Bruges Chocolate Shop Review: The Chocolate Line

  Finally, a post about our trip to Belgium! Sorry for the delay; I've been consumed by house business. Such as painting, installing child locks on cabinet doors (hello drilling) and hemming curtains. If you know me at all, you know that these activities aren't really something I tend to do often...or really like doing, for that matter (besides maybe drilling holes in stuff)....so it's been taking a lot longer and involved a lot more grumbling than planned. Hence the late posting about our Easter trip.
   I thought I'd start this series of Belgium posts with something inherently Belgian: chocolate!
As soon as we arrived in Bruges (1.5 hours on the train from Brussels airport), we dropped our luggage off at the hotel and headed for....The Chocolate Line! I'd done my research on chocolate shops in Bruges before our trip, and word had it that The Chocolate Line was THE chocolate shop to hit up if you wanted hand-made, quality chocolate. Apparently everyone else knows this fact too, seeing as the place was pretty crowded when we arrived. It's located in a little piazza (Simon Stevin Plein) just off the main shopping street, Steenstraat, that leads to the Markt. You really can't miss it.
  First, the bad news about The Chocolate Line. Their service is not very good. Or maybe I just got a particularly rude clerk having an off day, who knows. Once I finally managed to get someone's attention, I asked her if I could try a piece of their dark chocolate. Having read online that most shops would give you a sample if you asked, I didn't think this was an unreasonable request. Apparently I was misinformed, however. She responded that they didn't give out samples, but I could of course buy some chocolate. Just in case I wasn't aware of the fact that they did sell chocolate, I guess.
 All of this really wouldn't have been a big deal had she not then interrupted my chocolate selection to wait on some women that she apparently knew (who came in after us).....and proceed to hand them each some free chocolates at the end of the transaction!! Grrrrr.
 Still, she did return to us at that point and answered all of my questions about what was in each chocolate (the labels are only in Dutch). We ended up with a nice box of assorted dark chocolates, mostly nuts and marzipans. Marzipan is famous in Bruges, and it's goooood. Can't remember the exact price for the box, but it was something like 14 euros for 250 grams? Ouch!
 As soon as we wormed our way through the crowd out to the street again, we opened the box and dug in. Don't get me wrong...it was REALLY good chocolate! And very beautifully presented, too. Some of my favorites were the sake-infused one, of course the marzipans, and the cola chocolate. I definitely wouldn't refuse them if someone offered me another box!
 But, that being said...I really don't know if The Chocolate Line chocolates were as good as double the price of other places in Bruges (review on Dumon Chocolates to follow shortly). They really weren't good enough to justify the attitude of the place!
 So, if you go...expect mediocre service and good, really good chocolates. Just don't expect them to be life-changing.

The Chocolate Line
Simon Stevinplein 19 8000 Brugge, Belgium

                                  Chocolate Line box

                            Our selection of dark chocolates from The Chocolate Line

                                  A wasabi-infused chocolate from The Chocolate Line