There is something so decadent, so insufferably self-indulgent about afternoon tea. You relax, you enjoy, you watch people – It’s one of the worlds great pleasures.

But couple that with a Gourmet Chocolate experience – ah – now you are definitely talking.

Suite 88 Chocolatier is one of the artisan chocolate shops springing up here and there around Montreal. Suite 88 has 2 locations – I visited their extremely well placed shop on De Mainonneuve Ouest between Drummond and De la Montagne. The beautifully appointed but quite tiny space has a modern high tech feel, very upscale, very elegant. We were warmly greeted – and talk about making friends quickly – offered a Raspberry Dark Chocolate Truffle to try. Oh boy – that’s the fast way to my heart.

We had time to spare – and this is a good place to drop when you’ve shopped till you dropped – so we didn’t just get some chocolate to go. Nope – we cozied up in the chocolate lounge and ordered a cup of their hot chocolate (yes to the whipped cream) to share – and 2 delicious desserts. My partner opted for the waffle (Gaufre in French) with sorbet and a drizzle of chocolate. How good was it? It was gone before I had a chance to get a second nibble. I decided to try their cranberry brownie and Vanilla Sorbet. One fuss – I do wish they had ice cream and not just sorbet – and I do wish they’d put whipped creme on my brownie. But aside from those minor complaints – it was delicious.

A word on the hot chocolate – it comes in a variety of flavors, and we ordered the Chili Chocolate. They warned us that it was spicy – but they didn’t warn us that the portion was huge – and that it would get spicier and spicier as you drank it. We just couldn’t finish. and for the record – I couldn’t finish all the brownie they gave me either.

So word to the wise – great place – huge portions – one hot chocolate and one dessert is more than enough to share!

Go, enjoy – hang around – after an hour they came by with more free stuff. Oh dear – my kind of place for sure.