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Kcal ??? Fat ??? Fat(sats) ??? Carbs ???The last flavour left for me to sample from my latest 'Peepster Box' was the 'Caramellow' which came billed as 'Swirls of caramel and milk chocolate topped with florentine, caramel drops and crunchy cinder toffee'.
The slab was similar in its build to the previously reviewed 'Rocky Road' - a single 100g slab with a solid base of milk chocolate with added extra elements. Normally products of this size I would eat over two sittings - if you haven't peeked at the score already im going to spoil the review for you here by revealing that this bar was simply too good to not eat all at once...it was simply just too moreish. The slab looked absolutely fantastic - the blend of the two shades of chocolate had a delightful swirl pattern and the extra elements to the bar just made for an outlandish and interesting look - not quite the diversification of colours as with the 'Rocky Road', but it still looked marvellous. I was expecting an aroma similar to the one experienced with the 40% house milk chocolate bar and wasn't disappointed. It smelt creamy and chocolaty with an added sweet toffee like edge...well and truly tempting.
The milk chocolate was of the standard 40% house recipe and was as delicious as ever with its super smooth cocoa heavy taste. What was surprising though was that the milk chocolate was outshone by the simply outstanding flavour of the caramel chocolate that tasted out of this world. The caramel chocolate constituted 28% of the base of the bar and also the 'caramel drop' pieces on top the slab. It was immensely creamy and had an even greater buttery taste that was all the more delicious with its heavily toffee noted aftertaste. The florentine pieces delivered another delightful flavour element, adding a nice almond and hazelnut woody type nuttiness where present.
You may remember that the 'Rocky Road' slab had a similar centrepiece component as with the cinder toffee piece in this 'Caramellow' slab. Unlike the cookie piece in the 'Rocky Road' the cinder toffee was glorious in its taste and well worthy of saving for the very last bite. It had a toffee brittle like sugary taste that although sweet, was a wonderful texture variation against the smooth chocolate elements. Each bite of this slab was wonderfully diverse and equally as rich in its flavour - simply magnificent.
Overall this certainly was a busy slab, though each ingredient genuinely added to what was a delightful culmination of flavours. The milk chocolate was as good as ever; though was outshone by the caramel chocolate which was rich, creamy and had a wonderful toffee noted flavour. The florentine squares, caramel drops and cinder toffee piece not only made the bar look amazing but were all great additional flavour elements, and made each bite amazingly diverse. Im running out of superlatives to use for Hotel Chocolat, this is one of my favourite products of theirs and is definitely up there amongst the best bars I have tried. Yet more fantastic stuff from Hotel Chocolat and one for caramel and milk chocolate fans alike - need I even say I recommend this!?
9.3 out of 10
Posts
28 comments:
I'm embarrassed to say I've never tried Hotel Chocolate, yet everyone raves.
You don't seem to be running out of superlatives. I love "busy slab."
Hey, I was at the candy counter at a local Irish Fest (a really good one) and EVERY piece of candy was English. I'll have to put up photos for you to check out and make sure. I had to buy a lot of it of course.
Jeanna The banner in my review does link to the UK store but I think in the top right there is an option to head to the US one! The range is somewhat limited in comparison but still worth looking at.
LoL i so am running out of superlatives! By 'busy' i meant it had loads of different ingredients i.e. the two chocolates, drops, florentine, cinder toffee....it just had loads going on!
I seriously cant waite to see the pics from this festival! Sounds absolutely awesome! Im gonna have a field day with that post...im glad you have bought alot of it good stuff!
I hope you can get hold of some HC products! If you leave it much longer I will have to see what strings I can pull....saying that I need to e-mail them myself for some more samples! LOL Im all out ahhhhhh!
Thanks
Jim
I don't think I was thinking of Hotel Chocolat when I was last at the World Market, since two good candy stores closed, it's the best bet right now.
We'll see how much candy is left. Of course I had to dive into the buttons. Mmmm. And I don't think I've had a Mars bar before. It's like a Milkshake, 3 Musketeers, and a Milky Way. (Loved the old Mars bar—Snickers with Almond is the closest thing now.) I was going to give the Mars to my candy addict mother, but alas.
Jeanna Dammit I keep meaning to get around to reviewing those Giant Cadbury Buttons!! Hopefully I can deliver the review sometime next week - the schedule is packed at the mo!!
