Les Chocolats Favoris
1010 Government St
Victoria, BC
(778) 265-7050

JS: Move over Beacon Drive-In, there is a new ice cream shop in town and they speak Québécois French. Can a bit of olde England (Victoria) stand up to the noveau French invasion? Personally, I will say Beacon has little to worry about. But careful, do not drop your guard. Do not take Favoris lightly. Sure Beacon has their own lightly creamed sweet ice cream but when the urges take over, now and again, I want a hearty ice cream that is less on cream but more filling. For these urges, I shall run to Les Chocolats Favoris.

ES: I like the fact that the president of this company, Dominique Brown, decided to open up shop here in Victoria instead of Vancouver. They are based out of Quebec and to have an operation here is a gamble. Over the summer, during the busy tourist season where a cruise ship stops by every few weeks, this place was busy! Of course, James and I were late in learning about it and we still wobbled our way over to try ice cream off-season.

The draw has to be with the size of the portions offered. When I was walking to the Inner Harbour later, some tourists gawked at what I had left and I pointed them to where they could buy one.

The product this company is famous for comes from what they put into the recipe. The buttermilk blend is very nice! There’s a soft velvety goodness to adore, and the variety of dips is not for the faint of heart. I have tried two of the dozen flavours and intend to taste them all! Before, I had the hazelnut chocolate crunch and this time I opted for the white chocolate maple; it’s a bit too sweet for my liking and let the birds take ’em on the discarded chunks I tossed into the garbage. I would have preferred it to harden with a thin shell than thick.

I struggled to finish my cone-sized serving mostly because of too much richness coming from the dip.

JS: When the server asked me what flavour of dip, I said chocolate; but they countered by asking what kind?

ES: I almost wanted to laugh out loud at this point. Knowing we’d get stared at, I refrained. The first thing anyone sees upon entering this establishment is the assortment of cocoa offered. either in tins or at the counter. Willy Wonka, eat your heart out!

JS: I could have tried milk chocolate but I must say its only great on a small soft serve. When considering the size I asked for (a large), the cone was too sweet. The next time I go large, I’ll ask for my serving to be plain. This dip is nothing like Beacon’s which crumbles with ease. It was like eating a hard chocolate Easter bunny but with an ice cream surprise at the centre. I felt like a giant from the Attack on Titan anime series, prying the chocolatey wall apart with my teeth to get at the prize just beyond. Creepy, I know but if you’re a Japanese anime fan, weird things go through your head at times.

ES: Since James is already bald, I guess he can look like a leviathan with a goofy grin to boot. Mind you, even though he warned me about his big accident with a cone, I had no problem. Everything comes down to technique, and must I repeat how he fumbled with chopsticks again?

JS: The trick is to avoid the ice cream that has melted. It’s fine as you race from the top but when you get to the bottom, one wrong bite of the cone can crumble it and leak all the ice cream like a toxic waste spill down your jacket. A clean-up crew in hazmat suits was not needed. A couple of moist towelettes and some napkins did the trick.

ES: Translation: order a medium-sized cone. And speaking of coneheads, I wonder if this operation will consider adding waffle cones in the future?

The first time I was here, I was not impressed with their sorbet. It was too frozen. The second visit had me rabidly wolfing down the hazelnut cocoa dip. I finished it in record time so I could hunt down the Dratini which appeared on my game’s radar. That coveted Pokémon showed up in my mobile game and I wanted it bad! Damn my luck that it happened again during the visit with James. He’s not playing it but I was. Oh the choices!

JS: And since Ed ran off to capture the elusive pocket monster, we know that Pokémon GO is more potent to Ed than ice cream is any day.

3½ out of 5