Here are the best artisan chocolate shops (“artisans chocolatiers”) in Paris, France. As one of the great culinary capitals of the world, Paris has so many magnificent chocolate shops and artisan chocolate-makers that it can be hard to choose! Some are old institutions dating back to the early 1800s, following generations of family recipes and chocolateries handed down from generation to generation, while others were launched more recently and have a more contemporary style.
Being French, in today’s post, I’m offering you an overview of twelve of the best artisan chocolate shops in Paris, which offer unique, expertly-crafted flavors in exceptional settings. These are master chocolate makers who offer only the best quality products.
The Chocolatier vs The Chocolate Maker
In France, the art of chocolate is viewed the same as the world of wine, perfume, and fashion. Much like a cellar master, a maître chocolatier seeks out the finest cocoa and carefully blends it until it’s just right. It’s important to recall that in France, there are two types of chocolatier artisans. First, the chocolatier or “chocolatier assembleur” who directly buys what is called chocolate couverture (made by others, from chocolate beans roasted elsewhere), and who uses it as a base to make their own chocolates. On the other hand, the chocolate maker or “chocolatier torréfacteur” works directly from the beans of cocoa, roasts them and grinds them into chocolate.
In the list below you will find both chocolatiers like Jacques Genin and chocolate-makers like Bernachon, Alain Ducasse, or À La Mère de Famille. So without further ado, here are twelve of the best artisan chocolate shops in Paris for your delectation.
Maison Bernachon
Founded by Maurice Bernachon in the French city of Lyon in 1952, the Maison Bernachon has been making some of the world’s finest chocolates for three generations. Bernachon chocolates have an exceptional and unique taste: an original and subtle blend of 10 varieties of selected cocoa beans from Venezuela, Peru, Jamaica, and Madagascar, to name a few. All the chocolates are handcrafted from natural products and made without coloring or preservatives.
One of the favorite flavors of Bernachon is the Palette d’Or which uses natural cream from Isigny and Chuao chocolate bar, which is made from Chuoa’s finest cocoa beans. The chocolatier is especially famed for The Président cake, which was commissioned by President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing in 1975. The cake recipe is a truly original masterpiece, with three layers of cherry sponge cake covered with hazelnut praline ganache with cherries immersed in Cherry liquor. 127 Rue de Sèvres, 75006 Paris, France.
Patrick Roger
One of the best chocolatiers in Paris is artist and sculptor Patrick Roger, who has been awarded a prize for craftsmanship in 2002. With praline bonbons, almond and hazelnut stones, and graphic semi-circles, Patrick Roger is a famous chocolatier known for his unique and often daring creations. His Paris stores are almost as artistic as his chocolates, so it’s definitely worth stopping in. 108, boulevard Saint-Germain, 75006 Paris, France.
La Maison du Chocolat
La Maison du Chocolat —literally meaning “The House of Chocolate”— is an artisanal house since 1977, born from the creative energy of visionary chocolatier Robert Linxe. More than 40 years ago, in Paris, he was the first to express chocolate differently in all the subtlety of its aromas, freed in time from its excess of sugar and cream. Now headed by acclaimed talent Nicolas Cloiseau —Meilleur Ouvrier de France Chocolatier— the brand is world-famous for a reason: the chocolates are expertly crafted and elegant in their own right. 225 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008 Paris, France.
À La Mère de Famille
À la Mère de Famille is one of the most traditional and oldest chocolate shops in Paris. Founded in 1761 by the Dolfi family, this chocolate shop in Paris is an unmissable spot! Its vintage-chic, heritage-listed boutique in the 9th arrondissement is the city’s oldest confectionery store. Specialties include truffles, Florentins biscuits, the Duo d’orangettes, and candied orange peel which comes both sugar-coated and encased in dark chocolate. 35, rue du Faubourg Montmartre 75009 Paris, France.
Le Bristol Paris’ Chocolate Factory
The story of Le Bristol’s chocolate factory features both Eric Frechon and Johan Giacchetti. The latest has been awarded France Chocolate Champion at only 21 years of age. A bespoke selection of handmade chocolates has been created for each restaurant and bar in the Parisian palace. The chocolates feature seductive flavors such as dark couverture madong chocolate from Papua New Guinea, smoked tea and roasted vanilla, spicy honey, or lime ganache. 114 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008 Paris, France.
Le Chocolat Alain Ducasse
Alain Ducasse —the French chef famous for his fine-dining restaurants— always wanted to produce his own chocolate. This became reality with La Manufacture, where the chef, in collaboration with artisan makers, manufactures his own chocolate from beginning to end, starting with the cocoa bean, subject to rigorous sourcing. His chocolate use only the best, most characterful cocoa beans. Alain Ducasse restaurants worldwide now offer a signature dessert made with chocolate produced at La Manufacture. 40 rue de la Roquette, 75011 Paris, France.
