Exotically flavored chocolates from Patrick Roger, among them Delhi (citron
and basil), Ethiopie (coffee from the Red Sea), and Phantasme (oatmeal).
The day before I left Paris, I went in search of Patrick Roger.
A glance at the vitrines on boulevard Saint Germain and you know that you’re in the presence of deep eccentricity.
To wit: a life-sized penguin family sculpted in chocolate. Across the way, a school of lurid yellow and turquoise tropical fish swimming across a sea of chocolate bars. This is not your typical tasteful Paris chocolaterie.
Roger has a bit of a reputation for going over the top. He’s famous for his one meter-long box of ravishing bonbons. The shop is dazzling—the huge circular counter, lit by glittery illuminated spheres, is stacked with a thousand truffles, pralines, nougats, pates fruits, single origin bars, marrons glaces, marzipan fruits, well, you name it, neatly arrayed in his signature zingy aquamarine boxes—on his website he calls the color “vert insolent.” Go there to see a clip of Roger as a pale and dishelveled mad scientist, passionately slinging a spoon and scooping up cacao. It’s great theater.
But Patrick Roger is also a seriously good chocolatier. In 2000 he won the prestigious Meilleur Ouvrier de France, and, in addition to his workshop in Sceaux, he now has two shops in the 6eme and 16eme. Everyone I know raves about his offbeat flavor combinations, like the bittersweet ganache with lemon and basil, and his wacky sculptures. But the chocolate, dark and silken, comes first. It is intense, and, I suspect, the special characteristics of single origin cacao from, say, Indonesia or Madagascar, inspire his exotic additions—not the other way around. There are many pronounced flavors—ginger root, quince, Sicilian mandarin orange, lemon thyme, jasmine, Szechuan peppercorns—but they play a cameo to chocolate’s starring role.
Here’s a sample of what I tasted on the plane back to New York:
Delhi: Ganache with citron et basilic. A surprise burst of intense citrus flavor that segues smoothly into the bittersweet chocolate ganache.
Jamaica: Rich coffee flavor, with just enough coarsely ground Arabica coffee beans to tip it—almost—over the edge. Smashing. My favorite.
20 (degrees) Parallelles: Spicy orange zest perfectly balanced with intense Indonesian dark chocolate.
Jacarepagua: Citronelle (lemon grass) and menthe poivre (peppermint). The smooth buttery taste of lemon curd gets a snappy finish with the bite of fresh mint. Three favorite flavors all in one!
Le Pave: A specialite embellished with a golden footprint. Infusion of bright lime into very dark, very bittersweet chocolate.
Roger’s website is just not to be missed. Lots of panoramic visuals, with street chatter, music and twittering birds. “12 Candidates” includes caricatures of Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal on what appear to be bowling pin-shaped figures.
Chocolaterie Patrick Roger, 108 boulevard Saint Germain, 75006 Paris.
Tel: 01 43 29 38 42 Web: www.patrickroger.com.