November 12th: Green & Black's Ginger

Kcal 501 Fat 29.1g Carbs 53.0g (per 100.0g)

I think we are all aware by now that Green & Black's chocolate isn't one of my favoured ranges here in the UK. Apart from the odd bar like the Espresso, it is range that I have often found unremarkable and it has often disappointed me with it's not so special taste but over inflated price. In an effort not to be swayed by my previous experiences I thought I would give a few more of their bars a chance on the ChocolateMission rating system and picked up a few more flavours from their selection. The bar in the line of fire today was this Ginger variant which came billed as 'dark chocolate with crystallised ginger'. As previous experiences have shown dark chocolate and ginger can be a matched made in heaven when done correctly.

As you can see from the photo above this was another bar from G&B's standard 100.0g range and was split into the usual small sized blocks. Although this isn't exhibited by the wrapper above I have noticed recently that G&B's have started to change their packaging across some of their flavours - with the primary brown colour and indicative secondary flavour colour swapping round. I seem to remember writing about exactly this in a previous review so as you can imagine I view this packaging reformulation quite favourably. Unfortunately though the ugly looking, brown dominant packaging is still prominent across many of the flavours in the range, including this Ginger bar. On more of a positive note the chocolate itself smelt pretty glorious with a nice spicy ginger element evident amongst a strong current of bitter dark chocolate scents.

I will resist to rant about the ridiculously small sized G&B's blocks as I have touched upon this point so many times in the past, but even with the nature of the dark chocolate this was still a frustrating problem. If I was G&B's I would make their bars smaller in length, thicker and divided into bigger blocks. I think this would not only make the chocolate look better but it would also help the taste of the chocolate as each piece would have more time to develop flavours in the mouth. With the chocolate smelling as bitter and strong as it did I was really quite surprised when I placed the first piece in my mouth as I was met with some very languid and quite meagre cocoa flavours. To be honest I was expecting far greater strength from a chocolate billed as 60% cocoa min and I was a little disappointed with the volume of the dark chocolate taste. With the dark chocolate offering little more than a mild, unsweetened cocoa flavour set the ginger was thankfully a lot better and brought a bit of life to what was really a quite dull tasting chocolate. Unlike billed the ginger wasn't crunchy or crystallised in form but was actually quite soft and chewy when left to melt on the tongue. The ginger element wasn't particularly fiery or hot but brought a pleasant note of mild spice and warmth to the mouth. Out of all the dark chocolates I have had recently this wasn't the most satisfying but a 30.0g serving certainly did a reasonable job and went well with a cup of coffee.

Overall this was yet another G&B's offering that I would have to describe as 'nothing special'. At the heart of it's averageness the actual dark chocolate base was pretty underwhelming and didn't measure up in terms of it's 60% cocoa billing or it's strong smell that emanated out of the foil wrapping. On reflection the poor quality dark chocolate was really quite a shame given that the ginger element of this chocolate was actually pretty good. As I have described above this wasn't a really strong or hot ginger flavoured chocolate but the volume of the spice was nicely controlled with a sweet, syrup like undertone which took the edge off the normally quite harsh flavour edge. It is true that I do like the stronger flavoured dark chocolate but as previous reviews have shown I do have an appreciation for the slightly milder ones also. This was by no means a horrible bar of chocolate but having tried a fair few G&B's products now I am quickly coming to the opinion that they are too reliant on the flavours they incorporate into their bars and are not taking enough care with the actual chocolate. I have a few more G&B's bars to review in the coming weeks so time will tell whether this is a valid conclusion.

7.2 out of 10

November 11th: Cadbury Triple Choc Roll (UPDATE 10-08-2010: Mint Choc Roll)

Kcal 165 Fat 6.8g Fat(sats) 4.2g Carbs 24.6g (per 1/6th roll)

Back when I published my reviews of the original and caramel Cadbury cake bars loyal ChocolateMission reader Alan suggested I try this Cadbury Triple Choc Roll. This product can be found sitting in most supermarkets cakes section and costs just over the £1.50 mark. I am not going to get to hung up over this point but I think I should bring to the attention of everyone that the marketing guys at Cadbury obviously aren't quite at one with their multiples. Described as a 'Triple Choc Roll' I think it is almost natural to think that the product contains three different elements of chocolate. A quick look at the packaging suggested I was in for more than I was bargaining for and I read with great delight that this product constituted of four different chocolate formats - chocolate sponge, chocolate buttercream, chocolate sauce and lastly a milk chocolate coating.

