I had been on a cycling trip to Combourg in Brittany, France for five days with my husband Geoff and some of the members from our cycling club. We were returning to the ferry port of St.Malo and we had all day as it was a late crossing, so we decided to visit the lovely town of Dinan. First we had to cycle up the hill fully laden with pannier bags from the banks of the River Rance to the town where we were rewarded with a lovely hot chocolate outside Le Duclos – apparently they do an excellent Croque-Monsieur – in the October sunshine. As we had been cycling all week out in the beautiful countryside we never came across any chocolate shops apart from those being inside pâtisseries and as we dined in restaurants at lunch times I didn’t get a chance to buy any chocolates. Luckily I came across La Fée Cabosse in Dinan as we were walking through to look at the old part of town with their pretty half-timbered buildings. I rushed inside to grab a few chocolates, not really having the time to see exactly what I was choosing and had to take photos of the rows of chocolates upon the shelves so I knew which chocolates I had bought so I could review them.
Citron – the prettiest with it’s stripes. It was a dark chocolate ganache and I could certainly taste the lemon although it wasn’t too overpowering. It wasn’t tangy nor bitter but a lovely sweet lemon flavour. The dark chocolate melted in the mouth nicely.
Fougerolle – again a dark chocolate and my favourite of the bunch. The ganache was rich and smooth and although I couldn’t tell that it was raspberries I knew that it was some kind of berry.
Riviera – a milk chocolate and the largest. The centre was much firmer as this is a praline and not a ganache. I’m not a praline lover but this was quite a nice chocolate and it melted nicely too. The centre wasn’t as smooth as the ganache, because of the nuts so felt a little grainy.
Foret Noir – black forest with cherry. Smells deliciously dark and rich and on biting into it the soft ganache centre melts away. The top part of the chocolate was nicely thicker than the bottom. I can’t say that I could taste any of the cherry which was in the description, but nonetheless, it was tasty and I wouldn’t decline it if I was offered another!
La Fée Cabosse is on Grande rue, almost opposite the large Saint Malo Church and they have two other shops, one in Rennes and the other in Paimpol. La Fée Cabosse translates to ‘Pod Fairy’, pod being the cocoa bean pod. The chocolates are made by artisan chocolatiers all chosen for their own specialities to allow La Fée Cabosse to offer their customers a wide range of chocolates and flavours. A selection of their chocolates are available in pretty boxes and also bars of chocolates and seasonal gifts.
I enjoyed La Fee Cabosse’s chocolates, they all melted very nicely in the mouth, the dark chocolates were lovely and rich and the ganaches were smooth. Next time I’m in the area I shall try and make some time so I can choose properly and see what else is on offer. Dinan is a pretty little town and certainly worth a visit.
Have a look for ‘chocolates’ in the search bar on the right of our pages for lots of other chocolates we’ve reviewed and enjoyed in the past.
Living life, loving cake….and chocolate
A x
[…] in St.Malo I found some, not only in the delightful old town of Dinan – these were called La Fée Cabosse – but also in the old town of St.Malo too. I don’t know, you wait all week for a chocolate […]