Debauve & Gallais

The Maison Debauve & Gallais located in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district of Paris, invites you to experience excellence!

You can choose (or not) between the pralines cooked in a pot of pure almond and pure hazelnut, ganaches from beans of different origins, and truffles with candied orange or dark chocolate, delicately filled with a cocoa ganache, to name but a few. Connoisseurs also appreciate the many flavours and benefits of the Pistole de Marie-Antoinette, a crisp chocolate that comes in several varieties: with almond milk (soothing and calming), vanilla (digestive and stimulating), cinnamon (healing and aphrodisiac), orange blossom (antispasmodic), Earl Grey tea (stimulating and refreshing), sugar-free (for diabetics), orgeat cream (invigorating), or coffee (stimulating). The story goes that it was the queen herself who came up with the name when she noticed their resemblance to the gold coin from across the Pyrenees, the pistole!

Another speciality of the house is Croquamandes, one of the favourite sweets of Emperor Napoleon I who particularly enjoyed this combination of dark chocolate and nuts that was so innovative for its time!

Debauve & Gallais, a story of expertise

The Debauve & Gallais family business has been delighting our taste buds for nearly 220 years and nine generations. The kings and queens of France, Marcel Proust and Simone de Beauvoir, amongst others, were seduced by its fine chocolate creations.

A simple pharmacist, Sulpice Debauve was not always destined to become a chocolatier. In 1779, by mixing cocoa butter with a remedy for headaches, Debauve created the first dark chocolate with medicinal properties and won the favour of King Louis XVI, for whom he became the official supplier. He later obtained the distinction of Chocolatier to First Consul Napoléon Bonaparte. And so his reputation was assured!

In partnership with his nephew, Jean-Baptiste Auguste Gallais, he created the company that would bear both their names and in 1817, Debauve & Gallais made its permanent move to the Rue des Saints-Pères.
Luxuriously decorated by Charles Percier and Pierre-François Fontaine, the favourite architects of the First Empire to whom we owe, among other things, the redesign of the château de Malmaison and of the château de Fontainebleau, the store is now listed as a Historic Monument. The magnificent neoclassical decorations that showcase the selections of fine chocolates are worth the trip alone!