Chocolata Spuistraat 51, Amsterdam

Street	Spuistraat
District	Centrum
Town	Amsterdam
Province	Noord Holland
Postcode	1012 ST
Telephone	0031 (0)20 6226241
Open	Sun-Thu 11:00-00:00, Fri & Sat 11:00-01:00
Map	Amsterdam Map ref: E3 and Centrum Map spot: 86 (A4)
Founded	1986
e-mail	chocolata@hi.nl
"Official" Site	www.hi.nl/choco.html (dead link)

	Description

Climbing the spiral staircase when stoned is an interesting experience - it's narrow and surrounded by mirrors. At the top is a chill out room with a telly.

Chocolata does a good line in "special' confectionery. THC-laced cakes and bon-bons are a speciality.

Chocolata has a Volcano vaporizer

	13 5 1 Comments

Michael from Germany. Sent 6 Apr 2005.
We took a trip to Amsterdam in order to "once in our lives do something forbidden". Since no one of us smokes, we had to go for some "sweets". We found this shop and the girl (quite a sweet one) behind the counter was quite helpful and friendly. We bought some slices of the "Hash-Cake" and some "Bon bons". I had a piece of the cake and my friends had half a piece of cake and one of the Hash Bon Bons. The girl had told us that it would take about an hour to hit. And we were stupid enough to run around the city and visit a steak house. We almost believed that nothing at all would happen. When suddenly one by one we started to feel the effect. We sat there and couldn't stop giggling and felt sort of dizzy. Can't remember having laughed that much and hard for a long time. Still some of my friends didn't like the trip at all and felt really uncomfortable with it. But this was mostly due to the fact that we were sitting in a foreign country in a steak house and felt sort of embarrassed. All in all 3 out of the 4 of us will probably not try hash again. I must admit I rather liked it! It was in fact yummy and really did the trick. Would definitely try it again. Still I am just one of four. If you really wanna try this for the first time, please be sure to have at least one sober person with a clear mind next to you. Also try going back to your hotel room before you eat the sweets or just stay at your coffeeshop for about the next 4 hours.

Rici from USA. Sent 23 Mar 2005.
Tried the cake during the Cannabis Cup and it was great. When I came back we tried the Choco Mist which was also very good. It's in a really chill part of town.

Stephen and Sonja from USA. Visited Mar 16-17. Sent 21 Mar 2005.
The coffee was great. Its location is fine also. Had one Bon-Bon but couldn't isolate the high b/c too high already. Next day went in and asked for a nice Indica to try and the young Dutch gal working there actually didn't know which gear was Sativa or Indica. What does that say about the shop? Tried the Choco-mist but bought only a small 0.6 gram bag for 5 Euros. It was OK, but expensive.

Jul-Kev-Stev from France. Visited 22-26 Nov. Sent 1 Dec 2004.
Little 2 level place, we test their Chocomist 5 € for 0.6g great taste very smooth good taste. We take hot chocolate it was good but it's so difficult to climb it to the second level cause the stairs is very small.

Craig from UK. Sent 6 Oct 2004.
Very easy going atmosphere. The seating area above the shop is comfortable enough to chill and pass an afternoon away the right way. Staff were pleasant and helpful. Personally I didn't rate the bon bons and didn't feel particularly challenged by the weed on offer, but this is definitely a place that has it's atmosphere set to a decent level, despite a fairly bland decor and limited space downstairs.

Andy from UK. Visited Jul/Aug 04. Sent 23 Aug 2004.
Probably the best place in Amsterdam to smoke. Sit out the front when it's sunny or in the chilled out 2 floor cafe when it's windy. We sat there all day. 4 visits unveiled a barman resembling Justin Hawkins, and the nicest 3 barmaids on different occasions I've ever met. Great drinks and skunk. Choco skunk kicks ass, and with a couple of chocolate hash cakes and then a hash milkshake it set us up for an evil night on the town!

