Breaking into the chocolate museum

Bayonne is known for two things – chocolate and ham. And it’s everywhere here. The chocolate came from Spain when Jewish and other religious groups fled the Inquisition. I spent the afternoon sampling at all the chocolate houses here. On the right is photo of the “chocolat mousseux” at one shop – they whip it with a traditional wooden tool. It’s seriously decadent – it’s not all hard work I’m doing. But like a lot of stuff in France, one of the chocolate museums here was closed for no apparent reason for a week. I hunted down someone that new someone, and they called the guy who owns it. He came around and opened it up for me, to give me the quick tour. Good to know – if you press your face against the glass of a shop long enough, someone notices…

I had one of my best dinners here so far too – at this excellent restaurant. For the last two nights I’ve done nice restaurants, calling ahead to ask for a small tasting menu, if possible. It’s a bit strange actually, never knowing what you’ll be eating. As the 4th course rolls around, and server uses words that I don’t know to describe the food, I just trust that it’ll be something good, and hopefully I can figure it out (is it a beet? red seaweed? veal liver?) At the first place, the chef sat down with me after the meal – he was cold as ice and I tried to freak out about how badly I thought the interview was going. But most of these chefs just care about the food, and if some girl from an MTV tourist guide is there, they don’t really mind. At the second place, the meal was perfect – not overly complicated like a lot of the French food here. The photo on the left is langoustines - like big shrimp. Honestly, I’m hankering for simple food – grilled sardines here are awesome, nothing like the stuff in tins. And the jambon de Bayonne sandwich I made myself and ate in the square was one of the best parts of the day. Especially since Bastille Day meant everything in town was closed, which doesn’t make it easy to research anything.

Oh! And finally a great croissant. In that hotel outside of the town center, I found a boulangerie that had a perfect one –so buttery and flaky that when you touch it, the top flakes away completely. Bingo.