Day 8 - Nougatini Chocolatier Confiseur, Rue Jeanne d'Arc, Hamra District, Beirut

The front of this chocolate shop with a most attractive nautical window display.	Inside this delightful store Patrick faces some tough choices - but Nada, Arminée & the helpful sales staff come to the rescue.	Another, less successful, attempt to capture the ambience of this store - but "OH" the wonderful smells!
Beautiful & tasty chocolates, but which ones to choose...?	And even more choices from the attractive displays.	Before leaving with our purchase, we get the ladies of the store to pose for us. Thank you!

We wanted to know more about this fascinating shop so we wrote back to them requesting more information. Here is the response from Rima Barrage (on left in last photo above):

The name NOUGATINI was created by my dad, bless his heart, in 1968, after a recipe nougatine {almond + honey) in chocolate.  HE was maitre chocolatier and built his reputation on his quality handmade chocolates in Hamra District and previously in downtown Bab Idriss District in a very famous patisserie shop called 'Patisserie SUISSE'.  Unfortunately, the civil war brought an end to all that.  

OUR family moved to Switzerland, where my sister pursued her education in chocolate making under the supervision of her father.  In the late 80's we moved to LONDON where we opened a very nice shop NOUGATINI CONFECTIONERS in the upscale district of KENSINGTON Church Street.  The business flourished because we worked hard as a family looking after our clientele, plus of course our products with perfection.

IN the early 90's we moved back to Lebanon, refurbished our shop on Jeanne d'Arc Street, and this is our tenth anniversary.  OUR family BARRAGE will always be dedicated to the business of making handmade chocolates and nice arrangements of gifts for all festive seasons.

My name is Rima.  I run the business, make the decorations, look after the clientele, with the help of my staff {part of the family} and of course my mother who supervises everything.  Last, but not least, my sister takes care of the production, the core of the business.  WE are famous for our truffles, marrons glacé, dates with chocolates and all kind of nuts dipped in delicious mouthwatering chocolates.  OUR shop is located in the HAMRA District close to the American University shopping area.

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