Two chocolate shops

It's a quiet afternoon with the brooding promise of rain, so I thought I'd write a quick post about Rococo and Pierre Marcolini.

There are three Rococo shops in London, in the well heeled villages of Marylebone, Chelsea and Belgravia.  My favourite is the little boutique in Motcomb Street that also serves coffee, chocolate and tea in the Moroccan walled garden below the shop.  I used to work nearby (in fairly dismal circumstances) and would cheer myself up with violet, rose and geranium creams at lunchtime.  The truffles are also delicious (particularly the honey ones) as are the chocolate bars.  Out of those I've tried the Basil and Persian Lime,  Sea Salt and Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh are all pretty good.  At £4.25 a bar it needs to be eaten occasionally and slowly.  But the organic chocolate and essential oils give flavours worth savouring.

The other chocolate shop was also discovered while escaping work, this time in Brussels.  First, however, a word of caution about Belgium's reputation as a the country of chocolate.  Brussels is full of chocolate shops, jostling for space alongside those selling replica statues of the Manneken Pis (a fountain in the shape of a urinating child and a source of seemly endless mirth for all those who behold it).  However, the chocolate is expensive and mostly second rate (some of it even grey and festering in the windows) and you'd be better of buying your loved one a Manneken Pis t-shirt.

Not Pierre Marcolini however.  The shop I used to visit was close to the famous Sablon, and entry was through a heavy dark curtain.  Inside the shop had the rarefied atmosphere of a Tiffany's, chocolates displayed behind glass panels like perfect little jewels.  It's expensive (of course) but my god it's exquisite.  Apparently one's coming to Motcomb Street, so if you find yourself with money to burn and don't fancy a pair of courtesan Louboutins from the locked shop opposite, have a look.