Chocolaterie Alain Ducasse

In an out-of-the-way location – in a former workshop, at the back of a courtyard, off a busy street near Bastille – lies multi-Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse's chocolate factory. Tantalising scents fill the air; roasting cocoa beans from top producers in Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Sao Tomé, Madagascar, Mexico, Cameroon, Java and Vietnam – only the best regions, naturally. Everything about the chocolaterie, run by master pâtissier Nicolas Berger, returns to the roots of chocolate manufacture, employing ancient techniques and salvaged machinery rather than modern industrial methods.

The result is, predictably, exceptional: pralines, ganaches, truffles and more with exceptional flavours, different from any mass-produced chocolate. The boutique next to the factory offers a view through giant screens to the apprentices at work on the next batches – which can also be delivered to your house, though it would be a shame to miss out on the theatre of the real life production.