July 28th: Hotel Chocolat Milk Rocky Road

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

Ever since I have started reviewing Hotel Chocolat products, time and time again readers were suggesting that I try this 'Milk Rocky Road' slab. Luckily for me one was included with the all new 'Peepster Box' selection that Hotel Chocolat sent me through last week.

The 'Milk Rocky Road' is formed of a base slab of standard 40% house milk chocolate with the inclusion of chocolate chip cookie pieces, puffed rice and white chocolate chunks. This slab was nigh on impossible to split up without bits of chocolate, rice and cookie flying all over the place...but even I will admit it looked awesome! Just look at the picture above! It looked stunningly crafted and the extra ingredients looked extremely generously portioned and interesting! The slab had a less distinct smell than other Hotel Chocolat offerings I have reviewed in the past. The normal chocolatey milky smell took a back seat to a more reserved malty biscuity one...still pleasant, but not quite as enticing or forthcoming as others have been.

What with all the different elements in the bar each mouthful made for an exciting eating experience, as there was some pleasure in the sheer anticipation of awaiting the flavours that would emerge with each bite. As with the plain 40% house slab the milk chocolate was divine...a very long creamy cocoa taste just lit up my tastebuds...it was as luxurious as before and when melted had a silky soft but thick feel in the mouth.

The first added ingredient I came across were the rice crispies, and to be frank they were nothing special. They were rather large in their build and took up alot of space in the chocolate...their texture added a nice crunch though flavourwise they added very little as the milk chocolate soon overpowered their weak malty flavour. The white chocolate pieces were fairly generously portioned in my slab and I enjoyed them immensely. The white chocolate chunks were of the house white, formed of 29% cocoa and 20% milk solids...it tasted very sweet and alot milkier than the milk chocolate which provided a nice distinctive contrast of flavours. In the middle of the bar was a very sizeable 'chocolate chip cookie' piece. When I ate this slab I ate all around this piece...saving it for a 'grand finale' so to speak....unfortunately this finale was somewhat lacking flavour. Suprisingly when I ate the cookie piece the actual taste was very lacking...it was very bland and only offered a minor cookie dough like tinge when it was completely eaten out of isolation from the milk chocolate base...which was fiddly to do nonetheless. Its texture had a nice cookie crumblyness though this hardly made up for its lack of flavour.

Overall this bar all but proves that sometimes its just better to stick to what you do best....and for Hotel Chocolat its seems to be plain chocolate! The milk and white chocolate components were both divine and tasted great. This slab is really let down by the rice and cookie pieces. The rice just seemed like filler and really added nothing to the overall flavour....to me it just felt like they took up space in the slab and I would have preffered them left out altogether. The biggest letdown of the bar has to be the cookie piece which really lacked the biscuity taste I was hoping it would add...it was very disappointing. To be honest I think if your looking to hang a bit of chocolate up on the wall - there aren't many prettier offerings on the market - this slab looks a work of art. Unfortunately though despite still having a very pleasant base milk chocolate, the added ingredients are a bit of a let down and for this reason I would suggest probably looking elsewhere in the Hotel Chocolat range. An interesting variant... just not necessarilly the best one though.

7.8 out of 10