The 'Mars bar' we have here is the 'Milky Way'bar to you guys is it not!?
Im so confused with Mars and their branding!? Did the old Mars contain nuts then!?
As for giving one away - that is not advisable missus!! No one would get my Mars Bars lol!!
Im gonna take a look at the Dish tonight! I would do now but want to give it a proper read!
Thanks
Jim
Yeah the old one had almonds and is pretty much the Snickers w/Almonds. The best single description of your Mars bar is probably calling it a Milky Way, although there is a Milkshake and 3 Musketeers component to it.
I was thinking of giving the whole giant bag of candy away—I just devoured that big arse Kit Kat, sooo much better than the regular one. I thought you reviewed it, but can't find it. I know you've eaten some weird Kit Kats.
There's nothing much happening on the blog except one of those Fun Mondays which is kind of like a bloggers chic flick. However, Terry from The Chocolate Review was part of the inspiration. Sometimes you have to look really close to see what anything has to do with candy.
Jeanna :O :O giving the whole thing away nooooo! keep hold of the stuff you at least haven't tried!!
Man I cant keep up with the whole Mars bar/Milkway branding thing! How bloody confusing it all is!
Sounds to me like you had a Kit Kat Chunky!!
I have reviewed the KK Chunky Cookie Dough: http://www.chocolatemission.net/2008/06/june-11th-kit-kat-chunky-cookie-dough.html
and the KK Chunky Peanut Butter: http://www.chocolatemission.net/2008/02/february-21st-nestle-kit-kat-chunky.html
...just not the original yet! I should really get on that! Funny you should mention Kit Kats - im actually working my way through a large batch from Japan for a MEGA review of sorts - man do they have some weired flavours! Im gonna deliver that at the weekend hopefully!
Thanks
Jim
Jim you made me drool again!
GiGi HaHa good stuff! Hotel Chocolat Sundays will be continuing :D :D they just sent me through a new batch today!!! Woohooo let the good times roll on :D You need to get involved with the HC stuff missus!
Thanks
Jim
Hotel Chocolat is by far the best brand of chocolate out there, so much so that anything else tastes pathetic in comparison! My tastes have now become too expensive to satisfy!
You seem a busy man, but if you get the opportunity you really need to visit a store and buy some of the chocolates in little plastic cases, they're sold in packs of 6, and you can't get them online: they are amazing... I'd reccommend the 'Caesar', 'Pecan Praline', 'Florentine', 'Cinammon nut Crunch', Cookie Crunch' and the 'Praline Selection' (to name a few). Seriously, the bars may well be divine, but you've experienced nothing until you've tried their individual chocolates too! And as an added bonus, buying them in bulk cuts costs :)
Keep up the good work!
Kate lol it sounds like your a huge fan of Hotel Chocolat!
I certainly am really busy at the minute but those are certainly items I would love to review in the future! They all sound great and im gonna have a look at them on the site now!
For the next month though my HC reviews will be focused on their Dark Chocolate slabs - they arrived in the post this morning woohoo :D :D
Thanks for suggestions! I hope you continue to reading. Thanks for the contribution.
Jim
Dammit, this sounds absolutely delicious. I'm going to have to try and get me some of this busy slab :)
What street retailers stock Hotel Chocolat (if any)?
Nice work Jim.
Yup Yup
It certainly is a 'busy' slab haha :D well I thought it was a good way of describing it anyway! Theres certainly alot of flavours going on!!
As for people that stock HC products...I dont believe anyone apart from HC does!! There are HC located in:
Basingstoke
Birmingham
Bluewater, Kent
Brighton (Coming soon)
Bristol - Opening September
Bromley
Cambridge
Canterbury
Dudley
Exeter
Heathrow, Terminal 5
Kensington, London
Kings Road, London (Coming soon)
Knightsbridge, London
Lakeside, West Thurrock
Leeds - Opening October
Maidstone
Manchester
MetroCentre, Gateshead
Milton Keynes
Moorgate, London
Norwich
Nottingham
Plymouth
Reading
Solihull
Southampton
St. Albans
Telford
Watford
Windsor
York
... Looking at their website it says they are shut Saturdays :S :S Surely not!?
alternatively you could just order off the site! Let me know if you get round to trying any of them! I will be starting on a Dark themed Peepster box this weekend! I cannae waite :)
Cheers
Jim
Wow, this one looks amazing. I would hate to see the price though.
