Chloé Migneault-Lecavalier and Loïse Desjardins-Petrone have turned their Pointe-Saint-Charles workshop into a kind of edible art studio. The bonbons are technicolour and gem-shaped, splattered with cocoa butter and filled with flavours like sea buckthorn, maple caramel, and almond-hazelnut praline. Behind the glass, the setup is part high-end lab, part open kitchen, where visitors can sometimes catch the process in action.

The approach is luxe but personal. Custom cakes and boxes are made to order, and a portion of profits goes back into the surrounding community. It's a rare combination of aesthetics, craft, and values from two chocolatiers who clearly love what they do and aren't afraid to get weird with it.

État de Choc operates like a curated gallery for Quebec's bean-to-bar scene. Owner Maud Gaudreau opened the minimalist Little Italy boutique in 2018 with a clear mission: spotlight local chocolate makers. Inside, you'll find bars from producers like Qantu, Palette de Bine, and Monarque, alongside in-house creations by chocolatier Stéphanie Bélanger. The house line includes bonbons, spreads, and small-format bars with unexpected combinations. The dark chocolate, corn, and chili pepper mini is a standout.

Beyond retail, the space hosts tastings, workshops, and casual conversations about terroir and cacao. The design is clean, the packaging is bold, and the ethos is refreshingly collaborative. If you want to understand Montreal's chocolate movement, start here.

Chloé Gervais-Fredette has been making chocolate on Avenue Duluth Est since 2003, working in full view from a compact shop that doubles as her production space. She trained at the ITHQ before cutting her teeth in restaurant kitchens and catering, eventually launching her own line after selling chocolates from a borrowed counter at Olive et Gourmando.

The focus is small-batch and Valrhona-based, with a lineup spanning classic ganache truffles and more exploratory flavours like Earl Grey, Espelette pepper, basil, and passion fruit. Tablets, brownies, sponge toffee, and nostalgic treats round things out. This is a working chocolaterie first, built around process, freshness, and repetition rather than scale.

Carolle De Boisvilliers and Hiroko Fukuhara have been quietly raising the bar since 1995. Their Plateau shop blends classic French pâtisserie with Japanese nuance: matcha mousses, pepper-spiced ganaches, and just-sweet-enough cakes built on seasonal, often organic ingredients. Carolle brings precision to the kitchen while Hiroko curates an exceptional tea selection under her label Chanoya.

The small storefront has a few seats, but most come for takeaway. Croissants, house-made chocolates, and signatures like the Croquant (dark chocolate mousse, hazelnut praline, almond meringue) and the Gargamel (milk chocolate mousse with caramel and nut-studded nougatine) are the draws. Winter brings panettone and bûches de Noël. Year-round, expect one of the city's finest croissants and hot chocolate that more than holds its own.

Christian Campos brings a quiet intensity to his Ontario Street boutique. Trained under Daniel Boulud and Michel Troisgros, his background shows in every precisely layered dessert and elegant chocolate piece. The window display does the work: lemon-yuzu tartlets, pistachio-raspberry entremets, and bonbons that balance complexity with restraint.

Inside, the space is calm and polished, with a few tables for those who want to linger over tea and something sweet. Campos works with a small team and a clear philosophy: minimize waste, reduce sugar where possible, and let the ingredients speak. From seasonal cakes to sculpted chocolates, this is the kind of place that raises the bar without making a fuss about it.

Yves Bonneau has been pushing flavour and technique in Ahuntsic since 2012, drawing on more than three decades of experience. His chocolates are known for intensely smooth ganaches and bold, clean profiles, made without added sugar. Local ingredients find their way in too, like Sortilège maple whisky, which lends a warm, boozy edge to some of the more indulgent pieces. A bean-to-bar line sourced from Peruvian cacao rounds out the offering for purists.

But Bonneau doesn't stop at bonbons. There's a pastry counter and a full crêperie tucked into the space, making this a rare spot where serious chocolate, flaky pastries, and a proper sit-down meal all coexist under one roof.

