A l’Etoile d’Or: Chocolate Store in Paris (Denise Acabo )

On my first visit to Paris, I set out in search of a well known chocolate and confection store, A l’Etoile d’or. To my adventurous delight, this little store was not in the centre of Paris, but further towards the outskirts, not far from the Moulin Rouge. Map in hand, I navigated down a side street, past women of the night, working the day shift, and waved to the old lady on a second floor, leaning out of her window to hang washing over her dilapidated balcony whilst she talked to the pigeons. Then I arrived. A l’Etoile d’or is a find indeed.

This store exudes character, charm and a history that welcomes you through its door like you’re a long lost relative who has come home for Christmas. And then there is the magnificent shopkeeper herself, Denise Acabo. Denise wears a ‘uniform’ of sorts … tartan skirt, white shirt, neck tie, and hair in two plaits with ribbons flicking at the base. Extraordinary.

Whilst I stumbled to communicate with the non-English speaking Denise, she was excited to know I was in Paris to visit the Salon du Chocolat, and we shared a common love. Chocolat. I have returned twice since, a year apart each time, and I’m sure she doesn’t remember me, apart from the fact that I’m the amazon-like woman from Australia who towers above her petite status.

Chattering at rapid-fire rate, the delightful Ms Acabo forages excitedly through her shop to show you one chocolate treasure after the next, and through our love of chocolate we somehow understand oneanother. She loves to share that she is the only retail outlet in Paris of the beautiful Bernachon chocolate from Lyon, stocks the stunning Bonnat chocolate bars, and on my last visit I was ecstatic when she excitedly shared that she also stocked MOF Frank Kestener’s super dark jewels of chocolate, some made with very little sugar, and loads of dark chocolate goodness.

Purchases are wrapped in special paper she delights in explaining is actually printed with images of old cartoons and puzzles … as she turns the paper around and I see the hidden swans in the now upside-down image. I’ve never been able to decipher any of the other puzzles … but I nod and smile politely whilst I’m sure she thinks I have a learning disability.

This beautiful old shop is a an absolute treasure trove, and for chocolate enthusiasts is a must on any Paris chocolate itinerary, for all its quirkiness, history and chocolate flare.

BERNACHON CHOCOLATES - Lyon, France

In Lyon, a jewel of a chocolate shop owned by the family Bernachon, roast and grind beans to create their own chocolate bars …. They were a bean to bar creator long before it became fashionable. I would argue Bernachon create some of the most beautiful chocolates in France. There isn’t a lot I wouldn’t do for one of their signature Palet d’O

r bon bons …. A dark offering of sublimeness that needs no flavour other than the intens

e chocolateness it offers.

Beautiful packaging, a stunning boutique and an impressiv

e array of pastries combine to make Bernachon a must visit if you find yourself in Lyon.

Valrhona - Aux Sources du Grand Chocolat

When you talk about French chocolate, you can’t help but mention Valrhona. Valrhona’s headquarters, training centre and La Boutique is in the little village of Tain l’Hermitage, an hour train ride from Lyon, itself a couple of hours very fast train ride south of Paris. A chocolate lovers heaven on earth, this store overflows with chocolate to be tasted, and helpful staff encouraging you to taste until you can no longer!

Tasting was the order of the day in this store, and the sophisticated ‘tasting wheel’ and tasting notes are great tools. The staff didn’t speak any English, so you’re really on your own if you can’t speak any French, in fact the same for most of the village, that I experienced. As long as you can bluff your way through a menu to order food, wine and of course chocolat … you will be fine! I would encourage anyone in this area of France to visit Valrhona, and enjoy the incredible tasting experience.

Of special note were the Chocolats Noirs – De Domaine, the entire selection presented in a beautiful timber display case. ‘Exclusive chocolates created from a selection of beans grown on a single, unique plantation’. Beans for this range of three dark 64% cacao solids chocolate had been grown in Venezuela, Madagascar and Trinidad.

