Ruby Hue is still a relatively new establishment in the Bristol chocolate scene, such as it is, and I’ve not been able to go as much as I would like thanks to the - compared to natural competitor Mrs Potts - awfully abbreviated opening hours. Still, the chances I do get are to be savoured.
Happily, though, today is Good Friday and Alasdair and I are just back from Barcelona and are looking for something to do before giving ourselves a moment away from each other after a lovely holiday together - what better opportunity.
I treat myself, as if the last few days have not been treat enough - a Peru 42% hot chocolate, with fresh Chew Valley chantilly cream, homemade marshmallow, and a splash of malt syrup. Out it comes, on a little wooden board with a little wooden spoon, topped with a shard of the very chocolate I am soon to be drinking.
The hot chocolate is the perfect level of richness - dense, flavourful, but not the often slightly cloying feeling of drinking basically melted chocolate that some places consider appropriate. The cream is good and thick, able to be eaten neat without guilt, as there’s no way it’s going to dissipate into the drink itself. The marshmallow (singular, large) is the same but less positively - not enough surface area for it to get sufficiently melty, but oh well. You can’t win ‘em all.
A slice - well, no, a slab - of homemade rocky road using their own chocolate rounds it all off, really emphasising the darker chocolate notes. All in all, perfect for me to go and collapse into a food coma at the start of a four day weekend.