Cioccolato
A Lisbon Chocolate Tour
Portugal has a great tradition of pastelerias and these can be found on almost every street corner. Chocolatiers and stores that sell good chocolate on the other hand are more difficult to find, but even these can be found, offering anything from Portuguese artisanal chocolates to international chocolate brands. What follows is a chocolate tour through Lisbon’s quaint neighborhoods.
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Bem me quer – Av. Almirante Reis, 152-A, Lisbon (Praça do Chile)
Opening hours: Mon – Sat 8h – 19h
Bem me quer (or ‘daisy’ in English) is a really nice vegetarian restaurant / coffee shop that also makes and sells its own chocolates. They do not sell a wide range of chocolates, but have some interesting flavors such as lemon thyme, pepper and salt with whole peppercorns and different (green) tea flavors. All chocolates are made with Valhrona chocolate and no sugar is added. And if you have time to sit down, you have to try their banoffee pie, which, although vegan, is really creamy without being overly sweet and in itself worth the trip to this part of Lisbon.
Sept. 8, 2009 update: It seems like they are no longer selling chocolates, although this still needs to be confirmed.
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Cacao Sampaka- Amoreiras Shopping Center (Amoreiras)
Opening hours: Mon – Sun 10h – 23h
This chocolate store in the Amoreiras Shopping Center is part of the Cacao Sampaka chain a Spanish chocolate manufacturer with stores in Al-Kobar, Barcelona, Berlin, Bilbao, Dubai, Madrid, Malaga, Tokio and Valencia. It has an extensive collection of chocolates in 8 different palettes: single bean origins, dried fruit and nuts, cocoas and spices from the Americas,
herbs and flowers, liqueurs, fruits and preserves and truffles. Besides their chocolates they also offer an extensive range of chocolate bars, chocolate sauces and spreads and chocolate for cooking, fondues, and hot chocolate. There is also a small café, where you can try their delicious hot chocolate, which is as hot chocolate should be ‘rich and thick’ and can be ordered in different flavors.
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Claudio Corallo – Rua Cecilio da Sousa, 85, Lisbon (Principe Real)
Opening hours: Mon – Fri 10h – 19h and Sat 10h – 14h
Claudio Corallo makes his own chocolate on the tiny volcanic archipelago of São Tomé e Príncipe, where he and his family are managing their own plantation and are producing pure chocolate without any additives. In their Lisbon store they sell a variety of chocolate from their plantation such as the pure 100% chocolate, soft 70% chocolate and 80% sablé with tiny coffee beans covered in chocolate as well as a very limited selection of fine chocolates. They also serve their own coffee, which comes with a piece of their own chocolate, and they have their own chocolate ice cream.
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Denegro – Rua de S. Bento, nº 333 (Rato)
Opening hours: Mon – Fri 10.30h – 19.30h and Sat 10.30h – 13.30h
Denegro is an artisan chocolatier that recently located to Rua de S. Bento making it much more accessible than its previous location in the suburbs of Lisbon. Upon entering the store you are enveloped by the smell of chocolate as chocolates are made on-site and you can actually watch the chocolatier making Denegro’s delicate looking chocolates, truffles, orangettes and cakes. The chocolates and truffles are made from Callebaut chocolate and come in flavors such as chestnut, lime, passion-fruit, raspberry, port wine and lavender.
They also sell macarons, but a real chocoholic should stick to the chocolates, they are worth it.
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ELLG Gourmet -V. Óscar Monteiro Torres, 61 – A, Lisbon (Campo Pequeno/Entrecampos)
Opening hours: Mon – Fri 9.30h – 19h and Sat 10h – 18h
ELLG is tucked away in a street just off Lisbon’s Campo Pequeno but it is worth the trip from the city center if you want to complete your chocolate tour. They make their own chocolates (including apricot and coffee chocolates), truffles (including tawny port vintage truffles and plum truffles), chocolate bars (including dark chocolate with lemon-flavored crystallized sugar) and recreations of traditional Portuguese cookies. The design and packaging of their products also makes this an excellent destination for buying presents for chocolate lovers.
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Opening hours: Tue – Sat 10h – 14h and 15h – 19h
A quaint little shop on the outside of the Mercado Municipal in Campo de Ourique. They sell delicious artisanal chocolates and truffles from several Portuguese chocolatiers, although strangely enough there is no indication who the chocolatier is of a particular selection of chocolates. The chocolates have unique and delicate flavors and include such flavors as tonka, balsamic vinegar, madeira wine and pepper & salt. Besides chocolates they all sell other gourmet chocolate products varying from cooking chocolate, chocolate covered dried fruits, hot chocolate and tea with a chocolate aroma.
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Rojoo – Rua de Santa Justa, 84, Lisbon (Baixa)
Opening hours: Mon – Sat 9h – 20h
Rojoo is a small café / chocolate shop in Baixa and they are the sole distributor of Zotter chocolate in Portugal. Zotter is an Austrian chocolate manufacturer famous for its organic chocolate bars that come in flavors such as Pink Grapefruit with Cashew Kernels, Sour Cherries with Sesame and Hempseed and Mocha and Portuguese inspired flavors such as Madeira Wine, Poncha, Maracuja and Vinho do Porto. The store carries all the Zotter ranges including the hand-scooped chocolate bars, plain chocolate bars, drinking chocolate and balleros, which are described as ‘delightful feats (dried fruit, roasted pieces of nuts and all sorts of grains) rolled in chocolate and at Rojoo they even have their own chocolate brownies and ice cream made from Zotter chocolate.
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São Tomé hand made chocolates are completely handcrafted and made in Portugal with the pure and special cocoa from São Tomé. The chocolate is presented in 5 different kinds that all have 70% cocoa: Chocolate 70% cocoa, Chocolate with crystal sugar, Chocolate with orange, Chocolate with raisins and brandy and Chocolate that can be used for culinary purposes.
The original store is in Evora but São Tomé chocolates are on sale in several stores in Lisbon including Mercado Chocolates and the following store:
Jimmy Camões – Portuguese Styleshop, Rua das Flores, 100, Lisbon (Praça Luis de Camões
Opening hours: Mon – Sat 10h30 – 19h30
This store also sells other original products made only by Portuguese designers.
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Xocoa – Rua do Crucifixo, 112-114, Lisbon (Baixa / Chiado)
Opening hours: Mon – Sat 10h – 20h
Hidden in a small street behind Armazéns do Chiado in Baixa you can find Xocoa, which is part of a Spanish chain and is the first store outside of Spain. Xocoa is nicely designed store offering different chocolates in flavors such as green tea, ginger, wasabi or tequila and a even wider range of chocolate bars and other unique chocolate products such as a chocolate cd, chocolate lollipops or buscapés, which are small praline bars covered with a layer of chocolate and cocoa.
Besides chocolate Xocoa also sells artisanal cookies from Demasié, which come both in unique salty flavors such as Pesto or Pizza and sweet varieties such as yogurt, orange or chocolate.