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Chocolat, Chocolat in your cup and on your plate! By Sally Peabody |
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The Pays Basque, particularly Bayonne, is the home of chocolate enjoyment and consumption in France and in northern Europe. Skilled Jewish artisans who knew the secret of how to make imported Mexican chocolate palatable, drinkable and utterly enjoyable were expelled from Spain and Portugal during the tragic era of the Inquisition. These artisans found a home in Bayonne, Biarritz, and what is now the French Pays Basque. The rest of the story is chocolate history. Chocolate lovers will find a haven in contemporary Bayonne, if not a haven of such consequence. Descendants of those original families who brought chocolate to France still run companies that make fine chocolate to drink and to eat and they are joined by an exciting cast of master chocolatiers and patissiers and patronized by discerning clients who love chocolate. A recent spring chocolate-focused perusal of the edible treasures in Bayonne turned up a short riverside street with the scent of dark chocolate in the air! This street is home to four master chocolatiers within a hundred yards of each other. Nearby is an outstanding patissier-chocolatier near the covered market, and yet another master chocolatier on the main market street near the great gothic cathedral. We even found chocolate pasta! Here is a choco-course to guide your chocolate treasure hunt.
One more bonne addresse not on the rue du Port-Neuf, but quite close by, is Pudobeyat Chocolatier whose shop is on the rue d’Espagne around the corner from the cathedral. Pudobeyat is famous for crisp ‘craquants’, dark chocolates with hazlenut bits, and also offers a full range of tempting chocolate confections. Two noteworthy dark, pure unadorned chocolates at Puyodebat are their Venezuelan chocolate, at 66 percent with an earthy creamy flavor and the Madagascar chocolate at 65 percent that is smoothly sophisticated. Pudobeyat also welcomes visitors to their main atelier in Cambo-les-Bains, a short drive out of Bayonne. The Chocolaterie-Musée is an excellent spot to see how chocolates are made, take a look at antique chocolate making equipment and come away with a renewed appreciation for these edible treasures. Bayonne’s chocolate, in the pot or on your plate, is vaut le voyage. Go find your personal favorite!
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Begin on the short rue du Port-Neuf
in historic Bayonne center, is home to the alluring shops and salons
of Paries, Daranatz, Cazenave, and L’Atelier du Chocolat. Paries
offers a wide selection of classic dark French chocolates. You will
find chocolates flavored with mildy spicy Espelette pepper and a few
other more modern flavor choices, but basically these dark and milk
chocolates are traditional and delicious. Paries also makes the
locally loved Touron,
a sweet almond paste confection, and, a particular type of
macaron that was originated by the company for the wedding of
Louis the XIV in St. Jean de Luz centuries ago. They still sell
those macarons and also rich mini-Gateau Basque cakes.
Daranatz makes dark chocolate bars and other rich chocolate
confections. The shop is a lovely, tiled, old-fashioned feeling
place that just seems to invite chocolate consumption. The shop and
salon of Cazenave is famous for its
chocolat mousseux a
drink where pure chocolate powder is frothed into a pretty flowered
china cup, sporting a dome of chocolate foam that is quite something
to behold. Cazenave serves a small pitcher of un-frothed chocolate
for your second helping alongside a bowl of pure whipped cream. They
also make a chocolat à l’ancienne that is quite bitter and true to the
old-style—interesting but probably most appreciated by purists.
Cazenave still roasts its own chocolate beans, sourcing fine
Venezulan, Costa Rican, and Trinidadian chocolate for their drinking
and eating chocolate.
Finally, L’Atelier du Chocolat sells
a great selection of chocolates, bars, tablets, filled chocolates,
even chocolate “bouquets.” You can construct your own chocolate
bouquet for a sweetly edible gift. Master
chocolatier Serge
Andrieu runs this inspired shop.
Thinking about some
exquisite chocolate patisserie? You have only to walk a couple of blocks along
the river Nive to Patisserie L. Raux diagonally across from the
Bayonne covered market. Raux makes an astonishing array of
patisserie, chocolates, macarons, even gorgeous savory tartes for lunch or a
snack. The chocolate creations are stunning and delicious whether
it is a pure chocolate tart or a more complex creation. There is a
tea-room upstairs where you can enjoy the bounty without any delay.
And a look around the stunning shop yielded a delicious powder
attractively packaged to make
chocolat chaud at
home and, yes, beautiful be-ribboned bags of chocolate pasta. Definitely worth checking out!