Leonidas is open at Belval Plaza

Good news for anyone who has ever turned up to a dinner empty-handed: Leonidas opened at Belval Plaza on Thursday 1 October.

I popped in a few days later and the shop was already in its autumn clothes. There were knitted pumpkins in the window, a couple of gnomes in orange hats looking very pleased with themselves, and gift baskets wrapped in gold ribbon. Inside, a few people were at the counter pointing at pralines. That’s the best part of a Leonidas shop: you pick your chocolates one by one, and they get weighed and boxed for you.

While you wait, look up at the back wall. There’s a portrait of the man who gave the shop its name, with Maître chocolatier, 1913 written beside him. More than a hundred years of pralines, and now there’s a shop in Belval.

It’s open Monday to Friday from 10:00 to 20:00, and on Saturday from 09:00 to 19:00. Yes, Saturday opens earlier, so you can get your chocolate in before the Plaza gets busy. You can call them on +352 26 55 05 65. I checked these hours at the counter, and when I started explaining what I Love Belval is, it turned out they already knew it.

On Sundays the Plaza is closed, and so is Leonidas. If it’s Sunday morning and you’ve just remembered you’re invited to lunch, don’t panic: the Leonidas counter in the Cactus at Lallange opens in the morning.

Leonidas is one of three new shops announced for the Plaza this autumn, with Devred and Salsa Jeans. Here’s the first announcement. The map and the rest are on its page.

If you go, let me know what ended up in your box.