chocolat
Jul 18, 2006 | 10:13 pm
#1
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chocolat
Hearing on other forums that Paris is one of the best places in the world to get chocolate and being a major chocoholic myself - which are your recommendations? (chocolate as in pralines, not desserts in restaurants).
Even writing about it makes me hungry
Even writing about it makes me hungry
Jul 18, 2006 | 11:01 pm
#2
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Paris is probably the world's greatest city for chocolate, and there are many superb choices.
Most rank La Maison du Chocolat on boulevard de la Madeleine as tops, and I'd have to agree - chocolates both silken and intense, plus the shop itself is like an elegant bonbon box.
Pierre Herme, near St-Sulpice, is noted for being a great pastry chef but his chocolates are excellent - I'd rank just a notch below Maison du Chocolat. (Fauchon, also, has wonderful everything, including fine chocolates.)
Most rank La Maison du Chocolat on boulevard de la Madeleine as tops, and I'd have to agree - chocolates both silken and intense, plus the shop itself is like an elegant bonbon box.
Pierre Herme, near St-Sulpice, is noted for being a great pastry chef but his chocolates are excellent - I'd rank just a notch below Maison du Chocolat. (Fauchon, also, has wonderful everything, including fine chocolates.)
Jul 19, 2006 | 2:47 am
#3
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I love La Maison du Chocolat!! I love their chestnuts when in season and their champagne truffles are divine.
I wasn't blown away by Pierre Herme's chocolates but his pain au chocolat and the macarons were absolutely remarkable.
Bernachon make very very good chocolates but not quite in the same league as La Maison.
For more contemporary styling and flavours I love Richart who have a boutique, IIRC, in the Blvd St. Germain near Solferino metro.
Enjoy!!
I wasn't blown away by Pierre Herme's chocolates but his pain au chocolat and the macarons were absolutely remarkable.
Bernachon make very very good chocolates but not quite in the same league as La Maison.
For more contemporary styling and flavours I love Richart who have a boutique, IIRC, in the Blvd St. Germain near Solferino metro.
Enjoy!!
Jul 19, 2006 | 2:59 am
#4
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Originally Posted by MDSD
Paris is probably the world's greatest city for chocolate, and there are many superb choices.
Go to Brussels instead and we can start discussing chocolate...
Jul 19, 2006 | 3:25 am
#6
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Originally Posted by IceTrojan
My recommendation... buy a TGV ticket to Geneva.
Jul 19, 2006 | 9:47 am
#7
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Originally Posted by MDSD
Paris is probably the world's greatest city for chocolate, and there are many superb choices.
Most rank La Maison du Chocolat on boulevard de la Madeleine as tops, and I'd have to agree - chocolates both silken and intense, plus the shop itself is like an elegant bonbon box.
Pierre Herme, near St-Sulpice, is noted for being a great pastry chef but his chocolates are excellent - I'd rank just a notch below Maison du Chocolat. (Fauchon, also, has wonderful everything, including fine chocolates.)
Most rank La Maison du Chocolat on boulevard de la Madeleine as tops, and I'd have to agree - chocolates both silken and intense, plus the shop itself is like an elegant bonbon box.
Pierre Herme, near St-Sulpice, is noted for being a great pastry chef but his chocolates are excellent - I'd rank just a notch below Maison du Chocolat. (Fauchon, also, has wonderful everything, including fine chocolates.)
Jul 19, 2006 | 10:39 am
#8
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another vote for La Maison du Chocolat (89 avenue Raymond Poincar, 75016 just off place Victor Hugo). i was there two weeks ago and it was heaven-both in terms of the wonderful chocolates and the airconditioning as it was incredibly humid. it's a sin that it's walking distance from my cousin's house but goalie-sis will be very happy as i just sent her pkg off today 
but goalie-sis will be very happy as i just sent her pkg off today
Last edited by goalie; Jul 19, 2006 at 9:02 pm Reason: added the address of the boutique
Jul 19, 2006 | 11:01 am
#9
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Originally Posted by jacob_m
I don't agree on that one, French people eat very little chocolate compared to many other nationalities and chocolate is not an integral ingridient in the French cuisine.
Go to Brussels instead and we can start discussing chocolate...
Go to Brussels instead and we can start discussing chocolate...
Jul 19, 2006 | 1:28 pm
#10
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I am not fond of Belgian chocolate in terms of a finished product. The chocolate used for cooking/baking is fine, however.
For the pure artistry (Richart) and the unique blends and flavours my vote still goes for French chocolate.
I found the matrons in the main Bernachon shop in Lyon to be frosty while the ladies in Richart could not be more welcoming and allowing us many samples!!
For the pure artistry (Richart) and the unique blends and flavours my vote still goes for French chocolate.
I found the matrons in the main Bernachon shop in Lyon to be frosty while the ladies in Richart could not be more welcoming and allowing us many samples!!
