You have to realise that your reviewing too many chocolates when a package arrives at your house with a note saying 'as promised please find enclosed' and you have no idea you are expecting them. Hey, I'm not complaining - perks of the site and all, suffice to say I was happy to receive this Thorntons Metropolitan selection box courtesy of one of their PR agencies SALT.
As they normally do with boxes of chocolates I get sent my family were all too happy to 'help me out' tasting them and giving their input for the ratings.
Just to make things difficult we all had differing opinions when it came to the presentation of the product. Although we could all appreciate the relatively nice looking design work on the outer box there were comments about the choice of colour and decoration of the inner pieces. Indeed, I myself didn't like the fact that half the pieces had cool looking patterns printed on their surfaces, whilst others looked boring and plain ... why not all of them!?
Described as chocolates inspired by chocolatiers from cities around the world, this selection included both milk and dark chocolates and constituted of 8 different pieces. Below are my thoughts on each with the customary rating ranging from Very Poor to Superb. Words have been kept light in the interest of review length :)
Vanilla Heights:
This was one of the unloved pieces that looked really plain sitting in the box. Unfortunately it wasn't only just unremarkable in looks but also in taste. The filling had a dense mousse like feel on the tongue but failed to add anything to the sweet tasting milk chocolate apart from a minor vanilla essence note. Poor.
Praline Piazza:
I had high hopes for this chocolate with its promise of 'velvety roasted hazelnut praline' but it didn't quite deliver the quality I was hoping for. The milk chocolate was unremarkable, whilst the hazelnut flavours were pretty much lost within the strong brown sugar notes generated by the inner crunchy feuilletine. It wasn't a horrible chocolate by any means but can be best summed up as disappointing. Hey ... at least it looked pretty! Poor.
Orange Garden:
This was the other of the long finger like pieces in the box and it was thankfully a lot better than the other. My mother is a big fan of chocolate orange and really enjoyed the way the orange essence flavours established themselves in the latter stages of the melt leaving a lasting fruit note in the mouth. The intensity of the orange wasn't over bearing on the chocolate which delivered a friendly, yet full flavoured dark chocolate experience. Good.
Manhattan Melt:
I laughed out loud when I read the description of this chocolate having just eaten one. 'Equsitie Ecuador milk chocolate with a crisp fruitiness and delicate hints of flowers & herbs' ... sorry Throntons but who are you kidding!? Granted this chocolate had a smooth enough melt in the mouth but lets be honest here it offered nothing like the intricacy in flavours that it built itself up as having. The taste was predominantly milk led with the undertones of cocoa present throughout. Summed up nicely .... Standard.
Q Couture:
It probably won't surprise you to read that I thought this one looked the nicest sitting in the plastic tray. Billed as filled with a ganache noted with quince I wasn't all that excited by the actual prospect but it was actually one of the more enjoyably pieces in the selection. The dark chocolate was flavoursome with its unsweetened cocoa led taste and melted nicely into a sweeter fruit noted filling. This one looked great and it delivered .... simple really! Very Good.Cloudberry Hill:
This piece was very similar to the above Q Couture but just had an outer coating of milk chocolate rather than dark. For this very reason it just simply wasn't as good. Yes it had one of the pretty patterns on it's surface but as with the other pieces from the selection the milk chocolate wasn't a patch on the dark chocolate pieces. The cloudberry ganache had a minor blackcurrant like hint to it but it's tartness was balanced by the sweeter tasting milk chocolate. Good.
Midnight Melt:
No prizes for guessing whether this was better than the equivalent milk chocolate piece! In comparison the depth of flavour was just far greater with the taste nicely balanced with unsweetened cocoa flavours that never entered the world of bitterness. It was by no means the greatest tasting dark chocolate I have ever had but hey, given the averageness of the milk chocolate on offer here it was made to look all the better. Good.
Soho Caramel:
I immediately thought 'Uh-Oh' when I saw this one! Not only did it look exactly like Paul.A.Young's award winning salted caramels but it was billed exactly the same as 'caramel hinted with an after-hint' of saltiness'. With such a tough benchmark no surprises these came off quite poorly and frankly they didn't match up whatsoever. The chocolate was thin and lacked presence in the taste, whilst the caramel had an odd floral note that over rode the promised salt lick. I don't want to be too harsh given the standard of the obvious comparator. Standard.
