Chocolate connoisseurs and all those with a sweet tooth no longer need to travel to Paris or Vienna to taste the world's best chocolate delicacies. Polish company Le Chocolat has opened an exclusive chocolate store in an elegant historic building on Żurawia Street in Warsaw. The Le Chocolat store's interior is modeled after the best chocolate boutiques in Europe, especially those in France, and it is also a throwback to the kind of candy stores that existed in Poland before World War II.

Chocolate lovers will find a large range of luxury handmade chocolates here, with 26 brands from 13 countries that were previously unavailable in Poland. These include Godiva of Belgium, Michel Cluizel and Galler of France, Summerbird of Denmark, Slitti and Amedei of Italy, and Keiko of Japan.

Le Chocolat owners Dorota Iwanicka and Wolfgang Bauer import a carefully selected range of products made from the highest quality ingredients by the world's most reputable chocolatiers. "These products are the world's best on the market for luxury chocolate," says Dorota Iwanicka. "They are sold in selected elegant stores in cities from New York to Paris and Tokyo. The chocolatiers whose products we sell in our store are quite special -they select special plantations and cocoa beans, observe fair trade practices, and take care of the environment. The organic Dagoba and Domori chocolates we sell contain pure chocolate with simple natural ingredients."

Those with a craving for chocolate fillings will not be disappointed, either. In the center of the store, they will discover a pyramid of selected pralines from exclusive international suppliers. Those with creamy marzipan and champagne fillings are especially worth recommending. Yet another treat at Le Chocolat is the exquisite mouse au chocolat made on the premises every day from fine Swiss chocolate.

Marzena Robinson