I’m leaving pastries and cookies behind for chocolate today because Sweet Week would not be complete without visiting a chocolatier.
L’Instant Cacao is a compact chocolate shop behind the Palais Royal just across the street from Galerie Vivienne. When you enter, there are piles of burlap sacks of cacao beans and on the side is a selection of about 30 different varieties of chocolate bars, neatly packaged in black with bold, white type spelling L’Instant Cacao, and a bright color square with the name of the bar and where the chocolate was sourced from. I already knew that this was going to be trouble, because I would have to pick one from all of these tempting flavors. Should I buy the Belize Maya Mountain with notes of red fruit, or the exotic Cameroon Bot-Makak, or travel to Tanzania and have chocolate with notes of yellow fruit, yadda, yadda, yadda.
The cute and charming Marc Chinchole behind the counter is a one-man chocolate band. He makes what they call bean to bar chocolate, which means he roasts the beans and makes his own chocolate. If that isn’t a big undertaking in itself, Marc then goes on to produce a line of chocolate products such as tablets, rochers, chocolate covered orange and ginger rind, pralines, and a host of other products too numerous to list here.
I spoke with Marc at length, as I practiced my French and he practiced his English, which he said he missed speaking because of the lack of American customers in the past year. Marc was kind enough to give me a tour of the area where he makes the chocolate and all the impressive machinery. He explained that it was difficult to have all of his products for sale at the same time because he only has enough space for one machine for each function, and that it limited his output, so he is searching for a larger space.
In the meanwhile, as we kept on talking, he kept on offering samples. First a delicious Florentine with dark chocolate and caramelized, slivered almonds, followed by rocher, a mysterious, black sphere on the outside filled with crunchy nuts and other yummy ingredients. I told Marc that one of the big differences I find is that pastries and chocolates in the U.S. seem much sweeter and more sugary than in France, and he replied he was very anti-added sugar and used very little in his products, because he trusted the sweetness of the chocolate was enough to satisfy.
I then made my final choices. I knew I wanted a tablet and I asked Marc what he would recommend. I told him I like dark chocolate and he asked if I like it bitter or sweet, and I replied I liked it more on the sweet side. He said the dark Kamili from Tanzania had notes of apricot, I said yes, that’s what I like. I then bought Vincent a container of chocolate covered ginger. I thought I was done but as Marc was putting my purchase in a bag, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a sign that said Fresh made hot chocolate. Well, no one had to twist my arm, and I ordered the hot chocolate to go. I merrily walked by the Place de Victoire sipping the insanely delicious hot chocolate, savoring every drop, and had a pout on my face like a five-year old when it was finished.
Vincent loved his chocolate covered ginger, and I grabbed a few when he wasn’t looking, and my chocolate bar had subtle hints of fruit in it.
L’Instant Cacao
3 Rue des Petits Champs, 75001
Open Tuesday to Saturday
Pralines
Rocher
A preview of Easter treats
Please join me for a Magical Montmartre Tour next Wednesday, March 17 @10AM, EST/East Coast Time, 9am Midwest/Chicago Time, 7AM PST/West Coast Time. We will visit the iconic film locations including Sacre Coeur, La Maison Rose, Place du Tertre, and some surprises in between. I look forward to seeing you then.
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