Best chocolate in Belgium
 

Like everyone else, I know that Belgium is famous for chocolate. Any suggestions for two of the best? (I like chewies and nuts while the missus likes soft centers)Thanks.

My all time favourite- Cote d'Or. It comes in plain slabs, soft centers, nuts, anything you can think of- YUM!
http://www.oregongourmet.com/cote-d-or-chocolate.html

Everywhere you walk in Brussels and Brugges (those are the only cities in Belgium I have been to) you will find excellent chocolate. You can buy one piece and see if you like their chocolate. Having waffled and chocolated my way through Belgium, I long for the day I go back for more.

oo-oo-ooh! oo-oo-ooh! Yum, yum, yum, yum. I can taste the stuff now.

Sausalito, if your missus likes dark chocolate, she'll love the Cote d'Or sensations dark w/orange. They also have delicious biscuits (I think they are new as of last year?)

Mischka, thanks for the link.

My favorite is the seashells. I just went to the Belgium chocolate store in Castle Rock Co. yesterday and spent $62 for Christmas presents and a little for me! It is so goood.

My favorite belgian chocolate is Leonidas. They have shops all over Brussels, but if you can't wait, or you simply want to whet your appetit, take a look at www.leonidas.com.

It's been a while, but the best Belgium chocolate I've had was the one with the fresh cream inside. It had to be refrigerated and would spoil if left out at room temperature. All I remember is we asked for "cream fresh." Maybe someone from Belgium can tell us the name. As far as I'm concerned, it was the best. ((b))

PS. Now, that you mentioned mail order. You can mail order from the one in Colorado. It's called Belvedere and they have a web page. The owner is a chocolatier from Brugges who has family send him the Callebort (sp?) chocolate.They make it fresh here without preservatives and the shipping is closer. Sorry, I don't have the website, but google Belvedere. It tastes like the real thing, and is, except that it is made in the US. I know you won't be disappointed (although they don't carry quite as many varities that I saw in Belgium)

if you want to order chocolates in the US, try chocosphere.com. I'm not affiliated with the company. I just ordered a bunch of cote d'or for bf for Xmas and had no problem. They have other Belgian, Italian, American, German chocolatess as well.
Yum.
Best, Marge

mmmmmmm - Belgian chocolate. Speaking as an addict - of the commonly available commercial brands I like
Cote d'Or milk chocolate or milk chocolate with nuts. However the best I have ever had was Leonidas - sinful !

I can't stand it. Can already feel the cholesterol shooting up. Leonidas and Cote d'Or here I come! Maybe the chilliness will make us walk more or on the other hand we may wind up in a cafe drinking hot chocolate. And to think that I only have three days there. Maybe we should eat our way through Berussels and then walk our way through Brugge and then return to Brussels for more eating?

Neuhaus...I've only been to their store in Brussels by the Grand Place. They have pretty good selection and service. I bought some for family, friends,and co-workers, and so far, it's been a hit!

We chose an unknown chocolate shop just nearby Grand Place. I don't even recall the name, it's a small store. But the chocolate was even better, in my opinion only, than the French chocolates. I don't think you can go wrong with any chocolatier in Belgium as the chocolate is so good there.

I don't know the name of the ones some Belgiums friends sent me but they came in all delightful shapes from seashells, mushrooms to animals but so-o-o decadent and I'm not into chocolates but these were special.

The best 'plain and simple' chocolate to me is Cote d'Or, of which I especially like the darkest versions.
As for confection chocolate, you should try Neuhaus and Godiva. Leonidas is a category below.

