November 10th: Montezuma's Hula Hula

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

In my efforts to review some more UK based chocolates I recently got in contact with local chocolate producers Montezuma's who kindly obliged in sending me some of their newest products for me to review. Over the past year or so I have reviewed around twelve different offerings from Montezuma's speciality bar range with the quality ranging from pretty poor to actually pretty good. One thing that has been consistent across Montezuma's speciality range are the odd names they have given each of their variants and todays offering was no different. I guess with the name 'Hula Hula' Montezuma's have tried to encapsulate a Caribbean sort of theme and this was little surprise given the milk chocolate and coconut constituents.

Just like every Tom, Dick and Harry from this range the bar came in a 45.0g serving that was split into six individual blocks. Again the packaging incorporated the same style Montezuma's design work and I have to say I thought the the mix of the orangey red and brown colours worked well to give the box real stand out. Inside the chocolate was wrapped in the usual Montezuma's ghastly plastic packaging, though this was soon forgotten about once I opened the packet and smelt the glorious coconut led chocolaty smell that greeted me. In addition to smelling great the chocolate also looked pretty appetising with what looked to be a great deal of coconut nicely mixed throughout the chocolate.

If you have read any of my recent Montezuma's reviews (like the 'Snackle' the other day - HERE), you will be well aware that they have a pretty good quality milk chocolate. As with so many of their other bars the milk chocolate here was formed using 34% cocoa solids and 22.5% milk solids and it unsurprisingly formed the basis of the taste. Compared to the average milk chocolate this was noticeably stronger in its cocoa than its cream based influences and it offered up a crisp, clean taste. Like I have said in previous reviews I still stand by the judgement that Montezuma's chocolate doesn't have as much personality as other more mass produced brands as it doesn't seem to have a very distinctive taste. Luckily though what this Hula Hula bar did offer up was really tasty coconut dynamic that really added a great deal to the overall taste. The coconut was simply delicious with its milky, nutty flavours and it also brought a delightful crunchy element to the texture that was best enjoyed once the chocolate had melted away. Not surprisingly I ate the entire bar of this in one sitting and I would say that given the high amount of flavour and reasonably large sized serving it was a pretty fulfilling snack.

Overall this was yet another product that has left me thinking that there is a shocking lack of coconut flavoured chocolate bars out there on the UK market. As I have said above Montezuma's have a fair standard milk chocolate but at the same time it isn't really anything that special which means that the ingredients that compliment it have to deliver if the product is to be of a great quality. What was pleasing with this bar was that the coconut element was indeed very good and I felt that it brought extra dimensions to the taste and textures of the milk chocolate. As I often do I like to say how if would ever have a product again near the end of my reviews. The answer I would give if posed that very question for this bar would be a unanimous Yes! Personally this was a chocolate bar that I really enjoyed so if you like your Bounty bars then I would really consider giving this bar a try.

8.4 out of 10