Chocoholics from the nearby Assemblée Nationale pop into Michel Chaundun’s cavern of cacao throughout the day. But whether you’re a famous politician or not, everyone gets the same treatment – a welcome smile and an enthusiasm for chocolate so communicative that you can’t help but want to try a square truffle, a Fidgi (a dark chocolate filled with passion fruit ganache) or a Veragua (a heavenly chocolate, praline and caramel layered bon-bon).
Then there’s the setting: Chaudun’s chocolate shop has to be the most atmospheric of them all; a wooden panelled 19th-century affair, covered from floor to ceiling with hand-made chocolate sculptures. There are dark chocolate busts of 18th-century ladies, abstract shapes and milk chocolate animal trophies that wouldn't look amiss in Willy Wonka's hunting lodge. There's also a sugar-free range for diabetics.