This product failed to state and actual weight though it provided six large sized servings that each made for a fulfilling snack. Aside from the glaring inaccuracy of the 'Triple' branding (seriously this in very tongue in cheek!), I thought the product was presented well and it incorporated the purple Cadbury colour scheme to good effect giving the product a nice colourful look. Inside I was delighted to see that despite the flimsy protection of only one layer of plastic wrapping the inner cake roll was in immaculate condition. When I cut into the roll the cross-section looked appetising with each of the different layers distinctly obvious. As promising as the product looked I was further impressed by the smell which was a mixture of fresh cake and Cadbury chocolate aromas.

In previous Cadbury Cake Bar reviews I have often commented that I was disappointed Dairy Milk chocolate wasn't used, however this wasn't such an issue here due to the sheer amount of different chocolaty influences to the taste. Each an every layer was very sweet in terms of flavour but there was a consistent milky undertone that kept the sugary sweetness nicely in check. Starting with the outer milk chocolate I have to say it was little on the disappointing side and I would liked it to have just a been a bit thicker in order to give the outer portion just a little bit more crispness when bitten into. In my review of the Cadbury Cake Bars I did comment that the cake was a little on the bland side but in this instance I thought it was wonderfully complimented by the chocolate buttercream and chocolate sauce elements. Where the buttercream brought an extra dimension of buttery, sugary flavours the chocolate sauce delivered a very welcome moistness to each bite with a syrupy chocolate influence on the taste. The cake itself was dense and fulfilling yet still maintained a nice fluffiness and melted in the mouth nicely allowing the other buttercream and sauce elements to come to the party. Just as the packaging suggested I split the roll up into six servings which lasted a matter of minutes in my office environment - I was lucky I managed to grab a bit for myself!

Overall I have rated this Triple Choc Roll higher than the original Cadbury Cake Bar and on reflection the reason for this seems to lie solely at the inclusion of the chocolate sauce. I think in this cake roll the addition of the chocolate sauce brought the cake element to life and not only helped the problem of the cake being too dry but also brought an extra surge of sweet, chocolaty flavours to the taste. If I was to make this product better I would of made the outer chocolate thicker in terms of its portioning as it would have made the initial bite all that more pleasurable with the extra crispness that was only present to quite a minor degree. Personally I only tend to have products like this one at Christmas time once I have had that spoonful of Christmas cake and decided I don't like it and thus move on to the 'Christmas Log'. Those 'Christmas Log' products tend to be quite dear in terms of price though I think you would get as much pleasure out of buying one of these, sprinkling it with icing sugar and adding a decorative piece of holly on the top. Taking off my 'Martin's Money Saving Expert' cap for a minute I would also recommend this as a nice product to share between family or friends - it gets a ChocolateMission thumbs up.

8.0 out of 10

2010 UPDATE ... Here is my review of the Cadbury Mint Choc Roll that I wrote a few months after ....


Kcal 160 Fat 6.9g Fat(sats) 4.3g Carbs 16.3g (per 1/6th)

Following my review of the Cadbury Triple Choc Roll last year, I just couldn't help myself when I saw a 'Mint' version on a £1 deal in my local Tesco. Given my positive review of the Cadbury Mint Cake Bars, I was hoping that this Mint Choc Roll was going to be just as well executed and liked the sound of 'chocolate sponge filled with mint flavoured buttercream, covered in milk chocolate'. For those wondering what is behind the sudden emergence of so many cake based reviews on ChocolateMission I can reveal that it is the consequence of my work office being obsessed with any product involving the word cake - unsurprinsgly they always seem more than happy to help with the taste sampling.

Just like the Cadbury Triple Choc Roll this Mint variant came with no catch weight but was large enough to split into six amply sized servings. Aside from the addition of the mint branding and green colour the packaging looked no different to the original and incorporated the usual Cadbury Purple colour scheme to great effect with some realistic on pack illustrations. Where I felt this product looked a little more interesting than the standard Triple Choc was when it was cross-sectioned as the bright green mint buttercream glistened amongst the rolled sponge layers giving it a vibrant and colourful look. In addition to looking pretty cool I also noted that a slight minty aroma could be detected amongst the normal Cadbury chocolaty scents.

