It’s a chocolate-lovers dream!
Award-winning chocolatier, Norma Kelly, has bucked the trend and expanded Praline, her flourishing café business in her hometown of Mitchelstown, with the opening of a striking new twenty-seater confectionery concept.
Named Praline Pastry & Chocolate Café, the mecca for dessert lovers on Lower Cork Street flips the traditional café menu on its head in celebration of all things sweet.
The focal point of the sleek new space is an eye-catching chocolate counter from where customers can choose their own selection of Kelly’s hand-crafted creations to sit down and savour alongside a speciality coffee, or decadent hot chocolate.
Meticulously made and individually hand-painted, Norma’s chocolates showcase her favourite ingredients from some of Munster’s top artisan producers. The café’s signature Praline & Coffee chocolates comprise a ganache made with 35% single-origin milk chocolate from Papua New Guinea infused with coffee from Mean Bean’s roastery in neighbouring Co. Waterford, that is topped with a crunchy hazelnut praline layer.
Other flavours include Ivy Heather Honey from Galtee Honey Farm in Burncourt, Co. Tipperary, which is complemented by a homemade Orange gel, and a Vanilla Salted Caramel seasoned with O’Neill’s Irish Atlantic Sea Salt from the beautiful Beara Peninsula in West Cork.
The newest addition to their offering is a collaboration with Mitchelstown-based craft brewer, Eight Degrees Brewing, featuring their Knockmealdown Irish Stout – a beer whose dark malt characteristics and distinctive espresso aroma pair perfectly with rich chocolate.
As you’d expect from a chocolatier of Kelly’s standing and reputation, each filling comes delicately encased in the finest sustainably sourced Cacao Barry chocolate.
And, in homage to all things chocolate and keen to minimise their impact on the local environment as much as possible, Praline’s take home gift boxes are crafted entirely from cacao pods – a by-product of the chocolate making process – which ensures that they are 100% compostable.
As the café’s name suggests, on any given day you can also expect to find its impressive pastry display brimming with freshly baked and individually-portioned patisserie, many of which are inspired by Norma’s regular research trips back over to her beloved France.
Visitors will have their heads turned, tempted by Tiramisu, Hazelnut & Chocolate Mousse, Raspberry & White Chocolate Cheesecake, Pear & Almond Tart, and their Blas na hEireann award-winning Praline Opera Pastry, amongst many other delectable delights.
The menu also includes a slightly shorter than usual selection of homemade sandwiches and soups, along with some savoury pastries, including sausage rolls from Hanley’s Butchers next door.
Chocoholics living further afield than Co. Cork will be pleased to hear that Praline Pastry & Chocolate Café’s entire range of delectable handmade chocolates and other delicacies are available to order online for nationwide delivery via their website, www.praline.ie.
Commenting on the opening of Praline Pastry & Chocolate Café, owner & chocolatier, Norma Kelly, said: “I am very excited to see the concept brought to life and have a space that showcases our handmade pastries and chocolates in a way that allows our customers to see and appreciate the work that goes into creating them. Pastry and chocolate have always been my first love, and it was always my dream to make them the headliners in my own café business.”
Since opening Praline seven years ago, busy mum of three, Norma, has successfully pivoted her business in order to overcome all of the obstacles that the COVID-19 pandemic put in her way.
Despite more recently also having to battle rising costs and an uncertain business landscape, she has thankfully been able to buck the hospitality industry trend and expand her operation, when many others are being forced to close their doors, with the opening of her second premises. Future plans also include the opening of a Praline Pastry & Chocolate School.
Kelly attributes Praline’s success not only to the staunch support she has received from local customers from the get-go, but also that of her fellow café owners in Mitchelstown, who actively support one another – something which she feels has helped build a greater sense of community and togetherness in the close-knit Cork town.
Praline Pastry & Chocolate Café is located at 53 Lower Cork St, in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork, and is open Monday to Friday, 8am – 4.30pm, and on Saturdays from 9am – 4.30pm. The café is closed on Sundays.