A chocolate shop is born on Bank Street

• Name + address: Pistachio Choco, 1666 Bank St.

• Type of food: Chocolate

• Wheelchair accessibility: Yes

• Website: www.pistachiochoco.ca

When you like a shop, it’s often as much about the people as what they offer. So it was with Sultan Nuts, a shop that specialized in nuts, teas, sweets, coffee and just lovely service.

I went, as usual, one day to see what was new and yes there was something new: an entire business. Sultan Nuts had been replaced with Pistachio Choco. I was disappointed but it was a chocolate shop so I knew that duty required me to speak with the folks inside and to throw myself at the mercy of indulgence.

Malaz Alfara opened his shop in October last year and it has appeared to have undergone a retrofit to allow for his chocolate making to take place out back.

He still carries an assortment of nuts, coffee and Turkish delights but his artfully painted chocolates star. 

Alfara became interested in chocolate making a decade ago and for the past seven years has been honing his art professionally.

Cacao Barry is the Belgian chocolate standard used by most chocolate artisans and where Alafra’s skill shows is not just in the recipes, but in how well the chocolate is tempered.

Bite into one of his pralines and you’ll hear the snap of perfectly tempered chocolate that melts soon after it hits your palate. 

The fillings are smoothly blended and nicely imagined. His kiwi praline is made using fresh kiwi and not a pre-made paste and gives a bright contrast to the dark chocolate.

For those observing Ramadan, Pistachio Choco may just be a key destination when Eid rolls around.