Jul 19, 2006 | 4:40 pm
#11
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http://travel2.nytimes.com/2004/12/1...b3465f&ei=5070
username: flyertalk
password: flyertalk
excerpt:
December 12, 2004
CHOICE TABLES
In Paris, Boutiques and Cafes Where Chocolatiers Raise the Bar
By JONATHAN HAYES
THE French, it need hardly be said, take their chocolate very seriously. This fall, both the prime minister and the mayor of Paris attended the opening gala of the annual Salon du Chocolat. The five-day chocolate festival drew 120,000 visitors, who took in presentations ranging from "A Geopolitical History of Chocolate" to "The Role of Soil in the Gustatory Expression of Terroir," some delivered by individuals with the iffy-sounding (but definitively French) title of chocologue.
The show, also held annually in New York and Tokyo, is a an orgy of chocolate consumption - and profligate use of the prefix "choco-." This year, the salon's organizers went one step too far, commissioning a grisly pop song called "Choco Dance," which blasted constantly through the sound system in the cruelest act of sonic barbarism since the "It's a Small World After All" ride.
The bustling exhibition hall is a world away from the experience of tasting and shopping for chocolate in Paris, the world's greatest chocolate city. The French may mock America for being a culture of consumption, but Paris itself often seems like a shrine to the high-end retail experience. In Paris, chocolate is marketed with the same whispering reverence usually afforded the expensive Swiss watch or the Japanese black pearl necklace.
At first glance, the chocolate shops, with their marble counters, luxe wood cabinetry and liveried attendants, can be intimidating. But chocolate is a quintessentially democratic pleasure, a breezily nostalgic satisfaction that brings us all back to the roughly level playing field of childhood delight. More important, while the dollar's flaccidity may have postponed your purchase of that $6,000 Birkin handbag at Herms, or even that $600 lunch for two at Pierre Gagnaire, chances are that you can still swing the 2.9 euros needed for a handsome little box of perfect pavs at Michel Chaudun.
Herewith, then, a guide to Paris for the chocolate aficionado. It is by no means exhaustive; the Paris phone book has several pages of listings for chocolatiers, but I think this represents a selection of those most worthy of your time.
Any discussion of the best chocolates in France must, of course, begin with La Maison du Chocolat and its founder, Robert Linxe, whom his Web site unblushingly refers to as the Creator. In 1977 Mr. Linxe opened his small shop on the Avenue de Madeleine, offering bonbons with pitch-perfect ganaches enrobed in top quality chocolate (the word bonbon, for all its Aunt-May-on-the-couch-in-Boca connotations, is the term of art for small chocolate confections).
username: flyertalk
password: flyertalk
excerpt:
December 12, 2004
CHOICE TABLES
In Paris, Boutiques and Cafes Where Chocolatiers Raise the Bar
By JONATHAN HAYES
THE French, it need hardly be said, take their chocolate very seriously. This fall, both the prime minister and the mayor of Paris attended the opening gala of the annual Salon du Chocolat. The five-day chocolate festival drew 120,000 visitors, who took in presentations ranging from "A Geopolitical History of Chocolate" to "The Role of Soil in the Gustatory Expression of Terroir," some delivered by individuals with the iffy-sounding (but definitively French) title of chocologue.
The show, also held annually in New York and Tokyo, is a an orgy of chocolate consumption - and profligate use of the prefix "choco-." This year, the salon's organizers went one step too far, commissioning a grisly pop song called "Choco Dance," which blasted constantly through the sound system in the cruelest act of sonic barbarism since the "It's a Small World After All" ride.
The bustling exhibition hall is a world away from the experience of tasting and shopping for chocolate in Paris, the world's greatest chocolate city. The French may mock America for being a culture of consumption, but Paris itself often seems like a shrine to the high-end retail experience. In Paris, chocolate is marketed with the same whispering reverence usually afforded the expensive Swiss watch or the Japanese black pearl necklace.
At first glance, the chocolate shops, with their marble counters, luxe wood cabinetry and liveried attendants, can be intimidating. But chocolate is a quintessentially democratic pleasure, a breezily nostalgic satisfaction that brings us all back to the roughly level playing field of childhood delight. More important, while the dollar's flaccidity may have postponed your purchase of that $6,000 Birkin handbag at Herms, or even that $600 lunch for two at Pierre Gagnaire, chances are that you can still swing the 2.9 euros needed for a handsome little box of perfect pavs at Michel Chaudun.
Herewith, then, a guide to Paris for the chocolate aficionado. It is by no means exhaustive; the Paris phone book has several pages of listings for chocolatiers, but I think this represents a selection of those most worthy of your time.
Any discussion of the best chocolates in France must, of course, begin with La Maison du Chocolat and its founder, Robert Linxe, whom his Web site unblushingly refers to as the Creator. In 1977 Mr. Linxe opened his small shop on the Avenue de Madeleine, offering bonbons with pitch-perfect ganaches enrobed in top quality chocolate (the word bonbon, for all its Aunt-May-on-the-couch-in-Boca connotations, is the term of art for small chocolate confections).
