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La Maison du Chocolat

[UPDATE: La Maison du Chocolat may have stopped making this particular chocolate.]

At a recent tasting at La Maison du Chocolat, I sampled at least eight chocolates—not to mention passion fruit ganache, chocolat chaud, plus two of their newest summer flavors: melon and star anise.

It was a lot to get through, let me tell you. I normally avoid any hot chocolate that’s offered in those kinds of situations, because I find that’s the tummy-buster, the stuff that puts you over the edge. And when faced with a plate of such fine chocolates, I want to enjoy and savor every chocolate-dipped bite. A warm cup of silky-rich chocolat chaud alongside? That’s just dorer le lys. (Gilding the lily.)

My favorite chocolate at La Maison du Chocolat is Rigoletto Noir. And I hope you can see why.

rigoletto noir

Monsieur Robert Linxe, the creator of these chocolates filled with whipped caramelized butter mousse, says they’re best when enrobed in milk chocolate, and I am not sure if I agree, or if I prefer the ones covered with an ultra-thin layer of dark bittersweet chocolate, which provides a nice contrast to the intensely buttery caramelized filling.

All I know is I have a whole, big box to plow through all by myself (of milk and dark), and I’m loving every bite. Maybe once I finish it up, I’ll have had enough of these chocolate squares, enclosing a sublime filling with the creamy, sweet taste of the best French butter with a touch of salt. Perhaps I’ll have had my fill. But somehow, I don’t think so.

La Maison du Chocolat
225 rue du Faubourg St-Honoré (8th)
Tél: 01 42 27 39 44

Related Posts and Links

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La Maison du Chocolat by Robert Linxe

La Maison du Chocolat (another post)

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31 comments

    • tara

    A friend brought me a box of chocolates from La Maison de Chocolat based on your recommendations. What a delightful time we’ve had choosing which treat to chose next from the assortment. I’ll have to put the Rigoletto Noir on my list for next time! Thanks for all the great things you share!

    • krysalia (france)

    caramelized butter mousse… rhaaaaaa !
    (lys, by the way :). )

    • Brenda

    Ah! I just hit you up for my daily dose of chocoporn and, man, did that photo satisfy me! Mmmmmm, thanks!

    • Jill

    ooh….

    • Dana McCauley

    OMG- chocolate and caramel. My fav!

    I see they have a NYC boutique. I must visit next time I go to New York.Thanks for the recco.

    • Michelle in NZ

    Here I am, still savouring the Korean Treat I cooked a few hours earlier, and you tempt me with hot chocolate, in a superior form. Dear David, you’ve done it again m’dear. Huggles from Mickle

    • Robyn

    What beautiful photographs! I just read your blog and wish I was back in Paris right now. Thanks for the great read.

    • Jill

    excusez-moi while I go re-mortgage the house for the next trip. I MUST have these chocolates. Here’s hoping that the 26th is not another bank holiday! I can’t complain because I am now going to Paris weekly and if I miss something one week I can always hit it the next. It only took ms. trolley dolly thirty years to accomplish this one. David is your hot chocolate mix still for sale? It looks divine.

    • David

    Krysalia: It’s funny, because I did look it up in my Robert dictionnaire and in English-French, it said lis, but French-English, it was lys. Can’t you folks make up your mind here? ; )

    Jill: Because of the shipping, we didn’t continue to make our hot chocolate mix. I was trying to come up with a way to pack it in a single jar, but with all-natural ingredients, and it was too solid. Perhaps I should’ve eased up on the chocolate? naw…

    Tara: That’s quite a friend!

    • Camille

    Can locals come along on the next chocolate tour? It sounds like you had so much fun!

    • June

    I’ve checked the website for La Maison–can’t find Rigoletto Noir–what assortment/grouping is it in? Many thanks

    • Anna

    Wow… a picture does speak louder than words! I can’t wait to get my hands on a box of those!
    Thank you, David, for all your great tips, wonderfully written articles and gorgeous pics.
    You are, hands down, my source for places to go to when spending a weekend in Paris : ) You’re awesome!

    • michelle @ TNS

    caramelized butter mousse? are you shitting me?

    i think i just died.

