Puccini Bomboni

Ans van Soelen's excellent Amsterdam chocolate institution started in 1987 as a cake-and-chocolates shop but then abandoned the pastry side of the operation in the late 1990s. These bon bons are beefier-sized than usual, weighing in at about an ounce per piece, and there are more than 30 to choose from, with another 50-plus chocolate slabs, solids and speciments on offer, all produced on the premises using Callebaut. They don't do truffles per se, and there's no added sugar involved. Just chocolate and cream (and no butter). A second branch, opened shortly after the first, can be found on a corner opposite the canal at Singel 184 (plus an oulet in Utrecht). For the record, 'bomboni' is Old Italian for 'bon bon'.