Detours. A French expat’s insider's guide to exclusive food, chocolate and travel experiences in Sydney, Australia.

Show me those legs!

I'm loving this pair of funky tights I bought on my recent trip to Paris!! They're appropriately called "Bonnie", and I'm sure Clyde would have approved. They're from "Les Queues de Sardine" ("sardine tails") a fantastic brand from coastal Brittany, in western France. 

These guys have taken the European fashion scene by storm with their original range of stockings, leggings and tights notable for their unconventional graphic style and unique sense of humor. The result is a choice of elegant and unusual models that will dress up your legs with an unusual stylish and elegant pattern. Icing on the cake: these limited-edition babies are screen-printed by hand and the result is quite stunning.

In Paris, you can find Les Queues de Sardine tights in Le Marais, at the 'Galerie Simone' concept store, (124 rue Vieille-du-Temple, Paris 3). If you're in Australia, rejoice: you can now buy these products in Sydney, at 'Art Therapi' (215 Darling St, Balmain NSW 2041 - www.arttherapi.com.au).

www.les-queues-de-sardines.com

10 things you'll love about my Ultimate Sydney Chocolate Tour

Explore the world of “haut-chocolate” and join me on an exclusive luxury journey to discover Sydney’s hidden chocolate gems. 

Now let me warn you, my friend, this is not your usual tour, so be prepared for a gourmet experience like no other. Here are some of things that make the Mytinerary 'Ultimate Sydney Chocolate Tour' and 'Round-the-World Chocolate Tour' stand out:

1. Discover Sydney like you've never seen before, as we reveal some of Sydney's hidden gems and best kept secrets. Travel in style to some of our most iconic precincts - from The Rocks to Kirribilli and Darlinghurst - and soak in their vibrant village atmosphere.

2. Your private guide and passionate foodie - aka 'moi' - has the local knowledge and insider access to bring you an authentic, unforgettable cultural experience.

3. Treat yourself to a truly indulgent experience - and the only luxury gourmet experience of its kind in Sydney. We've taken the headache out of planning so sit back, relax, forget the hustle and bustle of everyday life and let the good times roll.

4. The Ultimate Sydney Chocolate Tour is not "just" about food... It's also an enriching cultural journey which takes you from Mexico to Sydney by way of Paris, Brussels, Edinburgh and even the Philippines. And we're talking music, art and business along the way!

5. Discover rare and exquisite flavours. Taste a sumptuous selection of artisan chocolate ganaches, truffles, pralines and macarons. Enjoy some of Sydney's creamiest, most decadent hot chocolates. 

6. Just to get you salivating, some of the edible gems you taste on the day include milk chocolate and passionfruit macarons, dark chocolates with Filipino lime, banana and salted caramel truffles, dark hot chocolate with rose and black pepper, milk chocolate bars with pinenuts and sea-salt caramel, single-origin dark chocolate from Madagascar and the Caribbeans, water ganache with Thai basil - and so much more. 

7. Interact with some of the most passionate, generous, creative and talented chocolate artisans you've ever met. 

8. Learn about the chocolate-making process and fascinating world of 'single origin' chocolates, the 'creme de la creme' of chocolates.

9. Get credits in your karma bank thanks to generous social initiatives, so you can feast on chocolate guilt-free!

10. Gorgeous gift certificates are available. So now's the best time to spoil yourself and your loved ones with a Christmas, birthday or anniversary gift idea that stands out. Just contact us on [email protected] to organise.

To make a booking on one of the next chocolate tours, call 1300 951 138 or visit our event page.

We're here to help so don't hesitate to contact us for more information. You can also see what others had to say about this tour (really yummy photos too!). 

So tell me, what would be your ultimate chocolate extravagance? What if I gave you Aladdin's magic lamp for a day, what kind of chocolate would you ask for?

Chocolate with good karma in Sydney, Darlinghurst

Welcome to Boon Chocolates, a boutique chocolate salon in the heart of Sydney's vibrant Darlinghurst - and one of my chocolate Holy Grails in town! 

Imagine a place where chocolates are genuine works of art.

A place where the ganaches, truffles and pralines compete with the finest from France and Belgium.

A place where East meets West on your tastebuds, celebrating the chocolatier's unique cultural background.

A place where you can chat contemporary art, jazz, opera and food science with the owner while flipping through rare art books and sipping out-of-this-world hot chocolate.

A place where eating good chocolate will also give you good karma points by helping fund micro-loans projects in the Philippines...

 

 

Now there's so much I could tell you about Boon and passionate owners Alex and Fanny Chan that I'll need to write a series of posts just on their chocolates! If you love chocolate, I strongly encourage you to join one of our Ultimate Chocolate Artisans Tours or 'Round-the-World' Chocolate tours, you won't be disappointed!

In the meantime, there's a specific part of their story I wanted to share with you, because I find these two generous souls particularly inspiring...

In addition to treating customers with delicious chocolates, Alex and Fanny are also giving back to the community by working with non-for-profit organisation Opportunity Australia International. Boon donates a percentage of their corporate sales to Opportunity's Trust Bank program in the Philippines (where they're originally from), providing women living in poverty with micro-loans to help them start a small business and work their way out of poverty.

 

 

 

 

"These small loans made available to entrepreneurial women in the Philippines are the best gift we can give back to the country who has given us so much," Alex and Fanny explain.

