Dandelion Chocolate
740 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 349-0942
Website
Drink menu and treats menu (These were kind of difficult to find on their website)
I lived in Berkeley for four years for undergrad, but I didn't go into the city (SF) all that often. During a break at a training in SF, I tried looking for foodie places I could try nearby. I had a few options in mind and spent a good deal of time looking at websites, checking store hours, reading Yelp reviews, and looking at pictures. I decided to try Dandelion, which I had actually never heard of until that day. Ohhh my goodness. If you love chocolate, you will love this place. You can even go on a tour and take classes! This is a small batch chocolate chocolatier with chocolate bars, drinking chocolate, hot chocolate, pastries, and special treats like toffee. They also had free samples!!
** Foodie note: It happens to be a couple doors down from Craftsman & Wolves! You know...where you can find a whole egg baked into your savory muffin! My friend, Grace, had just told me about this place.
Anyway, I got a few items for my family (parents and in-laws), including this beautiful dulce de leche bar ("Almond and hazelnut sable crust, dulce de leche layer, and chocolate caramel ganache"):
Delicious flavors. My only small critique is that the bottom was slightly harder than I would like. It was slightly difficult to cut and bite, but it wasn't teeth-breaking or anything.
Just look at those options. I don't even know how I chose what I chose without buying two of everything. Recently someone from my newest favorite food show, Unique Sweets, said that she has ordered one of everything from a dessert menu before. Total desire and feeling validation.
I love drinking chocolate but have only had it twice now (once in New York at Marie Belle and now once at Dandelion), and it is just heaven. This one below (Marocchino: "European drinking chocolate topped with espresso and cocoa nib infused whipped cream") was exactly what I was hoping it would be: deep flavors, only slightly sweet toward the end, and topped with whipped cream...and then they made it even better with a free delicious cookie! I just wish it would be maybe five times bigger? Is that bad? I wonder how much I would have had if I had made it myself.
Here's the bottom of my drinking chocolate:
And here's their "nibbun" ("Our version of a morning bun with Camino Verde chocolate custard and nibs. Rolled in cinnamon and nib sugar") below. Sooo good in flavor, texture, and sweetness. It actually is not at sweet as it looks in my opinion. You also have to be a fan of nibs and be open to its slight bitterness. If you're expecting chocolate chips all over, that's not what this is. There's definitely chocolate flavor everywhere, but it's less sweet than, for example, a morning bun loaded with chocolate chips or a chocolate babka. So delicious.
I HAD to take a picture of the inside!! How beautiful is that?!
740 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 349-0942
Website
Drink menu and treats menu (These were kind of difficult to find on their website)
I lived in Berkeley for four years for undergrad, but I didn't go into the city (SF) all that often. During a break at a training in SF, I tried looking for foodie places I could try nearby. I had a few options in mind and spent a good deal of time looking at websites, checking store hours, reading Yelp reviews, and looking at pictures. I decided to try Dandelion, which I had actually never heard of until that day. Ohhh my goodness. If you love chocolate, you will love this place. You can even go on a tour and take classes! This is a small batch chocolate chocolatier with chocolate bars, drinking chocolate, hot chocolate, pastries, and special treats like toffee. They also had free samples!!
** Foodie note: It happens to be a couple doors down from Craftsman & Wolves! You know...where you can find a whole egg baked into your savory muffin! My friend, Grace, had just told me about this place.
Anyway, I got a few items for my family (parents and in-laws), including this beautiful dulce de leche bar ("Almond and hazelnut sable crust, dulce de leche layer, and chocolate caramel ganache"):
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| Another shot of that dulce de leche bar |
I love drinking chocolate but have only had it twice now (once in New York at Marie Belle and now once at Dandelion), and it is just heaven. This one below (Marocchino: "European drinking chocolate topped with espresso and cocoa nib infused whipped cream") was exactly what I was hoping it would be: deep flavors, only slightly sweet toward the end, and topped with whipped cream...and then they made it even better with a free delicious cookie! I just wish it would be maybe five times bigger? Is that bad? I wonder how much I would have had if I had made it myself.
 |
