Finding the best chocolate in Paris is not an easy task, as there are infinite options, each better than the other. According to the Wall Street Journal, in the last decade, the number of artisanal chocolate makers in France has grown by forty percent. This means that you need not walk far to find an excellent place to indulge in chocolate, in the City of Light – though you may want to get in some extra steps after consuming so much decadent delights.
Paris is one sweet city. The French capital is one of the most indulgent, decadent, and glutton-inspired metropolises on the planet. Especially when it comes to sweets, in general, and chocolate, in particular.
You can wander around the city using the spots below as your Northstar, to go on a chocolate crawl. Or, of course, you can have a local expert take you to the best chocolate and pastry shops that the French capital has to offer.
Whatever you choose, your sweet tooth will be screaming “merci” for all these rich, delicious chocolate that you find in Paris. And if you’re coming to Paris with kids, they’ll definitely discover a new world.
What's Included
Patrick Roger
When Patrick Roger was young, he thought he wanted to be a baker. He ended up getting unceremoniously fired from his job as an apprentice baker, and wound up working for a chocolatier just because he needed the money. Little did he, or anyone else, know that Patrick would go on to become one of the world’s greatest chocolate makers.
At his eponymous shop on the iconic Boulevard Saint-Germain, Patrick Roger sculpts chocolate creations that look so precious and artistic, you may have second thoughts about eating it. But the chocolates are as good as they look, so go on, devour it.
Maison Lenôtre
With 13 shops in the French capital, you need not walk far to get your hands on some excellent sweets and chocolate at Maison Lenôtre.
Pick up one of the many chocolate bars – ranging from milk to very dark chocolate – or an assorted box of bite-sized bonbons with hidden surprises in each bite.
Jean-Paul Hevin
At 24 years of age, Jean-Paul Hevin was a pastry chef at a posh Paris hotel. His colleague was a young Joel Robuchon. They ended up going in different directions, of course, and Mr. Hevin is now one of the most famous and well-regarded chocolatiers in the City of Light.
Mr. Hevin’s chocolate shop is, pardon the pun, really a taste of heaven. Today, there are Jean-Paul Hevin chocolate boutiques sprinkled throughout Paris – eight at the moment – where you indulge all manner of shiny, gooey, crunchy and, ultimately, decadent chocolate.
La Maison du Chocolat
In 1977, a chocolate shop simply called La Maison du Chocolat quietly opened its doors for the first time on Rue du Faubourg. Little did anyone know it would be come a culinary institution in Paris. Today there are five chocolate shops dotted around Paris and even outlets in New York City, Tokyo, and Hong Kong.
La Maison du Chocolat takes you from bean to bar with a score of delightful chocolate bars. You must also try an addictive hazelnut spread that is so good you’ll forget the name “Nutella” ever existed.
They also sell various other chocolate-laced treats that make for a great treat or a gift.
À la Mère de Famille
Founded a decade and a half before the American Revolution, À la Mère de Famille is the oldest chocolate shop in Paris. It’s also one of the best.
Located on Rue du Faubourg, Montmartre, the interior has not been renovated since early in the last century, so walking into the shop will feel like stepping back in time.
The shop sells hundreds of decadent morsels to nibble on. Don’t arrive here too hungry or you’ll walk out with an armful of chocolates.
Le Chocolat Alain Ducasse
Alain Ducasse, who holds a large constellation of Michelin stars around the globe (but particularly in France), is also a great purveyor and maker of chocolate. Surprise, surprise. Ganaches, pralines, chocolate bars, you name it. Everything is delicious.
There are a handful of Le Chocolat Alain Ducasse shops around Paris. For the indecisive first-time visitor, Ducasse’s tablettes have become an iconic best seller, embedded with candy fruit, sea salt, and caramelized nuts.
Debauve et Gallais
Located in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the legendary Debauve et Gallais began life as the cocoa supplier to Queen Marie-Antoinette in 1779. This was before she ended up in La Conciergerie, of course. They’ve been producing extraordinary quality chocolate for centuries, as you can imagine.
Early in the next century, one of the founders went on to become the chocolatier-in-chief to Napoleon. Today you can still savor the treats that Marie-Antoinette and Napoleon ate, and much more.
Pierre Hermé
The name Pierre Hermé is synonymous in Paris and beyond with fine chocolates, and the entire spectrum of sweets. A fourth generation pastry chef and chocolatier, Mr. Hermé first took his chocolate-making talents to Japan. After that, he ended up opening his first shop in the fifth arrondissement in Paris.
If you like your chocolate to match your avant-garde taste in art, then point yourself to Pierre Hermé as quickly as possible. You can also try delicious macarons in Hermés shop, and many other French delights, so go prepared to be amazed.
David Farley is a West Village-based food and travel writer whose work appears regularly in the New York Times, National Geographic, BBC, and Food & Wine, among other publications. He’s the author of three books, including “An Irreverent Curiosity: In Search of the Church’s Strangest Relic in Italy’s Oddest Town,” which was made into a documentary by the National Geographic Channel. You can find Farley’s online homes here and here.