5 Best Chocolate Shops in Paris | The Chocolate Professor

Irène Lurçat at Patrick Roger photo credit Anna Mindess

Paris Gourmandises is a popular guidebook that describes the best pastry, candy, and ice cream shops throughout Paris. It was written by Irène Lurçat and her sister Hélène. And naturally, they include the tastiest and most creative chocolate makers. Irène has also been leading chocolate tours of several Paris neighborhoods for the past 10 years with her company Sweet Tours in Paris. On a recent visit, she took me to a few of the shops she most admires and shared the names of others to check out.

Irène appreciates both tradition and creativity. Here are five current chocolate shops she recommends.

Patrick Roger

Don’t expect a tidy, white-walled candy shop. Each of the Paris locations of this iconoclastic artist is visually intense. Irène took me to his deep green shop on Rue des Archives. Roger is a true artist in several senses, winner of the prestigious MOF (Meilleur Ouvrier de France) for chocolate in 2000. He not only sculpts in chocolate but also in metal, glass and other materials. Sometimes you are not sure if you’re viewing confections or art. His Pavé, which resembles the paving stones that were thrown during the uprising of 1968 is a chocolate homage to that event (and to the year of his birth).

Patrick Roger demi-sphere photo credit Anna Mindess

Irène suggested I try the gleaming, speckled Half-Sphere, which reportedly takes 25 steps to make. It comes in its own tiny, padded box and asks to be eaten in one bite, I picked the green one which delivered an explosion of caramel and lime.

Pierre Marcolini

Marcolini, who has won numerous awards in his native Belgium, is considered to be the first chocolatier to implement the “bean to bar” process. He highlights the different flavors of each bean from eight unique cocoa plantations around the world, including Madagascar, Cuba, and Peru. And he is the first chocolatier to feature cocoa beans from Hainan Island, in Southern China. Marcolini is so committed to preserving the quality of these beans that he roasts them himself. He supports the cocoa planters and the regions where they work by paying them a fair price and is committed to fostering an environmentally sustainable approach to artisanal chocolate production.

Pierre Marcolini Pavés photo credit Anna Mindess

In one box, he celebrates his 30 years in business by including 18 of his unique creations from various years past, including a white praline golf ball, a thyme orange ganache, and a caramel ganache with dark chocolate and candied violets. I loved his praline with Vietnamese cashews with a hint of fleur de sel at the end that acted like an edible exclamation point.

Le Lautrec

Lautrec Violet photo credit Anna Mindess

The first Le Lautrec shop, founded by Charles Deat, opened in 1984. Irène shared that their current chocolatier, Pascal Brunstein, who is also an MOF, invented a special way of making chocolates, in which both the filling and the coating are of a single origin, that she says, “gives them a very balanced and particular length in the palate.” Her favorites include his bonbon demoiselle, which features a ganache with pistachio and raspberry confit, coated with Columbian chocolate, with red fruit notes that match the raspberry confit.”

She also recommended I try his Zeste de Douceur with lemon zest and milk chocolate from an organic Mexican plantation and his Idylle with dark chocolate with violet filling. I did and they were outstanding, subtle, complex and delicious.

Ursa Major

Since 2021, three sisters, Anouk, Eva, and Julie Bouillaut have been mesmerized by the heavens. Their childhood obsession with gazing at the skies above their Bretagne home never left them. And now they have channeled their stellar fascination into delicious celestial themed chocolates, such as gleaming planets and a bumpy meteorite (with almond praline and shards of puffed rice).

While Anouk and Eva fashion the chocolates behind their cozy shop, sister Julie, is in charge of design. Their sweets carry thematic names such as Vega, Hubble and Alpha Centari. Their flavors are aptly out of this world. Irène appreciates the way they play with textures, such as their Apollo praline with soba tea and crispy, puffed grains of buckwheat. I loved their Météorite with milk chocolate and crunchy bits of candied hazelnuts.

Jean Charles Rochoux

Irène calls Jean Charles Rochoux, who has been making chocolates since 2004, “a passionate and very human person.” Walk into his shop (he only has one in Paris and one in Tokyo) and you are likely to meet the artist himself, smiling amiably among his milk and dark chocolate “friends.” Many of his creations take the form of animals, from tiny ladybugs, frogs, bunnies, hens, fish and perfectly sculpted lambs to larger forms such as a lion’s head. He shared that his inspiration comes from “non-aggressive nature” which anchors him to his childhood in Richelieu, where he learned to cook with his mother. His chocolates include exquisite ingredients, such as rose water, basil, caramelized hazelnuts, spices, liquors, assorted pepper, and even tobacco leaves.