From those who want to know exactly where their chocolate comes from, to those who want to find the best bargains or the whackiest flavour combinations, the Belgian chocolate capital has it all.
The Brussels Times has created a guide of the very best the Capital Region has to offer, with a particular focus on small businesses, sustainability, creativity and cheap treats. Find all our favourite chocolate shops in Brussels below.
Spotlight on small businesses
Jérôme Grimonpon
Awarded Gault & Millau's Brussels Chocolatier of the Year 2020, Jérôme Grimonpon is a certified pâtissier from Paris, who worked for royal chocolatier Mary (see below) for 13 years. Grimonpon opened his small chocolate shop in Uccle in 2018 and offers a mouthwatering array of pralines, truffles, fruity mendiants, orangettes and much more.
Credit: Jérôme Grimonpon
The chocolatier – who wants to remain relatively small and exclusive – develops a new flavour of praline every month. Some of his most daring creations include yuzu jelly and matcha tea ganache, and fig jam and thyme ganache.
For special occasions, such as Easter or Mother's Day, he crafts delicate chocolate sculptures and even takes custom orders upon request. Passers-by can watch the chocolatier at work in his open studio.
Avenue Coghen 2, 1180 Uccle. Find more information here.
Vanessa Renard
Gault & Millau's Brussels Chocolatier in 2022, Etterbeek-born Vanessa Renard started attending a chocolate-making evening school in 2015 while working in the banking sector. Three years later, she opened her own chocolate shop and hasn't stopped making chocolates since.
Credit: Vanessa Renard
Renard creates plants, animals and seasonal shapes using organic chocolate produced with Fairtrade cocoa beans from Peru, Haiti and Madagascar. She sells delectable double-layered pralines with almond praliné and bergamot jelly, as well as vegan, gluten-free, lactose-free and sugar-free options – all of which are a "delight until the last bite".
Avenue de la Chasse 227, 1040 Etterbeek. Find more information here.
Xocolate
This unassuming chocolate shop on a quiet street in Schaerbeek offers an exquisite range of handmade products using the very best organic and Fairtrade Haitian chocolate.
Xocolate is run by Xavier Declercq, who left a 33-year-long career at Oxfam to pursue artisan chocolate-making. He set up shop five years ago and told The Brussels Times that he enjoys the creativity and originality his new career brings, whilst incorporating the same core principles and values from his old job.
Credit: Xocolate.be / Facebook
These chocolates also received an award from Gault & Millau in 2022 – and have even been endorsed by Brussels Minister Nawal Ben Hamou on social media!
Rue Auguste Lambiotte 65, 1030 Schaerbeek. Find more information here.
Worthy of royalty
Mary
Founder and chocolate aficionado Mary Delluc opened her first shop on Rue Royale in 1919, which was frequented daily by the King and other members of the aristocracy. It then became an Art Deco tea salon and Mary kept a list of every customer's favourite chocolates in a guestbook.
In 1942, Mary was given the royal stamp of approval and received the title of Belgian Royal Warrant Holder.
Credit: Mary Chocolatier
Mary's artisan chocolatiers still handcraft their Belgian truffles and pralines daily in their shops across Belgium, Japan and Saudi Arabia, filling them with ganache, caramel, cream and marzipan and packaged in beautiful vintage boxes.
Various locations in Brussels. Find more information here.
Wittamer
Wittamer's chocolate is also fit for a king, as it is the official supplier of the Belgian Royal Palace. Having started as a pâtisserie in 1910, Wittamer has been offering high-quality, fresh and creamy pralines at its shop on Place du Grand Salon since 1985 (the year it also welcomed a visit from Pope John Paul II!).
Wittamer's Easter selection. Credit: Wittamer
The luxurious champagne truffles and tangy pineapple and passion fruit pralines are worth a particular mention.
Various locations in Brussels. Find more information here.
From bean to bar
Pierre Marcolini
Also sat on Place du Grand Sablon is Italian master chocolatier Pierre Marcolini, who travels the globe every year in search of the best and rarest cocoa beans, carefully sourced from independent producers. Marcolini prides himself on his sustainable approach and top-quality ingredients, including Moroccan berries, Iranian pistachios, Sichuan pepper and Sicilian lemon.
