Kee’s Chocolates

I love this place. I learned about it a few years ago while watching the food network. The Crème Brulee and Lemon Basil chocolates are my favorite. The service is excellent.

My favorite chocolatier in the city. Let me just get the bad out of the way first: they sell out of flavors too quickly into the day! How can you blame them though with flavors like blended pepper (4 different peppercorns), balsamic vinegar, champagne, earl grey, fennel, elderflower, pineapple lychee, and yuzu? Any place that sells rose, lavender, yuzu, and earl grey anything is automatically a favorite then you got Kee’s who comes up with things like fennel! Peppercorn blew my mind. I only come here when I’ve done something that deserves a real treat. So glad they opened a location 2 blocks from my place! AAAAH!

This chocolatier really takes great care in making delicious concoctions! I haven’t had a chance to try her macarons because I have been wooed by her chocolates. It has become my go-​to place for my chocolate fix & gifts.

Lemon basil, oh my gosh. Best thing ever. Also lovely, friendly service. Very expensive but you know…

This place is amazing! I visited two weeks ago when I knew I’d be passing by and wow… put this on your list, even if it’s out of the way. Outstanding, attentive service with personal (accurate!) recommendations based on what you say you like. I selected a variety of chocolates — the turtles, earl grey and the lavender being the most memorable — and macarons. The macarons were fluffy and delicious; in particular, I wish I’d bought a few more blueberry as they were *ridiculous*. Will return!

Great chocolates and great service. I chose the kaffir lime and balsamic chocolates and asked for a recommendation, which was the amazing sesame and chili. Kee was worried I would need something to wash it down with and gave me an orange truffle too. My favorite chocolate was the kaffir lime which blew my mind. Macaron flavors were fantastic but the texture wasn’t quite there, in future I’ll stick with the chocolates.

Most amazing chocolate, I always get truffles. The selection is always changing, and I noticed because I’ve been there a lot lately it’s super addicting. Too many flavors to mention but here’s current list of must try truffles in my opinion:
dark chocolate ganache — tried and true original
blended pepper –4 types of peppercorn cracked to form layer on top
lavender — if you love earl grey this is for you, infused chocolate so still creamy

This place is AMAZING! The Crème brûlée truffles are phenomenal. I honestly wanted to give Kee a hug after I ate one.
You only live once. You deserve the best. Kee’s is where you’ll find it.

The owner is really a nice person. She ask me and my friend to try there new chocolate which is very great although I am actually a huge fan of macaroons. Some are Asian flavor like green tea, etc. I love all of the six macaroons I bought, and what I can remember is that the rose is really a great one. Only one thing I don’t like is that these macaroons are a bit of too dry. But I will visit again and try more flavor for sure.

I only came here to try some macarons thinking I’ll be able to purchase various flavors. When I went in, there were only five. I was quite disappointed since the website offered So many choices. The macarons were of Asian flavors like sesame, green Tea, rosewater lychee. I just purchased the five flavors available. These are big compared to regular macarons and the sizes vary. Overall the taste was not bad. The passionfruit was yum. But I think the size of the macarons Should be more consistent.

Kee’s is a tiny shop tucked in on W 39^th street. I already had tried their chocolate bars and a small sample of there chocolate balls at there Soho location (see my review of that location… there was barely any chocolate left).
I picked up the almond, pignoli, black pepper, pistachio and black sesame chocolates. I previously also tried the balsamic. The chocolates are so good and have such great flavor. I love the various combinations that are used. Much of the chocolate is dark, bit there are some milk and white chocolate options.
Yes, the are pricey, but I’d say they are comparable (price wise) to other handmade chocolates I have had.
The owner is a lovely woman that is friendly and very helpful. Definitely a local business I will support when I’m in the area.

The absolute worst macaroons I’ve ever had. The violet macaroon tasted like an overwhelming combination of toothpaste and perfume. Luckily I also had the slightly-​less-​awful green tea chocolate macaroon to mask the taste. While the flavor on the second one wasn’t bad, it was chewy and not at all light and fluffy as a macaroon is meant to be.
I’m mostly upset that I had to pay for such an unpleasant experience.
This place should come with a warning.

