We’ve all been there – you’ve spent three hours on your feet trawling the racks of the department store, guilt-ridden and weighed down by shopping bags. At this moment, you want nothing more than to collapse and never see another turtleneck again. Belgian ‘chocolatier’ Pierre Marcolini has the perfect solution: a pop-up chocolate bar, located bang in the middle of Paris’s famed department store Printemps (Haussmann).
Macaroons, truffles and financiers galore – all beautifully presented, all available either to take away or to enjoy at the ‘bar’ itself. Marcolini even offers ‘Before & After Shopping’ set menus at €15, including a non-alcoholic drink of your choice, two macaroons or two financiers (depending on whether you plump for the ‘before’ or ‘after’ option) and a selection of their excellent chocolates.
And for those particularly trying shopping experiences – nothing fits, everything’s the wrong colour, the one piece of clothing you like would empty your bank account – treat yourself to their Spritz: an infusion of cocoa beans, Aperol and Prosecco.
At Printemps until May 6 2017.