One day in Paris after lunch at Bistro Le P’tit Troquet on Rue Cler, we decided to walk to the end of this cobblestone street so favored by Rick Steves.  We happened upon a chocolate shop called La Mere de Famille and decided to go in.  It had a good feel to it, the type of feel that a one-of-a-kind store has (even though we later learned that the shop has several locations).  We decided to try a few different pieces of chocolate so I inquired about the price of a box.  The price seemed reasonable (If I remember correctly, it was in the $20-30 range), so I decided to buy a box.  We stood in the small shop and chose a plethora of chocolates.  I kept waiting for the salesperson to tell us that there was no more room in the box, but we kept filling, filling, filling up the box with more pieces.  Quite a different experience from places like Godiva.  We were thrilled to discover that the chocolate was fantastic.  My mother deems it some of the best chocolate she has ever had, even better than Jean-Paul Hévin’s chocolates.

I later learned that La Mere de Famille is the oldest sweet shop in Paris, dating back to 1761!  Don’t we know them when we see them?!  We may have not made it to the Paris Chocolate Festival (an item on my agenda that ultimately did not fit our schedule), but we stumbled upon something good!