Chocolate Utopia

Husband and wife team, Chris and Helen, have been hand-making their delicious chocolates on Friar Lane in Nottingham since 2004. They specialise in small-batch chocolates to maintain quality and freshness, and all are made from the finest Belgian couture chocolate combined with fresh ingredients to produce an extensive range of tastes, styles and textures.

The shop in Nottingham stocks the full range and there is also space for a sit down and a cup of coffee with a complimentary chocolate. Or you can push the boat out (and why wouldn’t you?) and try one of their speciality hot chocolates, available in dark, milk or white.

The chocolate range is too extensive to list here but there must be around 50 or more and when we visited we struggled to choose our 15 (you can, of course, go for as many as you please, but we were trying to be restrained). Our choices included Lemon Buttercream, a Caramel Heart, Mint Crunch, Praline and Cashew, Thai (with lemongrass, lime, coconut, rum and chilli), Whisky and Ginger, and a solid disc of dark chocolate sprinkled with dry chilli flakes. The quality speaks for itself, and the quirky (as well as familiar) flavours means there is something for everyone.

The intention had been to save our chocolates for a special occasion but they were gone by the evening.

By Abby Brennan, Nottinghamshire editor