How to enter the mad hatter's no-meet.
How do you go from music to chocolate? It is the almost obligatory first question to Carlos del Amo, founding half of Chocolate, the new and first chocolate shop in Malasaña, and half of the group Gold Lake. The other half is your partner Lua Rios. "Are two musicians 100%, but if you are a little bit creative, you pour yourself into everything you do,” he says.
After almost a decade living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Carlos and Lúa returned to their house in Malasaña, which they have had “for 15 years”. “In this square was ** The Palentino ** of always, we saw open Lamucca, and in this place, just below our house, was Juan, an antique dealer, fixing furniture. One day I go down to the street and I see the real estate guys because they put it up for rent”, he says.
Chocolate or slice? Chocolate!
And Lúa and Carlos began to think: What is Malasaña missing? What could be missing from one of the liveliest neighborhoods in Madrid? It scared them to imagine that he would open a “franchise-type business, without personality” and they began to think about what they could set up. They had some experience in the sector, after opening the bar Madklyn.
“The first idea was a cafeteria. I'm a coffee fanatic, and there in Williamsburg I had all the wonderful coffees, I'm a coffee junkie and the first thing I thought of was that. But right away I realized that in Malasaña there are already several specialty coffees… And we come to chocolate. There is no chocolate shop here, something that is not San Ginés or Valor”, explains Carlos del Amo. “Being the first in Malasaña in something is difficult, but I think that this year we are. There will be more, but for now…”.
Bombon's heart.
As 100% good musicians, they had little idea of chocolates, but they did know that “it had to be ecological, safe; and fair trade, paramount”. So they found one that they send from Belgium but is grown on farms in Latin America. “It is 70% organic and fair trade cocoa”, he insists, showing the little balls that he throws into the machine in Florencia that melts it at a constant temperature, “48 degrees”.
“This machine is the heart of Bombón, You hardly see them in Spain”, he explains as he pours those chocolate nuggets that melt and spin in a hypnotic and irresistible rhythm for any chocolatier.
The green room.
From there comes a pure chocolate, to which they later add the kind of milk you want. You are vegan, lactose intolerant, or a fan of coconut milk, you can combine it with whatever you want: soy, rice, oatmeal... Then they emulsify it with steam and there is a cup of chocolate with the exact thickness to which you can add, if you feel like experimenting with flavors, ginger shavings, pepper, cardamom, cinnamon or mint.
A cup of chocolate that you drink in a chocolate universe, musician (the album covers, the music that plays and the video clips that they play, mark it) and decorated with fantasy wall papers that have been brought from London. In each of the two spaces, a different one. Even the bathroom hides one... with flamingos!
If the fear was to see a new place in Malasaña without personality, they have scared it away with a good chocolate.
WHY GO
Because you want a cup of good hot chocolate more often than you think, the problem is that now you didn't know where to drink it. But also, if you don't feel like chocolate, they have good coffee (here the owner is as much a coffee junkie as you are) and a barrel of beer. Have sweet (vegan muffins, biscuits and cookies, all homemade) and also salty (Mother Yeast Pies) . They open all day for sweet tooth and non-sweet tooth.
Sweet paradise.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
The draculins, or chocolate covered strawberries. "We call them that because they remind us of the mythical ice cream, Dracula," he says. The chocolates, the dehydrated fruits, all organic, dipped in chocolate, the tablets with gold dust. “This is a nod to our group: they are Gold Lake Edition,” he says. At the entrance of the premises they have a display with all these products that they make themselves. Recipes that will change, although some, like the Draculines, can no longer be missing.
In addition, they sell chocolates that they have carefully selected, such as one from Scotland, another from Hungary and one from Teruel.
Address: Plaza Carlos Cambronero, 1 See map
Telephone: 660 57 30 61
Schedule: Monday 15:30-21:00; Tuesday to Friday 9:00-15:00 and 16:00-21:00
Additional schedule information: Saturdays and Sundays 10:00-14:00 and 16:00-21:00
Half price: Traditional chocolate: €3.30