Belgium

I couldn’t roll my eyes any harder than I do when people tell me that Belgian chocolate is the best. Just because we associate a certain food with a specific country doesn’t make theirs the best, nor does it make all of their good— American hot dogs, for one. But the myth of Belgian chocolate …

The first thing I did upon arriving in town, after a 4-hour bus ride from the Netherlands, was begin visiting the best chocolate shops in Bruges. This is normally an activity reserves for after you’ve seen the requisite castles and museums, but, well, this pilgrimage was for one purpose: Belgian chocolate. A friend I interviewed …

The number of chocolate shops in Brussels is meant to astound. Most people will point you towards the most established Belgian chocolate shops in Brussels, like Leonidas, Mary’s, Godiva, and Planete, but historic doesn’t always mean good. Sometimes crappy products continue to thrive because every guide book is just recommending what all the others are. …