Sweet treats on streets

Suzie Wharton says she has found her calling in life.

My name is Jim Eagles and I am NOT a chocoholic.

Yes, it is true that I did a chocoholic's tour of Melbourne and thought it was scrumptious.

Yes, I acknowledge that at the starting point, Laurent's Boulangerie Patisserie, I did have a hot chocolate and a delicious creamy chocolate cake.

It is also true that I drooled over the sumptuous Haigh's chocolate in the Block Arcade, and later had a contretemps with my wife over who had opened the bar of their milk coffee chocolate.

I admit that when we got home I decided the Haigh's chocolate frogs would be wasted on the grandchildren.

Yes, it was me who moved with the speed of a striking snake to grab the only chocolate truffle on the tasting tray at Koko Black in the Royal Arcade.

But I am not a chocoholic. I don't eat chocolate very often. If you find chocolate in our house it is almost certainly being eaten by my wife. It was her who opened the bar of Haigh's and scoffed the first four pieces.

Anyway you don't need to be an actual chocoholic to go on one of those chocoholic tours. In fact I'd suggest it's better if you're not. You'd probably never be able to tear yourself away from Melbourne's yummy chocolate scene.

If it's chocoholics you're looking for then Suzie Wharton, who runs the chocolate walking tours round Melbourne, admits she is one and has been so since birth.

If you ring up and get her voicemail the message announces unashamedly, "Hi, I can't come to the phone because I'm eating chocolate."

In person she's even more open about the joys of chocolate, a small, perky woman who happily admits that all her life her greatest delight has been to curl up with a rich dark block and savour its unique taste.

In fact that's how she found her calling in life. All that chasing after chocolate made her something of an expert on the subject. So, when she found herself at a loose end, after a career which has included nursing, owning a motel and running a restaurant, it was perfectly natural to make a little pocket money by telling people about the love of her life.

Eight years on and that little sideline has become a fulltime business offering three different tours - the Chocolate brunch walk, the Chocolate indulgence walk and the Chocolate and other desserts walk - and they are so popular that Suzie now limits the number of tours she gives "otherwise I wouldn't have time for anything else".

She has also written a dangerous little book called Spoil Yourself: a chocoholic guide to Melbourne, which identifies:

* Twenty-five bars selling chocolate cocktails, including the marvellously named Khocolote Bar with its "truffle-brown decor".

* Thirty-four cafes where you can get a "a quick choccie fix".

* Nine shops selling chocolate ice cream - "they melt away as quickly as your will to refuse another helping" - including New Zealand Natural Ice Cream.

* Ten places selling "velvety hot chocolate".

* Twenty-five shops in the central city alone where you can buy chocolate treats.

I can't help thinking it's no wonder Victorians can't get a good rugby team together with so many temptations on offer. But Suzie reckons her tours are actually good for health "because there is walking in between".

In any case, having lifted the lid on the Melbourne chocolate scene she is now working on follow-up books on Sydney and London.

What about New Zealand, I wondered. "I don't think they produce chocolate in New Zealand," Suzie says cautiously.

"Oh yes they do," I burble, and mention a couple of local chocolate makers. "Yes, I know them," she says, with a marked lack of enthusiasm. Okay. I get the message.

But that doesn't mean that you can't buy good chocolate on our side of the Tasman.

In fact, one of Suzie's favourite shops in Melbourne, Como Chocolates, in South Yarra, flies in from Christchurch fresh chocolates made by DeSpa Chocolates using imported Callebaut chocolate "and the best of New Zealand ingredients".

"Try the orange ganache with orange puree and smooth chocolate," she recommends, "like a rush of the Riverina with a touch of seductive richness."

Needless to say the chocolate walks Suzie offers are able to take in only a few of Melbourne's chocolate delights, but that's more than enough to get your taste buds singing.

My personal favourite is Australia's oldest chocolate manufacturer, Adelaide-based Haigh's, established in 1915 and still run by the Haigh family.

They are unique, according to Suzie, because they are "the only Australian company that roasts the cocoa beans" used to make their chocolate and they source their beans "from all over the world including South America and Papua New Guinea".

Whatever they do it obviously works because their chocolate is incredible.

Haigh's have five stores in Melbourne but the one we visited on our tour is in the marvellously elegant Block Arcade.

At this palace of sweets there are 150 different kinds of chocolate on sale. One hundred and fifty. That's almost obscene. Champagne and sparkling shiraz truffles. Mmmm. Blackberry jelly chocolates. Aaaaah. Chocolate apricots. Wowww. And those fantastic dark chocolate frogs whose rich taste just lingers in your mouth. Yummmmm.

Sadly the bagful we brought home has already been eaten. Pity. Wish we'd got more. But I am NOT a chocoholic.

* Contact Melbourne Chocoholic Tours (see link below) or phone 00 61 3 9815 1228. Tours cost $28 or $38 including a copy of Suzie's book.