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A one-two Parisian chocolate punch

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By: Sweet Freak
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Jean-Paul Hvin, Patrick Roger, Un Dimanche Paris I was certainly getting around to my favorite chocolatiers during my last weeks in Paris. But in the very last few days, I made visits to two brand new chocolatiers: Chloe Chocolat and Franck Kestener.

My own copy of Chlo Doutre-Roussels bible, The Chocolate Connoisseur (2005), is a tattered, stained mess from all the bonbons I consumed while reading about Criollo trees and the tempering process. And when I spoke with Chlo at the Salon du Chocolat in October about the chocolate salon she was opening dangerously close to my apartment, needless to say I was as giddy as a kid in a candy shop. She debuted her two-story sliver of a salon just days before my departure, so I got to sit and chat with her and taste some mighty good chocolate.

What distinguishes Chloaside from being the former chocolate buyer for Fortnum & Mason and one of the very few female pros in an industry dominated by menis how no-nonsense she is. She doesnt scold about cocoa percentages or eschew milk chocolate for dark. She doesnt make you feel like a chump for liking chocolate even if its not wrapped up from a beans to bar artisan or stamped with organic approval. Dont worry about where the beans come from, she insists. When you buy chocolate, youre buying an emotional experience; its sensory. Ah oui, merci!

Thats not to say shes not on a crusade to make the world filled with better chocolate and more appreciation for it. Indeed, the intent of her new Marais home is to school both amateurs and connoisseurs through classes ranging from an introduction to chocolate to comprehensive international trends. She also offers two-and-a-half-hour walking tours that pay visits to some of the citys most prestigious chocolatiers. And, once youve worked up a chocolate appetite, she offers milk and dark chocolate tablettes (in adorable packaging), both of which are divine and can be paired with carefully selected teas.

Across town, Meilleur Ouvrier de France Chocolatier, Franck Kestener offers a different, more decadent chocolate experience. Its a posh shop near the Luxembourg Gardens, peddling marzipan, macarons, mendiants and more.

I went straight for his ganache-filled bonbons, which come in a beautiful and inspired range of flavors, from buttery tarte tatin to crisp mint to fruity juniper.

I saved my square of Atlantiqueshortbread and salted caramel, topped with 66% dark chocolatefor the plane ride home, but piggishly ate two Nuages while strolling the streets of the sixth arrondissement. Another one of the young chocolatiers specialties, these treats look like cannels but are filled with a light and fluffy whipped chocolate marshmallow.

Its been over three weeks since those visits. My cupboard is finally depleted of the bars and bonbons I brought home with me. I think I need another Parisian chocolate run.

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