Originally Posted by number_6
Rather ironically TJ private label used to be even better a few years ago, when they used a French chocolate. But that supplier couldn't keep up with their quantities, and Belgian is a better brand in the US than French, so they switched to an inferior chocolate -- but still excellent and great value compared to the alternatives. Proving that quality and price are loosely coupled when it comes to chocolate. For whatever reason, TJ has excellent chocolates in general (their buyer must really like chocolate).
Uh, Belgian is a better brand just about
anywhere than French.
Speaking of Belgian, Marcolini seems to be falling off the wagon. We found on our trip there a couple of weeks ago that his praliné was tasting burned and/or just not fresh.
Wittamer (on the Sablon as well) and
Elisabeth (on Boterstraat just off the Grand Place) beat
Marcolini on almost every "contest" we had - caramels, pralinés, cinnamon/
cannelle... But
Marcolini still does the best champagne truffle amonth the Belgian chocolatiers I've had, and they do have an interesting piece with "tonka bean." (Found these bits of info on tonka beans:
http://www.tropilab.com/dipter-odo.html and
http://www.vitamins-minerals-supplem...tonka-bean.htm )