The House Of Minerva – Bath

On my recent visit to Bath, Avon I thought I’d pop in to a couple of chocolate shops to see what they’re like. Last time I only managed to pop into the Mr Simms Sweet shop. But this time I thought I’d visit a proper chocolate shop.

Location
The House Of Minerva chocolate shop is located on Cheap Street which is just off the main street with all the usual shops so it’s pretty centrally located and just by the Abbey and a stone’s through from the Fudge Kitchen shop. It’s hard to get much more central and you wouldn’t have to walk too far from the main shopping or tourist attractions.

Score: 10/10

Appearance
From the outside the shop does look enticing. The building is fantastically solid with a great large window that shows off all their chocolate goodies inside. I’m sure the outside of it and the display would draw in all but the most severe xocolatophobic wouldn’t want to go in.

Score: 9/10

The Walk In
I was a bit lost when I walked in. I couldn’t quite get my bearings. There was a counter to the left which I wasn’t sure if it was just for ordering food for their cafe. A display with Valrhona hot chocolate and some other goodies straight ahead and a counter full of great looking ganaches and truffles to my right. The far half of the shop was taken by a seating area for diners.

I do wish that more room was devoted to the sale of chocolate – but that’s just me and when I walked in and for a good few minutes there was no-one behind the counter to help.

Score: 6.5/10

Selection
The selection wasn’t too bad. There were some Easter and Mother’s Day goodies around whilst there were about 20 different types of handmade chocolates in the counter to choose from – I chose 13 which came up to 200g and £12. The flavours included a whole range of alcoholic chocolates including Rum, Cointreau, Kirsh and some others that I can’t remember.

Score: 7/10

Staff
It took a bit of time for Philippe to take control of the counter and ask what I wanted. But when he did arrive we had a nice relaxed exchange whilst he helped me select the chocolates to buy – but it did seem that they were extremely busy, and slightly flustered.

Score: 8/10

Prices
As most of the chocolates weren’t boxed but were to create your own selection, there isn’t much to go on. But from experience £6 per 100g isn’t bad.

Score: 7/10

Taste Test
I’ve got the bag of chocolates in front of me now. I’ll review them asap.

Can you Buy Online?
No

Would I go back?
Yes