Thanks to everyone for sharing your favourite thoughts and highlights of Montreal. If you haven’t visited the site since the last post was uploaded, please take a moment to check out everyone’s contributions in the “Comments” tab at the beginning of the last post.
This week, as promised, I’d like to focus on the sweeter side of Montreal, the city where Chocolatour was officially launched back in October of 2009.
There are a plethora of excellent chocolate bistros around the city that not only offer a tempting selection of handmade fresh chocolates to take home, they serve sensuous chocolate creations that can be the main focus of your meal or the perfect ending by way of a make-you-squeal dessert.
I really enjoyed lunch at Juliette & Chocolat located at 377 Laurier Ouest. The atmosphere is perfect for lunch with the girls, and the menu offers some really unique offerings such as the chocolate salad! The Juliette & Chocolat Salad is served with seasonal fruit, and goat cheese with buckwheat crepe slices, topped with a chocolate raspberry vinaigrette. Delicious!
the Juliette & Chocolat Salad comes with a special chocolate raspberry vinaigrette
Juliette & Chocolat is also famous for its drinking chocolate, offering an exotic list of chocolate origins to choose from. This picture of a friend enjoying her drinking chocolate tells the story of complete satisfaction.
savouring one of the amazing drinking chocolates at Juliette et Chocolat
The chocolate selection is lovely, too, and take time to peruse the “Chocolate Bars” on the menu which provide interesting tidbits about chocolate and cocoa around the world. This is truly a place for chocolate lovers!
the selection of fresh chocolates at Juliette et Chocolat is tempting and creative
I also enjoyed chatting with chocolatier, Marlain Jean Philippe, owner of Marlain Chocolatier, located at 21 Cartier in Pointe Claire, a suburb of Montreal. The small shop is located in a historic house and don’t be surprised if you’re welcomed by the ear-to-ear smile of the proprietor when you walk in the door. He is French-trained (in Paris) and carries the designation of Maitre Chocolatier-Confiseur, so you know that he knows his chocolate! I absolutely loved the Obama chocolates made from soft nougat, pineapple, ginger, coffee beans, almonds and the finest dark chocolate. They had an amazing flavour and texture that I shall always remember.
Marlain Jean Philippe is the creative force behind Marlain Chocolatier
And Marlain doesn’t stop at edible chocolate! He offers an assortment of cocoa-based creams and cosmetics to make your body as smooth and silky as the delectable chocolate he’ll box for you to take home and savour.
There are many other exquisite chocolate shops in Montreal. What are some of your favourites?
Please join us back here the week of September 12th, when we’ll enjoy more taste-tempting travels.
Travel Diversions with Doreen 
Juliette & Chocolat was where I finally decided to try the salty-sweet taste combination that’s so popular now. I had their brownies (beautifully dense) with caramel sauce and fleur du sel. Mmmmmmm.
Thanks for joining the blog, Pippa.
I absolutely adore the sweet salty combo. In the modest price range, Lindt’s dark chocolate with sea salt is a truly divine bar. And in the exotic, Paul A. Young’s sea salt caramel dark chocolate brownies from London are the ultimate. If you missed it, check out my post about Paul A. and other London chocolatiers at: https://diversionswithdoreen.wordpress.com/2011/06/22/surviving-londons-chocolate-revolution/.
Cheers!
I will definitely try Juliette et Chocolat! Sounds like MY kind of place to have chats with friends. Thanks for the tip!
Barbara
That chocolate salad looks amazing! What a quirky idea.
Ah yes – two of my favourite things: Montreal and chocolate! Our mini chocolatour in Montreal certainly put us in the mood for that chocolate research trip, didn’t it?
I wrote an article for Montreal Home last fall about chocolateries in Montreal. Unfortunately, it’s not on the magazine’s website, but here’s where to find my favourite chocolate shops in my wonderful home town:
Les Chocolats de Chloé, 546 Duluth E.
Les Chocolats Geneviève Grandbois, 162 Saint-Viateur W.
La Maison Cakao, 5090 Fabre (just off Laurier)
Doreen, I’m in your yahoo group of Working Writers Club. My mom is from Montreal and I long to visit again. Now I know I must see this chocolate shop/restaurant.
Say, Can you tell me how to offer my readers the opt in on my blog? It’s WordPress.
http://www.books2blikehim.com
Marlene Hibbard
Thanks to Kathe and Marlene for joining us here.
Kathe, I knew you’d have some great additions for Montreal chocolate lovers to visit. Thanks for sharing!
And Marlene, yes, you’ve now got a great list of chocolate shops to visit the next time you see your Mom!
Re adding “widgets” to your blog, just go to the “tools” section and it will list various widgets you can add to your blog. Good luck, and see you on the WWC listserv.
Such fun research Doreen! I didn’t take in “chocolate-y” Montreal when I lived there. We are long overdue for a visit!
Thanks for dropping in here, Angie! Yes, it’s really a shame that you missed the PWAC conference and a visit to Montreal. It was all terrific.
Hey Doreen,
Just wanted to alert you to something I found: child slavery in the African chocolate industry.
Knowing your passion for social justice, I thought you might want to report on it.
http://roarmag.org/2011/04/dark-side-of-chocolate-child-slavery/
http://vision.ucsd.edu/~kbranson/stopchocolateslavery/atasteofslavery.html
http://thedarksideofchocolate.org/
Bruce
Hi Bruce: Thanks for the alert. I am quite aware of this situation. The good thing is that all the bad publicity has caused the situation to improve. Cargill, who owns the largest cocoa processing plant in the world (which happens to be located in Ghana) has spent millions of dollars converting their chocolate production to a sustainable model.
For the purposes of Chocolatour, I do intend to try and focus on the positive, but I will certainly have a chapter on sustainable chocolate and chocolate cooperatives, differentiating them from regions such as the Ivory Coast where the issue of child labour is still a serious concern.
I hope you’ll drop in here again soon.
I knew you’d be on top of it, Doreen, and it’s good to learn that the situation is changing. I understand the problem lies more with the major commercial chocolate producers, not the boutique or speciality shops. From now on, I’ll be keeping an eye out for fair trade chocolate…and I would LOVE to see you write a chapter on the issue. Michael Pollen was drawn into the more political aspects of food production when he started writing about food. It’s all connected.
Juliette et Chocolat sounds amazing and that chocolate drinks looks crazy decadent! Yum!
Absolutely, Melissa! Montreal has some terrific chocolate creations worth seeking out. Thanks for dropping into the blog.