Pannys Chocolate

Posted by in Chocolate Reviews on July 5 2009 | Leave A Comment

Phillip Island is about an hour-and-a-half’s drive from Melbourne and is a favourite spot for Aussie and international tourists wanting to see Fairy Penguins and city folk wanting to have holidays at the beach. Panny’s Chocolate Factory is located at the entrance into the island and has therefore a guaranteed steady stream of folk wanting hot chocolates, coffee and a taste of his chocolate, especially on the weekends or during the motorcycle Grand Prix.

They were doing a roaring trade the day I was there, so I quickly grabbed three blocks – Dark Grand Marnier, Dark Almond and Dark Mocca and a handful of small bars.

Pannys Chocolate

I wasn’t prepared to shell out a further twelve dollars for the rather tacky-looking chocolate museum, but would love to hear from anybody who has been inside. Was it worth it to see a 12,000 piece chocolate mosaic of Dame Edna, a chocolate village with working trains, a one tonne block of chocolate and a slow-growing chocolate stalagmite or would I be better entertained by chewing one of my own legs off?

Pannys Chocolate

Sadly, whilst the chocolate is Belgian (Callebaut, in fact) what he’s done to it has been very disappointing. The Grand Marnier and Mocca blocks don’t have fillings but have been infused with some kind of flavour that makes them taste overly fake and renders the once-reasonable-chocolate into a cheap tasting product that I couldn’t finish. The almond block was similarly uninspired and very stingy on the amount of actual nuts included.

The individual bars were fine. Just OK. I guess it’s hard to mess up milk chocolate if it’s got nice fillings included like cherry, caramel, honeycomb or nuts in it, but I’m not under any illusion that Panny or his creators are any creative genuises in the world of chocolate or able to produce any ground-breakingly unique additional flavours or be stocked by city supermarkets any time soon. No, but they’ve got a great location – the sole chocolate manufacturer on an island that teems with cashed-up visitors.

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Comments On This Post

  1. Christine

    I’ve tried the Grand Marnier one before and found it a bit lacking as well. Not keen to try any others after reading this review either 🙁

  2. Justin

    I went through the choc museum which cost $36 for my family and took us only an hour to go through – walking slowly. Thought it might be worth as we’d get lots of complimentary chocolate – was I wrong – lucky to get three pieces. The museum was entertaining enough which starts off with an interesting display of history and gadgets used making chocolate. Thats followed by some puzzles and the dame Edna piece, a 1tonne piece of choc then room with a long conveyer where you can make your blob of choc and see the innards of the factory. There’s a cutesy animatronic display which will entertain anyone under 5. You can then pay $2 to see a bar of choc made through a machine that makes sounds like the everlasting gobstopper machine. Oh there’s also a wall of choc the tips over every couple of mins. Wasn’t tacky at all but it is also a tad overpriced for what it is – especially when they’re scoungy with the choc!! Then we paid another $15 for a small bag of truffles and a bar of choc. It’s nice choc but is it any better than what you can get at the supermarket?? Not for mine. Best bit for me – the lamb curry at the cafe!! $12 and you get a huge serve and it was fantastic.

  3. Anita

    Amazing service, Amazing chocolate. It was great that everything was halal and also I was able to pray in a room upstairs which was fantastic because its usually hard to find places which accomadate muslims and our prayer times 🙂

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