Chocoelf Specialty Chocolate Cafe South Bridge ● Zero Sugar Added

I am on the lookout for alternatives to ubiquitous cookie cutter cafes in Singapore that serve same old, same old coffee, pastries, and bread. So when Ben asked if I would like to try Chocoelf at South Bridge Road "next week or this afternoon also can", I jumped at it "let's go now" 😬

One more thing helped in my quick decision - Ben said Chocoelf also has "bak kut teh chocolate" which was why I could not wait any longer 😬

Restaurant name: CHOCOELF Specialty Chocolate Cafe (South Bridge Rd)

Address: 232 South Bridge Road, Singapore 058781

Nearest MRT: 5 minutes walk from Chinatown and Maxwell stations

Tel: 6223 3380

Hours: 10:00am - 7:30pm (closes at 9:30pm on Fri, Sat, Sun)

So, here we were right after a sumptuous and interesting lunch 🐄 🍜 over at Balestier (more on that in a future post).

I must have walked past this corner shop at the intersection of South Bridge Road and Pagoda Street a few hundred, if not a thousand times in the last decade. How could I miss this hidden gem? 🤔

Old uncle not very observant hor....? 🤔

Inside Chocoelf, it looked like any well appointed, chill out cafe.

But, instead of cakes, pastries, bread ad nauseum, Chocoelf has a wide range of chocolate, all under their own Chocoelf brand.

It was our lucky day. Josephine, Chocoelf's head chocoletier was in the house.

Josephine has a fascinating background. She started her career in Mandarin Hotel with its legendary opening team at Chatterbox Cafe for five years. She knows how to make the famous Chatterbox chicken rice that put Singapore chicken rice on the world map 😯

She then went to study in Ottawa, Canada where she was exposed to French culinary art. She then worked in various hotels overseas including in Dubai.

Josephine then joined Dr Joe Lee, a urologist who founded Chocoelf in 2005 to produce sugar free, healthful chocolate. Josephine said she joined Chocoelf because she was impressed with Dr Joe Lee's sincerity and commitment in making healthy, high quality, tasty chocolate. Chocoelf is a wholly homegrown Singapore brand.

Chocoelf has the familiar classic chocolate, all without sugar, all made in-house by Josephine's team.

They also have popular, trendy flavours.

This Ruby Jewel was really good. I like its fruity flavour. Must try!

But you know me lah, I zeroed in on the ~~old uncle~~ heritage flavours 🤭 This was nice but I would like it more with more assertive Robusta bitterness.

Kaya toast flavour. How to resist this right? I tried and it really tasted like coconuty kaya but less sugary sweet because it is sugar free mah.

Love it.

This bak kut teh chocolate was the reason I rushed here today.

But, I think they haven't figured this out yet. It is pork free, that's alright 👍 But, it was neither peppery nor herbal. Just a bit of "porky" savouriness with sweetness and chocolate taste. I won't know it's supposed to be bak kut teh in a blind test.

However, on it's own without preconceived notions, it is a tasty chocolate 😀

Nevertheless, I would like to commend Chocoelf's innovative spirit and efforts to preserve our culinary heritage with chocolate. Jia you! (Keep going!) 💪

They have durian chocolate which I like. It is made with real durian.

We had two hot chocolate drinks - both were nice. I recommend trying the ruby chocolate drink - I like its fruity chocolaty sweet taste even though it is sugar free.

Chocoelf also have coffee for those who must have their Java. It was nice too. Chocoelf sourced their coffee beans from Tiong Hoe, a trusted pioneer Java roaster in Singapore.