Catherine Goulet keeps things small and deliberate at her Villeray workshop. As one of Montreal's few true bean-to-bar makers, she oversees every step: sorting, roasting, tempering, wrapping. The cacao comes directly from small farms and cooperatives in Latin America, and the flavour profiles reflect that care. Expect bright, layered, and often surprising notes across her single-origin bars, hot chocolate blends, and cocoa husk tea.

The space is intimate, more production facility than storefront, but you can sample and shop. Playful packaging illustrated by local artist Cécile Gariépy ties it together. Ethical sourcing, slow processes, and standout design converge here in a way that feels honest and unfussy. No filler, just chocolate that speaks for itself.

Emmanuel and Jenny Ann have more than three decades of experience between them, and it shows in every piece that comes out of their Rosemont shop. Working with ethically sourced Valrhona and Weiss chocolate, they build confections around Quebec ingredients: maple syrup, wild berries, aromatic herbs. Nothing is overcomplicated.

Beyond chocolate, the shop offers pastries, house-made ice cream, and seasonal treats, all shaped by a commitment to local sourcing and a desire to reflect Quebec's culinary landscape. This is a straightforward neighbourhood spot, powered by skill, ethics, and plenty of heart.

Mont Éclair is what happens when two accountants trade spreadsheets for pastry school. Yasmine Naili and Meriem Aknak met while retraining at Calixa-Lavallée and opened their Mont-Royal shop in 2022. The focus is éclairs, rotating seasonally but always keeping a few standbys on deck: praline, salted caramel, vanilla.

The chocolates hold their own. Yasmine once won best bonbon in Quebec with a pistachio-coriander creation, and the boutique's spreads, from almond-dark chocolate to salted butter caramel, make for easy gifts. Everything is made in-house by a duo who've clearly traded one kind of precision for another. The vibe is friendly, the confections are sharp, and the place has quickly earned its spot.

Julie Vachon trained in France, Belgium, and Quebec before opening her Deschambault shop in 2011, inside a converted caisse populaire. Everything is made on site, combining traditional technique with a focus on local products. The seasonal menus shift, but the craft stays consistent: handmade chocolates, pastries, and confections built around quality ingredients.

Visitors can join tastings, pastry workshops, and classes, and in summer, the team runs a bar laitier out of the same space. It's a bit of a drive from Montreal, but for anyone heading toward Quebec City, it's a worthy detour and a fixture of the region's food scene.

Qantu's origin story starts with a dance in Cusco and ends with some of the most awarded bean-to-bar chocolate in the world. Founded in 2016 by Elfi Maldonado and Maxime Simard, the Hochelaga operation focuses exclusively on rare Peruvian cacao, sourced directly from cooperatives and transformed in-house. The duo travels to Peru twice a year to select heirloom varieties like Chuncho, Gran Blanco, and Morropon, each offering radically different profiles, from bright red fruit to deep earthiness.

Their attention to detail extends to single-tree batches like La Première Fois, made from a century-old cacao tree still producing in the Andes. Multiple golds at London's Academy of Chocolate, but the vibe stays grounded: transparent sourcing, small-batch craft, and a mission to put Peruvian cacao on the map.

Marlain Jean-Philippe has been doing his own thing since 1985. Born in Martinique and trained in both French and Creole cuisine, with a chocolate degree from Paris's École Le Nôtre, he brings skill, heritage, and a willingness to experiment to everything he makes. Spiced ganaches, bean-to-bar creations from single-origin plantations, and signature pieces like the Aphrodite show a deep understanding of how cacao plays with heat and flavour.

But the shop goes beyond chocolate: frozen dishes, small-batch jams, spicy sauces, and house-roasted coffee round out the stock. The space is no-frills but welcoming, the kind of spot where regulars return often, not just to buy but to see what's new on the counter.

Nancy Bastien's Rosemont shop wears a lot of hats: bistro, chocolate counter, neighbourhood ice cream bar. She's been operating near Cinéma Beaubien for over 15 years, starting with ice cream before fully committing to chocolate in 2016. The bonbons come in more than 30 flavours, from Szechuan pepper mango to bourbon vanilla, and the chocolate-covered mendiants and bars are just as tempting.