Greg from Netherlands. Sent 11 Aug 2004.
I guess I have been in this shop at least 100 times, and each time it gets a bit better. Good quality smoke, hash, cakes, drinks, my god the list goes on and on. The staff is tops, and the owner I hear is a real nice guy. The prices on the weed are unlike Rotterdam, a 5 euro bag will get you .8 and 12 euros will get you 1.5 and 20 will get you 3.0 of the Chocomist, the Orange is awesome taste, the Sub Zero and Super Palm are well worth the price. They have over 12 different varieties of smoke plus cakes etc. small shop seats about 10 inside down stairs plus upstairs is available but you have to buy first. Outside in front has 5 tables and 20 chairs so plenty of outside room. Rates a 9 out a 10.

Al from USA. Visited 25-26/04/04. Sent 22 May 2004.
The Chocolate Hash cake took about an hour to hit but hit it did. I'm 54 and have tried brownies before and always thought that they were a waste of money but the Chocolate Hash cake did the trick, I was spaced for hours. The Vanilla Weed cake in comparison didn't seem as potent.

Mike from USA. Visited Mar 04. Sent 27 Mar 2004.
Very nice weedtender. She explained all of the different varieties of laced sweets and the amount of grass/hash in each of them. I didn't have a chance to explore the upstairs of the shop. I purchased a piece of hash cake and my friend bought some bonbons. The hash cake was alright, it tasted like chocolate cake with hash in it :-) I felt a little stoned after a while, but was expecting a little more. My friend didn't like the aftertaste of the bonbons. Although I didn't try any, I heard they have a small but potent selection of grass/hash. Not bad.

Dil from Scotland. Sent 30 Jan 2004.
I go here to get "Choco Skuff" at 25-00 euro a bag but I can tell you little else. The reason being it is for "The Big Man" and he is a tight git who doesna share. Someone let us know what it's like.

Den from England. Sent 5 Jan 2004.
Just arrived back from the new year celebrations in the dam, and what a great time me and my girlfriend had. Product quality was 10*, the 1st time we went in we had great service, but the 2nd time the young girl felt it better to talk to her friend than serve the smoker who had run out of his stash, and we all know how annoying that is. Eventually I got served and normal service was resumed. The Hash cake was very nice and a mellow high, the bon bons needed to be a little stronger but tasted great, not that much of a high, but I only had 2. Nice selection of weed and hash, and would will be going back for more in the summer.

Rob from USA. Sent 24 Nov 2003.
(10/10 Based only on product quality.): Just stopped in for some space cake for the flight home. Bought two pieces and two bonbons and shared them with the guy next to me on the flight home. Two movies, an episode of the Simpsons, and an Episode of Friends later we were still giggling away on the ride back to the states.

MHM from USA. Sent 13 Oct 2003.
I make an annual trek to Amsterdam to fulfil my craving for a taste of the real life. This has been going on for the last 10+ years. Everytime I have landed at Schipol I have gone immediately to Cafe Chocolata to stock up on their dark chocolate hash bonbons. They are wonderful. Two will leave you with hours of a nice manageable, entertaining high, while three of them will cause a desire to sit quietly for 2-3 hours on a canalside bench, while the world passes you by...nothing to induce panic, but it pushes you to the point of limited mobility. The staff, while somewhat indifferent (a definite European quality) is always helpful and pleasant. It is a definite recommendation!!

Jeremy from USA. Sent 15 Jul 2003.
Can you say "yum"!!! What a small shop, but nice. Actually I think it's larger than I'm leading on but I've never gone up the staircase to find out. As you enter the dealer sits in front of you behind the bar. Large picture windows dominate the front and side. A few uncomfortable barstools and chairs is basically it. I found the place on recommendation as I was looking for the elusive "Space Cakes". I guess there had been some crackdown on them in recent years as they were getting pretty "heavy" for the tourists.
They showcase three treats; Hash bon-bon's, marijuana cake and hash cake. The marijuana cake is useless and tastes awful. The hash bon bon's get you going if you eat two or three (but they taste bad) while the hash cake both tastes good and seems to give you a nice light buzz. They also have some of the best weed I've smoked in all of Holland. The "Choco Mist" is what you want. Nice big puffy Indica buds. The big drawback for this shop is the pre-packaged buds. I just don't agree with this way of dealing. I like to see a big container of weed and I further like to pick my own buds if I'm spending a substantial amount of cash at that shop. With the weed it's not that big of deal as you can pretty much tell right off the bat if it's what you want. And if you can't tell the good from the bad, why the hell are you in Amsterdam anyway. However, the hash is a different story. I believe it is essential to see the brick. This will most of the time verify that you are indeed buying hash and not tar or the like. Could be wrong (probably am) but that's what I like.

