The Old Chocolate House in central Bruges is a shop and tea room offering the most decadent hot chocolate and other sweets!
Bruges (or, in Dutch, Brugge) is a quaint city in Belgium that’s also known as “the Venice of the North.”
This tiny town with cobblestone streets, canal boat rides and functional windmills isn’t far from the English Channel, and it’s not unusual for the weather to be a bit damp and chilly.
We visited on a rainy, 60-degree day in July, and hot chocolate sounded like the best thing in the world. News flash: the hot chocolate at the Old Chocolate House was absolutely the best thing ever.
Finding the Old Chocolate House
We walked down rainy streets towards the Old Chocolate House and started dreaming of cocoa. It's located very near the city center, on Mariastraat.
The Old Chocolate House is just off Simon Stevinplein, one of many city squares, and very close to two towering cathedrals: Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk and Sint-Salvators.
It's about a 5-minute walk from the ever-popular Market Square.
In the shop, you can buy chocolate and other goodies, but if you want to linger, go to their tearoom next door (the former Hotel Notre Dame).
This is where you'll be able to order hot chocolate, "Grandmother's" waffles, or tea or coffee.
The tearoom is closed on Wednesdays, though the shop is open every day. Check the website for open hours.
We waited in line for just a few minutes, and then it was our turn!
On the Tearoom Menu
Everything on the menu sounded phenomenal, but of course we had to try one of their DIY hot chocolate drinks where you whisk chocolate into hot milk right at your table.
(The menu is subject to change from time to time.)
After confirming with the server which drinks were pre-made and which you whisked, we decided to try the Diabolo (a spicy hot chocolate that needed to be whisked at the table), and the tiramisu chocolademelk (marked on the menu with a cocoa bean as a favorite).
The Diabolo comes with dark chocolate wafers, ginger, and chilis, which you whisk into a cup of hot milk.
You can select add-on toppings or shots from the menu if you want.
The tiramisu hot chocolate included amaretto, espresso, and a decadent whipped cream.
Could we have shared? Were they big enough? Yes, they probably were, but also... we didn’t want to! We did both taste each other’s hot chocolate, though, so I can say for sure that both were delightful.
We also opted for a heart waffle with strawberries and whipped cream. It reminded me of the very similar, also amazing, Belgian waffle we had at Kaffi Imlur in Iceland.
If you’ll be in Bruges, this is a must stop!
Another quintessential Belgian experience is visiting a brewery. In Bruges, we liked the Brewery Bourgogne des Flandres.
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