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TripAdvisor 4./5
# 1289 / 4338 35 reviews
They have two styles of hot chocolate, classic and dark, that they dispense from these brilliant machines (that are at the top of my wish list of most coveted kitchen objects). You can't go wrong, as both of them are unbelievably rich, thick and positively orgasmic (I know, because I had a cup of each!), like dipping a ladle into the chocolate river of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The hot chocolate is just one treat in a store full of goodies to satisfy the most discerning chocoholic (even pastry chef/author/blogger David Lebovitz thoroughly enjoyed one of Sampaka's many chocolate bars, or tabletas). I stocked up on tabletas and boxes of Sampaka's collections, including "grandes origenes" (chocolate bombones divided according to source of the cocoa beans), "frutos scecos y crujientes" (bombones with nuts), "cacaos y especias de América" (bombones with spices, including curry, saffron, and ginger).
Cacao Sampaka is a sleek and modern way to buy chocolate. They have things to cook chocolate with, chocolate spreads, fondues, sauces, tablets of chocolate and bon bons. They organize the types of chocolate into 8 categories: Single bean origins, Dried fruit and nuts, Cocoas and spices from the Americas, Herbs and Flowers, Liqueurs, Fruits and preserves, Truffles and lastly, Gastronomic innovations. The store is great because after you tantalize your taste buds staring at different types and different ways to consume chocolate, you can spend some time in their cafeteria where they offer many of the delights that are on sale in the store. They also have various liqueurs to pair with the type of chocolate that you are tasting. It makes chocolate shopping satisfactory in all the senses and I have never known myself to leave the store without a bit of a smile. Must be the liqueurs…
Frommer's
If there were such a thing as haut chocolat, this establishment would be its Christian Dior. Using the finest cacao available, a mind-boggling selection of confectionery is categorized into exotic collections. The sleek packaging turns the chocolates into true objects of desire, and there is a bar-cafe where you can enjoy a cup of creamy hot chocolate, pastries, and high-cholesterol sandwiches, at prices not dissimilar to more pedestrian places.
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