Jack from UK. Sent 3 Nov 2002.
I really liked this place, although the counter staff seemed a little unappreciative of my presence I think it was because I had only just turned 18 and they weren't sure of me (I didn't have any ID) which if fair enough. The hash laced confectionary may not seem too strong but It tastes nice, and considering what I do most of my day in Amsterdam It didn't make all that much difference... the selection of grass and hash isn't all that great but I bought a couple of grams of Purple which was fairly good. After rushing about all day I found the upstairs a comfortable and easy place to rest with a coffee a cake and a smoke... with a TV. and only once had to share the room with anyone (bar my friends) and he just wanted to relax in front of the TV. Overall, not great on selection, not sure if their laced confectionary is really all that laced, not too expensive (bar the bon bon's) but a superb place to relax with a friend or two in the middle of a busy day. Mind the stairs.

Tom and Clairey from UK. Visited 9 - 12 Aug 2002. Sent 14 Aug 2002.
Not dark inside, not too busy early evening weekend, decent selection and this place has a very good mushroom shop across the road from it that do some TOP TOP mushrooms!!

Janice from USA. Sent 27 Jun 2002.
One of our first stops was to Chocolata. We had been reading all the warnings about taking it easy with the space cakes. So when we purchased a piece of Hash cake, and pot cake and a couple of bonbons, I was very cautious. Girl behind counter told me that 2 bonbons were equivalent to 1/2 piece of cake in strength. My husband ate 1/2 piece of hash cake and I ate only one bonbon. After waiting an hr to 2 hrs.we felt NOTHING! Next day ate whole piece of cake and again - nothing! So what's with all the dire warnings? Are they now making the cakes real weak? We're we ripped off cause we were Americans? Also, my sister was in Amsterdam the week before me and had also stopped at Chocolata and had same experience.

B-Li from USA.
This two-story, simply adorned shop down the road from the Square came recommended by one transient local for its space cakes.
The lower level is the smoke and drink center, with a row of benches strewn across both windows to gaze out in wonder. They also have a few tables outside.
The smoke menu was simple, offering only a few types of grass and hash, the latter of which has won them awards in the past. Not seeing anything of interest to splurge on, I decided to order a Coke and do a few bong hits while fixing my eyes on the street.
Once you brave the typically steep and narrow Dutch staircase to the second floor, there is a smoke-filled lounge with comfy looking seats to peer out over the street behind the shop, as well as the bathroom.
The real surprise at this shop is the depth of hash-riddled desserts available. An entire glass case sits beckoningly on display, fully stocked with cookies, the traditionally prepared rectangle slices, and even huge slabs of actual rotund cake.
Chocolata isn't the liveliest shop in town for atmosphere, but those looking for a quiet spot off the Dam Square hustle to indulge their sweet and stoner teeth ought to look into giving one of their delicious looking THC snacks a try.

Scott from USA. Sent 12 Nov 2000.
I really like some of the hash I've bought from Chocolata. However, I don't find the shop that great to hang out in, and I've found that the counter help can be clueless or just doesn't care.

	Awards

		ACD rating 80% (Click here for info on ratings)
		Rated as one of Amsterdam's Top 40 Coffeeshops by Kip in his book 'Mellow Pages'

1998 Cannabis Cup 3rd in Nederhash category for 'Choco-Scuff'

	Chocolata

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