PATRICK ROGER - Chocolate Laboratory - Paris

A highlight of my chocolate career has been a visit to the new chocolate laboratory of Patrick Roger, MOF, in Paris. I've watched Patrick grow over the last five years, and am continually amazed by his fresh and innovative ideas ... uniquely able to sit left of mainstream, he is a chocolate genius! My visit coincided with his

creation of a collection commemorating the

anniversary of the coming down of the

Berlin Wall. Large chocolate pieces replicated sections of the Wall, along with chocolate graffiti 'spray cans' (with an almond inside, so when they shook they actually

sounded like a paint can being

shaken!).The enormous polar bears and dancing lady had to be seen to be believed.

When I asked Patrick how he was enjoying the luxury of the enormous new laboratory space, he responded 'it's great .... but space isn't a luxury, having people to help you is real luxury". Only fellow chocolatiers will understand the gravity of this!!

patrickroger.com

Salon du Chocolat, Paris, Oct 2009

Covering the entire top floor of the exhibition hall at Porte de Versaille, above the Salon du Chocolat – Professional ….. is the public exhibition of Salon du Chocolat. Whilst the professional expo is exciting for those involved in the Chocolate Industry … the public Salon is a vibrant celebration of chocolate, exploding with energy, for everyone to enjoy.

Cacao growing regions from around the world are represented, with dynamic displays, including Brazilian fighting dancers tearing up the stage. Artisan French chocolateries set up shop to promote and sell their products, and I had the opportunity to meet Gilless Marchal, new creative director of French institution Maison du Chocolat, and Frank Kestener MOF, pictured holding his amazing chocolates.

Stunning displays, including a chocolate recreation of a Belgian town hall, and ‘chocolate’ fashion which were collaboration between chocolatiers and fashion designers. These fashions came to life when they were modeled in a fashion parade …. Click on the video to see!

World Chocolate Masters competition, Paris, 2009

In October 2009, I was fortunate enough to visit the Salon du Chocolat in Paris, an amazing public exhibition focussed on … you guessed it, Chocolate! This was no ordinary expo though, as every 2 years, the public Salon is accompanied by the Professional Salon du Chocolat, which also incorporates the World Chocolate Masters finals.

After spending a few days south of Paris eating my way around Lyon and Annecy, and making the pilgrimage to Valrhona’s headquarters in Tain l’Hermitage, I headed to back into Paris. Standing outside the exhibition hall, at Porte de Versailles, I found myself excited as a child at Christmas, ready to enter the Salon.

At the Professional Salon, which fills the entire lower floor of the exhibition centre, shiny, sleek, modern displays showcase chocolate themed products, packaging and equipment from all over the world. Collaboration between designers and chocolateries, had resulted in mini shop window displays being created showcasing some of the worlds best chocolateries. I gazed in awe at the enrobers and industrial machinery, dreaming of the hours per day these machines would cut from our production schedule, and snapped back to reality as I watched a small boy stick his head into the barrel of a giant panning machine (very much like a cement mixer), to take a closer look.

But what I was perhaps most excited about was the live finals of the World Chocolate Masters competition. Winners of national competitions, come together to compete for the title of World Chocolate Master over three days of nail biting competition. Unfortunately funding wasn’t available to sponsor an Australian competitor in this years competition.

As I arrived, the first group of chocolate showpieces were just finishing. I met the UK finalist, Mark tilling, as he had moved his finished chocolate showpiece into position. The theme of this years competition was ‘Haute Couture’, to be interpreted by the competitors as they liked, through their chocolate showpieces, cakes, desserts, individual chocolates and the decoration of a designer hat had been created by a French hat designer. For his showpiece (which must be over 1m tall, but under 1.8m), Mark Tilling created a dressmakers studio, with floorboards and the items that may have fallen through the boards over the years. It was a beautiful showpiece, with intricate detailing on a Louis XV cabinet, pins and tape measures, all made from chocolate. Extraordinary. Many of the competitors took the theme more literally, and crafted showpieces which were a female form, modelling a dress. The Spanish competitor pieced together a large, almost life sized woman, solid and beautiful, with all the gusto we love about Spain.

