Paul A Young’s Islington shop is a short walk from Angel tube station. It is a little bit dark inside, but you are compensated by some delicious chocolate smells. There was a decent selection of truffles, ganaches, etc as well as solid bars, drinking chocolate, and some freshly-baked brownies when we went in. Paul’s creations include unlikely-sounding flavours like Marmite and Port and Stilton truffles.
Paul Young is a Chocolatier/Patissiere born in Yorkshire and raised in a small mining town in County Durham, North East England. He worked for many years for Marco Pierre White at The Criterion and then as head pastry chef at Quo Vadis. He is very highly regarded within the ‘chocolate scene’ and won Academy of Chocolate awards three years in a row. Paul opened this first shop in April 2006 and his second shop in the city area of London in October 2007. He has also written an award-winning book Adventures with Chocolate.
Paul uses the finest chocolate from Valrhona, Amedei and Michel Cluizel, combining different blends and origins to match with his ingredients.
Ben on 8 May 2010
I tried a selection of Paul A Young’s “house chocolates” including the ‘Sea Salted Caramel’, Champagne truffle and Marmite truffle. As you would expect, the quality is excellent. In general I found these chocolates to be somewhat richer and more intense than those from other shops like Demarquette or William Curley. I suspect this may be right up some people’s street, but for me I prefer a slightly lighter balance. And at £2 per chocolate, these are more expensive than either Demarquette or Curley, and to be honest I can’t see how to justify that. So I would not put them top of my list.
Interestingly, when I asked shops what their ’signature chocolate’ is, several of them said salt caramel, including Artisan du Chocolat, Melt and Paul A Young too. And they all seem to claim to have the ‘original one’. Paul Young’s salt caramel was particularly impressive. Physically it’s much bigger than, say, Artisan’s, and it has a lot more depth and complexity in flavour.