Belgium Chocolates Are The Best!

[Travel Guru]

I just love Belgium chocolates. They really are the best!

Came back from Belgium and found this: In Belgium, more shops gave free samples than in Brugge but the Chocolate Museum (Choco-Story) on Sint-Jansstraat in Brugge and the Chocolate museum in Brussels by Grand-Place are worthy of a look for demonstrations and free chocolate. Oh, and the company Cupido has the best tasking chocolate truffels ever but they have partially hydrogenated oils in them. About the hydro. oils, I found that certain Cote d'Or products used some "graisses vegetales hydrogenees" in their bars like Dessert 58 and Praline Blanc even though cocoa butter is the primary ingredient in presumably all Belgium chocolate...most Cote d'Or products don't use it though. Whittimer makes the best chocolate/rasberry cakes; Pierre Marcolini's individually bought pieces upstairs are better tasting than their prepackaged chocolate (but expensive); Delvina's on Rue des Eperonniers in Brussels have unique/complex chocolates like "Oscar" and some other praline (inexpensive...go the 2nd time & maybe get a discount); Corne Port-Royal in the Galerie de la Reine was another good but expensive one; Frederic Blondel near Ste. Catherine's Cathedral had the best hot chocolate & they give you a full teapot of it with their amazing yet cheap chocolates. I didn't love the chocolate in Brugge but they were unique, some with lavender or jasmin in it but it tasted like perfume. Cote d'Or, Jacquez, & others could be bought for half the price in the Brugge supermarkets compared to the local markets but the Leonides shops are worthy of a browse. I was a little surprised. Those were my most memorable chocolate experiences.