After a tasty meal at Mandoo, I meandered back towards the Royal Adelaide Hospital (where I was staying). The scenic walk by the river in the evening heat of 34C was peaceful and a good way to settle the food load. After reaching my destination, part of me decided to continue walking through the streets nearby. Even though I'd like to think this was in order to get a bit more exercise and scope out a breakfast destination for a couple of days later, I'm realistic enough to know I also had a craving for ice-cream.
Not knowing anywhere specifically that had dessert (other than Steven ter Horst chocolatier which looks very nice but more expensive than I was willing to spend on myself), I was lucky to come across Cocolat. It's quite a large cafe and I would have treated it like a typical average Italian gelato place (ie. likely looked but ignored) if it wasn't for the sign that said "Australian Grand Dairy Awards - Back to Back Champion".
Looking on the website now, they won in 2011 for hazelnut-choc royale and 2012 for pistachio. Inside the store itself I only saw the award for the ferrero-roche (which the girl told me was the hazelnut-choc royale). I tried the pistachio as I simply do at every place, but even though the flavour was reasonable and mild, the intense green colour put me off slightly (NB. I like my pistachio dark green or brown).
Nonetheless I had a double scoop cup for $6.50 with hazelnut-choc royale and coconut. The lovely petite red-haired girl serving was in an ecstatic mood and gave me two enormous scoops. Even by her own admission she was feeling generous that day, which ended up being way too much for me alone but I appreciated her enthusiasm.
Both flavours were well blended and smooth, without any hint of ice crystals. The texture was broken up by pieces of ferrero-roche, chocolat slices and small coconut flesh. The coconut was the best version I've had (and also the favourite of the red-haired girl). I can see why the hazelnut-choc is popular but ended up being too sweet and intense for me. Nonetheless I'd happily go back again, especially if she is serving. If the flavour makers ever read this, coconut-pandan is the way to go. Hopefully next time.
