If you're ever shopping on rue St. Honore, make this your final visit. It ain't cheap by any means, so consider it a splurge. Jean-Paul Hevin is a master chocolate-maker who slings his creations in Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong. I'd been a few times to buy chocolate and macarons but this time I took the old lady upstairs for "tea." I mean, ok, they serve tea - but who cares about that, as I climbed the stairs to the tearoom I was humming the song "me and my sweet tooth."
I liked the diabetes pictogram menu. Yep, I'm gonna have diabetes soon at this rate. I got something called a Guayaquil, which is probably Ecuadorian for "blood sugar shock." It was as rich as it looks - a little too much so. Pingles got a Choco-Passion, which I liked better. It reeled out more subtle flavors in waves: ganache, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, feuilletine de praline (a crunchy hazelnut/chocolate layer) and finally passionfruit.
We arrived before the crowd, which was closely on our heels. In short order, the swanky tea room was filled with restless chocoholics. Many tapped their feet and jiggled as they waited to place their orders. They searched for the waitresses with blinkless eyes. I felt like I was in a chocolate crackhouse.
It was a nice way to part with many Euros.... Oh wait, that's right, I'm on a per-diem! Thanks Mr. CEO of my company! Spoiled-boy in the house....
I gotta put this on the short "When I am in Paris next" list - along with some other stuff. Were the chocolate cakes worth the coin, assuming you were on your own dime? They look like the real deal but sometimes looks can mislead you.
ReplyDeleteNiko, if it were my dime, I would go downstairs and get a rocher. Those things are killer - the best I've ever tasted. The macarons are pretty damned good too and I don't even like macarons...
ReplyDeleteThe cake was good.. but cakes are generally good in Paris. The chocolate cake was definitely rich.. but I tend to agree with FN, if I had to choose, I would go for the chocolate macarons and rocher (dark choc style)... Hmmm..
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