Cazenave Chocolaterie
Bayonne has been making chocolate since the 17th century — Jewish refugees fleeing the Spanish Inquisition brought the craft here from the Iberian Peninsula, making this city the birthplace of French chocolate-making. Cazenave, open since 1854 on the Rue du Port Neuf, is the most atmospheric place in the city to taste that history in a cup.
The Famous Chocolat Mousseux
Order the house speciality: chocolat mousseux — a thick, intensely dark hot chocolate whisked to a frothy head at your table using a traditional moussoir (a wooden whisk spun between the palms). It arrives with a cloud of whipped cream and a small madeline, and it is deeply, almost aggressively good.
The recipe hasn't changed in decades. The chocolate is made on-site from whole cacao beans, and the flavour is complex and slightly bitter in the best possible way — nothing like the sugary hot chocolate you get elsewhere.
The Shop and the Street
The tea-room interior is a time capsule: dark wood panelling, marble tables, aproned waitstaff and the gentle clatter of porcelain. It's the kind of place that makes you want to slow down and order a second cup.
The Rue du Port Neuf running outside is Bayonne's 'chocolate street' — a pedestrian lane lined with a dozen chocolatiers and confectioners. Buy a box of ganaches or a tablet of single-origin Bayonne chocolate to take home from Daranatz or Puyodebat next door.
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