Chocolate Brown

On our way back from Ruakaka yesterday, Simon and I stopped in at Warkworth to check out Chocolate Brown as I had been told I would love it.  And love it I did :)

The place houses a café which also turns into a restaurant at night from Thursday to Saturday.  We had a quick bite for lunch while we were there.  Next door to the café is a shop containing gorgeous looking chocolates, sweets, fudge, wafers, truffles, pralines and powders to make your own hot chocolate from.  I liked the couple of little clip boards they had around the shop which had recipes on them which you could help yourself to.  Behind the counter was a big glass window through which you could see people making chocolates out the back.  Simon and I both got ourselves some of their delicious fudge.  I want to come here again so I can try everything else – particularly the truffles and chocolate wafers.

    
Pictures explained from top to bottom:
1 and 2: Simon perusing the fudge selection and the counter with the window through to the chocolate being made.
3: One of the cute products that would be great for Valentines day.
4: Part of the huge selection of English sweets.
5: Truffles.
6: Wafers – I want to go back and get some of the Rose and Pistachio ones to try!
7: The fudge we purchased.
8: Simon’s spider.
9: My hot chocolate – complete with a little piece of fudge on the side :)

Chocolate Brown is definitely worth a visit.  Opening hours are available on their website, and their contact details are listed below:

Chocolate Brown
6 Mill Lane, Warkworth, New Zealand
Ph: +64 9 422 2677
Fax: +64 9 422 2675
E: info@chocolatebrown.co.nz
www.chocolatebrown.co.nz

Food Roadie North of Auckland

Simon and I headed up to the beach (Ruakaka – family has a Bach) on Saturday to chill out for the weekend since Simon had Monday off work.  The weather was horrible!  Severe wind and rain, but it was great to be somewhere quiet (well not really, Simon started playing Final Fantasy on his Xbox which meant I had to put up with its constant and repetitive music).  I got some baking done and we stopped in at a few food shops on our way to and from the beach.

Our first stop was in at Matakana to visit their farmers market and we stopped in Morris and James, a local pottery place:

So, lots of yummy food at the Matakana Farmers market – fresh produce, baking, beverages and lots of little things like hot filled rolls to eat there.  Matakana also has a Nosh store and their own local brand of ice cream, Blue, which is delish (tried some on my way back from snorkelling at Goat Island earlier in the month).  The village has some other gorgeous stores too, my fave is Red Letter Day – an awesome specialty stationery store.

We also stopped at Kaiwaka and went to the Dutch Deli, where we got some fancy chocolate sprinkles, hollandaise-mayonnaise and some specialty cheese:

On our way home we stopped in at Warkworth and went to Chocolate Brown, but I will post about that tomorrow as I took lots of pics and I have already put up heaps in this post.  It’s also an awesome place that deserves its own post :)

If you’re planning on taking a trip North from Auckland you could always stop in at Puhoi as well.  I went there not so long ago, so we didn’t have a look on this trip.  Puhoi also has a farmers market, cheese shop and even has a mustard maker.