    • radish

    I got a box from a friend on Maison du Chocolat and i have always loved them, but these chocolates proved to be very eh, and my bf and i just struggled (I know, don’t I sound spoiled AND ungrateful) to eat them… You think maybe if he picked them up at Heathrow they weren’t fresh, or differently made? They really were quite disappointing – but when i have them at Rockefeller Center or on the UES, it is always always a treat.

    • Fatemeh

    David, you are a bad, bad person.

    It wasn’t enough that you updated your Twitter about these chocolates? Now you have to show pictures, and DESCRIBE in painstaking detail, the utter perfection of them?

    Yes, a very bad man indeed.

    • krysalia (france)

    david> we could, but there would not be any fun left :) (autrement dit : on pourrait, mais c’est plus rigolo comme ça :D )

    • anne

    egads david! i need to stop reading your blog! from foot scrubbers to kitchen aid mixers then ice cream makers! i succumbed to it all! except being too late for that ice cream maker that is… anyway i am in paris right now and ASTOUNDED to realize my apartment is just 35 meters away from Patrick Roger!
    the only thing i am not liking is that i am here for just 3 more days. i want to live here! will you adopt me david?

    • adrian

    Once you go black , you never go back..

    • delphine

    oh my that looks and sounds amazing. I wish there was a Maison du Chocolat in DC. I guess I will just have to take a trip to NYC sometime.

    • Ann

    OH.MY. I came here to be entertained just now – not tortured! That seductive little half-chocolate, ready for a bite – staring at me like the flirty little tart that it is. I’m almost mad. Guess I’ll go have a carrot then.

    • Marguerite

    I don’t think there is any chocolate in the world that compares to the ones from ‘la maison du chocolat’! We once received a 2 kg gift box and I thought I’d died and gone to heaven… Enjoy them along for the rest of us!

    • David

    michelle: Hey, watch the language. This is a family-oriented blog ; )

    Radish: That’s why most chocolatiers don’t like it when their chocolates are sold elsewhere; especially when they’re so perishable and need to be tended with loving care. If you did get a bad batch, it is worth contacting them so they know about it. And next time you get to NYC, pop one of the fresh ones in your mouth. You might change your mind.

    June: I don’t think you can make your own box up, from what the site shows. But it might be worth a call. Or a trip to NYC!

    Delphine: They do ship, but I think it’s more fun to go and choose your own.

    Fatemeh: Well, I’ve sure there’s worse things about me being said out there!

    Anne: Lucky you! Be sure to try the feuillentine. If you forget, just tell them you want David’s favorite. They’ve got it memorized…

    • radish

    Hey David – I am in NYC :) And i do love MdC chocolates from the store. I totally agree with you on purchasing them elsewhere – just not the same. My favorite chocolates in NYC, however, is this tiny place in Soho called Kee’s chocolates. And a place in Park Slope called the Chocolate Room carries Fritz Knipschildt burnt caramel with sea salt chocolates!

    • Kim

    Great photos! Caramel is my absolute favorite, I can see it was a tough job. To think you have a box all to yourself, lucky you.

    • elra

    Dear David,
    I am drooling over my keyboard as I type this comment!

    • BK

    Oh my, this looks so divine. Got to try it

    • Jeremy

    If only there was a Maison du Chocolat in my area…
    oh well, a boy can dream.

    • Claudia

    For morning hot cocoa, I put my (fermented & roasted) home-grown beans in a little Braun grinder, then use a French press with about 3 tablespoonsful. Just that, don’t add a thing and it’s super. The ground cocoa is not super fine, but more like the coffee grind you’d put in a French press. Perhaps it could be sold like that?

    Claudia: Yum! I think Peet’s in the US sells something like that, with ground cocoa beans, but I’m not sure. Yours, of course, sounds much better!

    • jess

    i second the caramelized butter mousse….gotta love it!

    • KitchenMaus

    I absolutely love chocolates from La Maison du Chocolat! I always pick them up wherever I can find them in the US. A friend brought me some from Paris, and they were actually quite a bit silkier than the ones they export. I dream of doing a tasting in Paris! One day!

    • Manhattan

    These look too rich to me. Call me a sleazy American, but I kind of enjoy quantity as much as quality… not that I would ever pass something like this up.

A

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