This is a well known chocolate brand that originated in Belgium - a country famous for its chocolate production. This company has already opened several cafés in big cities around the world, including London, Antwerp, Paris and Moscow.
In the heart of Russia's capital there is nestled a small cozy café called Guylian that opened its doors three years ago. It is truly a unique place, even by Moscow standards. Here one may taste the incomparable flavor of Belgian chocolate, as well as a full menu of mostly Italian dishes.
The staff is well-trained and the café has a nice way of making guests feel at home. With two floors, the place is spacious and still cozy and well-disposed to good service.
For early birds the café offers its special breakfast. The "Guylian breakfast" is a 320-ruble feast that includes two buns, fresh-baked bread from Guylian's chocolate dough, orange juice and hot drink of choice. There is also the Belgian Chocolate Breakfast for 230 rubles, or an omelet for the same price.
If you go to Guylian's at dinner time you will find a nice variety of soups between 250-395 rubles. The choice is really good especially when we consider that this is a café with a restaurant menu. Unfortunately, some of the more tempting dishes were not available during my visit. Thus, I missed an opportunity to sample the "duck breast a l'orange" for 280 rubles. Still, there was plenty of meat and fish dishes to choose from. The most expensive selection on the menu is Tenderloin (900 rubles). But most of the selections varied between 550 and 650 rubles per plate. That is for a serious meal.
Snacks are provided in even a more variety of choices, and there are some really wonderful salads. It isn't common in Moscow restaurants that a plate is full of the most attractive element of a particular dish, but my "Goat's Cheese Summer Salad" was overflowing with fresh goat cheese, in addition to fresh green salad, green beans, sun-dried tomatoes, raisins, apple and alfalfa. The taste was fantastic, but the most surprising thing here were the tomatoes. I suspect they really dried them in the sun, as it's impossible to make it in such a tasty way by any other method.
Women will enjoy the democracy of being able to choose servings of mini sandwich portions! These are served either cold or warm, as ordered, and looked quite tasty and well-decorated on the plate of my neighbor. The price for these lady fingers is about 225-300 rubles for cold selections, and 250-390 rubles for the hot.
Returning to the fact that it is a Belgian café, it is logical to order some dessert here. Belgium is famous for its waffles, and so in "Guylian" one may try this wonderful dessert. But for really great pleasure you will have to choose a topping as well. For a portion of waffles one will have to pay 250 rubles, while the prices of toppings are among 30-100 rubles.
Plus, there is a special three-layer cake "Guylian Cake Trio": vanilla and pineapple, Guylian praline and chocolate brownie with walnuts. Nowhere else may taste its original taste. And of course it is possible to order fondue for 375 rubles there.
As for me, I ordered a fruit tart, decorated with some chocolate and mint. Very beautiful dish, but it wasn't freshly-baked. This one was just from the fridge and the fruits on the top were frozen. The price explains this fact - only 190 rubles.
"Guylian" café in Moscow also sells its chocolate, as it is a chocolate boutique too.
Sometimes, there are some parties in this café: at the end of each month the foreigners and their friends come here to drink some Belgium beer and to have good time there. In fact the café is truly adored by foreigners - they count approximately 50 percent of all the guests. Some people come here so often that they have already became "Guylian's" patrons, whose tastes are already known in the café. Join the company!
In conclusion, I'd like to say some words about the story of Chocolaterie Guylian. It all began in 1960 when Guy Foubert married Liliane. The name "Guylian" is a combination of the first names of the bride and groom - Guy and Liliane. At that time, the happy couple had a small production kitchen in their home in Sint-Niklaas, producing pralines and truffles which they sold to the local chocolate shops. Soon, Guylian developed their own unique collection of chocolate sea shells shapes. Today, this brand is very popular all over the world and the company is still developing its wonderful technique.
By Daria Chernyshova
