Filled Belgian chocolates, a hard chocolate shell enclosing ganache, praline paste, caramel or cream. Bruges carries one of the densest chocolatier scenes in the country, much of it still handmade.
The filled Belgian chocolate, the praline, was invented in Brussels by Jean Neuhaus in 1912, who replaced bitter pharmacy chocolate coatings with a shell around a sweet filling. The craft spread across Belgium and Bruges became one of its heartlands, with dozens of chocolatiers in the medieval core. Many still make their pralines by hand in workshops behind the shop, from the experimental Chocolate Line under Dominique Persoone to the guild house Pol Depla with its Brugs Swaentje.
3 editor picks for Belgian pralines in Bruges, ranked by editorial score. All Bruges signature dishes · Belgian pralines across every city.
The Chocolate Line ★ 4.7
markt · Simon Stevinplein 19, 8000 Brugge
The Chocolate Line on Simon Stevinplein in Bruges is Dominique Persoone's lab, where pralines run from caramelised shrimp-head to tree-to-bar Criollo cacao.
Dumon Chocolatier ★ 4.5
markt · Eiermarkt 6, 8000 Brugge
Dumon on the Eiermarkt in Bruges is a family chocolatier making fresh pralines daily from old family recipes. Small shop, short queues, serious chocolate.
Chocolaterie Sukerbuyc ★ 4.4
minnewater · Katelijnestraat 5, 8000 Brugge
Sukerbuyc on Katelijnestraat in Bruges makes its chocolates in the workshop behind the shop, so you watch the pralines finished, with a tearoom alongside.