It is important to always be striving for something. This year in Villefranche-sur-mer, we are searching for the perfect chocolat chaud. We are undertaking a very difficult task, but somebody must be willing to sacrifice to find this elusive drink. The literal translation of chocolat chaud is simply hot chocolate or as we might say hot cocoa. But in fairness to true chocolat chaud, it cannot be translated that way. My wife came up with the best translation - liquid mousse. All you need to do is think of chocolate mousse but in a liquid form. It must not be too sweet nor too bitter, and it must have a consistency just to the liquid side of mousse. It is sometimes served with frothed milk and sometimes not.
Until this year I was quite convinced that the best chocolat chaud was at small lunch place at la Darse in Villefranche. A darse is a marina within a harbor especially one where work can be done on the boats. The "restaurant" where we get chocolat chaud at la Darse is called La Baleine Joyeuse (the merry whale). This picture is from the summer. In the winter there are only a few people.
I apologize that I do not have a good photo of the chocolat chaud from La Baleine Joyeuse, but here is a photo of Jane, me and JP, a french friend enjoying our chocolat chaud there.
If you look closely, you can see that the chocolat chaud in this case is served with frothed milk. The key is not whether it is served with frothed milk or not, the key is whether it is just the right amount bitter and the right consistency. The picture below is a chocolat chaud that was good but failed to make it into contention for the best. This one is from a snack bar in the park outside the Matisse Museum in Nice. You will note this one does not have frothed milk. While it failed the taste and consistency test, it does have the beautiful color and sheen necessary for a great chocolat chaud.
We have tried the chocolat chaud at Chez Betty on the main street in Villefranche, but while the wonderful character of the bar and its owner, Betty, is fantastic, the chocolat chaud is not in the top tier. The photo below is at Chez Betty after a hard fought game of pétanque enjoying a chocolat chaud even if not the best.
We also tried the chocolat chaud at the end of a very decadent lunch at the Palm restaurant which is right on the water near the beach. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, and we spent about three hours having lunch and watching the world go. What a decadent and wonderful way to waste time and enjoy life. Anyway we ended the lunch with chocolat chaud.
It was very good, but it was too bitter (I even added some sugar), and it lacked the thick consistency of liquid mousse. But on that day in that place life was so good I did not care that it wasn't the best. However, Jane discovered a great use for this chocolat chaud. She added a small amount to her noisette (a small espresso with a dab of warm frothed milk on top). For those of you who like to combine tastes that are wonderful by themselves, you should try this blend. To me it is simply a waste of good chocolat chaud but this chocolat chaud was not perfect so I went along with Jane's idea. Jane named her invention "senior blend". The same name used by some friends for a hot cocoa and coffee mixture they drink on their sailboat.
Jane and I have now confirmed with multiple visits that the best chocolat chaud in the Villefranche-sur-mer area is actually in Beaulieu-sur-mer at the Gran Caffè. We walk to Beaulieu from time to time for shopping or eating. The Gran Caffè is about 1.5 miles from our apartment, but I am afraid a 3 mile walk is not sufficient to walk off the calories from one of their chocolat chauds.
As you can see it comes without frothed milk. It has the perfect color and sheen, and the taste and texture are incomparable. The level of bitterness is perfect, just a slight bitter aftertaste accompanying the wonderful dark chocolate flavor. The texture is the perfect liquid mousse. It falls off your spoon very slowly in a smooth ooze.
Two people have told us that we need to go to Angelina in Paris (here) because it has the best chocolat chaud, but I must point out that neither of them has ever had the chocolat chaud at the Gran Caffè in Beaulieu. The next time we go to Paris, we will certainly try the chocolat chaud at Angelina because we are on the never ending search for the perfect chocolat chaud.
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
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