Paul
Google tells me £3.50 British pounds = 7.4 Australian dollars
im guessing thats got to be expensive for you guys aswell huh!?
I live verry close to a Hotel Chocolat but have never been in it! This caramel one looks very tasty though, a bit expensive though looking at the website! For better chocolates I often go to Thortons when they have a sale on!
Roisin I don't think I could resist if I lived close to an HC shop! It's probably a lucky thing I don't!
Thorntons is another good chocolate manufacture! I believe they actually have a sale on now I believe! Be sure to check out my reviews on some of their products!!
Thanks
Jim
I wonder if some day you'll be able to buy HC chcolate in otehr reetailers as you now can with Thorntons - i always rmeber years ago you could only get Thorntons in their shops and you'd always go 'ooh Thornton's! very nice.. they must have gone to an effort to go and get these!' its not quite the same knowing you can get them anywhere now lol
cheers
Alan
Alan That is something I have been wondering for a long time myself.
As you so say about Thorntons whether HC do this is a question on whether they want their brand being associated with others ... for instance my own personal perception of Thornton's as a premium brand of chocolate has decreased somewhat due to their introduction into Woolworths ... for me thats a massive step into a mainstream discounter store that has effected the prestige of their brand.
Personally I think that Hotel Chocolat would benefit from getting distribution in the likes of Harrods, House of Fraser etc this would create great oppertunities to grow their brand but in a controlled manner.
...and thats enough from the business student :)
Thanks - a really interesting point you make Alan!!
Jim
cheers lol you are right though, making HC available in more prestigious shops would increase their sales without decreasing the brand image.
i agree about thorntons too, its definitely decreased the premium image of yesteryear!
cheers :)
alan
Alan Though im bagging Thornton's for ruining their brand image somewhat they actually delivered some pretty good Q2 results ....a near 20% profit rise ... which is nothing really to frown out now is it!
Jim
RE: Buying Hotel Chocolat products in other shops.
I doubt Hotel Chocolat will ever be found in supermarkets/ shopselves etc.
Firstly, the brand it not like any other chocolate company. They have a completely different approach to chocolate and I would say brand loyalty is high on the agenda.
Their staff are well trained and know quite a bit about chocolate (the product range, its making, flavours etc). Therefore if the brand was made readily available in shops they wpould lose the ability to have direct contact with customers.
The only place outside of their retail I know of Hotel Chocolat, is onboard British Airways first class out of Gatwick (Complementary chocolate I believe). In addition, their stall in Heathrow airport T5 departures is sold by Hotel Chocolat staff and they use their bags, instead of the noraml airport staff and duty free bags.
I like how Hotel Chocolat is, quite well known but still has an individual 'exclusive' feel to us customers!
Anon
I like the exclusive nature of the brand myself! It does indeed have that extra special feel that I think would be ruined by introducing into highstreet retailers.
Looks like I am going to have to fly BA from now on if they are handing out complimentary HC chocolate :D
Thanks for the input - though I suspect you may be from HC yourself ;)
Thanks
Jim
I wish my job could involve chocolate!!
I'm am a member of the chocolate tasting club though and regularly receive news from their club news, therefore thats how I know about BA chocolate. I have never been lucky enough to fly first class with them though!
Would recommened anyone to join to HC tasting club. A fanatsic box of chocolates regularly and a discount card for stores!
I finally tried a bar of this at the weekend (small one under £3 though!) and it is very nice indeed!! I'm thinking of buying some people the peepster box for xmas.
Roisin
Glad to hear you enjoyed it! I must say if your gonna make a lot of people happy if you buy them Peepsters - could get a bit expensive though!!!
Thanks
Jim
Jim I was seriously considering parting with £15.60 of my money and ordering this.
And you know what Jim; you've convinced me it's worth every penny. With 3 of 4 slabs scoring over 9! I'd be a fool to not buy it.
Thanks Jim for convincing me; I really needed that last little push and you were it!
James V
I swear are people are going to start thinking I write this stuff on my own site!!
Jim
Lmao; I am good advertising Jim!
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