I read about a month ago that award winning chocolatier Franck Kestener from Lorraine recently opened a shop in Paris. After coming down from the high of the bells and whistles from Un Dimanche a Paris with its fabulous decor and packaging, I was expecting a grand follow up with Franck Kestener. Frankly (no pun intended, although this would have been an easy one but a cheap shot) I was disappointed when I arrived to see a perfectly nice but nothing special storefront. Once inside it was a different story.
Janine, the kindly saleslady behind the counter enthusiastically offered me and my friend Michele samples, which of course we didn't refuse. First up was a pomme tatin macaron, which tasted like genuine tarte tartin compressed into a small macaron, to set the stage for an orgy of taste testing to follow. Next up was the chocolate they are most famous for, the Atlantique, a legendary crispy butter cookie with salted caramel covered with 66% cacao dark Venezuelan chocolate. What an intense rush and much to my surprise it wasn't super sweet, as the dark chocolate gave it the bitter edge the sweet caramel and cookie needed. The samples came so fast and furiously that my taste buds and my pen couldn't keep up to write every one down. Lastly, Janine went upstairs to fetch her piece de resistance, a box of a new flavor with Japanese fruit and caramel and she offered them to us straight from the cardboard box. With our taste buds more than sated, Michele and I each bought a 5 euro package of the Atlantique and I of course had to have a pomme tatin for the road.
There were many appealing treats for Valentines day. The individual chocolates come in 43 flavors and the macarons have some flavors I haven't tasted before like rhum raisin, pain d'epices, banana & chocolate, and pistachio & cherry.
Franck Kestener comes from four generations of pastry chefs in Mondelage. At the young age of only 27 he won the prestigious Meilleur Ouvrier de France Award and and three years later went on to win the World Champion of the World Pastry Team.
So, did you enjoy the ride down sugar mountain during Sweet Week?
Franck Kestener
7 rue de Gay-Lussac, 5th arr.
Metro: RER Luxembourg or Odeon
Tel. 01 43 26 40 91
Closed Sundays
www.franck-kestener.com
The Atlantique
Straight from the box to my mouth
France and pastries go together - thank you for sharing.
Posted by: LimogesBoxCollector | February 10, 2011 at 08:33 AM
You're killing me!! I love reading your postings, but reading your incredible descriptions and seeing your beautiful pictures and being here in snowy, cold New Jersey (I guess I could have left off the adjectives and just said New Jersey) is torture!
Sincerely,
Sweetless in New Jersey (oh! one of my favorite movies)
Posted by: Linda | February 10, 2011 at 02:37 PM
I want a box of Atlantiques right now! I’ve never heard of anything quite so luscious-sounding. Pop some in the pneumatique, s’il vous plait!
Posted by: david | February 10, 2011 at 05:50 PM
GIANT hunger pang, Richard!
Posted by: Sweet Freak | February 10, 2011 at 07:51 PM
Actually I’ve decided you are cruel and sadistic. Today out at the Berkeley-style pharmacy I saw chocolate bars with a red cross on them advertised as ‘emergency chocolate’, for all those times you absolutely must have some – overtired, disappointed, love-lorn, etc.
Last week according to my son Brett’s sweetie in Florence was their chocolate week with a chocolate festival set out on the Piazza Santa Croce only a few blocks from their apartment. Being that it’s cold outside, the chocolate is perfectly preserved and it’s also a great time for really wonderful artisanal hot chocolate. I was lucky enough to be there last year and go from booth to booth and gawk – sometimes to taste.
Posted by: Beverley | February 11, 2011 at 08:17 AM