Chocolate is as synonymous with Valentine’s Day as Kiss Me–covered Love Hearts and cutesy handmade cards. The confection reaches new heights, though, when it’s melted and kept warm in an elegant dish over a small flame. Meant for sharing, chocolate fondue is as romantic as it gets when it comes to February 14 foodie foreplay.

But the dish—which gets its name from the French verb fondre, meaning to melt—isn’t just a dining gimmick. Done right—made with the best ingredients and served with more inventive dipping accompaniments than the standard strawberries—fondue can please even the most discerning gastronome.

Take the version on offer at Mink: A Chocolate Café (863 West Hastings Street; Unit F-110 Morgan Crossing, 15775 Croydon Drive, Surrey). Mink is perhaps best known for its decadent, handmade, playfully named chocolate bars in flavour fusions like mint and Kentucky bourbon with dark chocolate (“Open in Case of Emergency”); milk chocolate, turmeric, cardamom, and other spices (“Taj Masala”); and fleur de sel, burnt caramel, and rosemary (my favourite, “Mermaid’s Choice”). If a place can pull off such wild and wonderful combinations, you know it’s going to nail fondue ($8.75).

Mink Chocolates’ president Marc Lieberman says fondue is especially suitable for Valentine’s Day because it makes for an intimate experience as much as a culinary one.

“It’s about the conversation, the company, the atmosphere,” he says in his sleek downtown café. “It’s interactive. You’re listening to music and listening to what each other’s saying. It’s not about how much chocolate you can get down your throat.”

Lieberman describes chocolate itself as “emotional”, in that it’s extremely sensitive to heat and light. That’s why the perfect fondue needs the proper setup. Forget using the kind of toxic canned fuel that’s meant to warm chafing dishes. Instead, Mink’s fondue, which is served on a silver tray, uses a simple white tea light to keep the dark- or milk-chocolate ganache warm.

Belgian chocolate is a given. Any fondue that doesn’t use the star ingredient straight from the home of lií¨ge waffles and Stella Artois isn’t worth its beans. What makes Belgian chocolate so fine is that it’s made with pure cocoa butter; you won’t find palm or any other hydrogenated vegetable oils here, unlike products from so many manufacturing giants.

With its dipping ingredients, Mink aims to support local fruit growers as much as possible—Driediger Farms’ blueberries are a summertime favourite—but February isn’t exactly prime picking time for B.C. crops. Served alongside for dipping this month might be Pink Lady apples and Korean mandarin oranges, Lieberman says.

Then there are Mink’s S’mores ($9.75). Specially designed mini hibachis—which are heated with a nontoxic Brazilian liquid made from sugar cane—are brought to the table so people can roast their own gourmet marshmallows. Smush them along with dark chocolate between two graham wafers, and you’ve got a retro treat. “It’s a throwback to childhood,” Lieberman says. “It’s like going camping without waking up in a tent.”

Exquisite cheese fondue is a staple all year long at Burgoo (various locations), but for Valentine’s weekend (February 11 to 14), the restaurant is making dark-Belgian-chocolate fondue for two ($15). Served in dishes created by a local sculptor, it’s served with Anjou pears, seedless red grapes, mini marshmallows, and house-made banana bread. Think of the loaves your mom might have baked, only fluffier, and you’ll get an idea of the comforting, full flavour of Burgoo’s banana bread.

Executive chef Stephan MacIntyre, who deepens the chocolate ganache with a hint of red wine, notes that besides sweethearts, fondue suits supporters of the slow-food movement.

“You take your time: you need to pick up a piece of fruit, dip it in, and turn it over; it slows you down and lets you enjoy the moment,” MacIntyre says on his cellphone. “It allows you to unwind. Plus, chocolate’s an aphrodisiac and you can feed each other.”

East meets West at the Urban Tea Merchant (1070 West Georgia Street; 825 Main Street, the Village at Park Royal, West Vancouver), with freshly made matcha pound cake being the standout partner for melted dark-Belgian chocolate. Baked with Japanese shade-grown matcha—a powdered, brilliantly green tea—the cake is tender and subtly sweet. Fondue for two comes with generous servings of fruit plus glasses of chilled aromatic white tea to start and individual pots of premium tea ($21 per person from February 11 to 14; $16 per person on other February dates).

Capstone Tea (1429 Robson Street), meanwhile, offers fruits such as banana and pineapple as well as candy like gummy bears for dipping in its Belgian dark-chocolate fondues ($6.95 to $19.95). Then there are perfectly shaped orbs of ice cream in flavours including mango, cookies ’n’ cream, and green tea. The contrast of cool and warm only adds to the sensuousness of it all.

For those who are more inclined to dip in at home, Mink sells fondue kits, which include two forks and two small pots, so you can have dark and milk chocolate at the same time ($32.95), plus jars of freshly made ganache ($8.95). All you have to supply are the fruit slices and tea lights—and naturally, the sweet talk.