Pâtisserie Chocolaterie Sève - Champagne au Mont d'Or

Praline, chocolate and the house that started here

The counter in Champagne-au-Mont-d'Or is the original Maison Sève address, a village pastry shop trading since 1905 that Richard Sève took on in 1991 and turned into the base of a Lyon pastry and chocolate house. It is pastry and chocolate rather than bread: macarons in sweet and savoury versions, individual cakes and entremets, cakes de voyage, biscuits, ice creams and sorbets, confectionery, tablets, boxed chocolates and pâtes de fruits, with the lyonnaiseries that tie the range to the city below. The chocolate is made by the house rather than bought in, and several of its tablets have taken prizes of their own. The maison belongs to Relais Desserts, the international pastry association, which is the clearest outside signal for what the case is doing.

An old shop kept as it was found

The building was left largely intact, with the original structure, windows and door still in place, traditional décor, and photographs of former owners and of the family on the walls. The cakes are not hidden behind a case, so the choosing is done by eye, standing in front of the work, which suits a house whose signatures are recognisable on sight. Treat Pâtisserie Chocolaterie Sève as a traditional counter stop rather than a restaurant: a short queue, a decision at the counter, and a box carried out. The house works only with pasteurised milk, a small detail that says something about how the ice cream and pastry side is run. The address sits in the Monts d'Or, on the hills above Lyon, and the range keeps referring back to them.

Start with the praline tart, then take the Mont d'Or

The véritable tarte à la praline is the first order, the pink Lyon praline tart this address is best known for. Then take the Mont d'Or, built from hazelnut, milk chocolate and praliné feuilletine, and the pierres des Monts d'Or, which carry the same local reference into chocolate. Macarons broaden the order in either direction, sweet or savoury, and the chocolate side holds tablets, boxed assortments and oursons guimauve for taking home. There is one savoury outlier worth knowing about: pâté en croûte, among the boutique's best sellers, a preparation Richard Sève has kept refining since his early years as a pâtissier. If the visit is about one thing, make it praline. Almost everything else on the counter reads as a variation on it.