IN THE YEAR 2000, at the age of 31, PATRICK ROGER won the prestigious Meilleur Ouvrir de France award. He is based in Sceaux near Paris, but also has a shop in the heart of the capital, on boulevard St-Germain. He is particularly famous for his chocolate sculptures --- one of a mammoth tooth won him the Meilleur Ouvrir. Still a rising star, with friends such as the pastry-god Pierre Herme, he offers an interesting variety of individual chocolates with unusual ingredients such as passion fruit, lime, lemon and thyme. The subject of our reviews however will be his outstanding selection of 25 pure origin bars.
PATRICK ROGER has four shops in and around Paris now, and he recently opened an online boutique. Before that, his chocolate was hard to get for anyone living outside Paris. The details of his stores are:
108, boulevard St-Germain, 75006 Paris, (Metro line 4, Odeon), Tel. +33143293842, Fax +33143293843, Mon--Sat 10.30--7.30
45 Av. Victor Hugo, 75016 Paris, Tel. +33145016671, Tue--Fri 11--7.30 and Sat 10.30--7.30
47 rue de Houdan, 92330 Sceaux, Tel. +33147023017, Fax +33147027505, Tue--Sat 9.30--1 and 3.30--7.30, Sun 9.30--1 (you can get to this shop from central Paris in 20-30 minutes, using the RER B train, or by car)
Website: www.patrickroger.com
THE CHOCOLATE BARS
click on countries of origin for more information
INDONESIE 78% Indonesia, South East Asia
An outstanding bar, with a full and complex Criollo flavour featuring strong notes of berry fruits, wood, spice, smoke and tobacco. This warm and rich experience ends with an excellent finish and a dry aftertaste.
TRINIDAD 75% Trinidad, South America
With this rather good bar, expect flavours of cinnamon and fruit, and a warm, pleasant dryness which extends into the aftertaste.
MADAGASCAR 62% Madagascar, Africa
This pleasing bar has the rich, honey-like sweetness of a dessert wine and contains notes of hazelnut and mushrooms, as well as hints of orange blossoms.
PATRICK ROGER has a further 23 (!) bars, including single origin bars from Venezuela (70% and 75%), the Indian Ocean, Madagascar (70% and 75%), the Carribean, the Antilles, Papua, Ecuador (70%, 75% and 80%), Ivory Coast, Ghana, Brasil, Tanzania, Sao Tome, Cuba and Colombia.