Overall I think the ultimate score and individual ratings give some perspective to how disappointing this selection box was. With an RRP of £10.99 you have to expect consistent quality and this is just something Thorntons don't seem to be able to do. The milk chocolate was frankly pretty average and wasn't up to scratch with what you would expect from such a costly box of chocolates. In fairness the dark chocolate was better and there are some nice chocolates in the box such as the Q Couture and the Orange Garden. At the end of the day though, a few nice chocolates don't make a well rounded selection box and there were just way too many poor ones. I think it is a fair assumption that a lot of us will be buying chocolate selection boxes in the next few weeks to gift for Christmas and I would have to say given the price you should avoid this one.
5.8 out of 10
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17 comments:
how disappointing. I expected a far higher score. Typical thornots i guess.
It looks to me like half of the designers could be arsed making something that looks half decent and the other half just couldn't be bothered. I don't think I would have bought them before and I know I won't be now. Lovely review.
Rxxx
This might be a record if you look at it from a price:rating ratio. One to avoid obviously.
I don't mind the blatant copy-catting of various "chocolatiers"/chocolates of the moment (I definitely spy some HC imitators aswell)but don't do a shoddy job and charge ridiculous prices for it, and imagine we won't notice. I think thorntons need to acknowledge that consumers are far more understanding of cost/quality etc than they give us credit for.
I used to regard HC as very expensive, but in comparason to thorntons its a bargain!
It's a trend with thorntons selection boxes I find, they throw in a few niceys and hope that therefore we won't notice the crappy ones.
May I also add that the last few times I've been in one of their shops I have been met with alarmingly surly staff, with about as much personality as a..dish. Or spoon. Not very nice.
Blimey, I'm in a mood today! I will take my bitch hat off now.
I agree with lottie it's as if Thorntons think we won't notice the poorer chocolates they throw in their selection boxes. I had one the other week and although it had a few nice ones...there were plenty of boring ones.
I think that Thorntons think that the average consumer regards them as 'luxury' and so won't notice, but we clearly do. I know of other people who are disappointed with them too.
I hope your going to be reviewing some nice chocolates than this before Christmas. I need ideas what to buy people.
I have to disagree with you on this one.
These are an order of magnitude better than any selection boxes Thorntons have produced before.
I agree the packaging needs work. It's flimsy and I certainly couldn't "hear the chocolates gossiping", but the actual chocolates are very nice.
I was thinking the same as the anonymous post above it would be great for you to give us some tips on what would be best to gift this year Jim. You are the guy with the knowledge at the end of things.
If don't think you will be recommending this to us will you.
Maggs
Yuck the colour of the box looks awful. It looks so 70s and retro but not in a good way. I think they look pretty girly and not something a bloke would buy. No sale Thorntons, no sale.
WHAT A SHAME!
I normally love Thorntons but recently I think their tasters are on strike! I have bought a few of their new Christmas collections and they weren't very nice at all. Haven't tried these Metro ones but I'm not sure I want to now. It's a real shame because the Revelations which you hardly ever see were great and the simple continental collection and christmas single baubles are lovely. Still a bit expensive but for gifts the continentals are on offer for £2 a box, well they were last week anyway cos I bought some! Also bought a new creme brulee bar and a winter crumble one, limited ed for xmas, might be nice, you never know?
Thorntons SORT YOURSELVES OUT ASAP!
Very interesting and informative review, thank you! I hadn't been in Thornton's for a long time, but found myself lured into a shop last week - I was surprised to see that so many of the chocolates I remember from almost a decade ago were still there on the shelves. This Metropolitan offering -did- look rather showy and I was tempted to buy, but after a quick survey of the contents I thought it was maybe a little on the staid side in terms of texture variety. I'm still very tempted to try a box of their new Paris collection, though! I think that Thornton's do have very definite strengths - their toffee and their chewy caramels seem to be highlights, and there's a few chocolates from their continental range that I still feel are up there vying with the best, but like you say - consistency doesn't seem to be there. A box from Thorntons usually seems to have several untouched chocs left in it after a week. I think that maybe they play it too safe sometimes so that they don't alienate the mainstream, and you can't really blame them for that, especially in uncertain economic times.
