Chocolate Bar
17 Rue Thouret, 76000 Rouen, France
Click right to take a look around…
Oh, to catch you in a spider’s web of sugar’s airborne molecular structure. Even if you wanted to walk past this cafe without noticing it, even if The French Coffee Spot right across the street wanted to compete with it, the mural of along its Rue Emile Verhaeren face and its unconventional easel crowning the corner—drawing attention away from the Parlement de Normandie’s south-west side—you couldn’t. With a displayed (and English) slogan “Come to the sweet side,” an inoffensive Star Wars parallel, this place of dessert and more offers chairs on the streets, high stools one step in on their unlatched porch, and booths and stools in numerous arrangement, impossible to imagine as ever fully inhabited. If the mural outside—with Queen Elizabeth II and Marilyn Monroe jubilantly paired with pink-frosted, sprinkled donuts, and Dali, Will Smith, Freud, and the Mona Lisa (among others) accompanied by some whipped cream drinks—didn’t hint at the theatrics, you quickly catch on. The support pillars and back wall are drenched in white illustration, everything from coffee beans, pancakes, and popsicles to a couple of LEGOs on a coffee date, a monk steeping in his own tea, and (believe it or not) Snoopy. And to say that these surfaces, chock-full of creative juices, act as the propellers of this amusing chocolate transport, you’d find yourself thinking again. They are in fact but mere propellant. The canvasses of movie posters—Rafiki holding up a frappe to the burnt orange African sky is what I will be telling my kids is the Lion King—and iconic images reimagined with a Chocolate Bar spin break up the wall of skinny, pewter brick while a textureless, opposing wall is brought alive by canvasses of hip-hop versions of Nelson Mandela and Gandhi and riffs on a range of famous figures (Amy Winehouse as Wonder Woman, anyone?). The menu boards are more flat and expressionless. “One American cookie and one brownie please,” a man ordered in English, a little example of how this lack of whimsy manifests. However, find me another cafe with the confidence (or hubris) to play “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” by The Crash Test Dummies, followed by Motown sounds, ending with “I Need a Girl (Pt. 1)” by DIddy, Loon, and Usher. I’ll wait while enjoying each sip of the sweet side.
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Drink: Espresso
It’s strangely bland? While it pulled a bit on the sour side, that’s pretty much it on flavor. There was a list of origins at the front, but I couldn’t figure out in the moment what that was for since I didn’t see filtered coffee on the menu. Upon later inspection, they have a “GRAND ORIGINE” item on their menu which I think is where the origins come in. Unfortunately, this espresso shot does begin to adopt a stale taste in its cooled state. The sugar said Les Torrefacteurs Normands, however I can’t be sure that they use espresso from these folks that are stationed just down the road. I’d say drink it fast and do not get it as a milk beverage.
Hot Chocolate (Traditionnel)
It’s not a blow-your-mind take on the classic, what they call traditionnel, but every sip bears a chocolate taste. I think I was spoiled by Boutique Chocolats LINDT in Lyon. Nevertheless, this hot chocolate comes up for chocolatey air on every sip. It won’t disappoint as long as you approach it reasonably.
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Price: Espresso=1.5€; Hot Chocolate (Traditionnel)=4.5€
Hours: Monday–Friday {12–19}; Saturday {9:30–19}; Sunday {CLOSED}
✓ WIFI*
Extra Notes:
*For some reason, I got an error message when I tried to use WhatsApp. It said I couldn’t receive messages. In other words, the Internet has some limitations.