The Dark Gallery
9 Raffles Boulevard
#01-K5 Millenia Walk
391 Orchard Road
#B2-29 Ngee Ann City
107 North Bridge Road
#01-14 Funan
https://thedarkgallery.com/
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| The Chocolate Rhapsody (SGD $19) |
Taste The Dark
(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)
Overall: 7
Ambience & Setting: 7
Food & Beverage: 8
Service: 6
Value for Money: 8
Spent about SGD $14 per person.
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Established in July 2017 by Singaporean chocolatier and entrepreneur Li Lihui, The Dark Gallery is a boutique and cafe specialising in single origin dark chocolate, and dark chocolate desserts. Riding on the wave of artisanal food concepts that aim not only to serve delicious and visually eye-catching dishes, but also aim to educate diners on where their food comes from, The Dark Gallery brings you on a chocolate adventure.
Ambience at The Dark Gallery features hues of black, gold, and wood. The open concept place seats up to 40 people, in tightly packed wooden booths that I find cramped. Plus point; they offer power sockets to charge devices. The display of desserts is eye-catching and pretty, you'll have a hard time deciding just on looks alone.
Service at The Dark Gallery is completely self-service, from ordering to payment to collection over the counter. Staff have little engagement, but do display good product knowledge if questioned. They're quick to fulfil requests, and I note they clean up tables efficiently when diners leave. Fairly basic, passable standards.
Food at The Dark Gallery is focused on desserts, specifically, dark chocolate pastries and ice cream. They offer tasting platters for the undecided, but generally, each dish is made with a single origin chocolate, using cocoa beans grown in a single geographic region, on sustainable farms. Portions are sized for individuals. Prices are slightly cheaper than other artisanal dessert places, budget about SGD $14 per person.
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| The Dark Gallery Signage |
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| The Dark Gallery Facade |
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| The Dark Gallery Menu |
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| Seating |
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| The Dark Arts |
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| Chocolate Bonbons |
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| Desserts Flat Lay |
The Single Origin Dark Hot Chocolate - Tanzania (SGD $8.50) is made with 75% dark chocolate from Tanzania, and has a medium thick, velvety texture. It's known for its rich, chocolatey bitter sweet flavours, that carry sharp earthy spice citrus notes.
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| Single Origin Dark Hot Chocolate - Tanzania (SGD $8.50) |
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| Single Origin Dark Hot Chocolate - Tanzania |
The Single Origin Dark Cold Chocolate - Ghana (SGD $9.50) is made with 68% dark chocolate from Ghana, and has a medium thick, grainy texture. It's known for its powerful, chocolatey earthy sweet flavours, that carry bold nutty fruity spice notes.
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| Single Origin Dark Cold Chocolate - Ghana (SGD $9.50) |
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| Single Origin Dark Cold Chocolate - Ghana |
A creative beverage that wins on presentation. The Frozen Hazelnut Chocolate Cube Latte (SGD $10) is served with a Double Espresso Shot, Warm Milk, and Hazelnut Chocolate Coated Ice Cubes. Mix everything together, and you get a thin, easy-drinking chilled beverage that carries lovely floral earthy bitter sweet toasty nutty flavours. You actually taste the layers of coffee, chocolate, and milk here. Good!
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| Frozen Hazelnut Chocolate Cube Latte (SGD $10) |
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| Double Espresso Shot |
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| Warm Milk |
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| Hazelnut Chocolate Coated Ice Cubes |
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| Frozen Hazelnut Chocolate Cube Latte |
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| Frozen Hazelnut Chocolate Cube Latte |
The Jasmine Honey Ginger Tea Cake (SGD $6) has a soft but semi-dry texture, with a delicate floral spice sweet flavour. The dried jasmine flowers lends visually appeal, but irked me while eating. The notes from the honey is stronger than the taste of the ginger or jasmine flowers, I would have preferred a stronger spice flavour instead. Could be improved.
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| Jasmine Honey Ginger Tea Cake (SGD $6) |
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| Jasmine Honey Ginger Tea Cake |
The Chocolate Chip Scone (SGD $3.50) is pretty good. The scone is studded with chocolate chips, and has a firm exterior that yields to reveal a crumbly moist interior. Bite in, and you get a bready buttery chocolatey bitter sweet flavour, with a light chew. Good!
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| Chocolate Chip Scone (SGD $3.50) |
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| Chocolate Chip Scone |
During one particular visit, we tried the Signature Chocolate Cake (SGD $10), and it was terrible. Perhaps it was because we visited just before the shop closed, and the cake likely has been sitting there awhile. The flavours of the chocolate weren't as strongly bitter sweet as it could have been, and the texture was overly dry and firm. This likely would have been better earlier in the day, when it was freshly made.
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| Signature Chocolate Cake (SGD $10) |
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| Signature Chocolate Cake |
The Single Origin Chocolate Brownie - Costa Rica (SGD $7.50) was a slight disappointment, because they heated it a little too long, resulting in a dry crumbly texture. The flavour still shines though, with 70% dark chocolate from Costa Rica. It's known for its complex, chocolatey earthy bitter flavours, that carry sharp roasted fruity smoky notes. Garnished with crunchy sugar coated peanuts and thick chocolate fudge sauce. Could be improved.
