Darcis Chocolatier

We surely came back from Belgium with chocolate. Darcis Chocolatier was one of Belgian chocolate shops we stopped by. The shop was located near Grand Place, Brussels. I asked a lady in the shop to help me choose eight various kinds of dark chocolate-based ganache filled bonbons. According to her recommendation, we got Citron & Yuzu, Earl grey & Kalamansi, Coquelicot (ganache infused with poppy flower pedals), Miel (honey in French) & Vanilla, and four single origins (Madagascar, Cameroun, Peru, and Vietnam) .

All Darcies' bonbons were basically the same square shape, and chic, minimalism design. Each bonbon was thin and the chocolate coating on the surface was surprisingly thin. The ganache filling inside was so delicate and so smooth and light, literally melt-in-mouth, just like chocolate mousse. Each flavor was subtle but refined and absolutely tasty! Darcis makes bonbons with Gianduja (creamy filling of almonds, hazelnuts and milk chocolate) and Praline (filling of sugar, hazelnuts and roasted almonds). I didn't pick those types of bonbons time because they weren't dark chocolate, but I guess they would be also lovely.

Jean-Philippe Darcis, the chocolate master behind the brand opened his first shop in 1996. It's already over 20 years ago, but his brand would be considered as young in the history of Belgium chocolate. Apparently his creations have been well-recognized in Belgium - he has been winning many awards, including Belgian Competition of the International Chocolate Awards in 2015 and 2016.

By the way, a lady in the shop was a Japanese. She told me in Japanese that her husband was the manager of the shop and he was out of town on the day, so she had to keep the shop for him. I think I could watch fine chocolate all day long.