Coco Chocolate

Another day, another school function.

It’s like a blur.  ‘Where am I off to this time’,  I wonder all confused.  Last Wednesday I survived the Year 2 lawn bowls evening and four sleeps later I was at a mother and daughter high tea for the mothers of girls in Year 12 at Arabella’s school.

Coco Chocolate


I always find it difficult knowing what to wear to these school functions and hope I choose something that helps me to blend in.  This was another ‘no stilettos’ occasion as we were told to bring our picnic rugs.  The weather was actually good and lovely and warm so perfect for a high tea picnic.

Lovely setting, beautiful view

We arrived at Coco Chocolate in Chowder Bay wearing our flat-soled shoes and carrying our picnic rug.  Chowder Bay is a former military site and the old cottages that once housed the army families have been renovated and restored and turned into shops, restaurants and businesses.

A high tea costs $40.00 per person and comes with tea or coffee but you can pay more and enjoy your high tea with a glass of Moet and pay even more for a glass of Veuve.  Arabella and I don’t drink tea (and the champagne was hidden) so I asked if they were serving anything else or if it would be possible to buy anything else but they unfortunately didn’t have anything to offer us so Arabella and I had tap water.

The high tea was beautifully presented and the food attractive, inspiring and appealing.  I loved the chocolate strawberries, the organic white chocolates and the tiny cakes.  I would have indulged in more but within a few hours I also had to be at a dinner function so didn’t load up my plate as much as I would have liked.

Easter Eggs!

The venue also holds cooking classes.  The Sydney Chocolate School runs a full day (six hour) course for $290 and teaches you how to temper chocolate on marble, make organic chocolate bars, make moulded chocolates, make fruit filled broken chocolate, create decadent rose creams with pure 100% organic rose oil and make hand tempered and hand flaked organic hot chocolate.  A half-day course is also available and courses for children run during the school holidays.

The Venue

Tiny cakes with fresh raspberries

Cupcakes with fresh cream and pomegranate seeds

Smiley face shortbread biscuits

Fresh Fruit Cupcakes

Florentines

Cucumber Sandwiches

Salmon and Dill Sandwiches

Organic white chocolate

Tempting!

Arabella and I had a lovely afternoon.  It was wonderful to spend time with her and her friends’ mothers.

The only downside to this wonderful afternoon was the parking.  Extortion is the best way to describe it.  Open air spaces out in the boiling sun so tightly packed together you can’t open your car door once you’ve managed to manoeuvre into the spot and then you’re charged $8.00 for two hours.  How do they justify it.

But Arabella and I put the ridiculous parking situation behind us and had a great afternoon at the high tea with wonderful company at an amazing venue and an awesome view.

Coco Chocolate and the Sydney Chocolate School is at 21/1110 Middle Head Road, Mosman.

Ph:  (02) 9960 5848

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Comments

  1. I’ll take one of those, then those, then those, and one of those, … oh two of these … and one of those, and those, and those …. oh time to make another round.

  2. The Florentines and the fresh fruit cupcakes have me drooling. Maybe it’s because I haven’t had breakfast. Everything looks so good. It would have been hard not to eat a taste of everything.

    Oh, what to wear. When my daughter was still in school (ok, well, she’s still in school, but it’s grad school now, so there are no school functions for me to attend, thank goodness), she used to say she was glad that I dressed “like a mom.” This means that I never embarrassed her by wearing skimpy clothing or sweatpants like some of the mothers. I do have some dignity after all!

  3. Thank goodness I just had breakfast or my tummy would be growling. They get away with the robbery of parking because they know you will forget about it once you see such a luscious spread of food. Great review!

  4. I love high tea! Florentines look so good that I know I won’t be able to stop eating these!

  5. The tiny cakes are so pretty! It’s a shame the champagne was hidden away for the day, but the food all looks lovely. And, what a great view!

  6. All of the food looks yummy and is quite artfully displayed. I love the old plates on the tiered racks. What a wonderful idea. Sounds like a lovely afternoon, and more so when you can spend it with your daughter.

  7. I love the idea of how good, creative use was made of the old military cottages. Such a pretty location–such pretty high tea food. Sounds like a lovely outing for a mother and daughter–nice memories for both of you. And I believe strongly in “memory-making” time!

  8. Great photos – I am now craving SWEETS – ha! Have a Great Day:)

  9. This reminds me of a place in NYC called Alice’s Tea Cup. They do these adorable tea parties and though I do like tea, the best part is the pastries and cute sandwiches for sure!

  10. Ahh I would’ve loved to have attended this event. I love the cookies, the fresh fruit cupcakes, and did you see those sandwiches. Oh yes, I would love something like this for a party. I really love this

  11. Sounds like a wonderful day but it sure is a way to test your self control

  12. Oooh parking fees!
    Those organic white chocolate looks amazing. I’ve only seen cakes with photos on it

  13. All these heavenly treats are too much for me! I will go and try to forget about all these delights with a bite of dark chocolate. Luckily it’s already very late, otherwise I would start a crazy baking session 😉

  14. Looks like such a beautiful and perfect day…except for the parking. Such a pretty venue and such great looking tea sandwiches and pastries. What a fun mother and daughter event! Too bad they didn’t crack open the champagne, looks like it would have been lovely with the food! 🙂

  15. Looks like you two had a wonderful time!! And the sweets look great!

  16. Yum! What great tea time treats!

  17. $40 and they’re not serving any other beverage? For shame! I’d have hoped they’d have non-packet bread for the cucumber sandwiches too, but that’s just the snobby Brit in me talking 😀 The rest of it looks quite delightful, though I’m surprised they didn’t serve “pink lemonade” as an alternative to tea or something 😀

  18. Ohhh i wish there was a High tea with mum’s when I was back in high school 🙂 we never had any fun events ~ it looks like a good high tea with all the sweet goodies!!! I really want to try the cupcakes 😀 I hate it when places overcharge for parking! But still glad to hear that you had a lovely afternoon ~

  19. Thats odd that you couldn’t even get a hot chocolate! But it certainly looks like a very lovely afternoon indeed, the view is gorgeous!