Beyond sweets, the café menu is stacked: crêpes, grilled cheese, generous desserts, and one of the best chocolate fondues in town. Whether you're here for a latte, a scoop, or a gift box, this is a rare spot where classic comfort and chocolate craft collide. Come for the confections, stay for the salted caramel crêpe.

Marc Chiecchio has built his reputation slowly, over two decades of steady output rather than reinvention. Opened in 2002, Marius et Fanny works within a Provençal framework: cakes, tarts, viennoiseries, chocolates, and macarons that favour clarity over excess. On Plaza St-Hubert, the shop functions as a neighbourhood fixture as much as a destination, with customers stopping in for a single pastry as often as a celebration cake.

The product range is broad but the approach is consistent: classic forms, controlled sweetness, careful execution. It's not trying to dazzle. It's trying to deliver, and after 20-plus years, that consistency speaks for itself.

Part chocolate shop, part café, part art gallery, Arioum sits at an interesting intersection. Run by Noémie, a trained pastry chef and chocolatier with a fine arts background, and Ariel, a Cuban painter whose canvases line the walls, the Ahuntsic space has been blending culinary and visual craft since 2017.

The offerings shift with the seasons: ice cream and paletas in summer, caramels and spiced drinking chocolate in winter. Everything is made in-house, from bonbons to spreads, and presented with care. It's a warm, eclectic spot where you can sip hot chocolate, browse local art, and leave with something sweet. Two disciplines, one shared dedication to making things by hand.

Maison Irène is a small-scale Montreal chocolate shop specializing in refined confections for all occasions. Everything is made locally with high-quality ingredients, with a focus on unique flavours and careful craftsmanship. The selection leans elegant and gift-ready, built for those looking for something a little more polished than the usual box of chocolates.

Belgian friends Quentin Ryckaert and Vincent Coja founded Allô Simonne in 2018 and quickly earned attention for their award-winning chocolate spreads. More recently, they've expanded into bean-to-bar production, roasting, refining, and wrapping everything in their Montreal workshop. The bars are sleek and contemporary, but the flavours go deep: standouts include a coffee collaboration with Café Pista and the Montréal and Canada bars, popular as edible souvenirs.

Multiple International Chocolate Awards back up the hype, but the appeal isn't just prestige. It's accessible indulgence made with care. Vegan and allergy-friendly options round out the line, making Allô Simonne one of the city's most inclusive and consistently celebrated chocolate makers.

Founded in 1940, Chocolats Andrée holds a singular place in the city's food history as its oldest chocolate shop still producing everything by hand. Madeleine Daigneault and her sister Juliette Farand started the business during the Second World War, built around neighbourhood service and a then-rare focus on high-cacao chocolate. Three generations kept it running from the same Avenue du Parc address until its closure in 2018.

It reopened shortly after under Luxembourg-based chocolaterie Genaveh, with original recipes, vintage molds, and traditional techniques intact. The assortment stays rooted in house classics: fondant creams, floral and fruit ganaches, and a lineage defined by craft rather than scale.

Léa trained in pastry at the ITHQ before heading to Ecuador, where fieldwork with growers and reforestation projects shaped her approach to cacao. Now back in Montreal, she runs a small bean-to-bar workshop with a clear point of view: fully vegan chocolates made without animal products or lactose, built on direct trade and transparent sourcing.

Cocoa comes exclusively from the Americas, packaging is plastic-free and locally produced, and everything is made on site. The result is chocolate with traceability baked in, from farm to wrapper. For anyone who cares about where their food comes from and how it's made, Choco de Léa answers those questions up front.

Ralph Leroy's path from designer to maître chocolatier runs through Haiti, where he reconnected with cacao growers and began working bean to bar. Makaya is built around Haitian cacao sourced through small producers, with an emphasis on traceability, flavour development, and craft over volume.

The Lachine space extends that work into a bistro format, pairing chocolate with a menu shaped by local ingredients and Haitian culinary references. It's part chocolate shop, part café, part cultural bridge, and one of the few places in the city where you can taste the direct link between Montreal and the Caribbean cacao trade.