Location: 39 N. Santa Cruz, Los Gatos, Ca 95030
This cafe/bakery is owned by master pastry chef and chocolatier, Pascal Janvier, and his wife, Nicola Janvier. Fleur de Cocoa is a hidden treasure within the heart of downtown Los Gatos. This small, but quant french cafe is easy to miss in the sea of shops that line N. Santa Cruz avenue. As I entered the cafe the smell of chocolate consumed me and a feeling of warmth came over me. The whistling of the espresso machine and a small child pleading with her mother to buy hot chocolate was really quite comforting. The first thing I could see was the amazing display of chocolate. There is level after level of delicious extra dark chocolate, grey tea infused ganache, coffee praline, passion fruit white chocolate ganache, and tahitian vanilla bean caramel. A petite box of these elegant chocolates will cost you $27.50.
As mentioned before, Janvier is a master pastry chef and he bakes all his pastries fresh daily. He uses the best ingredients and he refuses to use artificial flavors and preservatives that might diminsh the intergrity of the pastry. It can be difficult to select just the right pastry because there are so many different pastries to choose from. There are breakfast pastries, individual-sized desserts, tartes, pastries and cookies. Breakfast pasteries are the most popular, but don’t let the name fool you pasteries can be enjoyed at any time of the day.
