Chocolate? We all love it! This real natural anti-depressant has been addictive to the finest gourmets since time immemorial. And if there’s one store that understands this and has made it its specialty, it’s Debauve & Gallais. For over 200 years, this legendary chocolate shop has been a meeting place for all the capital’s gourmands. From Marie-Antoinette to Napoléon Bonaparte! The recipe for success? High-quality chocolates from all over the world…
Debauve & Gallais: a historic old chocolate factory in Paris
For over two centuries, this chocolate factory has been delighting the whole of Paris with its exceptional creations. When founder Sulpice Debauve, a pharmacist by profession, began marketing his chocolates, he extolled… their medicinal virtues. Queen Marie-Antoinette used to consume these chocolate sweets to soothe and relieve her headaches… Nothing less!
He was the first chocolatier in history to invent chewy chocolate. Shaped like a coin, it was mixed with almond milk for added sweetness and medicinal powder for healing. A small revolution at the time, it quickly established the chocolate factory’s reputation. Seduced by the medallions, which did her so much good, the queen named them “Pistoles”. According to Sulpice, each chocolate had a beneficial virtue for the body…
Sulpice Debauve soon became the royal pharmacist under Louis XVI. This activity did not prevent him from continuing in the cocoa business, as he decided to join forces with his nephew Antoine Gallais in 1800. Among the store’s most prestigious customers were sovereigns and artists such as King Charles X and writer Marcel Proust… As you can imagine, the whole capital flocked here!
In fact, you can still taste the recipes that made this great cocoa house such a success! Like Marie-Antoinette’s pistoles (without the medicine), King Charles X’s Fleur de Lys au Caramel or the chocolate-covered almonds Napoleon Bonaparte loved. A delicious, gourmet journey back in time!
📍Location: 30 Rue des Saints-Pères 75007 Paris