Chocolate Sculptor Extraordinaire
No chocolate lover’s trip including our Dello Mano expedition to Paris would be complete without a visit to one of Patrick Roger’s signature stores. And what a wonderful experience it was to visit this winner of the Meilleur Ouvrier de France(2000). The store is filled with amazing displays of chocolates, the most gorgeous packaging colour and a constantly updated chocolate sculpture.
Chocolate Sculpture
The Patrick Roger Story
Contrary to popular belief, Patrick Roger apparently didn’t start out being a fan of museums and works of art. Instead he did an apprenticeship in pastry making and moved to Paris to further his skill.The story goes that he quickly realized that pastry making held no interest for him and he was about to move on to something new when he came upon chocolate. Suddenly he was captivated. The fabulous properties of chocolate most specifically its ability to be moulded into literally anything, held great interest for this artisan and it quickly became his signature. From the age of 18 he was creating chocolate sculptures for such names as Jean Paul Gautier and singer Yannick Noah and before long, Patrick’s chocolate sculptures became a fabulous inclusion for many events.
The Patrick Roger Boutiques
Patrick Roger has a number of chocolate boutiques in Paris offering chocolate gifts and other chocolate delicacies. He has a strong interest in developing and including new flavours in his creations and it is said that he will go to extraordinary chocolate lengths to grow the herbs and breed the honey himself in order to get his delicacies just perfect. He is often considered the pioneer of adding chilli to chocolate ( I guess in the contemporary world) and is constantly innovating with new ingredients as he conceives unique offerings.
Breaking Boundaries in the Culinary World
His store windows are often very controversial, whether it’s chocolate moulded nude women for Valentine’s Day or rats posing as chefs for his Easter display-On the day we visited the elephant was perhaps a very subdued subject, although noteworthy that the sculpture was linked to a fund raiser for elephants.
Patrick is forever working on new designs and flavours and during our visit we tried several of the unusual combinations. I was particularly keen to try the “Bejiing” which is flavoured strongly with root ginger.
I have to confess though that because the cute little chocolate came presented in the most gorgeous little box (see above and below) almost like a “solitaire” that I have been unable to eat it and have instead kept it to admire. So, the Bejiing flavour remains a mystery to me!
……and although still yet to be tried, i just couldnt resist showing you a close up of this beautiful little “specimen”
The Patrick Roger Boutiques
Patrick Roger has several stores and each of them is an experience on their own. Look forward to interesting sculptures combined with unique chocolate flavours and combinations. Store details are provided below and the website is http://www.patrickroger.com.
Paris
- Madeleine – 12 cité Berryer
- Faubourg – 199 rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré
- Rennes – 91 rue de Rennes
- Saint Germain – 108 boulevard Saint-Germain
- Victor Hugo – 45 avenue Victor Hugo
Ile de France
- Saint-Germain-en-Laye – 2 rue de Paris
- Sceaux – 47 rue Houdan