Belgian chocolatier goes 'bean-to-bar' for best taste

Changing tradition

It's not just the cocoa beans that have been taken back to their roots.

Behind a big window in his workshop, watched by curious customers, are two huge machines.

One dates from the 1950s and was rescued from an abandoned chocolate factory in Asia. The other, for grinding, has two huge granite wheels which turn the roasted and crushed beans into chocolate liquor, the base for all recipes.

The machine dates from the 19th century and was being used as a decoration in a factory in Greece, but was restored thanks to the know-how of Belgian workers.

"These are the techniques which give you flavor," Nihant says.

It is the operator's job to determine when the cooking process is finished, a crucial yet precise step which extracts the taste from the cocoa.

It's this process that allows Nihant to make a 70-percent dark chocolate that has strong taste without the bitterness.

The chocolatier has made his own expertise the centrepiece of his Christmas window display: five stars representing each of the "grand cru" or major "vintages" of chocolates that he makes.

The one in the middle is stuffed with praline made with lightly salted pecans.

Nihant started off his business in the garage of his parents-in-law and in 10 years he has expanded three times.

Today, he has four shops in Belgium while his chocolate is also sold in around a dozen shops in Japan. He is in talks to open in China and the United States, as well as a tie-in with the famed Harrods department store in London.

"We are a generation which is turning tradition and the old way of doing things on its head. We're doing our bit for the Belgian tradition," he says.