Icy Streets, Hot Chocolate
The best cup of hot chocolate is found in Leonidas Chocolate on the Danforth
By: Sarah Manning
When I was a kid, winter meant playing in the snow for hours and then coming inside drenched in a combination of melted flakes and sweat. After stripping off scarves, mittens and snow pants, I would sit down at the kitchen table for a mug of hot chocolate. This is a memory I’m sure many Canadians share.
As we grow up, we trade playing in the snow for school, homework, part-time jobs and careers. Where is it written that we have to give up the winter staple of hot chocolate, too? Why, when you leave your childhood behind, do you have to switch to coffee and tea?
On the shortest and coldest days of a long Canadian winter, a throwback to the childhood simplicity of a cup of hot chocolate might just be what we all need to make it to spring. When you’re up before the sun rises and still at work when it goes back down, Leonidas Chocolates is the perfect place to enjoy a perfect cup of chocolate nostalgia.
Located on the corner of Logan Avenue and Danforth Avenue (484 Danforth Ave.) many peoplewalk right past Leonidas with their heads down against the winter wind. When you step inside you are greeted by warmth, a friendly smile and an enveloping scent of indulgent chocolate.
When a friend of mine introduced me to Leonidas, she spoke highly of the café, “In all my years of being on the planet, this hot chocolate is one of the best things that has happened to me.”
There is a wide array of coffee beverages to choose from, but the hot chocolate outshines the rest. Given a choice of peppermint or caramel flavour and dark or milk chocolate, I selected peppermint and milk ($4.45). It tasted like all the best parts of Christmas mixed into a single cup. Smooth and decadent, and slightly addictive: your first visit to Leonidas will not be your last.
On my second trip to Leonidas, I was greeted with the same intoxicating aroma and warm welcome from the staff. My friend and I decided to cheat on our New Year’s resolutions, and chose to split a waffle ($9.45) served with Nutella, icing sugar and maple syrup. The waffle was soft and not overly sweet, a perfect vessel for the melty-chocolatey-mapley-drizzle we found on our plate.
Leonidas Chocolates should be your first stop on the Danforth if you’re looking for a quick coffee, an indulgent treat, a gift for any chocolate lover’s birthday or a piping cup of hot chocolate to take you away from this prolonged winter.
