Belgium, considered the world's best chocolate

mellowyellow

mellowyellow

Well-known Member
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Elisabeth Chocolatier
The shop's options include truffels, chocolate tablets and pieces, candies, nuts, gingerbread and more... Elisabeth Chocolatier is a shop of Belgium origin and has branches in France.

The Belgian chocolate industry became world famous following the invention of the praline in 1912 - a chocolate shell with a soft centre. The man who came up with the idea, Jean Neuhaus, is often referred to as Belgium's most famous chocolatier, although he was born in Switzerland.
 

I'm a bit of a "Chocoholic", and eat a small amount nearly every day. Dove, Godiva, and Ghirardelli all make excellent chocolates, but they can be a bit expensive. I usually keep some Hershey's Dark Chocolate in the house, and find it is almost as good, for a fraction of the price. One thing I do Not care for is Milk Chocolate.
 
I quite like Belgium, although it is strange in some ways.. However, Belgian chocolate and beer are wonderful. When we visit,we have a little chant "Chocolate and beer, chocolate and beer, chocolate and beer is why we're here, Mussels and wine, mussels and wine, mussels and wine will suit us fine".

Our absolute favourite chocolate came from a small shop called 't HEMELRYCK in Ypres. They also sold our favourite beer - Trappistes Rochefort 10. Commercially, Neuhaus is regarded as one of the best while Leonides is a decent 'every day' chocolate. We often bring back chocolates from Belgium for our friends.
 

Belgium, considered the world's best chocolate?​

Opinions vary, but being the public spirited person that I am, I'll gladly give up my time to be the Supreme Chocolate Judge.
Bring your chockee in bags, vans or shipping containers, then hop it while I get down to serious work.

Mmm, this one is nice, but then again, that one is lovely too.

Keesha, how do you expect me to judge your chocs with just one chocolate, and with a bite taken out of it? :)
 
A friend of mine gave me some chocolates from her trip to Belgium years ago.

They were each filled with a softened walnut and a bit of light syrup. OMG- they were heaven. I haven't seen them anywhere here.
 
Hmmm.....I enjoy See's Candy (love those Walnut Squares!). But there is no way it compares to the many fine artisan chocolatiers in the U.S. See's is one of the best values, however; high quality for the very modest cost.

Here's just a few of the best high-end US chocolatiers. Okay, I snuck in Royce', but one taste and you'll agree it should never be overlooked - plus they ship all over the world:
  • La Foret, Napa (supplies The French Laundry and all of Thomas Keller's restaurants)
  • Michael Recchiuti, SF. Our personal favorite chocolatier: his Bergamot truffle (the flavoring in Earl Grey tea) and his Salted Caramel are both exquisite
  • TCHO Chocolates, SF. If you love mocha flavoring, its Mokaccino bar is the best ever. We're bittersweet chocolate fans, but TCHO makes amazing milk chocolate. It's the only one we like.
  • L. A. Burdick, NYC and a few other ECoast locations
  • Royce' Chocolates, NYC. Original store is in Japan. Possibly the finest chocolate cream truffle in the world, and priced accordingly. Japan, btw, has several high-end, high quality chocolatiers that regularly win awards in chocolate competitions
  • Feve Artisan, SF.
  • Vosges Haut-Chocolat, Chicago
  • Compartés, Southern CA
  • diane krön/K Chocolatier, Southern CA (she actually started in NYC, but closed it and reopened in Beverly Hills)
  • Milla Chocolates & Confections, Southern CA
  • Forte Chocolates, Washington state
The finest chocolatier in the world is usually held to be Richart of Paris - it has won France’s most prestigious confectioner’s honor, the Ruban Bleu, seven times. I haven't tried it personally, but we have friends who are bittersweet chocolaholics also, and have tried most of the above companies. They said Richart was the best chocolate they've ever had.

A few years ago we went on a chocolate tour in San Francisco, just prior to Christmas. Festive and great fun! We stopped in at six different chocolate shops, including Recciuti, Dandelion, TCHO, and the famed Teuscher (Switzerland) which has a store in downtown's Union Square. Spouse and I weren't impressed with the Teuscher champagne truffle; too sweet and very little finish compared to Recciuti and TCHO.

Godiva's had a lot of corporate owners; some were good but some were REALLY bad. They had a short period where like Lindt, they were putting way too much cheap paraffin-like wax in their chocolates, but they have fortunately gone back to the better quality mid-tier market.

Neiman Marcus was the first to import Neuhaus into the U.S. We tried it, but although very fine quality, you could tell it was slightly stale compared to buying local or chilled domestic chocolates. Scharffenberger/SF was still open at the time, and the difference was very noticeable. Just not enough turnover in stock to compete equally; not Neuhaus' fault but just the way the economics worked.

I think that's why Royce' et. al. don't open many retail stores. Really fine quality doesn't scale well into the hundreds of thousands of boxes demanded by dozens of locations. You can't keep it fresh forever.
 
I always preferred Belgian chocolate to all others, especially the white. But, recently, I received See's as a gift and it was delicious. Closest to Belgian I've ever tasted. I am normally not crazy about chocolate at all.
 
I like peanut clusters in the dark chocolet.
 

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