Amid the busy doughnut shops and boutique stores, a new spot to grab something sweet has opened up in Hamilton’s popular shopping district.
Madam Bonbon, a colourful and creative chocolate store, opened the doors of its 165 Locke St. S. location on Friday, Oct. 14. The founder of the business, Sara Wiseman, hand-crafts and hand-paints each individual bonbon and chocolate bar using fresh ingredien
ts and unique taste combinations.
“People like cherry, they like caramel, they like hazelnut,” Wiseman said. “But it’s nice to throw in other flavours and try to introduce new things to people when I can.”
Madam Bonbon offers a variety of flavours, from the basics, such as the salted caramel bonbon, to the bizarre and wonderful, such as Candy Cap or S’more chocolates.
“I have the Candy Cap bonbon,” Wiseman explained, “which is actually a mushroom that tastes like maple. We infuse it into the milk chocolate ganache, and I’ve been surprised with how well it’s been received.”
Wiseman started out selling her creations at a local business during the pandemic, but decided to purchase her own brick-and-mortar location recently.
“I was operating out of a café in the east end of Hamilton,” she said. “It was mostly shut down due to COVID, and they were only open Saturday and Sunday, which gave me access to the kitchen all through the week. They’ve been slowly adding days and opening more, and my business was getting busier, so we were kind of crowding each other. It just became inevitable that I needed my own space.”
Visitors to Madam Bonbon praised the newest chocolatier on the block.
“Normally, when I go to other chocolate stores I’m not as drawn to the individual ones [candies] that they might have,” Meighan Brakewell, a first-time customer, said. “But here they’re so beautiful and unique, and they do a really good job of explaining the flavours.”
Madam Bonbon is currently selling flavours including raspberry caramel, lemon pie, passion fruit, hazelnut praline, and Belgian cookie s’more.
Interviews and video footage shot by Rowan Garrow, Jack Brittle, and Calum O’Malley.
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