Jul 19, 2006 | 4:50 pm
#12
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Originally Posted by francophile
http://travel2.nytimes.com/2004/12/1...b3465f&ei=5070
username: flyertalk
password: flyertalk
excerpt:
December 12, 2004
CHOICE TABLES
In Paris, Boutiques and Cafes Where Chocolatiers Raise the Bar
By JONATHAN HAYES
THE French, it need hardly be said, take their chocolate very seriously. This fall, both the prime minister and the mayor of Paris attended the opening gala of the annual Salon du Chocolat. The five-day chocolate festival drew 120,000 visitors, who took in presentations ranging from "A Geopolitical History of Chocolate" to "The Role of Soil in the Gustatory Expression of Terroir," some delivered by individuals with the iffy-sounding (but definitively French) title of chocologue.
The show, also held annually in New York and Tokyo, is a an orgy of chocolate consumption - and profligate use of the prefix "choco-." This year, the salon's organizers went one step too far, commissioning a grisly pop song called "Choco Dance," which blasted constantly through the sound system in the cruelest act of sonic barbarism since the "It's a Small World After All" ride.
The bustling exhibition hall is a world away from the experience of tasting and shopping for chocolate in Paris, the world's greatest chocolate city. The French may mock America for being a culture of consumption, but Paris itself often seems like a shrine to the high-end retail experience. In Paris, chocolate is marketed with the same whispering reverence usually afforded the expensive Swiss watch or the Japanese black pearl necklace.
At first glance, the chocolate shops, with their marble counters, luxe wood cabinetry and liveried attendants, can be intimidating. But chocolate is a quintessentially democratic pleasure, a breezily nostalgic satisfaction that brings us all back to the roughly level playing field of childhood delight. More important, while the dollar's flaccidity may have postponed your purchase of that $6,000 Birkin handbag at Herms, or even that $600 lunch for two at Pierre Gagnaire, chances are that you can still swing the 2.9 euros needed for a handsome little box of perfect pavs at Michel Chaudun.
Herewith, then, a guide to Paris for the chocolate aficionado. It is by no means exhaustive; the Paris phone book has several pages of listings for chocolatiers, but I think this represents a selection of those most worthy of your time.
Any discussion of the best chocolates in France must, of course, begin with La Maison du Chocolat and its founder, Robert Linxe, whom his Web site unblushingly refers to as the Creator. In 1977 Mr. Linxe opened his small shop on the Avenue de Madeleine, offering bonbons with pitch-perfect ganaches enrobed in top quality chocolate (the word bonbon, for all its Aunt-May-on-the-couch-in-Boca connotations, is the term of art for small chocolate confections).
username: flyertalk
password: flyertalk
excerpt:
December 12, 2004
CHOICE TABLES
In Paris, Boutiques and Cafes Where Chocolatiers Raise the Bar
By JONATHAN HAYES
THE French, it need hardly be said, take their chocolate very seriously. This fall, both the prime minister and the mayor of Paris attended the opening gala of the annual Salon du Chocolat. The five-day chocolate festival drew 120,000 visitors, who took in presentations ranging from "A Geopolitical History of Chocolate" to "The Role of Soil in the Gustatory Expression of Terroir," some delivered by individuals with the iffy-sounding (but definitively French) title of chocologue.
The show, also held annually in New York and Tokyo, is a an orgy of chocolate consumption - and profligate use of the prefix "choco-." This year, the salon's organizers went one step too far, commissioning a grisly pop song called "Choco Dance," which blasted constantly through the sound system in the cruelest act of sonic barbarism since the "It's a Small World After All" ride.
The bustling exhibition hall is a world away from the experience of tasting and shopping for chocolate in Paris, the world's greatest chocolate city. The French may mock America for being a culture of consumption, but Paris itself often seems like a shrine to the high-end retail experience. In Paris, chocolate is marketed with the same whispering reverence usually afforded the expensive Swiss watch or the Japanese black pearl necklace.
At first glance, the chocolate shops, with their marble counters, luxe wood cabinetry and liveried attendants, can be intimidating. But chocolate is a quintessentially democratic pleasure, a breezily nostalgic satisfaction that brings us all back to the roughly level playing field of childhood delight. More important, while the dollar's flaccidity may have postponed your purchase of that $6,000 Birkin handbag at Herms, or even that $600 lunch for two at Pierre Gagnaire, chances are that you can still swing the 2.9 euros needed for a handsome little box of perfect pavs at Michel Chaudun.
Herewith, then, a guide to Paris for the chocolate aficionado. It is by no means exhaustive; the Paris phone book has several pages of listings for chocolatiers, but I think this represents a selection of those most worthy of your time.
Any discussion of the best chocolates in France must, of course, begin with La Maison du Chocolat and its founder, Robert Linxe, whom his Web site unblushingly refers to as the Creator. In 1977 Mr. Linxe opened his small shop on the Avenue de Madeleine, offering bonbons with pitch-perfect ganaches enrobed in top quality chocolate (the word bonbon, for all its Aunt-May-on-the-couch-in-Boca connotations, is the term of art for small chocolate confections).
Jul 19, 2006 | 5:24 pm
#14
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Originally Posted by Fliar
I thought they had a E90 lunch special at Gagnaire?
Jul 19, 2006 | 5:30 pm
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Originally Posted by Fliar
I thought they had a E90 lunch special at Gagnaire?