Note to start: This story was written up based on my experiences from a trip I made here in a pre COVID world. This means you will see photos with lots of people with no masks and no social distancing (remember that?). I have noted at the end whether they are currently open (for takeaway or delivery) but it is best to visit their website for up to date information. I think we all need a bit of arm chair travelling at the moment so I thought I’d still share these to inspire current hot chocolates at home and future trips. Enjoy!
So, picture this. You are walking along a grey street, on a particularly grey day. Everyone around you is wearing long black jackets, a few holding up umbrellas. It’s not really raining, but it is, enough that you are starting to feel pretty miserable. There are so many people around you that it is hard to focus on anything but what is right in front of you. Then, all of a sudden you notice, out of the corner of your eye, a bright and sparkly doorway. This was the moment I discovered the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert, just off the Grand Place in central Brussels. Inaugurated in 1847, it is one of the oldest in Europe. Inspired by Italian palaces, it is covered the whole way along by a glass and metal structure that lets the light in but protects from the weather.
Many shops along this Galerie are chocolate shops but not just chocolate shops; chocolate shops with absolutely stunning window displays. It feels a bit like seeing the elaborate Christmas windows at Lafayette in Paris or Myers in Melbourne…but all made of chocolate. We can argue about whether Belgium has better chocolate or not, but one can’t argue about how beautiful their packaging is. I could be tempted to pay for an empty box.
So, on that dreary day, walking into that bright, happy and dry Gallerie instantly lifted my mood. When I then realised that one of the many chocolate shops inside the Gallerie was Pierre Marcolini I think I turned giddy. I’m not big into celebrities, but I think if I met Pierre Marcolini I might get a tad bit excited. I watched him on a reality tv show in France all about finding the next amazing pastry chef a few years ago and have read into how he sustainably sources his cacao and makes his chocolate from bean to bar, something few in Belgium do. The cacao comes from five plantations around the world, in Cuba, Cameroon, Madagascar, Ecuador and Venezuela that are committed to having no children working on plantations, don’t use glyphosate (a herbicide), stay away from CCN-51 (a genetically modified cocoa tree), and pay a minimum of double the market price for their crops. You can learn more on his website here.
Pierre Marcolini’s hot chocolate is as cool as I imagine he is. He doesn’t just put chocolate in a cup, on no. His hot chocolate is so decadent that it matches perfectly with the Galleries I was walking through. In fact, the best way to enjoy it is by taking your takeaway cup and walking along, Breakfast at Tiffany style, sipping on your decadent drink while you walk window to window, admiring all the stunning displays as you go. You are likely to be stopped by at least one tourist asking you where you found such a beautiful hot chocolate. It is a pretty sweet and thick chocolate, topped with a very rich mountain of chocolate whipped cream and then covered in mini chocolate meringues and chocolate disks. It also costs a small fortune (10 euros) but, at that moment on that day, it was worth every penny.
Verdict: This isn’t the kind of hot chocolate you can, or should, drink often but if you are in the mood for something beautifully decadent, then sip away. While it is expensive, consider that you are also supporting his sustainable sourcing policies. Pierre Marcolini, Galerie de la Reine 21, Brussels, Belgium.
