There are roughly five billion chocolate shops in Brussels (that’s a totally accurate number — look it up), so trying to decide which one to visit is basically an impossible endeavour.
A little bit of googling, however, reveals a couple of facts about Neuhaus:
- Established in 1857 (just a couple of decades after chocolate first started to be consumed in solid form, rather than as a drink), it’s one of the original chocolate shops in the city.
- They have a outlet store on the outskirts of Brussels that offers unlimited free samples.
Unlimited free samples! That’s all I needed to know.
As good as you think a Belgian chocolate shop with all-you-can-eat free samples would be? It was better. It was so much more amazing than even my wildest hopes and dreams.
The amount of free samples was staggering. There was one wall of the store that was dedicated to box after box of samples (each box contained one variety of chocolate). I counted; just on this wall alone, there were twenty-nine varieties to sample. That’s not to mention the rest of the store, which had various samples scattered throughout.
I sort of figured there’d be hovering salespeople to make sure that you didn’t overindulge, but nope. Eat all you want. They don’t care.
And the chocolate itself was very good. Not exactly the best chocolate I’ve ever had, but easily on par with the nicer mass-produced stuff like Lindt. Maybe a little bit better.
The white chocolate varieties were probably a tad too sweet, but the milk was nice and creamy, and the dark had a really satisfying flavour.
And the fillings were all quite tasty — I won’t even try to describe them all (nor could I — by the end they were all blending into one rich, chocolatey morass). I’ll just say that if you can think of a flavour you might find in a fancy box of chocolates, they probably had it and I probably ate it.
I wasn’t eating these things as strategically as I should have (I should have started on one end and worked my way down), so I’m not sure that I tried every single one. But other than a couple of the white chocolate varieties, I’m pretty sure I either got them all or came pretty close.
Suffice it to say, I was quite full by the time I left, and the thought of eating even one more piece of chocolate was vaguely nauseating. So, I did it right, basically. I’m quite confident it was the most chocolate I’ve ever eaten in one sitting (or standing, in this case).
As I was leaving (without buying anything, mind you, because why would I?? I ate it all) I was half expecting to be stopped and asked to pay some kind of entry fee. But no one stopped me. It really felt like I was getting away with something.
In conclusion, I live in Brussels now. Bye, everyone back home! Come to Belgium if you ever want to see me again. I’ll be the fat guy cramming his face with free, delicious chocolates.
Location: Postweg 2, 1602 Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, Belgium
How to find it: It’s way out on the outskirts of town (you have to ride the number 5 line all the way to the last stop, and then walk a bit from there), but obviously it’s totally worth the effort.