The façade of Pierre Marcolini's original store in 2017. Credit: Eric Ostermann
With time-honoured techniques celebrating the very best of Belgian chocolate craftsmanship, Pierre Marcolini is sure to provide the "perfect chocolate assortment for every cherished occasion."
Various locations in Brussels. Find more information here.
Benoît Nihant
In July 2015, almost eight years after he founded his chocolaterie, Benoît Nihant purchased farmland in the Peruvian region of San Martin. As well as harvesting cocoa from his own plantation, Nihant developed a sustainable reforestation programme, replanting not just cocoa trees but also local ligneous species such as Capironas and Caobas, to support the local community.
Credit: Benoît Nihant
Nihant's chocolates have a distinctively delicious flavour profile – which tastes even better thanks to his focus on sustainability and "linking the farmer to the finished product" and an unwavering dedication to the art of chocolate making.
Various locations in Brussels. Find more information here.
MIKE&BECKY
This pair of chocolate-makers, Julia 'Mike' Mikerova & Björn 'Becky' Becker, come from Russia and Germany. They work exclusively with authentic cocoa beans and butter and organic beet sugar in a 100% green energy workshop and they do not use vanillin, soya lecithin or palm oil in their bars.
Credit: MIKE&BECKY
"At MIKE&BECKY, the cacao is the star: its origin, the terroir, and its farmers. Our partner plantations around the world are free of child labour, eco-responsible, organic, and properly remunerate their workers for their excellent efforts and cacao," they state on their website. Enjoy a steaming hot chocolate as you watch them make their chocolate bars in their workshop.
Avenue Brugmann 243, 1180 Uccle. Find more information here.
Innovative inventors
Laurent Gerbaud
Laurent Gerbaud takes his customers on an unmatched sensory journey, using exotic fruits such as Shanghai orange, Persian red berry and Izmir figs, and spiced Jamaican pepper, Taggiasche black olive, chai and even curry flavours.
Asian influences shine through in Gerbaud's chocolate, as he lived in China for several years and opened one of his first shops there. His tablets range from green cumin milk chocolate to dark chocolate with bergamot or sweet chilli.
Credit: Laurent Gerbaud
Gerbaud's bold and playful mixing of flavours won him Gault & Millau's Chocolatier of the Year in 2021, and he is one of the only Brussels chocolatiers to offer chocolate-making workshops.
Various locations in Brussels. Find more information here.
Frederic Blondeel
The ideal option for coffee and chocolate lovers. Descended from a family of coffee roasters, Frederic Blondeel roasts both coffee and cocoa beans in his chocolate centre in Koekelberg. Get ready to travel the world in a single bite, as Blondeel uses international ingredients such as Speculoos, Tahitian vanilla, Sicilian almonds and hazelnuts, and Japanese tea.
Credit: Frederic Blondeel
Blondeel caters to all palettes in his three Brussels stores: with both classic combinations and rarer flavours such as matcha tea and cinnamon, there really is something for everyone!
Various locations in Brussels. Find more information here.
Bulk buys
Given the recent surge in chocolate prices, many may be looking for cheaper chocolates this time of year. Luckily, it is possible to buy chocolate for cheap and en masse at factory outlets dotted around the capital.
Leonidas
This household name is more expensive in the city centre, but just a 20-minute walk from Brussels-Midi station is Leonidas' factory outlet, where it is possible to buy 1 kg boxes for between €18 and €23 and 1.6 kg for around €33.
Leonidas on Rue Neuve shopping street in Brussels. Credit: Belga / Nicolas Maeterlinck
Leonidas Factory Outlet, Boulevard Industriel 8, 1070 Anderlecht. Find more information here.
Neuhaus
Creator of the original Belgian praline and another Royal Warrant Holder, Neuhaus also has a factory outlet which is well worth a visit to save a few pennies.
Credit: Neuhaus
This outlet is slightly further out of town (10-minute walk from Erasmus metro station), but visitors say it is better than Leonidas as there are more tastings, discounts and they charge by box and not by weight.
Neuhaus Factory Outlet, Postweg 2, 1602 Vlezenbeek. Find more information here.
