A Virtual Tour of the Best Little Chocolate Shops in Europe

Paris

Paris

Paris

Paris

Paris

Paris

Paris

Paris

Paris

Paris

The Angelina Story

In 1903 the confectioner Antoine

Rumpelmayer founded Angelina, which he

named after his daughter-in-law. For over a

century the tearoom has built a reputation

as a place of sophistication and indulgence.

As soon as it opened, Angelina became the

place to be among the Parisian aristocracy.

Proust and Coco Chanel rubbed shoulders

with the biggest names in fashion in

Angelina's salons.

The interior, designed by the famous Belle

Epoque architect Edouard-Jean Niermans,

combines elegance, charm and refinement to

create a sense of romanticism and poetry.

Angelina is a tranquil, exquisite space,

somewhere between serenity and

indulgence.

Founder and creative director of the

Maison that takes his name, Pierre

Marcolini is renowned for his outstanding

expertise and his passion for creating the

world’s finest chocolates. For him, each

day is a new opportunity to surprise,

pushing the boundaries of what is

possible.

Born in 1964 in Charleroi, Belgium,

Pierre Marcolini was deeply inspired by

his family and his Italian origins. By the

age of 14, he knew he wanted to be a

chocolatier. His upbringing gave him a

tremendous hunger for learning, along

with the desire to fight to make his

grandest dreams come true. In 1983, on

finishing his studies, he became a pastry

chef and worked alongside many of the

top professionals in Belgium.

“Chocolate is a universal product, inspiring just

the same appreciation in Paris as it does in

London, Nagoya or Brussels.”

“Ever since I was a child, I’ve had this hunger to

succeed, this crazy passion for my work. Being in

my workshop as often as I possibly can makes me

fundamentally happy, and seeing my creations

develop is a singular delight. It’s not been easy

every day. These words have kept me going:

There’s only one doorway that separates dreams

from reality – courage.”

“I draw inspiration from everywhere but most of

all it’s travelling across the world that lets you

open your mind and see that there is talent all

around. It lets you experiment with mixing

unexpected flavours inspired by cultures other

than our own.”

Starting out as a young artisan, Pierre Marcolini has become an

ambassador of the art of Haute Chocolaterie. A tireless inventor, he has

succeeded in breaking all boundaries with his stunning creations. Maison

Pierre Marcolini now numbers some thirty stores in Belgium, Paris, London

and Japan.

The story of the Ladurée macaron starts in the

middle of the 20th century with Pierre

Desfontaines, who first thought

of taking two macaron shells and joining them

with a delicious ganache filling.

Since this time, the recipe did not change.

Jeanne Souchard succeeded in combining the

style of Parisian cafés and the delicacies of French

patisserie, giving birth to one of the first of the

capital.

As Chairman of Ladurée, David Holder is a man

who also allows his feelings and intuition to play

their part. His main aim is to craft fine creations, to

infuse real character in each of his establishments

and to promote the quality and beauty of Ladurée

products.

The Debauve & Gallais chocolate shop on rue

des Saint-Pères, near Saint-Germain-des-Prés,

has been operating in the same location for

almost 200 years.

The company’s founders, Sulpice Debauve and

his nephew August Gallais, started out selling

“health chocolates.”

In the 1800s, chocolate was used to make bitter

medicines more palatable. It was also combined

with “healthful” ingredients to promote vigour

and health.

Sulpice Debauve, a former royal chemist under

King Louis XVI and a chocolate maker to King

Charles X, opened his first chocolate shop on rue

Saint-Dominique, in Saint-German-des-Prés, in

1800.

Debauve & Gallais’ signature items include its

chocolate pistoles, small discs of chocolate that

vary according to cacao content (ranging from 45

per cent to 99 per cent) and flavorings (almond

oil, bitter coffee, Bourbon vanilla and orange

blossom).

He arrived in Paris at the age of 18 and started his career in pastry.

Having found that it wasn’t his thing, he was relegated to the

chocolate section as a punishment. Here he found his “ticket to the

world! I could work with it, I could build with it!” he says.

The rest is now history: fine French chocolate created by an artist in a

boutique that doubles as an art gallery. He was awarded the title

Meilleur Ouvrier de France in 2000. He has been in his enviable

workshop for four years. His pleasure palace of a boutique in the Place

de la Madeleine is his latest achievement.

Many of his products are named after human traits or moods, which

says a lot about the man. He told me that Instinct was the first

chocolate recipe he ever made, at home, for his parents. It is like a first

love that has deepened and remained. Its description, “a roasted

almond praline cluster,” does little to prepare you for how sublime it is.

A texture both crunchy and smooth, rich with almonds and hazelnuts,

sweet, caramelized and toasted, all combined and wrapped up in the

indulgent warmth of chocolate.