Important to mention is the arrival on the chocolate scene of some "micro-manufacturers"; smaller companies going for the top quality product. One of them is DOLFIN. They have slabs in different tastes of a superb quality, such as ginger, cinnamon, pink peppercorn,... and a delicious 88%cacao. (www.dolfin.be)

To each his own--we can't stand Cote d'Or. It's the cheapest chocolate in Belgium and it gives me heartburn. The best chocolate for you, Sausalito, is the chocolate YOU like best. I suggest you try several different brands before making up your mind. The worst thing you could do is buy a whole bunch of chocolate from one brand without tasting it first and then decide you would have preferred something else.
The Guylian seashell chocolates are tasty (but have a higher sugar content than most Belgian chocolates). They can be bought pretty inexpensively in Belgian grocery stores. There are also "generic" imitations--I've never had those so don't know how they taste.
Good brands include Neuhaus, Leonidas (our Belgian friends tell us this is the brand Belgians like to buy for themselves, but don't usually give as gifts--all I know is that little stalls that sell it all over town are usually full of customers), Pierre Marcolini, Godiva, Wittamer, and dozens of other boutique chocolate makers.
FYI, did you know Jean-Claude Van Damme originally planned to become a chocolate maker?

Although Leonidas is considered a category below, it is the best sold chocolate in Belgium. I dare admit that I highly prefer their pralines over Godiva's or Neuhaus'.
Leonidas' founder, Jean Daskalides, used to be a gynaecologist before he went into chocolates. He certainly knows what is good!!

MyriamC -

I am trying to read your comment with a straight face but I'm afraid every word
has a pun in it. This could be the beginning of a very racy thread. Now wouldn't that be sweet? (pun intended)

Sausalito,
No pun intended in my message!

Sausalito,
When I lived in Belgium, I always wondered about the.... no, just let me tell you that you are not the first to be surprised of this...

Oh my, did I say something wrong then? :?
I'm not a native English speaker.

Leonidas is by far the best. It is not a "category below" any of those mentioned. Your wife would love the creams - best chocolate and most flavorful creams I have ever tasted - the lemon is incredible. I must admit, I have never had Leonides with chewies and nuts - for that you may have to try Cote d'Or.

Leonidas is NOT "by far" the best. Nor is Godiva, Neuhaus, Corne Royal or any other brand. They are all high quality, but it's impossible for any one Belgian chocolate to be "the best" just as there is no *one* best wine or best perfume. It's all a matter of taste. Leonidas (or even Cote d'Or for that matter, a cheap, supermarket chocolate that I hate) can be *your* favorite, but it's still not really the best. As I said before, Sausalito needs to try a variety of chocolates, then buy what turns out to be his/her favorite. I've tried chocolate from more than a dozen high quality makers, but my favorite chocolate is actually the Schiesser brand from Switzerland...but that still doesn't make it the best.
FYI, if you like those Guylian shells, note that a portion goes to protect ocean environments (check www.projectseahorse.org)

BTilke,

Haha
I never go out of the way to taste some chocolate, am living since 20yrs in Switzerland, but I have never heared of Schiesser before. I just checked it out, it is a small scale chocolat maker in Basel. So I wouldn't say it is a 'brand'. You can find some other small scale chocolate makers in other towns such as Neuchatel, La Chaux-de-Fonds or Fribourg.
Maybe, certainly, their small-scale production guarantees their quality.

I agree with BTilke -- there's no single clear "best" among the hundreds of chocolate makers in Belgium.

I also agree with her about Cote d'Or -- when I first tasted it 20 years ago I liked it, but I don't now -- don't know if that's because my tastes have changed now that I've had more (much more) Belgian chocolate or because Cote d'Or changed after Kraft bought it.

I do like Leonidas -- it's a good, reliable, tasty widely available mainstream chocolate brand. But of the chains, I prefer Daskalides for a bit more money. At the higher end, I've enjoyed Wittamer. And there are countless others I've liked including Sweertvaegher in Brugge (years ago, I don't know if they still exist or where they are now) and a bunch of small places whose names I don't remember, especially a fabulous little place in Leuven where the owner, an ex-architect, handmade just about the best truffles I've had. But those are just my opinions.

Let's be honest, most of us don't need the A-number-one-best, even if there were such a thing. There's more than enough wondeerful chocolate in Belgium that can do the trick.

Just try them out all.
Good reason not to try to do Belgium in one or two days.