When I heard, via the brilliant Chocolate and Zucchini blog, about the first-ever bean-to-bar chocolatier in Paris, I immediately put it on my list for my trip last July. La Manufacture is a tiny chocolate factory dreamed up by triple-Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse and his longtime collaborator Nicloas Berger. They import carefully chosen raw cacao beans to the French capital, roast and grind them using vintage machines, and produce a stunning range of single-origin chocolates.
There is no white chocolate here – and only a few bars of milk chocolate. This is intense stuff, starting at 35% cocoa and rising to 100%. The ingredients are simple, pure and low in sugar, putting the focus on the beans and their varying tastes. Everything is done in house, including the making of the pralines (also a rarity among chocolatiers, read Clotilde Dusoulier's post for more details).
Turning over the brown paper packet of the chocolate bar I picked, I found it contained simply Peruvian cocoa beans, unrefined sugar and piment d'espelette (a type of chilli pepper cultivated only in the Pyrenees). It has a wonderfully grainy texture due to it being unconched (unrefined). I also bought a bar of chocolat fourrée, filled with a delectable passion fruit and coconut mix.
My two bars cost me €16 but lasted many weeks (it's impossible to gorge on something this rich). In fact, I still have a tiny bit of the chilli one left, three months later.
In a city that abounds with superb chocolateries, La Manufacture stands out - and I'll be back there when I visit Paris again next month.
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Le Chocolat Alain Ducasse
La Manufacture
40, rue de la Roquette
75011 Paris
Tel: 01 48 05 82 86
Nearest metro: Bastille
All photos in this post are copyright Pierre Monetta.
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| Vintage shop fittings. Photo: Pierre Monetta |
The beautifully designed space in eastern Paris looks more like an apothecary than a chocolate shop, with vintage fixtures and fittings in mahogany, iron and brass. Hidden away in a courtyard (pictured below), the boutique is very unassuming. In fact, it took me a while to find the right door. Twice I wandered into the chocolate factory itself, where I was almost overwhelmed by the intoxicating smell coming from the jute sacks of cacao beans stacked against the walls. |
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| The shop is through the silver doors on the left of the picture! |
Turning over the brown paper packet of the chocolate bar I picked, I found it contained simply Peruvian cocoa beans, unrefined sugar and piment d'espelette (a type of chilli pepper cultivated only in the Pyrenees). It has a wonderfully grainy texture due to it being unconched (unrefined). I also bought a bar of chocolat fourrée, filled with a delectable passion fruit and coconut mix.
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| Chocolatier Nicolas Berger. Photo: Pierre Monetta |
In a city that abounds with superb chocolateries, La Manufacture stands out - and I'll be back there when I visit Paris again next month.
 |
| Photos: Pierre Monetta |
La Manufacture
40, rue de la Roquette
75011 Paris
Tel: 01 48 05 82 86
Nearest metro: Bastille
All photos in this post are copyright Pierre Monetta.