This was stop 4 on the Mayfair Chocolate tour. From what we were told, it has a royal warrant (I took a picture as evidence - to be uploaded soon) due to the fact that it's the Queen Mother's favourite pick when giving chocolate as a gift. I was quite entertained by the fact that it's considered a very "British" place despite the french name.
As the story goes, a wealthy English nobleman (a Lord or perhaps even royalty) fell for a french mademoiselle after sampling her treats, chocolate or otherwise. He wooed her over to this side of the Channel and she set up shop in London. Now many years later, it's one of the most popular brands, particularly for their pink Champagne truffle.
So of course we had to sample it along with a rose flavoured chocolate and a violet flavoured chocolate. The flower flavoured ones had a crystallised petal as a topping and were both delicious. I preferred the violet over the rose but wouldn't turn down either. The best way I could describe it was tasting the scent, which I imagine is exactly what you want to get out of such a treat.
I saved the signature pink Champagne truffle for last. It was fairly large, but as I was expecting liquor in the middle (the centre is a concentrated liquor distilled from Champagne), I didn't want to risk it flowing out over me. Essentially, the truffle is a small centre of Champagne liquor, surrounded by a creamy strawberry flavoured white chocolate and a harder shell of pink coloured white chocolate. The total size is a large marble and it's incredibly rich and creamy. Overall, I liked the smooth strawberry flavour but the liquor ruined it a bit for me although I know that's due to my personal tastes.
One more fact before I sign off. The store has several framed pictures of the royal family over the last few decades. It's definitely worth a few minutes to check them out as you will see several generations of princes and princesses playing happily in the garden and climbing out of windows to escape their parents. read more