There are not enough superlatives to describe the experience of sipping chocolate chaud at Café Angelina. Perched on your Louis Seize-style chair, you pick up the tiny pitcher (pinky in the air) and pour. Dense, silky, and fragrant, their signature African chocolate and fresh crème make the ideal blend: rich and sweet, without being saccharine. Sip, swallow, and then fall into a near opiate stupor. It’s only then that you can properly take in the décor. With gilded boiserie, towering mirrors and impeccably dressed grandes dames, you’ll feel like you died and went to the Belle Epoque.

Directly across from Tuilleries, Angelina makes an excellent afternoon stop before or after visiting the Louvre. If it seems a bit crowded, remember it’s heavily-touristed for a reason; like the Louvre, it’s a Parisian classic.