Created by a team of some of the world's finest confectioners and designed by the creative head of a fashion line, a Debailleul chocolate box is a treat to the palate and eyes

For Italian bad boy Casanova, chocolate apparently worked like the infamous blue pill. He credited its aphrodisiac qualities for many of his conquests. The Aztec Emperor, Montezuma II, according to records, only ever drank Chocolati, a beverage that he claimed, fought fatigue.



There are a hundred good reasons to eat chocolate, but to us, there's only one that really matters ufffd it's delightful.

So you can imagine how happy we were when we heard that Debailleul, a French patisserie, is setting up shop in Mumbai next month. They have already begun offering free home delivery of their hand-crafted Belgian chocolates to give the city a taste of what's coming.

Debailleul's Coffret Grande (French for big box), with 12 delicious 'saveurs' (flavours) was delivered to our doorstep.

At first, we admit, the sight of the little container was disappointingu00a0-- especially since we paid Rs 965 for it. (That's the price for a box of 9, three extra pieces were thrown in). A little over five inches by four inches and just about an inch deep, we wondered if this would be a big enough gift for a friend.u00a0

On closer examination however, we were charmed by the elaborate design on the box, which delicately fused assorted symbols such as crowns, doves, hearts, cherries and leaves into a romantic vintage patternu00a0-- a pretty store for keepsakes and indeed, one that spells true class, size notwithstanding.

It came as little surprise to us to discover that the confectionary brand, which owes its name to its French founder Marc Debailleul, has received several culinary awards, a Meilleur Ouverier de France and a World Confectionary Champion.

It is now co-owned by Reinhilde Gielen, creative director of one of Belgium's leading luxury fashion brands. Debailleul contributes to product development and remains brand-ambassador.

There are 36 varieties of bonbons available at Debailleul's, but from the 12 we sampled, two pralines stole the showu00a0-- the Belle, a 70 per cent dark-chocolate encased hazelnut and almond praline and La Reine, a heart-shaped milk-chocolate coated hazelnut praline.

Dentelle, an almond praline ganache is a treat for marzipan-lovers while Juliette, a pretty pink bonbon is best described as a vanilla fudge ganache encased in a slightly bitter shell.

We also loved Princesse, with its Raspberry ganache encased in 70 per cent dark chocolate, but with its sharp filling and bitter crust, this is perhaps best reserved for hard-core chocolate connoisseurs, just as Colette, a Moccha ganache would, likely, be most appreciated by coffee-buffs.