I will spare you the whole 'Waaaah this wasn't made with Dairy Milk chocolate' spiel as I am getting pretty used to it not being used across their entire portfolio. To be honest the secondary recipe isn't much worse anyway and once it again it provided a fitting coating for the inner sponge and buttercream. Just as expected the outer chocolate provided the usual sweet, milky Cadbury Milk Chocolate taste which led nicely into the milder chocolate noted buttery flavours of the inner sponge. As I have experienced with the Cadbury Cake Bar range the cake wasn't the strongest tasting but it certainly held up it's part of the deal providing a bit of viscosity and sustenance to the product. Of course the real defining part of this product was obviously going to be the mint buttercream and I can thankfully report it gets two thumbs up from me. It had a nice cool feel on the tongue and provided some subtle peppermint flavours with a delicious creamy undertone that complimented the cake and outer chocolate well. In addition to providing a cooling freshness the buttercream also brought the necessary moistness to the drier cake layer which made its presence all that more welcome. As I said in my opening paragraph my colleagues were all too willing to help me out eating this and it survived only a matter of minutes once opened.

Overall I enjoyed this Mint Choc Roll more than the original Triple Choc Roll and thought it was marginally superior due to the extra dimension brought to the product by the mint flavouring. I am always a little cautious with mint flavoured chocolate products as sometimes the mint can overpower the chocolate in the taste, however this thankfully wasn't the case here and the mint buttercream was balanced superbly with the outer chocolate coating and inner chocolate cake. I can imagine that I will be buying one of the Cadbury Choc Roll products again in the near future given how well they go down in the office and I can confidently say that it will be this Mint variant that I will look for on the shelf ahead of the Triple Choc offering. If your a fan of the Cadbury Mint Cake Bars there probably isn't quite enough here for me to say that you have to buy this product over them. At the same time though I no doubt think you would get some pleasure out of this Mint Roll - it is certainly great for sharing with others.

8.2 out of 10

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

November 9th: Thorntons Metropolitan Chocolates

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

November 8th: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 22

### JIM's Corner & QOTW ###

HI All,

I am going to keep it short this week as there is plenty of stuff to be getting on with Christmas coming up.

As a head ups I am quickly just going to outline what to expect coming in to 2010 as there are going to be a few changes on the site.

Having finished University and started full time employment in June 09 I have decided that I will now be switching my posting days to Monday, Wednesday and Friday. With the site being updated everyday at the moment it is pretty hard keeping tabs on everything and having written over 800 reviews already (loads huh!?) I am thinking I should start being more selective about the products I review ... so question of the week is ...

'What do you think about the move from 6 posts a week to 3?'

Please note that every so often there will be a more general (non-review) post on Saturday/Sunday just so I can keep everyone up-to-date with the goings-on on other blogs and the ChocolateMarket.

Let me know what you think and have a great week.

JIM

What have ChocolateMission readers been talking about this week?

George, Susanne, Ana & Phil all suggested I try some more chocolates from the Lindt Petit Desserts range ... SEE HERE

Russ commented that however Cadbury are at making brownies, local bakeries will always come out the winners ... SEE HERE

Alan & Phil were disappointed at the look of the Cadbury Desserts Berry Panacotta and said they wanted Cadbury to bring back some of their flavoured chocolates ... SEE HERE

David thought the Montezuma's Snackle looked particularly underwhelming, though Steven suggested I try their Dark Chocolate, Lime & Chilli bar ... SEE HERE

News from the Chocolate Market:

* Toblerone has a new TVC that will be on air soon ... SEE HERE

* As does Cadbury Flake, backed by £1.5m media spend ... SEE HERE

* Why not Nestle After Eight in the TVC mix as well ... SEE HERE

* Hannock's have released some new Droste chocolates ... SEE HERE

* Cadbury Roses not in a tin? ...Oh please! ... SEE HERE

Posts from other blogs I enjoyed this week:

* GiGi Reviews - Gi made me ridiculously jealous by reviewing the Reese's Peanut Butter Lovers Cups ... SEE HERE

* The Impulsive Buy - Having removed his man boobs from last week Marvo tucked into a very unappetising Chilli n' Spuds Chilli Meal ... SEE HERE

* Japanese Snack Reviews - These guys showed that even the Japanese do Cake Bars ... SEE HERE

* Foodstufffinds - Cin found some of the new Galaxy Probiotic drinks ... SEE HERE

November 7th: Trumpf Schogetten Strawberry Yoghurt

Kcal 541 Fat 33.0g Carbs 54.0g (per 100.0g)

Last week I told you all how I ventured into my first ever Lidl last week and bought the remaining variants of Trumpf Schogetten range that I hadn't managed to try yet. Well today I tried my ninth flavour from the portfolio in the form of this Strawberry Yoghurt bar, which was described as simply 'milk chocolate with a yogurt-strawberry-filling' (36.0%). Over the last few months I have tried endless yoghurt filled chocolates from Germany so this one had quite high standards to live up to thanks to the preceding Ritter Sport, Ferrero and Milka bars.

