Bean to bonbon
Pierre Marcolini
Pierre Marcolini, pastry world champion in 1995, built a chocolate house from Brussels that roasts its own beans and sells its bonbons in Paris, London, Tokyo and beyond: the chocolatier as couturier.
- Currently
- Pierre Marcolini, Brussels
- City
- Paris
Marcolini won the Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie in 1995 and opened his first shop in Brussels the same year. He was among the first luxury chocolatiers to source and roast his own cacao, travelling to plantations in Madagascar, Ecuador and Peru, and his house sells single-origin bars beside the bonbons, the hearts and the seasonal collections with a fashion house’s sense of packaging. Named world’s best pastry chef in 2020, he has boutiques across Europe and Asia.
His style is bright and fruit-led: high cacao, low sugar, ganaches that taste of the origin. The Grand Sablon shop in Brussels is the mother house; the Paris and Tokyo boutiques are the ones in this guide.
Marcolini is the pastry champion who became the chocolatier of record.
The path
- 1995
Pastry world champion, first shop in Brussels
- 2001
Begins roasting his own cacao
- 2020
World’s best pastry chef
- 2024
Boutiques from Paris to Tokyo
Where to taste the work
