BENOIT CHOCOLATS

The couple Benoît, chocolate maker in Angers, has first established a beautiful reputation in the city. The next is written today by their two daughters. Véronique opened the Parisian shop decorated with ancient elements at Puces, which confers it a retro side. On the walls, photos by Anne-Françoise, the other girl, who took over her parents. Because the chocolate maker is actually a woman, elected among the top 12 chocolate makers in France by the Chocolate Croqueurs guide in 2010. The chocolates are manufactured in an artisanal way in Angers and the packaging is as sober as nice. Among its specialities, chocolate rocks and Caramandes® in a triangle shape. It is an alliance of roasted and wavy almonds, coated with intense and fondant black chocolate and caramel with salt butter, which have their own site (www.caramandes.com). There is also the Quernon d'Ardoise, an Icelandic speciality, in homage to the blue roofs of the region. They are nougatines coated with white chocolates, coloured in blue. Among a collection of more than 70 chocolates, we discover the Octave (ganache milk and gianduja), the "Rocher" (praline in old-fashioned way), the "TSA" (black ganache"of Venezuela), and especially the "Concerto" (1^st prize at the Chocolate Show), the "Adagio" (green lemon praline and corianders) and the "AFB" (initials Anne François Benoît, to la raspberry) both rewarded at the 2010 Chocolate Show. All chocolates are homemade. You can also buy confectionery with authentic tastes: nougats, calissons, caramel, fruit pasta, candied fruit, Eiffel towers or Arc de Triomphe in chocolate (several sizes and black paste, white, milk or caramel), chocolate truffle, orangette, crystallized orange, small almond kilns, macaroons, etc.