Paris’s oldest sweets shop, A la Mère de Famille, is one of the city’s most famous historic shops.

Founded in 1761, the flagship store on rue du Faubourg Montmartre has been operating in the same location for more than 250 years. Both the exterior façade and the interior décor date from the 18th century.

A la Mère de Famille is known for its artisanal chocolates, calissons, ice cream and other confections.

Chef Julien Merceron has created a lovely chocolate Chinese lantern, in French known as “amour en cage” (love in a cage), for Valentine’s Day.

The delicate hand-made chocolate lantern contains a brilliant red chocolate bonbon filled with a candied chestnut and saffron-infused ganache.

Available at A la Mère de Famille, 35, rue du Faubourg Montmartre, 75009 Paris, and the company’s other locations in Paris.

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Photo © A la Mère de Famille

To mark its 250th anniversary, A la Mère de Famille recently published a book of delicious recipes, A la Mère de Famille – Les recettes gourmandes de Julien Merceron (Editions Marabout, November 2011, 280 pages). The book includes some of the company’s recipes for cakes, biscuits, chocolates, marshmallows, ice cream, nougats, bonbons, jams and other goodies.

The book (in French) is available on Amazon FR and Amazon UK