I am in London. I could either stay and write chapter one of my book or run away and go and do something, anything else. I opt, like all good writers, for the latter. So I take the tube to Richmond, having texted my friend, Natalie, in the meantime to join and enable me in my bunking-off. But there is purpose: a trip to what’s been described as the best hot chocolate in London.
Now, for a central London girl such as I was, Richmond barely counts as London (anything Zone 2 is suburbs to me), but that’s a compliment not a slight. We head to Danieli, the original tiny one on Brewers Lane (there is a newer, bigger one on Richmond Green) where you can sit inside or outside or just take your wares and wander round Richmond. The ice-cream here is meant to be legendary, but that can be for another time.
I order hot chocolate, which comes in various flavours, but I always start with the original. For £3.50 you get a thick, gloopy, gorgeous cup of what is, to me, part chocolate budino, part hot chocolate. I mean, can you drink it? Not really. You need a spoon to get through this quivering chocolate mass (it’s thickened with cornflour). Permutations, including ground nuts and spices, go up to £4.50. You can buy it in sachets to make at home (the bigger packet is better value), from £5.
Once upon a time, you used to be able to get a cioccolata Fiorentina in Carluccio’s, which was much the same thing, but smaller. Sated, we strolled to the Green and Natalie showed me where parts of Ted Lasso were filmed.
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