The Debauve & Gallais chocolate shop on rue des Saint-Pères, near Saint-Germain-des-Prés, has been operating in the same location for almost 200 years.

The boutique’s legendary wood-panelled interior and semicircular chocolate counter are truly awe-inspring. The chocolates themselves, not overly sweetened, according to French tradition, are amazing, if expensive.

Debauve & Gallais’ signature items include its chocolate pistoles, small discs of chocolate that vary according to cacao content (ranging from 45 per cent to 99 per cent) and flavorings (almond oil, bitter coffee, Bourbon vanilla and orange blossom).

The company’s founders, Sulpice Debauve and his nephew August Gallais, started out selling “health chocolates.”

In the 1800s, chocolate was used to make bitter medicines more palatable. It was also combined with “healthful” ingredients to promote vigour and health.

Sulpice Debauve, a former royal chemist under King Louis XVI and a chocolate maker to King Charles X, opened his first chocolate shop on rue Saint-Dominique, in Saint-German-des-Prés, in 1800.

In 1818, Debauve’s main shop was moved to its present location on rue des Saints-Pères (7th arr.), where Debauve formed a partnership with his nephew, who was also a chemist.

Balzac, Proust and Brillat-Savarin were regulars at the new store.

At its height, the company had a “chain”of 65 boutiques throughout France. Today, the company has two shops in Paris, with the second one located on rue Vivienne.

Speciality: 99 percent-cacao pistoles, or chocolate discs

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Debauve & Gallais
30, rue des Saints-Pères, 75007 Paris
Tel. +33 (0)1 45 48 54 67
Métro: Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Sèvres-Babylone
Hours: Mon. to Sat. 9:00am to 7pm

Other locations in Paris:

33, rue Vivienne, 75002 Paris
Tel. +33 (0)1 40 39 05 50
Métro: Bourse or Grands Boulevards
Hours: Mon. to Sat. 9:00am to 7pm

For Debauve & Gallais international locations, click here.