Zotter Chocolate Theatre in Yangpu district is all about chocolate - you eat it, you drink it, and you see it in all its forms, from beans to bars.

The Austrian brand Zotter, one of the world's leading chocolate manufacturers, opened its Shanghai facility last year, led by Julia Zotter, the daughter of founder Josef Zotter.

The venue is housed inside a gorgeous riverside brick factory at Building 9 in Shanghai Fashion Center on 2866 Yangshupu Road. It has a chic design, sleekly furnished with eye-catching artworks and plants hanging from the ceiling.

A chocolate fountain on display at Zotter Chocolate Theatre in Yangpu district

The entrance fee is a somewhat hefty 180 yuan ($28.72) for adults (170 yuan for each adult if in a group), 150 yuan for visitors aged 12 to 18, and 120 yuan for visitors aged 7 to 11. Under 7s can go in for free.

The first stop is the Cocoa Cinema, where a carefully made and cutely animated 20-minute video featuring the company's charismatic founder Josef Zotter presents an informative introduction to the company's origins and cocoa bean production. 

The latter part of the video is especially attractive, as Zotter takes the audience to Nicaragua's jungles to meet organic cocoa farmers. A slow-motion video of a cocoa plant growing is utterly beautiful.

After that, the tour guide will lead you through the gliding glass doors and you begin your journey by choosing an especially made, colorfully painted ceramic spoon for chocolate sampling at each of the forthcoming showrooms.

The sampling starts with the initial form of chocolate - a cocoa bean. Crack open the nutlike shell and grind a small part of the bean to taste the bitterness. Following versions are in powders, and in amazing, fountain-like liquid forms.

A cafe inside the chocolate facility

What ensues is a collection of different ingredients and flavors that lay the foundation for the company's hundreds of chocolate flavors, from the very common caramel and pistachio to less common goji berry and pineapple.

For an extra 58 yuan, this is also where you have the chance to make your own chocolate. Pick your chocolate flavors and toppings like nuts and flower petals. Your creation will then be taken to the factory for cooling, and it will be waiting for you to collect it at the end of the tour around 30 minutes later.

The tour continues to the upper floor, where you can make six or seven flavors of hot chocolate, including Indian Masala and almond. Be sure to rinse your mouth with water first for a proper appreciation of the taste - there are bottles of faintly lemoned water on offer by the bar.

The last stop of the journey is a sushi restaurant-style conveyor belt serving bizarre flavors of chocolate - wine and bacon, for instance - which you can sample using toothpicks. Large photographs on the wall display fun facts about the manufacturing processes at the Austrian factory.

All of these showrooms surround the factory itself, which can be viewed through windows. The workers are on secondments of two to three months from the main Austrian factory.

Zotter Chocolate Theatre is all about chocolate - you eat it, you drink it, and you see it in all its forms, from beans to bars. Photos: Liao Fangzhou/GT

At the end of the tour is a gift shop that offers the entire range of Zotter chocolate, as well as a cafe where everything is, just like the brand, organic.

Tours in English are every hour from 10 am, with Chinese tours every 30 minutes. Most guides are bilingual. While the venue is packed with visitors on weekends and especially popular with young kids, it is quite empty on weekdays. You can make reservations online or by phoning (6016-1630).

The place is well reviewed on websites like TripAdvisor - all visitors gave it an "excellent" rating. TripAdvisor user "Stausland," who visited this month, called it a "fantastically informative and delicious experience," a "great place to visit for both children and adults," and she said there was "lots of yummy tasting, informative introduction movie, and a perfect guided tour through the chocolate world!"