One evening, as I was about to walk back to my appartement from Ile St-Louis, I was seduced and stopped right in my tracks by a sweet, sweet smell. A few steps ahead of me I saw a group of people gathering outside Cacao et Chocolat. It is an Aztec-themed store that sells excellent chocolates, ganaches, pastries, and truffles, but I had never tried their hot chocolate. It looked as though they were having a chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) tasting, and I got in line for a sample.
step right up for a taste of chocolate heaven
The day before I had literally raided this store, buying several boxes of the Maya and Jade collections and shipping them home to use as gifts. I bought a selection of macaroons for my concierge at my apartment building (he has helped me whenever I had WiFi difficulties), and of course I bought a few choice things for myself. Cacao et Chocolat sell many types of confections from the ones called Zope that are filled with chocolate ganache infused with cayenne pepper (which was spectacular, may I add), Pralinés covered in milk chocolate, several choices of dried fruits enrobed in a heavenly Mayan chocolate to the extra sinful Quetzal, a dark chocolate temptation filled with tequila and a touch of lime.
A coffret of the Maya collection
Their pastries are every bit as delicious as they look in the display (you know how something can look so wonderful and be disappointing to eat). The macaroons are ever bit as good as the higher-priced versions I often get at the famous Ladurée, perhaps better. They have that same satisfying crunch on the outside with the heavenly, soft creamy middle, not too sweet, just right for a very bad sweet tooth jones. They sell them in a standard size (about 2 ½" in diameter) and bags of 12 assorted miniature-sized macaroons (silver dollar sized), so you can sample several flavors.
Back to the hot chocolate tasting…
I sampled two varieties, the "traditionelle" and the "Yucatan," which had a touch of chipotle pepper. Both were sumptuous and truly delicious. They had the mouth feel of rich decadent melted ice cream as they ran down your throat. There was not grainy or funky aftertaste. I loved the one with the pepper the best. I reminded of how the hot chocolate was made in the movie Chocolat. I’d say that it was much better that the famous Angelina’s on rue de Rivoli. It was Aztec chocolate decadence with out the silver tray and the high prices.
Sigh…encore, s’il vous plait!
Cacao et Chocolat is open 7 days per week from 10:30am to 7:30pm. There are two other locations, one in the Marias on rue Vielle du Temple and also in the Latin Quartier on rue de Buci.