The sweetest days
A Vietnamese American woman finds her nirvana when she takes a chocolate tour of Belgium.
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 BRUSSELS — Who doesn’t like chocolate? American moviegoers certainly love it, making “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” tops at the summertime box office, taking in $114.1 million in its first 10 days in the theaters. But any time of the year is a good time for chocolate, especially the summer vacation season, when we have more moments to indulge in our passions. And when you combine chocolate and travel, what could be better? * * * For starters if there is one thing that the French will concede to in the realm of gastronomy it is that the Belgians are the ones who have the best chocolate. I had to go in search of this known truth for myself. Luckily, I found the annual Coffee, Tea and Chocolate exposition in Brussels. I had been to a chocolate exposition before in Paris and was prepared to stiffen up my spine, square my shoulders and push my way through hordes of chocoholics to get at the samples. Unfortunately in the City of Lights, where the demand exceeded supply, unique samples were hard to come by. What greeted me in Brussels was a completely other experience, one that was a real treat for a woman from Vi?t Nam, where the heat and humidity combine to discourage the manufacturing of fine chocolates. Come along the tour with me. The exposition was housed in the Auto Museum. Before getting to the booths you had to walk through a long aisle of immaculately kept cars dating from the turn of the century to present day. Before you could get in the building you had to have the ticket, which I had somehow misplaced between the coat check station and the door. As I fretted in English to my friends about having to go back in line, the door attendant held up his hands, smiled and said, “Go ahead.” Boy, is this not Paris. How nice and smart of him to not keep us women away from our chocolate. Up by the booths I was taken aback by the other vendors. I had forgotten about the coffee and tea aspect of the exposition. They came in handy later, but foremost, I was interested in chocolate. The expo hall was surprisingly manageable so I quickly breezed by all the stands. I avoided all the known brand-name chocolate and headed for the smaller stalls in search of something unique. I was not disappointed. I stumbled on to a shop that made sugar-free chocolates. They replaced it with a substance called mannitol. Now there is sugar free like we all have tried at least once in our lives, and then there’s mannitol sugar free. The chocolate pieces had the same shiny luster as the sugar chocolate and melted just as smoothly. If they hadn’t told us, we would not have known the difference. “Does it sell well?” “Un terrible!” was her ironic French reply. Roughly translated, “Oh, it sells wickedly!” And wicked it is. She goes on to explain that though they have replaced the sugar they did nothing with the natural butter content. So the rich, smooth flavor stays intact. They had made it for the diabetic market but somehow their customers associate sugar free with low in calorie. Even with this full disclosure I couldn’t resist. Then it was on to other stands of chocolate-tasting heaven. There was the European version of Ovaltine. And a stand drizzling chocolate onto wafer cookies. One booth, to distinguish itself from the others, targeted the health-conscious chocoholics. They had black currant-infused chocolate bars that claimed to be antioxidant, orange-flavored ones to energize, and lavender ones to relax you. Galler, a well-known Belgian chocolate house, set up a café and was serving rich, thick chocolate and made-to-order chocolate-filled waffles. There is a trend developing in Europe that is infusing gastronomy with haute couture. The highlight of the exposition was a fashion show exposing chocolate in all its ready-to-eat form. Chocolates were featured somewhere on the clothes, either integral to the cloth or as dangling accessories. Needless to say, it was a quick tour on the catwalk as the overhead lights were blaring down on the delicate creations. There was one name that was missing from the exposition and one that I keep finding myself walking to whenever I leave the house looking for a sweet: Pierre Marcolini. In the Sablon area of Brussels, where there is not a shortage of refined chocolate stores, Pierre Marcolini’s stands out because of its understated, elegant brand that is more reminiscent of a jeweler’s storefront than of a candy shop. Luckily, he features edible jewels in his window displays. And the lines found in his store any day of the week can attest to his growing cult following while the Godiva brand quietly occupies the space next door. The simple elegance continues inside the boutique where the dark jewels are displayed under glass. And all around, their signature black boxes line the walls of endless chocolate combinations. The overall effect is one I have heard expressed on more than one occasion: “Too beautiful to eat.” As a non-chocoholic, until now, I would have to concur that the chocolates are so exquisite that even I have been turned to the dark side. For more information about fine chocolates: www.marcolini.be, www.godiva.be, www.neuhaus.be, www.leonidas.com, www.wittamer.com, www.guylian-choc.com, www.callebaut.be, www.marychoc.com, www.galler.com
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