Chez Natasha

The first time I heard about Marcolini chocolates was from my business partners in Brussels. It wasn’t the usual ‘oh look, chocolates’, it was ‘oh yes, Marcolini chocolate, I love that stuff!’ For Belgians to get that excited about chocolate, it had to be good. On another trip down to Brussels, I decided to stay an extra day and go shopping as well as pay a visit to this famous chocolate store. Small, quiet and near a posh part of town, I walked in and looked around. “Would like to try some?” a woman said to me. I went for a small dark square of something crunchy. It was brilliant. I bought a special box with more than, oh, 20 kinds for a mere EUR 13,50. What’s the big deal? Master chocolate maker Pierre Marcolini imports his own cocoa beans from around the world and makes chocolate from scratch. It does not have that creamy, sugary quality of other chocolates; this stuff taste like chocolate first and the subtle flavours added to it, after. There’s even a store in Japan.

Since this brillance is not yet sold in the Netherlands (if I had the money, I would open a shop), I have another reason to go down to Brussels. OK, there is a store in Antwerp, which is closer.