A Tasteful Experience: Follow This Belgium Chocolate Itinerary!

Belgian chocolate, a taste of Belgium

Together with Switzerland, Belgium is one of the major producers of chocolate in Europe. The relationship between chocolate and Belgium dates back to the 17th century when, under the Spanish occupation, chocolate was brought to Europe from Central America. Especially during the next century, the use of chocolate in Belgium became popular. During the early 20th century, the country used to import impressive quantities of cocoa from the Belgian Congo, one of its colonies.

Among all the shapes and flavors of Belgian chocolate, you absolutely should try the pralines and the truffles. Introduced in 1912, pralines are mainly characterized by a soft centered heart with chocolate casing. Truffles contain a soft “ganache”, a tasteful semi-liquid. You can find pralines and truffles in every shape and many different flavors: pistachio, fruit, hazelnuts, walnuts and many, many more.

Welcome to chocolate heaven: Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert

Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert is the first shopping arcade in Europe, opened in 1847 by Leopold I, king of Belgium. Designed in a Neo-Renaissance style by Pierre Cluysenaer, it is divided in three sections: Galerie du Roi, Galerie de la Reine and Galerie des Princes. It contains many luxury shops, cafes and even a theater and a cinema. Thanks to its refined interior, it soon became a meeting point for the 19th century high society and literati such as Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas. In the picture above, located under a beautiful domed glass roof dating back the 19th century, there are some of the most renowned chocolate shops of Brussels as such as: Godiva, Cornè Port-Royal, Pierre Marcolini and many others. Galeries Saint-Hubert is located a 1 minute walk from the Grand Place, in the Lower Town of Brussels.

Experience the intense taste of the Belgian chocolate at Cornè Port-Royal

At Galeries Saint-Hubert you will be curious to taste chocolate in every shop of the arcade. Here, indeed, you will see a lot of people going inside and outside many different shops, and tasting chocolate (most of the shops offer a piece of chocolate for free) in beautiful well designed showrooms. Every shop here has a wide collection of chocolate in different shapes, flavors and sizes.

The shop in the picture above is Cornè Port-Royal, a beautiful Art Nouveau chocolate shop located in Galerie de la Reine, a section of Galeries Saint-Hubert. The patissier, Maurice Cornè, started to work as a Belgian chocolatier in 1932. In 1935 Maurice Cornè, the owner and leader of chocolatier Cornè created the Manon Sucrè a tasteful praline made with cream, crisp nougatine and walnuts. At Cornè Port-Royal you will find an incredibly wide selection of chocolate in every shape and flavor you can imagine. Moreover, here the chocolate are packaged beautifully making ideal gifts.

Patrick Roger chocolatier, where making chocolate became an art

The chocolate sculptures in the picture above are from the Patrick Roger boutique. This chocolate boutique, located in Place du Grand Sablon 43, will astonish you both for the taste and the complexity of the shapes of its chocolate. Here, indeed, chocolate is used by the artist to make unique chocolate-sculptures with picturesque shapes as such as primates, eggs, hats and chicks. Beside these astonishing chocolate sculptures you can find practical chocolate boxes offering a wide selection of flavors.