Pierre Marcolini Brussels: Shops, Prices and Tasting Walks

From Charleroi to the World Pastry Cup

Pierre Marcolini was born on 12 July 1964 in Charleroi, and his maternal grandparents came from Verona in Italy. He trained as a chef-patissier at CERIA and Infobo in Uccle, then worked at Wittamer, the Sablon house, and for Auguste Fauchon before starting on his own. He names the chocolatier Maurice Bernachon and the patissier Gaston Lenotre among his main influences. In 1995 he won the World Pastry Cup in Lyon, and he opened his first shop the same year.

The house dates itself to Brussels in 1995 on its official site. The Sablon connection runs deep, since Marcolini is one of the chocolatiers, alongside Neuhaus and Godiva, listed in the Grand Sablon. He is also counted among the Wittamer alumni named by Brussels Times, alongside Marc Debailleul.

Bean to Bar, and the Business Behind It

The official site presents the house as bean to bar, overseeing every step of cocoa transformation. Marcolini makes his own couverture from beans bought from plantations in Brazil, Equatorial Guinea and Mexico, and buys unprocessed cocoa beans directly from producers around the world. The ingredient list also includes Piemont hazelnuts.

The company grew quickly. Nestle bought 6 percent of the company in 2007 and later raised its stake to 29 percent, before Marcolini and other shareholders bought it back in December 2011. In 2012 the company raised capital from NEO Capital, and that year it had 350 employees, €32 million of revenue and a production of 150 tonnes of chocolate. By 2015 it had about 30 shops in cities including London, Tokyo, Paris and Brussels. CB Insights lists backers including Neo Investment Partners, MBK and VM2 Holdings, and reported in April that MBK was exploring a sale of the company.

Addresses at a Glance

The table below gathers the Brussels addresses listed by third party guides. The Sablon shop rates 4.4 from 1,549 Google reviews. Sources disagree on the exact Sablon street, so the table lists both.

Table of Shops

These are the Brussels boutiques as listed by City Unscripted, Roam and Thrive and Zapptax. Where two sources disagree, the table lists both.

Getting There and Opening Hours

Tram lines 92 and 93 stop at Petit Sablon. Wanderlog lists Sablon hours of 10:00 to 19:00 from Sunday to Thursday and 10:00 to 19:30 on Friday and Saturday, though a search result gives 20:00 on Friday and Saturday instead, and the official site shows no hours on its home page, so check by phone on +32 2 514 12 06 before a late visit. Saturday and Sunday are also the days of the Sablon Antiques and Books Market on the square, where the Fountain of Minerva dates from 1751 and Notre-Dame du Sablon began as a chapel completed in 1318.

One caveat. Only third party lists mention a Marcolini boutique in the Galerie de la Reine or at Avenue Louise 75, and no official source confirms them. Treat those two rows in the table as leads rather than guarantees, and confirm before you set off.

Boxes and Ballotins

The e-shop lists boxes up to €176. At the top end, the drawers stack: the 2-drawer Decouverte box costs €90, the 3-drawer Signature box €137 and the 4-drawer Collection box €176. In the middle sit the Mallines, with the Malline Decouverte at €46 and the Malline of Grands Crus at €47. The Plumier Decouverte XL costs €80.50 and the Plumier of Truffles €27, and a box of cooking chocolate costs €8.75.

If you want a single recommendation from the travel writers, Roam and Thrive recommends the Malline Decouverte box of 33 chocolates, at €46 on the e-shop.

Beyond the Box

The Sablon counter goes further than pralines. Visitors mention macarons in 14 flavours, eclairs such as the Vanilla Grand Cru, spreads and ice cream, and Spotahome notes the house also sells ice cream, hot chocolate and cakes. On the e-shop, a box of orangettes costs €15.50, a 4-piece macaron box €14.50, a trio of marshmallow Pandas €13.90 and a single Panda €4.90.

Two practical notes for shoppers. The e-shop offers in-store pickup within 2 hours on orders, so you can buy online and collect at the counter. The brand also runs a loyalty programme called Marcolini Club. If you are carrying boxes home in summer, read the guide to carrying chocolate home before you pack the suitcase.