As the second group of 10 competitors began to assemble their showpieces, I scored a prime viewing position directly in front of what I think may have been the greatest dichotomy amongst the competitors. Next door neighbours, and right in front of me, were Italy and Japan.

The Italian competitor exuded finesse and style, his chocolate components held in matching printed and personally branded boxes like a louis vuitton luggage collection. His work bench, with 3 mins to start time, was literally covered with Perspex boxes of chocolate pieces. His giant ‘headshot’ at the front of his workstation resembled an Armani advertisement. Next door, the Japanase competitor is quietly nervous, getting about his business. His bench in comparison is bare. Completely, starkly, minimalistically bare. His showpiece components that were visible, on the shelving behind him were held in brown cardboard boxes, neatly ordered, but no finesse. His headshot shows complete concentration, as he focussed on his work. Side by side, these two competitors, were the perfect example of the multicultural showdown about the commence.

The Eurovision style roving MC encourages the crowd to countdown from 10, and the battle begins.

Officials have checked the competitors equipment and made sure no pieces are already assembled …. Competitors can bring single pieces, eg. A flower petal, to put together to make the full flower, but could not bring a fully assembled flower. Rudimentary base and structural works begin, so we decide to visit the public Salon, and come back when more progress has been made. One hour in, we return and Canada appears to be recovering from a collapse. Italy has created a tower of layered horizontal pieces of chocolate, obviously what had been carefully numbered and stored in the multitude of small square Perspex containers that covered the bench before start time. It had reached a significant height, and was resembling a female form and next to it on the bench was what was to be the top section, another tower of horizontal pieces, topped with a the head of a model.

Japan had created a seemingly perfectly proportioned model of a model, sitting on a tri coloured chocolate chair, legs crossed, skirt created with the finest chocolate shards with rounded ends, partly transparent, feathered in their layout. Cinched waist with a white chocolate band, hands on her hips, and a cape like top to her outfit, her moulded face perfect in its precision, topped with a white chocolate hat with tall feathers. This showpiece stood alone in its precise design and execution, it was truly breathtaking. This was the one to beat without question. Next to the model stood the base, granite effect chocolate in speckled grey, two legs upside down, with a platform where the model was to sit. The Japanese competitor studiously continued his work.

Then the noise occurred. The dreaded sound of a showpiece collapsing. The noise that makes anyone in earshot stop in their tracks, turn and search for where it came from, with the macabre, curiousity we display when we just can’t help slowing to look at a car accident as we pass by. It was the Italian. The towering base of horizontal shards had collapsed, right in front of me. Whilst I was looking in awe at the Japanese haute coutre model, just a metre away, the tower of Pisa had leaned just a little too far. Damn. You can’t help but feel for the competitor, the immense training, the practicing of construction again and again, only to have the chance of completing the piece as it was meant to be shattered in an instant. His offsider awkwardly smiled, I assume because he didn’t know what else to do, and gestured at the top section, conveying ‘well at least you still have this that can go on top’.

I had witnessed the same thing at the 2007 Masters, and it was no less horrifying, when the Belgian competitor lost his moonscape showpiece in a shattered pile right in front of my very eyes, minutes before the end of the competition. Perhaps I’m not exactly a rabbits foot for competitors.

The Italian competitor salvaged what he could, and created a beautiful showpiece, albeit not quite as tall as planned.

Over the next three days the competitors created their Haute Couture inspired chocolates, cakes and desserts, and decorated their hats with chocolate.

Japanese competitor, Shigeo Hiraiwon first place for his showpiece, as well as overall winner. Second place was awarded to Lionel Clement from the USA and third place overall went to Michaela Karg from Germany.