Gourmet Chocolate Near Me in Notting Hill: Melt Chocolates on Ledbury Road

Melt Chocolates makes its bonbons by hand in Notting Hill and sells them from 59 Ledbury Road, W11 2AA, where you can also crack and grind cocoa beans in a £54.99 bean-to-bar workshop. Louise Nason founded the business in 2005, and it is still family owned. A second boutique sits at 6 Clarendon Road near Holland Park. For anyone in west London searching for gourmet chocolate near me, it is one of the few shops where the chocolate is made on site rather than shipped in.

Melt's own history says Nason started the company two years after her fourth child was born, with the aim of making fresh, natural chocolate with less sugar for her family and neighbours. The name came to her over a summer dinner at the River Café in Hammersmith, while she was looking for a word that belonged to chocolate making and also sounded good. Chocolate melts at body temperature, and the company built its pitch around that silky moment on the tongue.

The company describes itself as headquartered, making and selling all its fresh chocolates in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Recipes are designed in house by Melt's chocolatiers, and the website compares the daily batches of fresh chocolate to freshly baked bread. It invites customers to come and see the kitchen in the store, which is the main reason to visit Ledbury Road instead of ordering the same box online.

For a mixed selection, the small chocolate gift box of 10 costs £19.99, and the Sea Salted Caramel Infinity Box costs £24.99. The fresh bonbons are made with dairy and soya, so vegan visitors should head to the bars instead. Orangettes, candied orange peel in dark chocolate, cost £14.99, and the Extra Thick Hazelnut Filled Bar is also £14.99.

The sea salt milk chocolate bar is the shop's most popular bar, according to its product page: a 90g slab of creamy milk chocolate seasoned lightly with Maldon salt, for £9.99. The dark version, also 90g, costs £9.99 as well. If you want something stranger, the Wild Dark Chocolate Bar at £10.99 uses rare organic beans harvested from wild cocoa trees in Bolivia, sourced through the Chimane people, and it tastes softer and sweeter than its name suggests.

At the far end of the shelf, the 100% Madagascar dark chocolate bar has no added sugar at all and costs £10.99. It is the bar to skip if you are buying for children or anyone who usually eats milk chocolate; it is bitter, fruity and best suited to dark chocolate fans. Melt's subscription uses the same thinking, with single-origin bars from Bolivia at 68%, the Philippines at 85% and Madagascar at 100%.

Melt's workshops are what set it apart from most London chocolate shops. The Notting Hill bean-to-bar workshop at 59 Ledbury Road costs £54.99. A host walks you through the history first, from Aztec chocolate with chilli and vanilla to the courts of Europe, with tastings at each step. Then you sort and roast cocoa beans, crack and winnow them, and grind the nibs with a pestle and mortar, tasting how the flavour changes along the way.

You take home three chocolate bars, which Melt values at £16, in its own packaging and a designer bag. The course is suitable for vegans, and the shop asks for allergies in advance. Other options include a £39.99 hot chocolate workshop, a £44.99 lollipop course for children, a three-hour master class for £149 that combines ganache, tempering and bean-to-bar, and a two-hour cacao ceremony with sound healing in a candle-lit yurt for £59.99.

Ledbury Road is the shop to visit if you want the workshops and the kitchen.

If you are short of time, buy a box of bonbons and a sea salt bar at whichever boutique is closer and leave the classes for a return trip. Workshop places are booked online in advance, so turning up on the day and expecting to join is a gamble. If you arrive to find a class taking over the shop, the bars and boxes are still on sale at the counter.

Ledbury Road runs north from Westbourne Grove through one of Notting Hill's quieter shopping streets, lined with independent fashion and homeware boutiques. A few minutes west is Portobello Road, whose Saturday market is the neighbourhood's best-known sight. A loop from Notting Hill Gate station down Pembridge Road, along Portobello Road and back via Westbourne Grove brings you past Melt without retracing your steps.

From the Clarendon Road boutique, Holland Park Avenue and the park itself are a short walk south. Holland Park is a good place to eat a bar on a bench before the walk back to the Underground at Holland Park station on the Central line. On a day with a workshop, plan the walk before the class, because you will leave carrying three fresh bars and a bag.

Notting Hill boutique: 59 Ledbury Road, London W11 2AA. Holland Park boutique and office: 6 Clarendon Road, London W11 3AA. Customer service email: lovemelt@meltchocolates.com. Nearest stations are Notting Hill Gate for Ledbury Road and Holland Park for Clarendon Road. Online orders placed before 1pm on weekdays ship within one to two working days.