,

Dating back to 1827, in these terms that Victor

Hugo was already celebrating the Maison Boissier ...

Maison Boissier is part of history, and perpetuates

with talent and so selective, the unique knowledge

of Belisarius Boissier, founder of the House.

It finds its foundation and legitimacy at the heart of

his "craft" original Chocolatier confectioner where

the artisanal nature of the production has so far

been deliberately and lovingly preserved.,

manufactured according to exclusive recipes and

enviously guarded.

The packaging ideally reflect the combination of

the two values dear to the brand: Tradition and

Memories through a decor of yesteryear, reassuring

and immediately impacting. Purity of lines and blue

"cyan Πcaskets boxes give modernity and

topicality products.

Zurich, Switzerland

Meet Max. On 27 September 2009, the boy’s father made

a family dream come true, simultaneously marking his

own father’s birthday. That day saw the opening of Max

Chocolatier in Lucerne, in the heart of Switzerland.

Every bite is a ticket for the taste buds to travel on an

unforgettable journey. This may take them to the Swiss

Alps via rich Napf cream and meadow flowers, or to

faraway destinations in South America or Asia facilitated

by ingredients as diverse as green tea, rum and mountain

coffee.

From a picture-postcard location in Lucerne, neighboured

by snow-capped mountains, a lake and an iconic wooden

bridge, the Max Chocolatiers use top-quality natural

ingredients to create their unique handmade products.

Each Max Chocolatier truffle, chocolate bar, is committed

to enabling people to “Experience chocolate for the first

time”.

Founded in 1932 by Dolf Teuscher, Sr., Teuscher in

Switzerland, Teuscher Chocolates was founded in the Swiss

mountainside in 1932 and our signature creation, the

Champagne Truffle, has been appreciated around the

world for over 65 years.

Using only the purest and highest quality ingredients such

as Dom Perignon champagne, the Champagne Truffle has a

dark chocolate ganache center that is enriched by a

creamy infusion containing finest Dom Perignon

Champagne. Its enrobing consists of milk chocolate and it is

finally sprinkled with confectioner`s sugar to produce the

Champagne Truffle`s distinctive look.

We ship the chocolates every week from Zurich in order for

them to be available freshly in our stores in Europe, North

America, Asia, and the Middle East. In this way, we

continue to bring you these marvelous chocolates,

acclaimed as the world`s finest by gourmets and critics

alike.

The Felix am Bellevue is the café of the

Zuch Confiseur Teuscher. His

chocolate creations are known far

beyond the national borders.

In the stylishly decorated coffee hall is

a sweet enjoyment simply, whether it is

the homemade drinking chocolate or

handmade patisseries. The offer leaves

nothing to be desired.

Visit us at the Bellevue in Zurich!

David Sprüngli opened the Confiserie Sprüngli & Fils

on Marktgasse in Zurich in 1836.

In 1859 David Sprüngli and his son Rudolf acquired a

property on the Paradeplatz in Zurich, still little

frequented, in the hope that one day the train station

would be built here. Unfortunately, this was not the

case, which caused for many a sleepless night for the

Sprüngli family. And yet soon there was active

building activity taking place all around Paradeplatz.

The passing-by Bahnhofstrasse developed into one of

the most renowned shopping miles in the world.

Today Confiserie Sprüngli takes a preferential

position on the street with its store and the associated

restaurant, café and bar.

Sprüngli is operating fourteen stores in and around

Zurich today. Another seven can be found in Basel,

Bern, Winterthur, Zug and Geneva.

(1) Probably the oldest poster (1880) by Sprüngli comes presumably from Paris, where poster art developed

from artistic drawings. The two girls radiate grace and charm and identify themselves with the vivacious,

easygoing and elegant atmosphere that was associated inseparably with chocolate for that generation.

(2) International export advertising at the end of the 19th century (1890).

(3) As early as the Belle Époque, chocolate was recommend to holiday guests and travellers. (1890)

The practice of enclosing little collectible individual pictures or series of pictures with chocolate bars, to leave

the eater with something enduring, stretches back to the 1880s if not earlier. The pictures tend to feature cutesy

motifs.

Lucerne, Switzerland

When Anton Bachmann opened a small bakery in

Sursee a 100 years ago, he did not yet know that he

would lay the foundation for a thriving family business.

Today, Matthias and Raphael Bachmann, in their fourth

generation, are leading a modern bakery and

confectionery business, well known all over the borders of

Lucerne for their craftsmanship, highest product quality,

finest confectionery products and modern marketing.

Since five generations this beautiful handicraft is their

passion. Despite modern technology still very handmade

is produced. "We want to offer our customers fresh

products which are produced in their own company but

whose shelf life is limited."

