The best chocolatiers Calvados

Here's the perfect address for cocoa lovers! After leaving her native Auvergne, Hélène set up shop not far from the station (not even afraid of the building work and the neighborhood!) to open this chocolate shop-tea room. Here, everything is homemade, from the logo to the decor and, of course, the chocolate! Gourmet squares, bars, candies and even spreads. If the portions are smaller than average, it's so you can enjoy them in one bite! Courageous and passionate, Hélène also sells her raw materials. The idea of the returnable box and bag is also brilliant.

Year after year, Rémi Chapuis' patisserie-chocolaterie remains a favourite. With your senses on alert, you wander around the store with one fixed idea in mind: try everything! You'll have to choose between the éclairs or the margaux, the macarons or the praline rochers, the chocolates with fragrant ganaches or Guillaume's Conquest, THE house specialty. Hard work! But the smile and welcome of Sandrine, the owner, and the certainty of coming back make the ordeal surmountable.

Since 2018, Tiphaine and Stéphane's chocolate shop has been located in the town of Ouistreham. With your nose glued to the window, you give in to temptation: dark chocolate, milk chocolate, garnished chocolate... The range, made with Valrhona - the professional brand - and grands crus (pure Brazil, pure Madagascar), includes a variety of creations (mendiants, roses des sables, lollipops, tablettes, orangettes) and confectionery (fruit jellies, caramels, marshmallows). In addition to the chocolates, gourmets will also fall for the fine pastries.

We could stay for hours looking out of the window, eating with our eyes these jewels passionately prepared by Nicolas Barbet and his beautiful team. Each season, each holiday on the calendar is an opportunity for a sweet pleasure. From macaroons to "pièce montée", from nougatine to marshmallow! Here, we don't manufacture, we sculpt. We even saw pumps and lily of the valley more real than life in chocolate. This chocolate and pastry maker is an artist. An artist so passionate that he organises workshops to share his secrets. In turn, you will amaze your friends who will melt with pleasure.

This tea room is seductive just by its name. Our senses are awakened as soon as we walk through the door. The pastries make your head spin and the madeleines, the shop's flagship product - especially in Cabourg - keep their promise. An emblematic house on the Norman coast, this Dupont "avec un thé" is well established in several cities on the coast, Cabourg, Deauville, Trouville and Dives-sur-Mer, with an undeniable success. In 1990, Jean-Pierre Etienvre, meilleur ouvrier de France, refined the brand and made it a must for all the sweet tooth. The creations are bold, fine and delicious. Certainly, a hot chocolate or a pastry at four o'clock at Dupont's, in the small room on the ground floor, or in the largest one on the first floor, is not cheap. So, each time, we say to ourselves: "It's good for once", while off-loading a few euros off our wallet. Despite the crowds, the staff is charming and bend over backwards to please. How can you resist? Besides, you only have one life with a big "L", right?

Looking for inspiration? You're bound to find something to please you when you come to the Atelier du Chocolat. The traditional flower bouquet is too old-fashioned, it fades - and to top it all off for the gourmands: you can't eat it! So why not play the card of originality and opt for a chocolate composition instead. Dark like passion, white like purity or milk like tenderness, your sweetheart will undoubtedly be delighted. Take a journey of the senses from Sao Tome to Madagascar, passing through Venezuela. Stop for a bite of raspberry or orange chocolate, take off again to taste almond or hazelnut chocolate. And for the more adventurous, or mischievous, consider taking a piece of chocolate with Espelette chili (there's a reason the parent company is in the Basque Country, in Bayonne). And don't worry, no burning mouth, you will only feel a slight tingling at the end. Cherry on the cake (and not on the chocolate), at l'Atelier du Chocolat, the smile is unbreakable.

The beautiful effect starts with the appearance of the shop. Chocolate tones have an imposing wooden furniture, harmoniously designed by a clever light game, and the appetite for sweets has no difficulty in coming. Then the pleasure of tasting. The macaroons in mind (attention they are not in self-service!), fall into several perfumes: traditional chocolate and raspberry, at the most surprising verbena-lavender, which has our preference. But, of course, you can enjoy other homemade specialities, such as torchettes, or almond patties, just as delicious.

You certainly know Monbana chocolates, if only the little square that goes with your espresso at the end of lunch. Well, now know that it's O' Délices ChocolaThé, still managed by Damien Trahay, but with this new address outside the mall, a good point! You will find Monbana products of course as well as new delicacies, each more tempting than the next. A nice part of the chocolates that now share their windows with fruit pastes, caramels (from Isigny of course!), truffles, macaroons, jams... And as you haven't missed, teas! More than 70 references (bags and bulk) are to be discovered.

