There’s nothing better than exploring a new city by way of its culinary exploits. Food tours, for me, are one of the best ways to understand a culture. So, when I decided to hop the pond and meet my brother in Brussels, Belgium recently, my first task after booking flights was to find us a chocolate and beer tour.
I try and find a new food tour in every city I visit. Sometimes this is harder than it sounds – I’m pretty picky about my food tours. The best have been the small groups, where everyone is a foodie. The worst have been the ones where people complain endlessly about the food they’re tasting. Me, I just love to try new things.
Food in Brussels
Brussels, and Belgium in general, is known for a few big things: beer, chocolate, waffles, mussels, and frites. They do all of these quite well, along with some others, and it’s relatively easy to find a restaurant that offers traditional Belgian dishes.
Street food in Brussels
Waffles and frites are best done by streetside vendors, and its a common sight to see people lined up to grab a cone of frites late in the evening. There are three types of waffle shops – the Liege waffles, the Brussels waffles, and the French waffles. Which type you order dictates (technically) what you put on it. Surprisingly, none of them dictate the endless piles of chocolate and cream that end up on the ones I see on the street.
Rabbits and Mussels in Brussels
The mussels in Brussels are often done quite well – after all, once upon a time the fishing boats used to come right up to Saint Catherine Place and offload their daily catch. There are some excellent restaurants known for moules frites (mussels and fries).
Rabbit is also a traditional Belgian dish, and one I happen to love.
Pro tip: Head to Restobieres, near Midi Station, for phenomenal traditional Belgian food!
Belgian chocolate
When it comes to chocolate, there are a few different types of chocolate shops. The first are the basic shops that sell the chocolate, and maybe make what they sell, but do not actually roast the chocolate. Then there are the ones that roast their chocolate. These are often the master chocolatiers, the ones who are also world-class pastry chefs. We stopped at four of these on our chocolate and beer tour.
There are also the large, multinational corporations like Godiva or Leonidas. And, then, as my guide said, there are the bad ones. Don’t go to the bad ones.
Belgian beer
If you’ve never tasted a Belgian beer, I urge you to stop reading this – wait, don’t go yet – and go get one. From tripels to Trappist, there’s an overwhelming array of beers in Belgium. I’m no beer expert, but I can tell you that what I’ve tasted in this city is excellent.
Belgium also claims the world’s best beer. Made by Trappist monks, this beer was rated as the world’s best by its drinkers, and people literally take pilgrimages to get it. There are very few places in the city to get one; we got to taste it.
Brussels is also a very multicultural city, and has a plethora of great culinary experiences from all over the world. From Greek and Turkish to Thai and Vietnamese, there are plenty of great places to eat in the city. Today, though, I really want to talk about the awesome chocolate beer tour in Brussels!
The Brussels Journey
As I’ve noted above, there’s great food in Brussels. But yet, in my initial searches, there were VERY few options for good food tours. What gives?
Finally I found The Brussels Journey, and immediately checked to make sure we could get on a chocolate and beer tour. Marie was accommodating with my questions. I decided that my brother and I would go on Sunday afternoon.
While the groups are a maximum of 20 people, private tours are available (just book with your favourite travel advisor). To be honest, 20 people was a little more than I would have liked. Also, private tours have a lot more options than the group tours do.
However, the back and forth email booking with Marie was easy. They also have an online booking tool and are highly ranked on Trip Advisor.
A Brussels chocolate and beer tour
We met our guides, Julie and Karina, in front of the first shop near the Grand Place. Right at 3 on the dot, they were there introducing themselves and giving us a brief introduction to the chocolate and beer tour. Then we made our way into Chocopolis, a shop that purchases chocolate and then tempers and produces their own pieces.
a chocolate tour in Brussels
We tasted a few different pieces at Chocopolis. The owner is lactose intolerant, so he created a dark chocolate praline with coconut cream. It was delicious, and while I could taste the coconut it wasn’t overpowering. We also tried a dark chocolate with chilli pepper, a very Mayan style of chocolate.
On our way to the next shop, in Sablon, Julie pointed out a few different landmarks and told a few stories about them. For example, we learned about how the Belgian royal family is pretty much just a made up thing, and how the Palace of Justice has had scaffolding around it for decades. They’re not working on it; rather, no insurance company will insure it because it is so old – so no one CAN work on it. Bureaucracy, huh?
Our second stop was Frederic Blondeel, in Sablon. Here, we sampled 80% dark chocolate from Vietnam, some infusions, and raw, bitter chocolate.
