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.
Where to eat it: 3 restaurants across 1 city.
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.
Common allergens: Dairy, Soy, Tree nuts
Tip from the editors. Temper is everything; untempered chocolate sets dull and soft and will not release from the mould.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
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.
Tip: Watch the workshop through the back glass. Gault&Millau voted it Belgium's best chocolaterie in 2023.
Worth the queue: Tree-to-bar Criollo chocolate and unusual pralines
Dumon on the Eiermarkt in Bruges is a family chocolatier making fresh pralines daily from old family recipes. Small shop, short queues, serious chocolate.
Tip: Buy a small box fresh rather than a sealed tin; the pralines are best within days. Several Dumon shops exist; this is the flagship.
Worth the queue: Daily fresh pralines from old family recipes
Sukerbuyc on Katelijnestraat in Bruges makes its chocolates in the workshop behind the shop, so you watch the pralines finished, with a tearoom alongside.
Tip: The attached tearoom serves a proper hot chocolate. The workshop is visible from the counter.
Worth the queue: Pralines from the workshop behind the shop
More cities are in research. Want belgian pralines covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.