It was for my 30th birthday. Raj surprised with a city break to Paris for a few days. It was the 3rd of January when we landed in the city, the air was filled with drizzle and there was a faint waft of baked goods coming from the local Boulangerie’s.
Oh yes. This’ll do nicely.
We spent three wonderful days and nights exploring wonderful Paris. But I feel it’s most important that I share with you first the best not-so-secret place to get hot chocolate in Paris.
You see, any time is a good time to drink hot chocolate, but when travelling the upper regions of the Northern Hemisphere during winter it’s almost vital to drink some of the sweet, deliciousness. As we were spending the whole day out and about discovering and marvelling at what Paris had to offer we were in desperate need of toasty beverages to keep us warm. Needless to say we made full use of every hot drink opportunity we came across.
It is that said, that I feel confident in proclaiming the best hot chocolate in Paris can be found at …
Angelina
It was early evening when we found ourselves just off Rue de Rivoli marvelling at the famous Lourve building. We had left it a little late to make it inside for some art appreciation. So we took a few obligatory “I woz ‘ere” photos before trying to find a drink somewhere.
Initially we tried the cafe at the Lourve but this was just too darned expensive and we were blowing through our budget pretty quickly during this trip already. So we took a walk further down Rue de Rivoli.
After about 5 minute or so strolling down this vast boulevard we came across Angelina. And there we had discovered something special.
Now, as I said before Angelina’s is not-so-secret. There was a queue coming out of the door. It would seem their reputation precedes them. We poked our faces against the window to take a peek inside. To one side we could see there was a cute tea shop area which appeared to be the source of some of the queue. On the other side there was a patisserie area selling macrons etc.
We decided to suck up the cold and join this queue.
It took perhaps 5 minutes or so to get inside and there we marvelled at the classic Parisian decor inside. Elegant, pretty and refined.
We treated ourselves to a bag of 4 different flavoured macarons and a cup of hot chocolate. I watched eagerly as they turned to the counter at the back to prep and pour our hot drink. I almost squealed with delight when I saw out of the jug into the cup came a thick chocolatey liquid. I started to set my expectation pretty high now.
We paid and wandered outside with delicious hot chocolate and macarons in hand.
We crossed the boulevard and made our way into Jardin des Tuileries (the park opposite). There we stumbled across an adorable carousel and perched ourselves on the bench opposite.
And then the magic happened…
There we were, wrapped up in layers the cold January air beating against our faces. We gazed upon the swirling lights of the carousel, listened to the plinky-plonky music and sipped upon the best hot chocolate in Paris. We took it in turns to sample half of each macaron so we could try every flavour; our favourite was the chestnut flavour.
It was terribly romantic.
Why was this the best hot chocolate in Paris?
Well… the chocolate was rich but not too bitter. The texture was thick and velvety. There was just the right hint of decadence without feeling sickly. It just happened to be a perfectly balanced hot chocolate made with real chocolate.
So if you ever find yourself in Paris do search out Angelina for the best hot chocolate in the city.