Battle of the Chocolate Truffle

Cin posted about the Chocolate Fire Cafe and one must always try new chocolate places! :) I was in a rush so couldn't sit down to test the claim of "best hot chocolate" but I decided to put Chocolate Fire up against Koko Black as they were so close to each other! (Although I did buy other varieties, I settled for the truffles in my taste test.)

First impressions
As Cin noted, the service isn't great and when I was there, there were only two of us. Nevemind, it gave me more time to feast my eyes on the huge array of chocolate dipped fruit, the New York style choc dipped Pringles... pretty much whatever you can dip? It's certainly not as glamorous as Koko Black but it's fun and bright!

Packaging (Just because...)
Chocolate can come in a plain bag as far as I'm concerned but if you're going to surprise someone with a treat the Koko bag does look good.

Truffle Time
This is the Koko Black one rolled in cocoa. If you like more bitter chocolate, this is it. A lovely texture that melts away, finished too quickly!

Chocolate Fire Cafe has more variety, there are truffles rolled in Dutch cocoa, dark chocolate, white chocolate but I went for the milk chocolate. (Well, I wasn't being strict in direct comparison so thought a little variety would be OK.) T's vote is for this one because it's sweeter and oh boy, it is so much sweeter.
As you can see from this photo, this truffle is much gooier and probably not what I would normally associate with truffle texture. But it was good and if you want something to sink your teeth into, this is it.
Value
The truffles were about the same in price ($1.40 each I think) but you can see which one is value for money!
I don't think I'll choose one over the other simply because I think it's great that so many people are making a deal of chocolate. I would guess that both shops are marketing towards different groups, Koko is upmarket and decadent (they are a "salon") whilst Chocolate Fire is fun (a "cafe") and moves away from traditional treats. (No, I can't see Koko dipping pringles quite yet!)

So if you're in Melbourne go enjoy some chocolate!

Both shops are in Royal Arcade, the Koko Black is more towards Bourke St Mall and if you keeping walking into the arcade, Chocolate Fire is down some stairs to the right.
Royal Arcade
335 Bourke St
Melbourne