As soon as you walk into Choco Mania Cafe in Birmingham, a sweet aroma fills your nose. The cafe, set up almost like a restaurant, has its own selfie station included. When I went, It was not too crowded, and I was able to receive my food quickly. However, the staff was not very friendly. There was an extensive menu with so many other options including pastries, rolled ice cream and crepes. They also have many intriguing drinks like bubble tea and “fancy” juices.
The first thing I tried was the infamous Dubai Chocolate Bar. Many other stores have recreated this popular treat and it was smaller than I expected it to be and it was very colorful. Inside there was a lot of green pistachio filling in comparison to the chocolate outside. It was a weird texture when I first bit into it, but then the flavor made up for it as it started to grow on me. It was a flavor I haven’t experienced before, very sweet, but also bitter simultaneously. I wish there was a thicker chocolate coating, so the filling wasn’t too powerful. Although the small chocolate bar ranged around $20, I believe this is a must try item from Choco Mania.
The next thing I tried at Choco Mania were the plain Chocolate Covered Strawberries. I was very excited to try these, but I was underwhelmed. The strawberries were good quality, but I felt like there could have been more chocolate poured on considering this was Choco Mania. I also believe this item was far overpriced for what you were actually buying. The chocolate was nothing special and tasted like it was store bought. I would save your money and spend it on another item.
The final item I tried were Dubai Chocolate Strawberries. These were in a cup and topped with the pistachio filling from the Dubai Chocolate Bar. The strawberries and chocolate were mediocre, but the crunch and flavor of the pistachio made it better. However, I wish there was less of the filling because there was an overwhelming amount of sweetness. Both the Dubai and normal chocolate strawberries were very expensive. I would recommend the viral Dubai items compared to some of the normal foods because of their prices.
