Having been totally re-vamped in the past year, Chocolate remains a sleek joint for an after-work drink and its lunch menu is worth looking at as well.

I really like this place for a number of reasons - it is close to the office, and has become a favourite lunch place with my co-workers and me, and, it makes the smooth transition to a fancy place to have cocktails in the evening.

One of my recent visits took place after hours. Around 11 o'clock my friends and I decided, on the spur of the moment, to go to a bar and chill before facing bed. And though I love my friends, for a good experience, you have to have atmosphere and not only the company - and it seemed that Chocolate would be the right place. So we set off. I had dressed up, whereas the others just put on T-shirts and jeans. Although the place looks fancy and posh, there were a lot of other people in similar attire, so my friends didn't stand out.

Most likely because it was a weekday, we were immediately seated by the welcoming waitress.

It is in Chocolate's interior where the exotic atmosphere is best absorbed, not at the tables on the pavement. Like the inside, the outside walls are also decorated with reeds. Inside, stacked cushions provide seating along the bench-like window frame (which, if memory serves, was not there before the remodelling last year). With its lampshades made from long reeds (the waitress was not familiar with the true material, either) either hanging from the ceiling or springing up from the floor, and the exotic masks, which, from my inexpert point of view, are influenced by the Latin America folklore, the decor gives the new Chocolate more of an ethno-hybrid than cosmopolitan chic feel.

Most of Chocolate Lounge and Bar is occupied by soft, white, sprawling sofas in a semi-circle around low, black, wooden tables. From the nested booths in the inner area, you can enjoy music videos of several different genres on the plasma screen TV. On the opposite side of the room, you can barely see two large circular indentions in the wall, dimly lit in a cold blue-grey, which, along with the cosy candle-like light from the lampshades, are a memorable touch.

As a night out suggested, we ordered drinks - a blue Hawaii (6.88 leva) and a martini (the menu offers a large one for 4.99 leva). My brother was tempted by the menu insert that offered delicious sweets, deciding to give the eclair (4.09 leva) and a fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice (3.99 leva) a try, whereas I found another separate menu with various types of hot chocolates very seductive. There were more than 35 flavours, from which I picked cioccolata alla fragola e lici (chocolate with strawberries and lichi).

I fell in love with my sweet-scented hot chocolate - from the moment the waitress brought it till I drank it up, it had that persistent smell of well-ripened crimson strawberries gently blended with the scent of the ancient and most delicate fruit - lychee, all combined with real chocolate pieces. Chocolate itself, rather than water, was predominant in the thick, only lightly sweet mixture. Delicious!

My friend, however, was not happy with his blue Hawaii cocktail. Though this was not his first time to drink it, it was definitely his first time to not like it. I also had a sip to make sure, and yep, there was something not the way it should be. With its saturated light-blue colour, it tasted and looked more like a chemical product than a non-alcoholic cocktail.

The eclair was fresh, slightly chilled and not too creamy. My brother had a bit of it left on his plate when the waitress, unasked for, came and took the dish away. Later we realised it was his error - he had left his fork on the plate, signalling that he had finished.

One thing that left me with a good impression was that the waitress gave us back all the change without taking any of the money for herself. And this is the way I like it, as a matter of fact - it must be my decision to tip or not, and not left to the waitress' presumption!

For lunches or whenever, the cream of soups are another thing I would recommend. They are creamy and thick enough that the spoon almost stands upright. Made of potatoes (3.25 leva), spinach and cheese (3.50 leva) or broccoli with blue cheese (3.50 leva) - my favourite - always blended  to a smooth, puree consistency. Plus, no need for bread and thus even more appropriate for diets!

In addition to the soups, for those who are really hungry, I can recommend the green salad with chicken and pineapple (6.11 leva) from the vast choice of fresh vegetable mixes. The crispy lettuce, tender cucumbers, golden-brown chicken nuggets and small pieces of pineapple, which make the chicken even juicier, result in an excellent combination. This salad alone is enough for lunch. And another one - the Greek salad (4.50 leva), with feta-like sirene cheese over tomatoes, cucumbers and olives all sprinkled with spices, is a good and refreshing choice to combine with your meal, thus becoming more than enough for a healthy lunch.

It would be better, though, if the tables weren't all either so low or so high, because it makes them uncomfortable to eat on.