Just William Chocolates

I love chocolate but this wasn’t return visit worthy.
We had four different chocolates, and I have to say I’d rather buy a candy bar at the grocery store than spend twice as much money here again.
I had the peanut butter and toffee caramel and while both were good, I wasn’t dying to go back and get more. I think chocolate boutiques should leave you wanting more and unfortunately this just didn’t make the cut.

Small, charming, delicious. The only problem with this small boutique chocolatier (as well as all of Paddington) is that I live in San Francisco.

— The staff are appallingly rude and unhelpful. Asking questions is harder than drawing blood from a stone (I didn’t think enquiring about storing the chocolate in the lead up to easter was a silly question, but apparently I was wrong.)
— The chocolate was once flawless — good enough to ignore the staff’s rudeness. As of Easter 2012, I can say that it’s not as good. The rocky road wasn’t made of good quality chocolate at all and it was half stale.
— The cream centers are hit and miss, and avoid the pre-​packed selection boxes of cream-​centers as you do end up with the boring, unpopular versions. You are better off picking out of the window and making your own box up.
All in all, there are better chocolate shops in Sydney that are worth the money and whose staff are polite and helpful and happy to answer any questions.

The absolute best chocolate that you’ll ever have can be found in a tiny little shop in William Street, Paddington. If there ever was a chocolate heaven here on earth, it would be Just William Chocolates. This store has the yummiest handmade chocolates you’ll ever have the pleasure to eat in all of Sydney. They also have beautiful customised packaging which is another reason why people love this store. Although they have over 170 kinds of chocolates to choose from, it’s hard to rate just one product as the best because they’re all divine. Fudge, animal shaped chocolates, pralines, truffles, dipped fruit and nut clusters… chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, yum, yum, yum!

It’s hard pressed for me to find better chocolate after experiencing Belle Fleur, but the other day while walking past this little chocolate boutique, I thought I’d give it a try.
When I say this boutique is little, I mean tiny. I’m guessing most people window shop (unless they already know what they want) before entering to purchase because you couldn’t really fit more than five or six people tops.
Unlike most chocolate stores where they have hoards of chocolates stacked on top of each other in a seemingly endless supply, Just William Chocolates display only a handful of pieces onto a small dishes of each type of flavour. Some have two types of flavours on one dish.
When you do actually go inside there’s a few more choices that weren’t out on the window display. If you’re looking for a present and wanting to get these chocolates boxed, the packaging is well designed and they have a great variety of ribbon to choose from.
I just wanted to try a couple that caught my eye from the window. The caramel fudge was amazing as it had pieces of ginger through it. Also the ‘honeycomb bark’ was great too. I should’ve gotten a bigger piece!

This very cute chocolate shop on very cute Williams Street is an institution in Sydney. The handmade chocolates are both exquisite and delicious. In fact they have gained such a reputation that Just William Chocolates ships internationally! This boutique chocolatier is just as famous for its beautiful packaging, which if you’re a lovely packaging sucker like me you’ll be totally enchanted by. The treats on offer here may be a little on the pricy side but they do make a fantastic gift. You can spend up to $ 80 on 30 or so chocolates (wrapped in a rose, literally) but if you’ve got a smaller budget you can get just a cute a pack of 9 chocolates for $ 20.

This cute little box store on boutique-​heavy William St, Paddington is routinely gawked at like one would do at … Adriano Zumbo’s café in Balmain. Still, they’re very different in style. This slightly austere and enormously elegant store clearly prescribes to the overblown theory that ‘less is more’. Rather than an avalanche of chocolate inside the store there’s an allocated number for each — nestled nicely on little trays — that altogether comprise many various types (hard, soft, creamy, fruity, nutty, milk, dark, white). Our favourite ones were the hard toffee chocolate but perhaps check with your dentist first — they really weren’t kidding! The best time to go here is during holiday season — Easter is especially great — but it is a smart idea to also go any time you’re in the area. Definitely standing room only.

I squeaked with excitement as I walked past this shop on William Street, right at the beginning of my stay in Sydney when I’d only recently discovered the inadequacy of shop-​bought Australian chocolate. The shop window, laden with delicate rows of glossy brown orbs, promised respite, sustenance and chocolate-​fixes from what had seemed to be a life without chocolate.
Stepping over the threshold, a fabulous cocoa-​rich waft tantalised my nostrils. Oh finally, I thought, my chocolate-​famine has come to an end. I enthusiastically started pointing out truffles, buttons, bombes, ganaches and pralines that I wanted to buy. I liked their witty names — the B52 Bombe, for example; their hand-​written labels; the brightly coloured ribbons and exquisite packaging. Of course, the chocolates tasted as delicious as they looked — no surprises there. They are expensive, at around $ 12 a kilo. But you have to pay for quality, and in a climate that isn’t conducive to chocolate, I think they’re worth every dollar.
These are the type of chocolates that everyone loves to receive as a present. The packaging makes them even more wonderful. The choice that is available means there will be something for everyone — from the traditionalist who just wants a dark chocolate truffle to the fruit bat who wants a strawberry fondant — Just William can cater to all your chocolate desires.