  20. Pricey parking and tap water…yet it seems to have been a wonderful mother-daughter experience, and that makes it well worth it. The photos are just wonderful and if I lived nearby this would be my kind of place! I loved the smiley faced shortbread cookies…what a great cookie for children of all age. The Easter eggs are very special. I hope you and your family have a wonderful Easter, Charlie. Debra

  21. What a nice assortment of goodies! I bet the entire “spread” was something to behold. The parking rip-off notwithstanding, it sounds like it was a wonderful way and place to spend a couple hours with your daughter.

  22. wow! so many beautiful displays of food!

  23. What a memorable day to spend with your daughter. I would not and cound not excercise self-control definitely have to try 1 if not 2 of everything.

  24. How ever did you resist.. I would have wanted to try one of each.. What a wonderful afternoon with your daughter:)

  25. Oh, I love how the raspberries are almost bigger than the cupcakes! And I want all the florentines. ALL OF THEM.

  26. This looks amazing – I am very taken with the look of this food! – although the parking fees are completely unjustifiable (but let’s not get me started on parking fees…). This sounds like a lovely event to hold too, given how hard it must be to spend time with year 12 daughter’s when (I am guessing) they have so much on that doesn’t involve their mothers!

  27. I adore Coco! Rebecca does an amazing job there and she’s such a delight too. We found some free parking nearby, not too far away (although agree, the parking can be expensive if you park in the main area). I can’t wait to go to a high tea there one day.

  28. I love high tea and very often find myself inviting friends over for tea. Of course my menu is simple and not so elaborate. This looks amazing! The little cakes with the raspberries are my favorite and so are the sandwiches especially the cucumber ones.

  29. What a fabulous tea time to enjoy. And I love those smiley face cookies.

  30. I always find coming to your blog a mistake – are you kidding me? Your pictures are amazing! I have just had ice cream but now, could eat 5-10 more 😉
    You are a fantastic blogger!

    Happy Easter!
    Choc Chip Uru

  31. I would have to have tested one of everything! Super cool that you and Arabella had such a good time.
    🙂 Mandy

  32. what a lovely spread, the event must have rocked. cupcakes & cakes look awesome but the easter eggs are my fabourite of them all 🙂

  33. It sounds like the variety of food was excellent, Charlie. And it’s too bad they didn’t have anything else to offer you and your daughter to drink. I was wondering, do these stories take place recently or did you write them down knowing one day you would document them? They are lovely and entertaining anyway and a beautiful glimpses into your wonderful and sometimes challenging life. Thank you for inviting us to share them with you!

  34. ah… little food wwonderland as I can see. My those eggs look awesome and all the other dishes anyway. I d surely enjoy the place too.

  35. Everything looking so tempting!

  36. Events like this scare me. I always end up looking like the fatty who eats everything like a vulture LOL

  37. What a wonderful place! So jealous!!

  38. hotlyspiced says:

    I’m so sorry to hear you had such a horrible experience. That certainly is different to the experience I had. However, we were there as part of a group booking where Coco Chocolat had been closed for a private function so perhaps it was different because of that. I haven’t been on an individual booking but I agree, $40.00 for a high tea is very expensive and at the very least, a pot of tea should be included.

  39. sarah cook says:

    LOVE THIS PLACE!!! I had my hens party here and it was sublime. Those mini cakes I could eat all day. And the view, we even saw a submarine! I just love Rebecca and her team. The care they put into our every whim was beyond expected. We had the Veuve High Tea and it was elegant and excellent value for money. I would recommend to everyone.

  40. beck sterling says:

    We had a high tea here in June and it was GREAT. From the French tables to the lovely service, it really was a pleasure. We had our Veuve high tea with chocolate strawberries so plump that we facebooked to all we knew -and yes very jealous! The best thing about this place is it is lovely and relaxed too. After the high tea we lay out on picnic blankets PROVIDED and read the paper! Not many venues you can do that after a feast 5 star!

  41. I had a corporate day at The Sydney Chcocolate School which is at this venue. I recommend anyone wanting an educational but fun event to go. Rebecca Kerswell presents a connisiueur event for corporates including tempering on marble. It really got the team working together and was certainly fun. We then had the stunning harbour side room exclusively where we ate the chocolate we made and were served coffee and tea in antique cups. Very appealing and very enjoyable. Those who wanted champagne could do so as they are licenced. There is a conference room on site that you can hire. innovative, interesting and of course delicious is how I would sum the experience up

  42. Louise Smith says:

    Me too me too! Had the most wonderful time here – absolutely delicious and just such a lovely atmosphere to be surrounded by!

Trackbacks

  1. […] Chocolate School is open to the public and you can attend high teas.  I have previously enjoyed a high tea in this beautiful setting and it has to be the most wonderful high tea I have ever […]

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