The Chocolate Line

Modern-thinking chocolatier Dominique Persoone trained in Bruges, where his intimate and woody shop would not prepare you for the OTT opulence of this Antwerp outpost, in a building which previously housed Napoleon, Leopold II and the Belgian royal family. Persoone started the Chocolate Line in 1992 with Fabienne Destaercke, and his beautifully excecuted left-field creations – unusual flavours and a heady degree of science in the mix – are a product of his combined devotion to "craftsmanship and rock 'n' roll". The Antwerp store, opened in 2010 and located quite prominently in the Meir shopping street, screams GIFT SHOP!, for better or for worse, but the goods are top quality. Persoone's signature contribution to the canon of chocolate novelty is his clear-plastic Chocolate Shooter contraption, devised for the early-June birthdays of Rolling Stones members Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood. As with cocaine, the nostrils inhale powder for a high, though in this case it's chocolate powder and both nostrils are used simultaneously. And the rush is legal. Chocolate Line. As in line of...