Honest Chocolate Café: Bean-To-Bar Treats in Wale Street + Kalk Bay

Before opening their raw-chocolate shop in Woodstock in 2011, Honest Chocolate founder Anthony Gird and his partner Michael de Klerk started their chocolatey journey selling handmade raw-cacao bonbons at farmers’ markets, health shops and alternative-food stores around the country.

When the raw-chocolate bean-to-bar artisanal workshop took off, the next part of their dream was to open a sit-down café with the same ethos. In 2014, after a successful crowd-funding venture, Honest Chocolate Café opened its doors on Wale Street… and it’s been part of the foodie fabric of the innercity ever since.

Housed in the historic Commune 1 building, with its bay windows and dark wooden floors and door frames, the café feels quirky and timeless, especially when you walk all the way through and discover the open-air courtyard at the back, which connects to The Gin Bar (another of Cape Town’s under-the-radar experiences).

Honest Chocolate lives up to its name in every way. The organic cacao beans are ethically sourced from Ecuador and turned into chocolate using old-school tempering methods, with the slabs (all vegan) wrapped in ecofriendly paper designed by a handful of local artists.

On the menu

You’ll find cacao delights to please the most discerning raw-chocoholic. A large selection of them are vegan-friendly. Think dark-chocolate cake, almond chocolate cheesecake, double-chocolate brownies and miso choc-chip cookies. The banana-bread bunny chow (hollowed out and filled with ice cream and chocolate spread) legendary, as are the fresh croissants filled with almond-chocolate spread.

Of course, there’s a range of pure hot chocolate to drink using 70% dark chocolate, or go for coffee from Trump and Timbal, or hand-blended teas from Enmasse. And there’s a full-spectrum of non-dairy milks to choose from, too. Coconut-milk chocolate milkshake, anyone?

At De Kalkéry in Kalk Bay

The exciting news for those in the Deep South is that Honest Chocolate has opened a café in Kalk Bay. So head on over and sink your teeth into all that chocolatey goodness while enjoying  the sound of the crashing waves.

For chocolate lovers of every dietary persuasion, Honest Chocolate’s laidback café is the perfect place to while away an afternoon whether in the city or beside the ocean.

Opening times
Monday – Thursday, 9am – 6pm
Friday + Saturday, 9am – 9pm; Sunday until 5pm
Kalk Bay: Daily, 9am – 6pm
Contact Wale Street: 076 765 8306, [email protected]
Kalk Bay: 078 881 8340
Where to find it 64A Wale Street, Cape Town | Upstairs at De Kalkery, 52 Main Road, Kalk Bay, Cape Town

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