Attending a chocolate night class at La Maison du Chocolate was tough enough.
But then I went on a www.Sweetwalks.com midtown chocolate tour!
The 1st chocolate boutique was British Charbonnel & Walker in Saks Fifth Avenue.
As part of class studies we had to sample 2 chocolates at each stop on the tour. I'll post more on Charbonnel tomorrow..
They were ready for us at La Maison du Chocolate at 30 Rockefeller Center, with a warming cup of hot chocolate and their Boheme (milk chocolate mousse ganache) and Andalousie (lemon ganache) .
At each stop we got an instructional intro to the brand's history and chocolate making process. La Maison still offers the original box of 22 chocolates Robert Linxe first created for his shop in 1977.
Next stop was RICHART of Lyon on 7 East 55th street. Beautifully decorated chocolates as well as complex flavors are Richart's signature. They feature different artists work in their shop as well.
Richart like most chocolatiers today, offers a boxed collection of single-origin percentage cocoa, so you can educate your palete. All in the name of research of course :)
Next stop Pierre Marcolini Chocolatier on 485 Park Avenue. Again a vast variety of single-origin chocolates. Choosing the 2 chocolates to taste at each stop was no piece of cake!
Last but definitely not least on the chocolate walking tour was Debauve & Gallais, perhaps one of the prettiest boutiques both in New York and in Paris. They are at 20 East 69th street. More to come on D & B...
Here are the 2 chocolates I picked to taste at Debauve & Gallais.
All of these chocolate shops have online shops as well, but taking the New York tour was informative and fun.
Thank goodness we got a little walking in there with all the chocolate tasting!
What lovely chocolate kingdoms all over the place, makes me want to join you on your exercize tour. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI was in NY the other day, blogwise, at Brian's NY Daily:
New York Daily Photo - http://newyorkdailyphoto.blogspot.com/index.html
(you may also scoll down to the Jacques Torres post Feb 14th).
I looks like New York is the Secret Chocolate Capital of the World. Wall Street bye-bye, Chocolate Avenue is all the rage instead.
Have a great sunny day!
How lovely and wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI love good chocolate and can hardly wait to have a piece on Easter.
Blessings!
Love Jeanne
Now that's one class I wouldn't sleep through.
ReplyDeleteWhat a clever idea! Chocolate tours. I would walk miles for that sort of thing.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a tour made in heaven.
i could hardly believe my eyes when i read your post this morning...Charbonnel et Walker in Saks! i LOVE their mocha drinking chocolate but have consumed the 2 tins i brought back with me from London (and cannot quite bring myself to spend $50+ to have it shipped from the UK)...i hardly dare ask...did you happen to notice if they sell their drinking chocolate in the Saks boutique? if so, i know where i'm headed very soon!
ReplyDeletethanks Carol! I know a few of these but am so glad for the introduction to those I don't! I'm headed for NY in April, my days are already jam packed but I may have to squeeze in a few detours to these locations, thanks again!!
ReplyDeletezephyr I BOUGHT the drinking chocolate and the matching cup!
ReplyDeleteIt was that irresistable.
I'm sure you can order them online.
I'm going to post about Charbonnel tomorrow.
Stay tuned :)
Oh Happy Day!!
ReplyDeleteThis is truly good news...i can hardly wait to read your Charbonnel post, Carol!!
and i almost forgot, i wrote about this nectar from the Gods in my "a bite to eat" blog, under chocolate (please smile indulgently at the silly little drawing that accompanies it, if you happen to check out the post)...it was a comment from Laura that actually lead to me to first visit your blog. Anyway, i thought i was pretty good with Google...but i never found the NYC connection when i last searched...last fall, i think...
'til tomorrow!!
OH MY...Last night we watched the movie..CHOCOLAT.. Two hours of seeing luscious decadent chocolate :-) This morning I check this out and your whole blog's on more lucious decadent chocolate.. Guess what I'm craving today??? ;-)
ReplyDeleteCris in OR
New York, Chocolate Tour, Heaven
ReplyDeletesigh. I not only love your paintings, I think I love your life. A CHOCOLATE tour? Heaven!
ReplyDelete:-D
OK...so I`m officially drooling!!!!!
ReplyDeletenow that's a tour i'd love to go on! How utterly sinful and delightful! Have you tried MarieBelle chocolates yet? I did for the first time recently, someone who flew in from NY gifted me with a box of the prettiest chocolate nuggets and the flavors were amazing~
ReplyDeleteCarol,
ReplyDeleteI MUST get myself to NYC! You seem to be awash in chocolate and sweets all the time!:)
Oh Robyn, My mouth is watering and I'm not even a huge chocolate lover!
ReplyDeleteThe photographs are amazing and your watercolour sketches are simply wonderful!
Oh, Pleeeeze. Oh, Pleeeeze don't let my wife know about this blog....
ReplyDelete