July 1st: Montezuma's "Orangutang" / "Surf Nut"

Kcal ??? Fat ??? Fat(sats) ??? Carbs ???

I realised today looking over my vast collection of bars that I have to review that I had neglected the remaining selection that Montezuma's sent me a few months back...so inorder to make it up to them I decided to bite the bullet and do the only thing I could do ....yep eat two of their bars in one day :D ... its a hard life sometimes!

The first bar I sampled was the "Orangutang" bar which was a mixture of 73% organic dark chocolate & sweet orange oil. Later in the evening I also helped myself to the "Surf Nut" bar which combined 34% milk chocolate with macadamia nuts & coconut. Both bars came in 45g servings and both proved to be more than substantial at fufilling my hunger needs.

The "Orangutang" and "Surf Nut" came presented in the same cardboard box / plastic wrapper presentation style as the other bars in the selection box. The boxes were nicely designed and implemented some nice colours but as with the rest of the selection bars I couldnt help but feel the plastic wrapping was just a bit on the tacky side...the bars themselves were presented nicely seperated in to six blocked chunks; I felt the "Surf Nut" had a more distinctive look as the implementation of the whole nuts gave it a more interesting appearance than the just purely blocked dark chocolate of the "Orangutang".

The "Orangutang" had a very slight fruity orange smell but failed to really register a cocoa scent of note. I would like to think that my dark chocolate palette has become reasonably adept but the intital flavour of this bar registered quite bitter to my tastebuds. I have had far stronger bars than this 73% but the initial bitterness in this bar wasnt the nicest. As the flavour developed it did progress to a pleasant rich flavour that had an ever so slight sweet vanilla aftertaste. The orange taste was refreshing though hardy anything overly special - a pretty standard orange flavour that I feel could have been better implemented with the use of orange pieces rather than the orange oil. The dark chocolate did have a nice smoothness once melted though I think the implementation of the orange pieces could have made for a more intresting contrasting texture.

The "Surf Nut" had a very nice creamy smell though lacked a nutty scent that could have really made it very enticing. The milk chocolate itself was genuinely great tasting and lived up to its aroma with a deliciously milk taste that had an enjoyable sweet aftertaste. This bar was literally crammed full of nuts and was all the better for it - what I also appreciated was the fact that the nuts were nicely dispersed with every block containing either one of the two different types. The macadamia nuts included in this bar were whole nuts and were genuinely the best tasting nuts I have ever had in a chocolate bar - buttery in taste and just absolutely deliciously crunchy and fresh tasting. The coconut was less forthcoming in flavour though added a similar fresh crunchy texture...its taste further extenuated the milkyness of the chocolate whilst adding a nice roasted undertone..it definately merited its inclusion in the bar.

Overall both these bars were pretty tasty though the "Surf Nut" genuinely stood out as one of the best whole nut bars I have tried on Chocolate Mission. I simply couldn't get enough of the macadamia nuts which seriosuly added an absolutely stunning nutty flavour - the coconut element less so but still added to a genuinely great texture. The "Organutang" bar was less spectacular though was a nice solid offering for a dark chocolate orange bar...as I said after the initial bitterness the dark chocolate was great tasting though I just think that the use of orange oil rather than orange pieces was a bit uninspired when considering the array of organic nuts and other fruit pieces that are used in other Montezuma's bars. I genuinely think you would enjoy both these bars if you like the sound of the flavours...I especially recommend the "Surf Nut" which is truly a unique great tasting nutty bar.

"Orangutang" 7.7 out of 10
"Surf Nut" 8.6 out of 10