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The Europeans might not share the same world view, never mind the EU, but mention Brussels and eight times out of ten, you will see a lip curl, or an eye roll and lots of nudge-nudge snigger-snigger. The other two times, you probably met either a flag-holding Belgian or Hercule Poirot.
Apparently, Brussels’ image woes are so bad that it routinely wins the tag of “most boring European city” in online surveys. That mother of Preen, Paris, is half an hour away by speed train while that mecca of bonhomie, Amsterdam, is not too far either. Brussels is thus most often ignored by the average tourist determined to ‘do’ Paris and then breathlessly ‘do’ The Dam as well.
The odd offbeat tourist who does visit Brussels for a day or so, more often than not, is directed by the tourist office to a miserable little statue of a peeing boy, astonishingly Brussels’ most famous monument ‘Mannekin Pis’. Or he is told enthusiastically to visit one of Brussels’ many sidewalk cafes and have a bowl of mussels, which at best is an acquired taste and at worst, tastes like mushrooms that died two weeks ago in the freezer. And of course, it doesn't help at all that Brussels is the capital of the EU —the city seems to be resignedly bearing the brunt of the Union’s reflected un-glory.
All this sadly means most tourists miss out on the dark delights of Brussels. Belgium is right on top of the heap when it comes to production of chocolate and we are talking fine chocolate here, not your Mars and Snickers bars. Chocolate with aroma; chocolate that is neither too sweet nor too bitter; chocolate that neither flakes nor hardens; chocolate that melts exactly when it kisses your tongue; chocolate that inspires such an unabashedly maudlin paragraph.
Of course, the French and the Swiss claim they do it better (whether or not French and Swiss chocolate are of better quality is another matter, their PR machinery is definitely sharper). But there is no other place in the world except the compact city of Brussels where you can take a leisurely walk in the quaint, cobbled historic town square, full of gilt-edged enormous neo-classical structures and encounter some of the world’s finest producers of chocolate.
First stop, the justly famous Leonidas, one of the greatest Belgian chocolate names. If you are wondering why a Belgian chocolate shop sounds like a Greek ship company, don’t blame yourself. It was began by Leonidas Kestikedes, a young Greek who came to Brussels to take part in the ‘Universal exhibition of Brussels’ in 1913 and hence the name.
He won not only the bronze medal for his handmade chocolate at the exhibition but also the heart of a Belgian lady and decided to settle down in Brussels. Originally, the chocolate were sold in small tea rooms through the famed ‘guillotine window’(windows that slid up and down), remnants of which barely exist in today’s Brussels.
In 1935, the actual company was established by Leonidas’ nephew and today, there are Leonidas outlets every few meters in central Brussels and it still remains one of the largest chocolate producers of Belgium and yet, one of the very few affordable ones for slurry-tongued hungry-eyed poor mortals like me. Here you can buy praline by weight and extraordinarily cute house-boxes full of chocolate.
Walk a few meters and you will reach Galleries St Hubert, said to be the first “covered shopping area of the world”. Simply put, the shopping mall of the 19th Century. A complete charmer of a neo-classical building, all stately grace and golden elegance, it will make you wish every modern glass and steel shopping mall went retro. Here is housed the famed Neuhaus confectionery, still sitting snugly where it was originally started in 1846! Again, Neuhaus has a fascinating history.
Founded by a Swiss immigrant Jean Neuhaus who originally began the store as a medicine shop that sold the odd candy, it was later inherited by Neuhaus’ grandson who is credited with inventing praline. The chocolatiers have regal status today and hold the ‘Royal Warrant’. Meaning they are the suppliers of those fine chocolate that the Belgian royalty undoubtedly enjoys.
Walk into the blinding sunshine from the marble-cold mall and you will reach the Plac du Grande Sablon. If the name of the square sounds grand, the chocolate producers that surround it are grandiose. Here you will find within kissing distance of each other, flagship outlets of world class chocolatiers Marcolini, Wittamer, Godiva and Valrhona. All these companies zealously guard their cocoa secrets.
For instance, Valrhona creates vintage dark chocolate from cocoa beans of a specific year’s harvest from a specific heavily guarded plantation; Marcolini is famed for its use of completely natural ingredients like real vanilla. If you have a thick enough skin, walk into these shops even if you cannot afford a single praline; there are often free tastings and in some of them, you can even watch the chocolate being hand made right in the shop.
I did walk in, thin skin and all. Tasted the praline for free. Smiled sheepishly at everybody and walked out, finally and humbly accepting that chocolate is my lord and master. And that, like Belgium’s very own Poirot, I should stop resisting and drink creme de menthe every evening.