First timer here and I was über excited to try it. I absolutely LOVE macarons! Should have known betta… And stuck with chocolates instead. But not a huge chocolate fan.
It’s a chocolate shop right?! Yes, but I was willing to give it a try seeing as how it touts selling macarons on the website as well.
I bought four macarons: blood orange, earl grey, passion fruit, and pistachio. The flavors weren’t quite there for me except pistachio. They’re primarily chocolate based. Why? The shells weren’t completely smooth and when I bit into them, found they were too crunchy. All eight shells were hollow! Whatttttttt? Over baked! Or something. I’m not good with baking or cooking so who knows… It just wasn’t right.
The owner, Kee, is a gem though. Very sweet woman. I’d definitely come back to try the chocolates. That’s probably where the magic happens! Maybe the locations in lower manhattan have better macarons… And perhaps today was a miss for her here. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt. Bad batch?!

I am in love with Kee’s!
I was introduced to Kee’s in one of my grad school classes: Food Manufacturing in New York City. I learned quite a great deal!
Kee is a lovely Korean American lady who quit the world of finance to pursue her love of chocolates. She opened her first store in SoHo, back when SoHo wasn’t the lovely fancy glitzy place you recognize it to be as today. She infuses asian flavors into her chocolates into a creamy, clean and subtle way; this infusion was something no one else was doing at the time!
Her chocolates are made fresh, daily. If she’s sold out, she’s sold out! All of the chocolates are made here at the 39^th street store behind the glass doors. What you see is what you get. She keeps her staff small and her chocolate output small as well to ensure high quality.
Yes, I sampled quite a few of the chocolates. And yes, I’ve become a returning customer!
I would give her another star if she worked with single origin/​organic/​fair trade cocoa.

This is hardly Hell’s Kitchen, and the narrow space is pretty much just a kitchen with a tiny retail display up front. They sternly denied samples but ended up with their classic crème brûlée despite the attitude.

Have been going to Kees now for ten years. Best chocolates ever. She is doing something right starting with the Soho shop, a midtown shop and here in Hells Kitchen which means that I buy more chocolates than ever before since it is close to Penn Station. You can’t go wrong buying someone a box of chocolates from Kee. Tiramisu. Green Tea. mousse. When they are slightly soft nothing tastes better.

Love this place. The chocolates are exceptionally good, with wonderful texture and flavor. The selection varies daily and seasonally. A couple of the flavors are too subtle for my taste, but the majority are distinctive and delicious. I’m not as convinced by the chocolate bars, but the truffles are superb. Their ice cream is also top notch, and the people are genuinely nice.

While I’m not entirely sure how I feel about paying $ 2.50 for a bite of chocolate (the old me would have been against it but New York has really corrupted me), I have to say that I will be coming back to this place. I had the Jasmine and the Cappuccino, and they were both delicious. If you are already used to being overcharged for everything in this city, you will not have any complaints about this place. But I do have to say that similar places have similar prices and that these chocolates were the best ones I’ve had in a very long time. Another positive aspect of this place is its Hell’s Kitchen location (my neighborhood) and not the East Village or the LES, where most of the great food of this city is located.

Great chocolates and macarons. The owner is very nice, and the crème brulee truffle especially is out of this world. They are usually gone really early so u have to get there first thing when they open or special order them in advance. The one I went to is the size of a closet but boy oh boy there is a lot of good stuff going on in there.

If you haven’t sampled Kee’s chocolates then you must, well forget it. It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years and she’s still making micro batches of some of the finest chocolate in NYC. Her Thompson St store has been going strong for years and a few years back she added a shop in the lobby of a bank on 5^th Avenue. Her Thompson St store until recently was actually two storefronts cobbled together. In one she made chocolate and macaroons and in the one next store she sold them. Well she’s moved out of the storefront she was using to produce chocolate and only kept the retail space. She trekked uptown and that brings us to the newest jewel in her crown. The front of the store is retail and in the back she makes her chocolates. Taking a turn from Jacques Torres the manufacturing space is glassed in so you can watch her and her staff hard at work. Her wares tend to run towards dark chocolate and she adds some seasonal items but her menu is fairly consistent. Might I suggest the blood orange, Earl Gray or keylime for starters. Her batches are small so frequently she’s not carrying the full lineup. That being said you really can’t go wrong. The macaroons are delightful to but the chocolate is what keeps me coming back