Vanessa Renard's chocolate awarded by Gault&Millau
The guide to the best chocolate in Belgium and Luxembourg for 2022 by thefood critic Gault&Millau has crowned Vanessa Renard "Best Chocolatier for Brussels 2022". This award is all the more remarkable as she only opened her workshop and store in 2018, after previously working in the financial sector. So this couldn't have been more of a successful career change.
The guide chose her because "she stood out from the beginning because of the rigourous way in which she selects her chocolate (organic and fair trade), sourced directly from Peru, Haiti and Madagascar." Her pralines, made from the chocolate from the three countries, which she likes to infuse with spices such as pepper, cardamom and nutmeg, also tipped the scales in her favour. She makes everything on site, on Avenue de la Chasse in Etterbeek, from the recipe to the ganache and chocolate bars, and people can watch her work from morning to night.
Gault&Millau's choices are based on blind tastings of pralines and other products from chocolatiers in Belgium and Luxembourg. The experts work in the same way as for the famous restaurant guide, anonymously and without commercial interests. Products are judged on appearance, taste and texture.
Jannes Deduytschaever from Ghent and Bernard Schobbens from Chaumont-Gistoux in Walloon Brabant also received awards.