Debauve & Gallais
Debauve & Gallais, the “chocolatier des Rois de France” has been in business for over 200 years. The brand was founded in 1800 by Sulpice Debauve, who was originally a pharmacist. In 1779, Debauve perfected the first individual chocolates in which he blended a headache remedy with cocoa butter. Queen Marie-Antoinette fell in love with these chocolate drops, which she dubbed “The Queen’s Coins”. In 1800, Debauve opened his first chocolate shop in Paris in rue Saint-Dominique in the 7th arrondissement. Since then, Debauve & Gallais’s chocolate creations not only have been the choice of the queens and kings of France, but great writers and celebrated gourmets such as Brillat-Savarin, Simone de Beauvoir or, more recently, Sonia Rykiel. 30 Rue des Saints-Pères, 75007 Paris, France.
Jacques Genin
Jacques Genin is one of the best artisan chocolatiers in Paris! Indeed, the French chef crafts some of the city’s most exquisite chocolate displayed like jewels. However, there are more treats to enjoy than chocolates —Jacques Genin is also famous for its caramels, fruit pastes (“pâtes de fruits”), nougats, and candied chestnuts (“marrons glacés”). Boasting two stores, these chocolate shops in Paris are a must for lovers of chocolates and sweet treats. 133 Rue de Turenne, 75003 Paris, France.
Jean-Paul Hévin
In 1986, Jean-Paul Hévin earned the famous tricolour collar of the “Meilleur Ouvrier de France” in the patisserie-confectionery branch. He has always been keen to introduce people to craftsman-made chocolate through bars. Selecting the best cocoa beans from the best planters, Jean-Paul Hévin makes each blend for his bars in the same way as a wine-maker makes his wine.
“The pleasure that chocolate offers and generate is immediate, absolute, and unique. It refers to childhood and froze the memories in the future. There is nothing that can betray it.”
—Jean-Paul Hevin
Today, Jean-Paul Hevin is one of the most passionate partisans of the French flavor and of the chocolate “culture” in France and in the world. 231 Rue St Honoré, 75001 Paris, France.
Maison Pralus
The Maison Pralus was founded by Auguste Pralus in 1948 in Roanne, a small town outside of Lyon. In 1955, this talented pastry chef was awarded the coveted title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France, which he owes to his attention to detail and his high standards of quality. The same year he created a brioche with pink praline: the Praluline®, which is the flagship product of Maison Pralus since 1955. In 1988, his son François took over the store in Roanne, which still exists in the rue du Général-de-Gaulle.
“As an intern at Bernachon, I had the idea of making my own chocolate from beans.”
—François Pralus
François Pralus is an outstanding chocolate master, one of the few in France to make his own chocolate. The chocolatier uses dried beans of the finest cocoa vintages that he receives from around the world and creates about twenty pure vintages at 75%, three blends, a 100% pure criollo chocolate from Madagascar, and milk chocolate at 45%. 35 Rue Rambuteau, 75004 Paris, France.
Maison Bonnat
Bonnat, from Voiron in France, was founded in 1884 by Felix Bonnat. Maison Bonnat is a highly respected chocolatier known around the world for its extensive range of single-origin chocolate bars, ranging from milk to 100% cocoa. Bonnat describes itself as the beautiful love story between one family and chocolate. The business has been handed down from generation to generation and over 130 years later the company is now headed by the sixth generation of Bonnat chocolatiers, Felix’s great-grandson Stephane Bonnat. 189 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008 Paris, France.
Michel Cluizel
The Michel Cluizel chocolate story began in 1947, in the small town of Damville in southern Normandy in France, when Michel Cluizel’s parents, Marc and Marcelle Cluizel, who at the time were pastry manufacturers, began their own adventure in creating their very first chocolates. Later in 1948, Michel became an apprentice in his parents’ business. His chocolates became so insanely popular that Cluziel came to Paris in 1987 to open his first shop.
Michel Cluizel is one of the few chocolatiers in the world to work directly from the beans of cocoa and not from chocolate or cocoa paste supplied by a third party. They also patented the term cacaofèvier to describe a bean-to-bar chocolate maker, and to distinguish themselves from competitors. 201 Rue St Honoré, 75001 Paris, France.
Et voilà! I hope this guide to the best artisan chocolate shops in Paris will inspire you! If you have any questions, please let me know in the comment below.
