so happened to coincide with the annual Hot Chocolate Festival. Yes, these things exist, and they’re amazing. And it meant special hot cocoa flavors that were specifically for the festival, which makes it feel even more special, no?

Here’s the special ones they had:

DARK CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY – dark chocolate and raspberry cream
"TOSCA" – dark chocolate ganache and rum with a hint of pistachio flavored ice cream and white chocolate
FROZEN NOISETTE – Buche Pralinee: Milk chocolate and pure praline with milk chocolate ganache, chopped hazelnuts
RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE – white chocolate raspberry cheesecake ice cream with white chocolate; optional white chocolate with butter cream and pineapple flavor
All come with a choice of chocolate or liege waffle sample and are available every day of the festival

Even with only four choices, I still had trouble deciding. I ended up going with the raspberry and my hot cocoa buddy for the night went with Tosca. Turns out, when they said raspberry, they meant -really- raspberry which was delicious but a little more fruity than I’d normally want hot chocolate. On the flip side, the Tosca wasn’t quite their cup of tea (cocoa?) but I loved it, so we ended up trading about half. I certainly won’t argue with getting some of both!

We got our waffles first. Mine is the bottom one and obviously has the better chocolate L, but I also somehow managed to get two berries in my whipped cream. 

The guy doing the plates and hot chocolates seemed slightly frazzled, so maybe he put on a berry, it fell off, and he didn’t notice, so he added another, thinking he hadn’t done it yet? That’s the totally logical and way too thought out explanation I’m going with. :P

When the hot chocolate finally came out, my L had  partially sunken in. I barely got a picture while he was apologizing before he whisked it away again, insisting on redrawing it, despite me telling him it wasn’t necessary.

So sweet. He apologized yet again and told me that it probably wouldn’t last long but to enjoy.

Instead, this time, it stayed until the bottom of my cup. I think I have a way with keeping my hot chocolate drawings in place, huh?  

Toward the bottom, it slightly morphed and looks more a J, no?

Now at some point, we were chatting along and the unthinkable happened. The plastic fork he was using decided it just wasn’t cut out for waffles after all.

And suddenly….weee! Waffle went flying behind him, into our pile of coats. Joking, he pretended to toss it at my plate, but uh, apparently it was the night of flying waffles instead, and it bounced on down to the floor.
 

Oops!

Overall, the Leonidas visit was definitely a good one. The hot chocolates were delicious, the waffles yummy, and the service was spot on.

And I love their cups. I could still feel the warmth of the hot drink, but no risk of dropping it or burning myself either. Next time I’m there, I’ll be sure to try some of their chocolates while I’m at it, too, mmm.

Oh right, and for our pre-cocoa dinner, we stopped at Caffee Artigiano for a roast leg of lamb sandwich with red pepper pepperonata, minted goat cheese, and rosemary aioli. Their sandwiches are hearty enough that one was plenty to split and head off for cocoa right after. :)