The Walk That Passes Marcolini

The Artisan Chocolate Tasting Tour by SANDEMANs NEW Europe is a 1.5 hour walk from Grand Place with five tastings of pralines, truffles and ganache at guide-picked chocolatiers. Pierre Marcolini appears on its list of possible stops, alongside the Royal Galleries Saint-Hubert, Herman Van Dender, Corne Dynastie, Chocolaterie Mary, Choco-Story Brussels and Laurent Gerbaud. It costs $34 per person, rates 4.8 from 392 reviews, and the meeting point is in front of the City Hall tower on Grand Place, where you look for the SANDEMANs team with a red umbrella. Children under 5 join for free, though the infant ticket does not include chocolate tasting, and no museum admission or drinks are included.

Be honest with yourself about what a stop means here. The itinerary lists Marcolini as a possible stop, not a guaranteed one, so if the boutique itself is the whole reason you are booking, walking in on your own is the safer plan.

The Other Walks

If you want more tastings or a longer route, three other guided chocolate tasting walks cover the same city from different angles. The Beer and Chocolate Tour runs 4 hours with 10 chocolate tastings and at least 5 beers for $113.04 per person. The Small Group Chocolate Tasting caps the group at 10 and covers 5 shops with at least 7 pralines or truffles in 2 hours for $55.95 per person. The Beer, Chocolate and Fries Tour adds a flight of 4 beers and a waffle or fries across 2 to 3 hours for $79.93 per person.

To see how all of these stack up side by side, including the workshops and the Choco-Story Brussels museum tickets, open the guided chocolate tasting walks section of the homepage. For the other chocolatiers on the Marcolini route, the guide to the best chocolate in Brussels covers each house in turn.

Wittamer, the House Marcolini Once Worked For

Before opening his own shop in 1995, Pierre Marcolini worked at Wittamer. The patisserie traces its Modern Bakery back to Henri Wittamer at Grand Sablon 13 in 1910, and it became a Royal Warrant holder in 2000. Its Sablon boutique now sits at Place du Grand Sablon 12, open seven days a week.

The house added a tearoom in 1955, invented the speculoos macaron in 1984, and was sold in 2021 to Jean-Claude Marian, Carlos De Meester and Christophe Hureaux, by which point it ran 24 franchise shops in Japan. Signature items include the Sumo ganache and the Paves de Bruxelles.

Godiva and the Rest of the Square

Godiva keeps a shop at Place du Grand Sablon 47-48. The Godiva name dates from 1945 or 1946 depending on the source, the house was appointed official chocolatier to the Belgian Royal Court in 1968, and it now sells in over 100 countries. The rest of the city's chocolatiers are listed on the best chocolate in Brussels, with a map.

What Else to See While You Are There

The square rewards a slow lap. The Fountain of Minerva dates from 1751, and Notre-Dame du Sablon church began life as a chapel completed in 1318. Tram lines 92 and 93 stop at Petit Sablon.

On Saturdays and Sundays the Sablon Antiques and Books Market fills the square, so you can browse stalls between tastings. This corner of the city appears on the artisan chocolate tasting tour, a 1.5 hour walk from Grand Place at $34 per person that names Pierre Marcolini among the chocolatiers its SANDEMANs NEW Europe guide may choose on the day.

The Rules Behind the Bar

Belgian regulation of chocolate began in 1894 with a minimum of 35 percent pure cocoa. A 2003 EU regulation on cocoa butter substitutes was seen in Belgium as too lenient compared with traditional standards. The Belgian Chocolate Code, a voluntary quality standard from 2007 followed by about 90 percent of Belgian chocolate makers, goes further and requires refining, mixing and conching to be done inside Belgium.

Where Marcolini Sits in That Framework

Marcolini makes his own couverture from beans bought from plantations in Brazil, Equatorial Guinea and Mexico, buying unprocessed beans directly from producers around the world. Bean-to-bar making is also what you do with your own hands on the bean-to-bar chocolate workshop, a 90-minute session at $63 per person run by The Belgian Chocolate Makers in a working factory. In 2012 Marcolini produced 150 tonnes of chocolate with 350 employees and 32 million euros of revenue, and Nestle held 29 percent of the company before shareholders bought the stake back in December 2011.