So tell me dear reader, if you had access to an unlimited stash of chocolate and could change the world one chocolate at a time, what would you do? To start with, I think I'd supply some of Boon's delicious chocolates to UN negotiation rooms - might help soften some of the die-hard negotiators involved in the world's trickiest conflicts!

Boon Chocolates:

251 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst NSW 2010.

Ph: 02 9356 8876. www.boonchocolates.com.au 

The ultimate Sydney weekend

Sunday brunch at Icebergs Dining Room in Bondi Beach; Shopping in the Strand Arcade; Breakfast at Fratelli Paradiso in Potts Point

Earlier this month I was contacted by Tourism Australia for a super exciting project. They wanted Mytinerary (the bespoke travel consultancy I run) to come up with a kick-ass, once-in-a-lifetime itinerary for a journalist from one of my favourite magazines in France (call her L.), and her guest (call her S.).

 

Retail therapy in the Strand Arcade; Dinosaur Designs; the Kit Cosmetics store in Paddington (we also went to the Paddo's markets, Oxford St and Five Ways, where I took my guests to the rooftop of the Royal Hotel Paddington so they could enjoy the panoramic views); the Queen Victoria Building

I mean, seriously?! I was jumping up and down in my living room when I got the phone call - the briefing was too good to be true!

"L. and S. will be all yours for a whole weekend," Tourism Australia explained. "We'd like you to show them the Sydney you love: your favourite shopping spots, up-and-coming designers (L. and S. were invited as guests to the Rosemount Australian Fashion Week), quirky cafes, Sydney's most vibrant precincts, iconic restaurants, cool bars such as Ivy Pool and Icebergs, the Bondi-to-Bronte coastal walk - the whole shebang."

Breakfast at the Andrew Boy Charlton (ABC) Pool in Woolloomooloo; the ultimate chocolate tasting at Boon Chocolates in Darlinghurst; walk in the Royal Botanic Gardens

Chocolate baby bottle for grown-ups by Boon, Sydney

Seriously, how cool is this white and milk chocolate baby bottle from Boon Chocolates in Darlinghurst, Sydney?! Unleash your inner kid and treat yourself to this very stylish afternoon pick-me up. I mean, calories for calories, I'd rather feast on this baby than on a Mars bar...

www.boonchocolates.com.au

My chocolate tamagoshi by Kakawa, Sydney

Just how cute is this baby?!!  

As some of you probably know by now, I've developed a compulsive obsession for chocolate lately. One of the perks of my job is that, when others do "market research" by ordering some fancy Nielsen reports over the Internet, my own market research involves... going out and about sampling Sydney's best chocolates.

Now as you can imagine, every time I go on one of my "research" trips, I bring quite a number of chocolates back home. Some are pretty much gone within the hour (thank you boyfriend). Others I'm saving for later as a special treat. 

Occasionally, I find myself admiring the chocolates so much that I can't seem to be able to eat them. Pathetic, I know, but I can't help myself! I just want to take care of them, make sure they're not too hot or too cold, give them pet names and say hello in the morning. Please meet my "chocolate tamagoshi".

 

My latest obsession was this super-cute chocolate egg above, handmade by Kakawa, one of my favourite chocolate artisans in Sydney. I mean, who in their right mind wouldn't think twice before eating this piece of art?? I originally bought it for Easter but believe me, it took me a long while to eventually eat it. I just felt like Cruella de Vil in 101 Dalmatians, so cruel... So tell me doctor, is it that bad??

Mytinerary chocolate tours featured on Daily Addict

Woo hoo! Was super happy this afternoon when I opened my daily e-newsletter from Daily Addict and saw they had featured my Sydney chocolate tours!! 

I'm a big fan of Daily Addict, they always come up with great ideas and suggestions on what to do around Sydney - from unique foodie experiences and hard-to-access events, to new store openings and secret dinners. If you haven't subscribed to their newsletter yet, I strongly urge you to! And the best thing is, it's totally free.

www.DailyAddict.com.au

Beautiful stationery for design-minded foodies

Just fell in love with these lovely hand-drawn card sets by FierceMaly!! Must be my Alice in Wonderland-induced obsession "du jour" for tea-cup inspired designs...

Mallory, the artist behind the brand, is a former architecture student and theatre designer. Her fun, whimsical cards are inspired by common household objects in her Brooklyn apartment.

The cards are printed on 100% recycled card stock and come in sets of 8, packaged in a cute cheesecloth drawstring bag. You can buy them online on FierceMaly's Etsy shop.

(Discovered via "Oh So Beautiful Paper", one of my all-time favourite paper & stationery blogs)

Metalab Gallery: 1st solo show of Australian contemporary jewelry designer Emily Hunt

Interested in contemporary jewellery? Come and discover the work of Australia’s up and coming jewellery designers at the Metalab Gallery in Surry Hills, Sydney.

Established in 2004 by metal smith and designer Cesar Cueva, Metalab is a gallery and studio space that specialises in innovative jewellery from emerging and established craft practitioners.

Emily Hunt is one such talent, and her first solo exhibition is currently on at the Gallery. But the exhibition finishes this weekend so hurry up! Using silicon, fabric, bead, leather, and thread, Emily creates bespoke necklaces that explore and mimic the body. 

Any milk and sugar with your notebook, Sir?

Just how gorgeous is this line of cafe-inspired notebooks by Bold Ideas?! They're perfect to jot down travel notes or blogging ideas, and would also make really cute gifts to those caffeine addicts around you! 

You can buy them online here.