I think their standard 'Christmas' collection needs a radical overhaul. It's tired and bland, and although there are good chocolates in there, there's far too much cheap padding with very, very average chocolates. It's a little sad when I'd rather have a box of Ferrero Rondnoir, or even a tub of celebrations, than a Christmas box from Thornton's!
Have to agree with Dom on this one. They might not be a great selection, but definitely better than any of the others Thornton have produced. HC is a lot nicer, admittedly, but you wouldn't get a decent amount of chocolates that doesn't look ridiculously small as a gift. I think you wouldn't be too bad off with this one.
I quite liked the box and the colour but my immediate thought about the design was 'this reminds me of ... KOKO by Cadbury!' lol except the KOKO idea was much better.
The colours seem to be very 'in' at the mo, I've noticed. It's a shame these choc weren't very nice as the names are quite interesting and those fancier looking ones look cool. What a shame, I may well have bought them if they'd been good!.
I to like the colour of the box so I disagree there. Having not tasted the chocolates I can't comment on them but I see what you are getting at that some look more cared for in their design. I don't think Thorntons will be sending you chocolates again soon lol.
George
I wouldn't say poor scores are truley reflective of Thorntons always! They do some good stuff.
Rachel
Thanks for your nice views on my review. I share your sentiments about the design work entirely.
David
You know what you could well be right there. I can't remember the last time I saw such a high priced product get such a low score.
Lottie
Your 'rant' actually makes a lot of sense.
I can't comment on the quality of the staff but that is because I don't go in their shops at all.
I am going to be trying a few more selection boxes from Thorntons soon so I hope this trend of 'niceys' and rotters doesen't continue. Fingers crossed eh.
Phil
Perhaps our standards are too high eh!? Personally I don't think they are.
You pay for quality ... you expect it in return.
Anon #1
You can expect loads more gift ideas before Christmas don't you worry. Far better ones than these are anyway.
Dom
Nice to see you checking out the site I really value the views of ChocaBlog :)
To be honest I haven't tried that many selection boxes from Thorntons before so I had no benchmark for them. I certainly won't be buying another box from them soon ... they will have to send some through the post again If I am to revisit :)
Maggs
As I said above there will be far more selection box reviews in the next few days.
Steven
I don't like the colours either but I guess this is a very subjective thing.
Lily
It has been suggested I try those products you mention ... by you I think haha :)
I will try my hardest to get round to doing them but my contacts for Thorntons are a bit irratic in that they don't send me the suff I want ... just stuff like this which I don't request! Nightmare!
Isla
Those are some very well thought out and constructed comments and I certainly agree with the fact that they play way too safe with their range.
When you look at the manufacturers doing well at the moment the likes of Hotel Chocolat and Lindt are really pushing the boat out with their flavour combinations. Like you say some Thorntons products have been around for decades and they are seemingly unwilling to push themselves. I think they should think some more outside the box.
Susanne
You I always say I love hearing peoples opinions even if they differ from my own. You make a good point that you wouldn't get as many HC chocolates for the same money but I think when you are paying around this price point anyway you might aswell go that one stage further and go up the next price band to ensure you get the quality.
Alan
Sorry to put you off them chap ... there seem to be enough people on here who think differently to me who might want to make you reconsider this decision ... if you do you know I will always love hearing opinion.
P.s. picked up your Mars Almond when I was home at the weekend! Thanks for sending along chap!
Golden
I always let manufacturers know I am going to be 100% honest with what I think. I sure hope they send me more samples in the future but I refuse to pander to them just so they do so.
Thanks everyone - great hearing the contrasting views on this selection. It is definitely splitting opinion.
JIM
I certainly will if I get chance to pick a box up - I don't get into Thorntons very often though except on rare occasions, but they do sound my kinda chocs, so I'd probably try them all even if I didn't like them lol
Glad the Mars Almond arrived ok, what with the postal strike I was hoping it would! lol
I saw these today while passing my local Thorntons - and they were £5.99 - so either they haven't been as popular as they hoped or it's just a special offer. I'd be more tempted to try them out at that price if I get chance.
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