I’ve been in Cambridge for less than a week now, and I’ve already been to a Thornton’s and a Hotel Chocolat and a place that sells bulk candy (the British seem to really like their gummis).
At Thornton’s, I bought a bag of their chocolate-smothered toffees that came recommended by Melanie Dunea for about $4.50 (rather pricey, but a big bag and too raved about for me to pass up) and four little truffles (sold by weight for $2.50 total, which was quite reasonable). Their toffees were all buy two get one free, but I decided to wait and see how I liked the chocolate-smothered version. The shop is within walking distance (well, within walking distance for Cambridge, which means about half an hour away), so I can easily return.
At Hotel Chocolat, I spent half an hour spinning around the store trying to decide what to buy. I ended up tasting a bit of their chilli and orange dark chocolate bar – smooth, creamy dark chocolate that’s quite sweet for a 72%; the orange is bright and a nice addition; the chilli I couldn’t taste at all – and a baton of their dark and orange chocolate – darker, with a sharper, drier snap; really delicious – but ended up leaving empty handed.
Their whole slabs were expensive and too much chocolate for me to eat myself. As for their boxed chocolates, they came in either a box of six identical ones (over $5) or in too big boxes of a variety of chocolates that were more than I like to buy at once and more than I was willing to pay. There was a small box of four available, but at around $7 for the box, it was too expensive. I may go back at some point after reading through Chocablog’s Hotel Chocolat reviews, but I think I can stretch my poor dollars (so weak abroad!) further by buying UK candy bars (around $1 to $1.50 each, from what I’ve seen so far).
Varsha