The house of Damien André

“I have a Belgian heart in a French body.”

Damien found his calling as a chocolatier in Belgium. There, he discovered both a precise craft and a culture in which chocolate is part of everyday life. A family welcomed him and introduced him to its way of living, hosting and sharing.

Working with suppliers to the Belgian Royal Court and wearing the Belgian flag on his collar remain proud memories. That chocolate culture still shapes the creations he makes in Montreal today.

Damien trained with the Compagnons du Devoir and learned pastry-making under Jean-Philippe Gay. His career then took him to Belgium, Atlanta and Marseille, where he also became a teacher of his craft.

In Brussels, he helped establish a cocoa research laboratory within the group behind Godiva. His work brought together flavour development, research and production support. Travelling across Europe, meeting people and tasting new things became ways to inspire future creations.

During this part of his career at Godiva, Damien contributed to a range for supermarkets that was sold in more than 20 countries, including the United Arab Emirates and markets across Europe, the Americas and Asia, including Japan.

The experience gave him a lasting appetite for experimentation: understanding an ingredient, testing and refining it, then finding the idea behind a recipe in the finished chocolate.

For his single-origin dark chocolates, Damien works with Bassan, a Quebec chocolate manufacturer based in Carleton-sur-Mer. Each cocoa origin brings a different character; the work in the workshop aims to give that character room in every creation.

Bassan describes an approach centred on organic chocolates and fair practices towards producers. Choosing this supplier is part of a practical ambition: to keep more chocolate-making skills and production steps here in Quebec.

Our creations are handmade in the Sud-Ouest. We make the marshmallow for our Bil bears and toast the kataifi for our Dubai chocolates. We design our labels in-house and have them printed less than a kilometre from the workshop.

Our fresh Brussels-inspired truffles belong to the same approach: chocolates to enjoy within their freshness window, with close attention to texture and the pleasure of tasting.

It is slow, meticulous work. It keeps a craft alive, along with a way of sharing food shaped by European chocolate traditions, Quebec producers and neighbourhood artisans.