cocoa délices - fine chocolates for gift giving

Now that the Easter sugar rush is over, let me turn once more to chocolates and gift giving.

Montreal’s newest chocolaterie, Cocoa Délices, is a hotbed of flavor, with a focus on baby showers. Confused? I was, too, until I made my way to the back of their posh showroom and bit into a ganache flavored with mango, mint and coriander.

Full and rich, with bursts of sweetness and delightful savory undertones, the complexity helped prepare me for a few of their other specialties: lime-pastis, and feu sud américain - South American fire.

So naturally I wondered what these exotic flavors had in common with a blue paper boat setting sail on a nearby shelf. The ship’s hold was filled with individually wrapped chocolates, each decorated with its own blue bear. Nearby were delicate pink foil squares topped with rocking horses.

There are adventurous chocolate eaters, and lovers of tradition, I was told.

Adventurous types can choose their favorite flavored ganaches, naked, from the counter. Lovers of tradition will find milk chocolate, hazelnut, and praline at the counter too - and wrapped as specialty gifts, enrobed in demure blue and pink foils for baby showers, births and baptisms.

It’s a great marketing move, as there are at least three stores on the street dedicated to outfitting babies.

For shoppers looking for chocolates in more grown-up wrappings, elegant brown and copper foil boxes can be filled with the selection of your choice.  A bit staid for birthday presents (unless it’s for a grandparent), the boxes make lovely hostess gifts.  

And for the young person who likes sweets, try the nougats, wrapped in cellophane.  The pastel colors of the candy are their own reward - until you sink your teeth into their chewy, salty-sweet goodness.

Dark and light, adventurous and traditional, the chocolates are hand made in Quebec and delivered to the store a kilo at a time, to assure freshness.

123 Laurier Ouest.  Open T-Th 11-6pm; F Sat 11-6:30; Sun 12-5.  Closed M