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Did you know that chocolate, like wine and coffee, tastes different depending on where the beans are grown?
Frederic Blondeel comes from a family of master chocolatiers. He roasts the chocolate, rather than buying it already-roasted. This means that he buys the beans once they’ve been air dried, then roasts according to what flavour he wants. If he roasts til they’re dark and doesn’t add any milk, it’s dark chocolate. Roasting slightly less, and then adding milk and sugar, makes milk chocolate. And roasting for just a little while and then adding a lot of sugar and milk makes white chocolate. Julie said that while most white chocolate is just sugar, at Frederic Blondeel and other master chocolatiers it’s real white chocolate.
The next stop was just across the street at Pierre Marcolini. He’s known around the world for his macarons (French) and chocolates – so much so that his nickname is Choco Chanel. (I love that.) The bags are even designed like Chanel bags.
We sampled three chocolates here – a Madagascar, an Earl Grey infusion, and a yummy salted caramel/cookie chocolate.
For the middle part of the tour, we walked. This chocolate and beer tour is as much a history tour as it is a food tour. Julie pointed out the city walls, then we walked past Mannekin Pis (the famous little peeing boy statue) and into the Grand Place.
From here, we walked to the Royal Gallery and stopped at one last chocolate shop before starting the beer portion of the tour. My last piece of chocolate was a scrumptious yuzu lime and ginger chocolate. To. Die. For.
a beer tour in Brussels
To kick off the beer portion of the tour, we went to a casual bar in the old city centre. Here, before things got loud, Julie talked about the differences in Belgian beer. (I’m going to apologise for getting things wrong here; my notes are a little jumbled!)
Much of Belgian beer was traditionally (or still is) brewed by monks. A single was table beer – 1-3% alcohol and basically replaced water. In fact, children were given a single with lunch – up until only about 20 years ago. A double was, of course, double the alcohol. It is always a brown beer and was for the priests. What we know as a tripel is always a blonde beer with high carbonation and 9% alcohol. A quadruple was meant for fasting, but it’s 11-12% alcohol.
Trappist beer has always been brewed by monks – it’s not a style of beer. So, in order for a beer to be Trappist, monks either need to brew it or be involved somehow in the brewing process, the beer must be brewed in an abbey, and the proceeds must go to a non-profit or to the abbey. Therefore you can’t make money on a Trappist beer.
the best beer in the world
The best beer in the world is also the hardest beer to find, apparently. In order to get it, you must have the monks address and phone number, then call them to get your name on the list. They’ll give you an appointment (you cannot schedule it – they just tell you when to show up). Every car only gets 24 bottles. Even if you have four people.
If you miss the appointment, you can’t make another one for six months. For that matter, if you DO show up and only get a few beers, you can’t go back for six months!
Anyway, we tried an English IPA and a modern tripel at the first bar, then moved on to Toone’s Royal Theatre. Once upon a time this puppet theatre would show political satire; now they do classic plays. The bar is on the ground floor. We tried a lambic kriek (cherry lambic, or sour, beer) and a tripel made by beguins, or laywoman in a religious order (not a convent).
Our final stop on our chocolate and beer tour was the oldest bar in Brussels, which is located next to the second oldest bar in Brussels. It’s known as the brown bar … but not for any reason you might think of off the top of your head.
Here, we tried a Westmalle and a Trappist Rochefort – both delicious. Julie saved us a chocolate caramel to eat with the Rochefort, because it apparently brings out the caramelly flavours. This bar is where you can buy the best beer in the world, and so when our glasses were empty my brother went and bought some.
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Overall, this was a great experience and I am so excited to have The Brussels Journey on my list of Brussels suppliers! Whether you’re in town for work or for play, take a few hours to walk around the city with The Brussels Journey. Their chocolate and beer tour is definitely on the list of top food tours I’ve had around the world.
Have you been to Brussels? Do you like to take food tours while you’re travelling? Where’s your favourite food from? If you’re heading to Brussels, this chocolate and beer tour is a great introduction to the city and the local culinary culture! And, don’t forget to pin this >>> for future reference!
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Sarah is a luxury travel advisor and avid traveller. When she isn’t writing, you can find her crafting custom itineraries for clients or exploring the far reaches of our wonderful planet. She collects old maps, globes, and atlases, and survives on coffee and wine. Her favourite colour is green, and the number one item on her Christmas wish list is a dog.
Experiencing the street food in Belgium is something spectacular. From waffles to fries they are delicious. It is definitely worth going on a chocolate and beer tasting tour! Thank you for sharing your experience