Paris Chocolate Tour

Date: April 11, 2013

We meet our guide from Paris Walks, a company offering English language walking tours, on the steps of Opera Garnier. We will be visiting four of the city's most renowned chocolate makers, tasting two different chocolates from each. There are of course plenty of chocolate stores in Paris, many of them "artisanal" (hand crafted, rather than mass produced), so I am looking forward to getting a little guidance on which are the best.

We move to a more quiet location on sq de l'Opera-Louis-Jouvet, where our guide gives us a brief introduction into the history and technique of chocolate making.

Sq de l'Opera-Louis-Jouvet, Paris

Paris Walks guide showing pictures of different cocoa beans

Our guide even shows us a sheet of chocolate stamps, issued by the French postal service in 2009 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the chocolate bean's arrival here. The stamps still smell like chocolate, and they apparently taste like chocolate too, but I don't have the opportunity to test that.

Chocolate stamps issued by the French Post Office in 2009

We stroll through the lovely (and for this neighborhood surprisingly very quiet) place Edouard VII, and we are ready to start our chocolate tasting adventure.

Place Edouard VII, Paris

Our first stop is La Maison du Chocolat on Boulevard de la Madeleine. One of Paris' best (or some would argue that THE best), and, as far as I know most recognized chocolatiers. It was established in 1977 by Robert Linxe, a master-crafstman chocolatier, nicknamed "The Wizard of Ganache" (ganache is a mixture of chocolate and cream).  He was the  first to build a store devoted entirely to chocolate, rather than operating a pastry shop which also sold chocolate. It became such a beloved brand that in the year 2000 it was inducted into the Comite Colbert, an association of 75 French luxury brands, which lists names like Cartier, Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton, just to name a few.

La Maison du Chocolat store, Boulevard de la Madeleine, Paris

Windown display, La Maison du Chocolat store, Boulevard de la Madeleine, Paris

Dog parking outside of the La Maison du Chocolat store, Boulevard de la Madeleine, Paris

Interior of La Maison du Chocolat store, Boulevard de la Madeleine, Paris

The recognizable boxes of La Maison du Chocolat on display in the Boulevard de la Madeleine store, Paris

Cocoa bean display, La Maison du Chocolat store, Boulevard de la Madeleine, Paris

Interior of La Maison du Chocolat store, Boulevard de la Madeleine, Paris

Chocolate on display in La Maison du Chocolat store, Boulevard de la Madeleine, Paris

The first chocolate we taste is a very nice milk chocolate. Apparently after this we are supposed to take a sip of water from the already prepared cups, to clear the palate. But, to the sales person's horror, we all neglect to do this, and simply move on to the dark chocolate. It is a ganache, the same filling used to make the Maison's famous truffles. While I am usually not a fan of truffles (they rank pretty much at the bottom of my chocolate list), I do enjoy the same filling in this crispy, dark chocolate shell.

Ganache is not my favorite type of chocolate in general, but I can't resist the Maison's chocolate covered almonds (those are definitely on top of my chocolate list), so I happily buy myself a pack of those.

Chocolate tasting, La Maison du Chocolat store, Boulevard de la Madeleine, Paris

Milk chocolate tasting, La Maison du Chocolat store, Boulevard de la Madeleine, Paris

Dark chocolate tasting, La Maison du Chocolat store, Boulevard de la Madeleine, Paris

I was already familiar with La Maison du Chocolat before the tour (who in Paris isn't?), but the next 3 chocolatiers we will be visiting are new to me. So I am really looking forward to discovering them.

Patrick Roger is young and a relative newcomer to the Parisian chocolate scene. He is known not just for the great taste of his chocolate, but also for his fantastic chocolate creations. One of them, a huge chocolate orangutan, is displayed in the window of his modern store on place de la Madeleine. Unfortunately the reflection on the store window is so strong that it's impossible to take a good picture, but I posted below the best one I got.

Patrick Roger store on Place de la Madeleine, Paris

Chocolate orangutan in Patrick Roger store window, Place de la Madeleine, Paris

Chocolate orangutan in Patrick Roger store window, Place de la Madeleine, Paris

Window display of Patrick Roger store on Place de la Madeleine, Paris

The interior is very modern as well, quite a contrast with the classical elegance of Maison du Chocolat. There is a huge selection on display, the brown of milk and dark chocolate punctuated by the color of his famous marbled spheres. There is an entire section devoted to chocolate bars made of cocoa beans from various countries. I wish I could taste them all!

Interior of Patrick Roger store on Place de la Madeleine, Paris

Interior of Patrick Roger store on Place de la Madeleine, Paris

Patrick Roger chocolate, Place de la Madeleine, Paris

Patrick Roger chocolate, Place de la Madeleine, Paris

Patrick Roger chocolate, Place de la Madeleine, Paris

Chocolate bars organized by country of origin, Patrick Roger store, Place de la Madeleine, Paris

What we do taste is chocolate with oatmeal, which is very very good, even though I admit that I can't actually taste the oatmeal in it. What tops it all off for me is the caramel filled little chocolate bell. It's fantastic! I leave the shop a Patrick Roger fan.