In 1962 Chocolatier Rudolf Läderach Jr.

founds his company in Glarus. Today, we sell

specialities under the “Läderach – chocolatier

suisse” brand directly to our private customers

in around 50 chocolate boutiques in

Switzerland and abroad.

Läderach has stood for top-quality, hand-

made Swiss chocolate specialities. The

headquarters of our family company, which

employs around 500 people, is in the canton of

Glarus, Switzerland.

We manufacture various chocolate masses

ourselves at our production site in Bilten. In this

way, we are one of the few suppliers to

guarantee continuous sustainable quality –

from the cocoa bean to the finished end

product.

Brussels, Belgium

The year was 1919 and chocolate-loving Mary Delluc

was keen to spread the word about her creations. The

business she created in Brussels was destined to become

the Mary Chocolaterie, as a result of pursuing

excellence and quality, a goal which then became a

legacy.

Based in Rue Royale, right in the centre of Belgium’s

capitalas the King travelled along the Rue Royale

every day and it was in the middle of a walk that was

very popular with nobles and bourgeois people hoping

to meet royal personages.

The chocolate shop also became a tea room, fitted out in

the art deco style of that period. The tea room offered

Mary the opportunity to share her enthusiasm while

discovering what kinds of chocolate her customers were

unable to resist. Keeping a sharp lookout Mary made a

list everyone’s favourite chocolates and kept this in a

guestbook.

Having arrived in Brussels from his native

Switzerland, Jean Neuhaus opened an apothecary

shop in 1857 at the Galeries Royales, near the Grand

Place.

He began his business by covering the medicines in

chocolate to make them more easy to handle. With

the assistance of his son Frédéric, he spent an

increasing amount of time and effort in preparing and

inventing new delicacies to the point where the

regular pharmaceutical products gradually ended up

making way for them.

In 1912, the year of Frédéric's death, his son Jean II

created the first chocolate-filled bonbons or pralines.

They were followed by another innovation. Louise

Agostini, Jean's wife, realised that the pralines were

getting crushed inside the paper cornet bags used to

wrap them up. Together with her husband, she

developed a gift wrap box in 1915 which became

known as the ballotin and was later patented.

When young orphan Henri arrives in Brussels he

starts his apprenticeship in a bakery and weds Marie.

In 1910, he opens his own “modern bakery” on the

Place du Grand Sablon, a popular area at the heart

of Brussels that beats to the pulse of its market and

the sound of Frisian handballs.

After a formal pastry training in Switzerland, Paul

(born Henri III) joins forces with Myriam, whose

passion for art and creativity blows a constant wind

of novel ideas in the atelier. Wittamer’s success

takes off internationally when, in the late nineties,

Japanese bakery owner Mr Hyané enters the shop.

He soon becomes friends with Henri II and opens the

first franchised patisserie in Osaka.

Since the late sixties, their son and daughter team

runs La Maison Wittamer, blending their respective

talents to form a perfect synergy allying modernity

and tradition.

Bruges, Belgium

20 years ago, Dominique and Fabienne set

their first steps into the world of chocolate.

Today, The Chocolate Line is honored

worldwide as "the number 1 in the world".

Dominique lives by his motto "follow your

dreams", and so the story continues.

Dumon is a stylish modern Belgian chocolate shop

with a numerous chocolate bars and pralines to

chose from. All of their products are nicely packed

and decorated with blue ribbons, so they are a

perfect present (and a souvenir).

Founded in 1992, it is still very much family owned,

but it grew massively from its beginnings.

There are few Dumon stores in Bruges, so it’s easy to

find them and enjoy in high quality and stylish

chocolates.

What makes us different, is the artisan way how we

produce our chocolates. The originality of our treats,

prepared with only the best raw materials and

passion for our business as main ingredients. The

wide range of exquisite burst of tastes from which

you can choose your favorite. As we apply all these

things we achieve our goal: to ravish you in the best

way possible.

The house created in 2007 in the Drôme provençale and

specializing in delicatessen and chocolates has quickly

seduce a clientele sensitive to the authenticity of its

products. Its boutiques offer, the space of a visit, the

pleasure of rediscovering the gourmet memories of his

childhood.

"It is in the old pots that one makes the best soups" is not a

adage for this company which in a very short time has

been able to impose itself in the market and beyond the

borders, with always like Aim to spread a gentle nostalgia

of moments of pure pleasure ... Never sacrifice taste and

pleasure to aesthetics; A double satisfaction that exalts

the pleasures of the papillae and the pupils!

Always faithful to this motto, the recipes are renewed and

enrich themselves with new products regularly with the

gluttony in line of sight.

We offer a wide choice of gourmet gifts to our customers to

discover in the shop: Our mini baba (with rum, génépy,

chartreuse ..., our chocolate bars, our fondues with dark

chocolates, milk and white, Choice of appetizers and many

other things ...