Belgian chocolate in Ireland — made by people who actually know it
A lot of chocolatiers in Ireland will tell you they use Belgian chocolate. That's true of us too — but there's a difference. Ferdinand, who founded Chez Emily with his wife Helena in 1996, is Belgian. He didn't learn about Belgian chocolate from a supplier's brochure. He grew up with it.
Helena is the daughter of Belgian parents who emigrated to Ireland in 1964 — making her second-generation Belgian-Irish. The two met in Belgium in 1983, and when they eventually moved to Ireland together in the summer of 1996, they brought something with them that no amount of sourcing or training can replicate: the original family recipes.
Chez Emily has been making handcrafted Belgian chocolate in Ireland since July 1996. Almost thirty years later, those same recipes are still the foundation of everything we produce.
What actually makes Belgian chocolate different?
Belgian chocolate has a global reputation, but the reason for it is specific. It comes down to ingredients, standards, and a tradition of craft that developed over more than a century.
Belgian chocolate must contain a minimum of 35% cocoa solids and use real cocoa butter — not the vegetable fat substitutes that are common in lower-quality chocolate. The EU protects the label, so "Belgian chocolate" is not just a marketing phrase. It means something defined.
In practice, what that means for the person eating it is a smoother melt, a cleaner finish, and a depth of flavour that cheaper chocolate can't replicate. Real cocoa butter melts at body temperature, which is why a good Belgian chocolate seems to dissolve on the tongue rather than sit there.
Ferdinand grew up eating this. It's the standard he measures everything against — and it's why Chez Emily has never compromised on the couverture we use.
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What is couverture — and why does it matter?
Couverture is the professional-grade chocolate used by chocolatiers. It has a higher cocoa butter content than standard chocolate — typically 31–38% — which makes it flow more easily when melted and produces a thinner, crispier shell, better snap, and a finer gloss on the finished chocolate.
The difference between working with quality Belgian couverture and using compound chocolate (the kind that uses vegetable fat) is something you can see in the finished product as much as taste. A properly tempered Belgian couverture chocolate has a shine to it and a clean snap when you break it. Compound chocolate is dull and soft by comparison.
Every chocolate Chez Emily makes — truffles, pralines, gift boxes, Dubai chocolate, slabs, lollipops — starts with Belgian couverture. It's not negotiable for us. It's where the standard comes from.
The family recipes
When Ferdinand and Helena founded Chez Emily in 1996, the recipes they used weren't adapted from a textbook or a professional training course. They came from the family — developed and refined over generations in Belgium, and brought to Ireland when Ferdinand and Helena made the move.
Those recipes have changed very little in the nearly thirty years since. The fillings, the ratios, the techniques for tempering and hand-finishing — these are things that were worked out long before Chez Emily existed, by people who knew Belgian chocolate not as a product category but as a daily reality.
That's unusual. Most chocolatiers — even very good ones — are working from professional training or adapted recipes. We're working from something older than the business itself.
Gluten free. Vegan friendly dark chocolate.
All Chez Emily chocolates are made to gluten free recipes. Our full dark chocolate range — made with 70.4% cocoa Belgian couverture — is also vegan friendly. Because we work with dairy products on the premises, there is a small possibility of cross-contamination for those with severe allergies. Allergens are always clearly listed on each product.
Where to find us
We make our chocolates at our workshop in Coolquay, Co. Dublin, and sell from two locations:
- 7 Bridge Street, Ashbourne, Co. Meath — our main retail shop
- Coolquay, The Ward, Co. Dublin — where the chocolates are made
We also ship across Ireland. If you'd like to try the range, our gift box collection is a good starting point — it gives you a cross-section of what we make.
Why it matters that we're actually Belgian
There are plenty of Irish chocolatiers doing excellent work. Many of them use Belgian couverture, just as we do. The difference with Chez Emily is not just the ingredients — it's the context.
Ferdinand didn't choose Belgian chocolate because it has a good reputation. He makes it the way he makes it because that's how it was made where he came from. Helena grew up between two cultures and understood both. When they started Chez Emily in 1996, they weren't importing an idea — they were continuing a practice.
That's what "Irish-Belgian chocolaterie" actually means.