Jérôme is our Willy Wonka from Caen! In his chocolate factory, he likes to create unique recipes such as his Délices de Mathilde, his Bouchon Normand, without forgetting his Pommes Calvados. The Master Chocolatier offers more than 70 kinds of chocolate candies, more than thirty bars and many other sweets. For the anecdote, you should know that the store has a history: before leaving for Paris, Charlotte Corday really lived there in 1793 after the revolutionaries had closed the Abbaye aux Dames where she was a boarder.

In a pretty cobbled lane, one of the oldest in Lisieux, a ^15th-century building houses Chocolaterie Mérimée, which celebrates its 14th anniversary in 2024. The exterior is just as magnificent as the interior. Gourmets will find what they're looking for. After a spell at Lenôtre, Emmanuel made his dream come true and opened his own chocolate factory, much to our delight. Here, everything melts! You can also enjoy an old-fashioned hot chocolate in the tearoom. An address we can't recommend highly enough.

Opened on the initiative of the APAEI (Association des Parents et Amis de Personnes Handicapées Mentales) in Caen, the store is run by disabled workers and sells products made in ESATs and CATs. Fine chocolates, cookies, coffees, jams, honey, caramels, fruit juices, beers, wines and even organic soaps and cosmetics share the space. You'll also find a range of baskets to choose from. This is a place where beautiful things happen, where you learn a lesson in life: enjoy yourself while opening your mind to others.

What a reputation and what quality! We're crazy about this great Normandy house, founded by a family of chocolate makers from Granville in 1946. 70 years later, they had the bright idea of opening another store in Caen! Three generations of craftsmanship and a genuine passion for chocolate from father to son. Cédric has taken up the torch and is bringing a fresh approach with original, innovative recipes. Ganaches, pralines and specialties such as Rocs de Granville and Normandises are yours for the taking. Let yourself be tempted!

It is the only boutique in Calvados dedicated to the excellent chocolate Beussent Lachelle, from the famous artisanal chocolate maker of the same long-standing name in Nord Pas de Calais, which offers a fine selection of fine candies based on large chocolate crus married to the ingredients sorted on the strand. A recipe for happiness!

The story began in 1877. The Witness family is located in the heart of Caen. Master chocolate makers from generation to generation, Witnesses passed the torch in 2007 to Étienne Dolfi (famous for its confectionery establishments at the Mother of Family). However, the original sign has been preserved as well as the specialties of the house: The Toucan (hazelnut pralines with cocoa curved nougatine), True Normands (with calvados), Ladies of Caen (orange paste with orange-flavoured grapes) and of course Caen Bisous (pink chocolate in the form of a mouth, white chocolate foam also flavoured with calvados). Yes, we are well in Normandy and the flagship alcohol of the department is to honour, but rest assured here, it complements and does not overwhelm! And when the winter season arrives, you'll have the opportunity to buy their delicious frozen marestas, certainly they are not cheap, but considering the quality and the short production time of this delicacy, it would be a sacrilege to miss out on it!

Here you'll find confectionery and products from the Chocolaterie du Drakkar. Among the specialties: Bayeux chocolate (hazelnut coated with dark chocolate from Madagascar), Drakkar (a funny little potato shape, but a meringue mousse with praline to die for), Duc Guillaume (with Calvados) and Cans-cans. The latter, dedicated, according to legend, to chatty gourmets visiting the chocolate factory, form a trio of fine champagne ganache, raisin and rum marzipan and Cointreau praline. The list goes on... In 2006, Mr. and Mrs. Hurel opened a small chocolate museum in Nonant (Bayeux exit, opposite Janjac, you can't miss it). The museum is upstairs, the store on the first floor, with a view of the laboratory... How can you resist? It's fine and can be eaten without hunger.

With a shop and a workshop located in Lisieux, Emmanuel and Emmanuelle had the good idea to extend their fame to Pont-l'Evêque. The chocolates come straight from their artisanal factory in Lisieux, where visits to the workshop are organised, allowing you to discover the secrets of their specialities. The praline macaroon made with soaps remains their undeniable success, but they are constantly renewing their gourmet creativity: chocolate and pure alcohol, nougat almond pastes and a new box called "Pont-l'Evêque", which is presented as a box of cheese to share. More than forty kinds of chocolates to make and create personalised compositions in this small chewable address. Their passion is unfailing and their chocolates will melt the amateurs.