 Patrick Roger chocolates with oatmeal

 Patrick Roger chocolate bells with caramel filling

On the way to our next stop we pass in front of a Godiva store, which is usually good enough chocolate for me, but it is not French and it is mass produced, so it has no place in our tour today.

We are heading to the Jean-Paul Hevin store on rue Saint-Honore, and even from the store window it is obvious that we are in for a treat of chocolate madness. A chocolate stiletto and chocolate Eiffel Tower are just two of the exhibits in the window.

Jean-Paul Hevin store on rue Saint-Honore, Paris

Window of Jean-Paul Hevin store on rue Saint-Honore, Paris

The interior of the store itself is not remarkable, but that just makes the chocolate and macaroon creations stand out even more. This is definitely the most funky of the chocolate collections so far today.

Interior of Jean-Paul Hevin store, rue Saint-Honore, Paris

Interior of Jean-Paul Hevin store, rue Saint-Honore, Paris

Interior of Jean-Paul Hevin store, rue Saint-Honore, Paris

Jean-Paul Hevin chocolate hearts, rue Saint-Honore, Paris

Jean-Paul Hevin macaroon display, rue Saint-Honore, Paris

Jean-Paul Hevin chocolate stiletto, rue Saint-Honore, Paris

Again we taste two different types of chocolates. The first one is with honey and I expect not to like it, but I do. It is very pleasant, not as sweet as I feared it would be. I think the second chocolate is with lime (or lemmon?), but to be honest I find it a bit ordinary. I wonder if it's because my taste buds are getting overloaded at this point.

Jean-Paul Hevin chocolate with honey, rue Saint-Honore, Paris

Jean-Paul Hevin lime (lemmon?) chocolate, rue Saint-Honore, Paris

What is definitely not ordinary is his chocolate filled with cheese (Chocolats aperitifs au fromage). Not any cheese either, but goat cheese, Roquefort (sheep milk blue cheese), Epoisse (apparently one of the world's smelliest cheeses) and Pont l'Eveque (the oldest cheese ever produced in Normandy). These are not offered to us during the tasting, but one of the ladies in our group says she had tasted them once and they are horrible. I am intrigued. I love dark chocolate. I love French cheese. I can't resist to try this offbeat combination of the two. So I buy a box of them (the 4 different types mentioned above), and I can now report that they are absolutely delicious! Probably not for the faint-at-heart, and my husband, who has the taste buds of a 5 year old, does not enjoy them at all. But I love them. What a great discovery!

Jean-Paul Hevin's cheese-filled chocolates

Last stop on our tour: Hugo & Victor on rue Gomboust, established by two childhood friends, Hugues Pouget and Sylvain Blanc. 

Hugo & Victor store on rue Gomboust, Paris

Macaroons in the window of the Hugo & Victor store on rue Gomboust, Paris

The store is quite small, but the decor is original. Very modern and streamlined. Not at all the charming little sweats-store one would expect, it reminds more of the interior of a spa or upscale perfume store. Hugo & Victor are known for their creative use of flavors not normally found in chocolates, and the decor emphasizes this. There is a display of rhubarb items, lemongrass items, passion fruit items, and others.

In addition to the chocolate there is of course pastry (in all of the stores visited today they sell pastry as well), and a display of Champagne bottles specifically selected to go with their chocolate. How thoughtful!

What is less appealing is that we are told by one of the sales people that we are not allowed to take pictures in the store, which I find a bit snobbish. Luckily the staff are not too eager to enforce this no photography rule, so I manage to take a couple of pictures anyway.

Interior of the Hugo & Victor store on rue Gomboust, Paris

 Lemongrass section of the Hugo & Victor store on rue Gomboust, Paris

For our first tasting we are offered a variety pack of their famous chocolate spheres. The members of the group who get to try the lemongrass and passion fruit filled ones are raving about them. Unfortunately I am one of the last to get a piece, and all is left is chocolate filling, which I find a bit too sweet for my taste. But I am too curious about the other flavors to leave it at that. I buy myself an entire variety box, so I get to try the fruit filled ones at home. Just as I expected, too sweet for me. To be fair though, fruity fillings were never my thing, and the rest of the group think that they are fantastic, so they probably are. They also look very pretty, and come in charming, book-shaped boxes.

Book shaped chocolate box, Hugo & Victor,  rue Gomboust, Paris

Chocolate spheres in a book shaped box, Hugo & Victor store on rue Gomboust, Paris

The second tasting is of chocolate covered orange peel, which is one of my favorites, so, even though it is my 8th piece of chocolate in 2 hours, I really enjoy it

Chocolate covered orange peel, Hugo & Victor store on rue Gomboust, Paris

It's lunchtime, but who could think about lunch after all this chocolate? I am feeling happily sick, a bit guilty, but mostly just glad to have discovered these fantastic chocolatiers.