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| Single Origin Chocolate Brownie - Costa Rica (SGD $7.50) |
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| Single Origin Chocolate Brownie - Costa Rica |
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| Single Origin Chocolate Brownie - Costa Rica |
The Single Origin Dark Chocolate Pastries - The Africas (SGD $14) is a platter showcase for the range of single origin chocolates from the continent of Africa. Sourced from sustainable farms, the chocolate made from these cacao beans carry their own distinct flavours.
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| Single Origin Dark Chocolate Pastries - The Africas (SGD $14) |
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| Single Origin Dark Chocolate Pastries - The Africas |
The Madagascar Chocolate Wild Berry Financier features 64% dark chocolate from Madagascar, infused into a spongy soft financier pastry, set with a crunchy hazelnut feuilletine and chewy freeze dried strawberries in the center, decorated with a crisp strawberry chocolate piece. It has a lovely balanced chocolatey floral fruity sweet nutty herbal flavour. A pleasant and elegant morsel of a dessert.
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| Madagascar Chocolate Wild Berry Financier |
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| Madagascar Chocolate Wild Berry Financier |
The Ghana Deconstructed Chocolate Tart features 68% dark chocolate from Ghana, made into a dense creamy ganache, set on a chewy soft pastry tart base infused with nutmeg and cinnamon, topped with crunchy firm caramelised cacao nibs. It has a robust chocolatey bitter sweet nutty spice flavour. Meant to be slowly savoured, in small nibbles. This was my favourite dessert from the platter.
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| Ghana Deconstructed Chocolate Tart |
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| Ghana Deconstructed Chocolate Tart |
The Tanzania Chocolate Brownie features 75% dark chocolate from Tanzania, infused into, and glazed over, a soft spongy brownie. Decorated with silver leaf and a touch of olive oil. This has a straightforward, deep chocolatey bitter sweet flavour. Decent enough as a dessert, but not spectacular.
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| Tanzania Chocolate Brownie |
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| Tanzania Chocolate Brownie |
The São Tomé Chocolate Banana Mousse Verrine features 70% dark chocolate from São Tomé, made into a soft creamy dense mousse, topped with tender caramelised bananas and hard crunchy baked candied walnuts. It has an intense chocolatey fruity nutty sweet flavour, which lingers heavily on the palate, and actually can get cloying. This was my least favourite dessert on the platter, beacuse it was overwhelmingly intense.
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| São Tomé Chocolate Banana Mousse Verrine |
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| São Tomé Chocolate Banana Mousse Verrine |
No chocolate lover should miss The Chocolate Rhapsody (SGD $19). Served over a bed of crunchy grainy chocolate soil, decorated with crunchy airy vanilla meringue and soft chocolate tuile, this decadent dessert features 3 large, creamy smooth scoops of chocolate ice cream. The floral chocolatey sweet flavours of the garnishings complement the 80% dark chocolate ice cream with its robust chocolatey bitter sweet flavour, the 32% white chocolate ice cream with its delicate chocolatey milky sweet flavour, and the 38% milk chocolate ice cream with its bright chocolatey sweet bitter milky flavour. Completed with a smear of chocolate fudge. Highly recommended!
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| The Chocolate Rhapsody (SGD $19) |
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| The Chocolate Rhapsody |
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| The Chocolate Rhapsody |
Positioned as a plated dessert, The Chocolate Affogato (SGD $8) is served with an espresso shot that has bold sharp acidic roasted coffee flavour, and a large scoop of creamy smooth, chocolate mint ice cream that has sharp herbal bitter sweet chocolatey flavour. Topped with crunchy caramelised almonds that have a nutty sweet flavour. Pour in the shot, and mix to get a beautiful contrast of flavours and textures. Note that because of the bitter sweet contrast, this may not appeal to all. Worth ordering!
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| The Chocolate Affogato (SGD $8) |
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| The Chocolate Affogato |
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| Espresso Shot |
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| Chocolate Mint Ice Cream With Caramelised Almonds |
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| The Chocolate Affogato |
The Basil & Passionfruit Sorbet, Milk Chocolate Ice Cream, In Chocolate Coated Waffle Bowl (SGD $10) was decent enough. While the milk chocolate ice cream had decent chocolatey bitter sweet flavour, what surprised us was the basil and passionfruit sorbet with its sharp tangy zesty sour sweet herbal flavour. Nicely refreshing. The crisp waffle bowl was freshly made, and crunched satisfyingly when bit, lending a grainy sweet flavour to the dessert. Worth ordering!
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| Basil & Passionfruit Sorbet, Milk Chocolate Ice Cream, In Chocolate Coated Waffle Bowl (SGD $10) |
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| Basil & Passionfruit Sorbet, Milk Chocolate Ice Cream, In Chocolate Coated Waffle Bowl |
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