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 Rumpelmayerfounded 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.”

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 “Ever since I was a child, I’ve had this hunger to Pierre Marcolini now numbers some thirty stores in Belgium, Paris, London succeed, this crazy passion for my work. Being in and Japan. 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.”

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.

SulpiceDebauve, 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.

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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 ZuchConfiseur 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 Paradeplatzin 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 ...