Seemingly Trumpf only produce their Schogetten range in one format so it won't surprise you to hear that this bar came in a 100.0g size that was split into 18 individual blocks. I will save boring you to tears by ranting about the quality of the outer packaging again, but for those who don't yet know my opinion I suggest you see HERE. Although I was still far from impressed I thought that the light pink theme suited the wrapper more so than other colours on different variants and the actual chocolate itself looked pretty enticing. As you can see in the photo above when cross-sectioned each block had a plentiful helping of yogurt filling which had red speckles throughout. In addition to looking rather tasty the chocolate smelt very appetising and avoided having the overly artificial fruity smell that many other fruit based bars often have.

Before tasting this chocolate I had a pretty strong expectation that this chocolate would be way too sweet but I am glad to report this wasn't quite the case. In previous reviews I have commented that Schogetten milk chocolate is normally a little on the sugary side, and I was expecting with the added sweetness of the strawberry this was going to be a little too much. Thankfully this bar proved me wrong and the flavours of the centre filling gave the chocolate far more balance than I was expecting. As expected the outer milk chocolate provided some light, sweet cocoa flavours that had a minor hazelnut note but it was the yogurt filling that really took hold of the taste. Like the chocolate, the centre melted with a pleasant smoothness though it was just a tad more viscous making the flavours stick in the mouth that little bit longer. Tastewise the filling had strong cream based milky undertones that had really pleasant firm bursts of strawberry fruit coming through which made for an overall fine tasting chocolate. I ate this chocolate 6 blocks at a time which made for a nicely fulfilling chocolate that delivered on its promised flavour credentials.

Overall this bar was a nice little surprise and although I wouldn't say it was quite as good as the Ritter Sport or Milka alternatives it was still a chocolate that I on the whole enjoyed. It won't surprise you to hear that the thing I think let this bar down slightly was the milk chocolate but it largely took a back seat to the really fine tasting strawberry filling anyway. If I was to compare the strawberry yogurt fillings of the Ritter Sport and Milka bars to this one I would be very hard pushed to pick a favourite - this Schogetten one was every bit as good (if not better) than both of them with its creamy, fresh fruit flavours that had no inclination of any artificalness whatsoever. When put in the context of price this has to be a bar that has a strong claim to be the best of the lot when it comes to value for money. It wasn't the best fruit flavoured yogurt bar I have ever tried, but it was a pretty damn good one at the same time.

7.9 out of 10

November 6th: Montezuma's Snackle

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

A few readers have been commenting recently that I haven't been paying enough attention to the chocolates that we have available to us here in the UK so over the next few weeks and into the coming year 2010 (scary huh!?) I will endeavour to maintain a bit of focus on what is on offer in the UK marketplace. For me personally chocolate doesn't get anymore local than Montezuma's who produce their chocolate in West Sussex, England. It has been almost a year since I have reviewed a Montezuma's product but the guys there were recently kind enough to send me along a few samples of the latest few additions to their portfolio. Included in this sampling package was this 'Snackle' bar from their Specialty range. The Snackle bar came billed as a pretty simple offering of 'milk chocolate with cocoa crispies' so think Nestle Crunch but with a little more potential.

Like many of the other Speciality bars I have tried beforehand this bar came in a 45.0g serving that I ate over the course of one evening. Just as with my previous ten reviews from this range I liked the outer cardboard box and I think Montezuma's have done well in their decision to keep a bit of consistency with their designs but differentiate the bars through the use of colour. Unfortunately it seems that Montezuma's are still persisting with their decision to keep their chocolate plastic wrappers inside the casing. One year on I still don't think this looks good and whilst I like the fact that the chocolate is air sealed I think the wrapping is at least worthy of some branding to make it look a little decorative. The chocolate itself also looked a little on the plain side though it was nice to see the cereal pieces dispersed nicely throughout the bar and it at least smelt quite nice with it's fresh smelling chocolaty scents.

In the above paragraphs I have already mentioned the fact that the direct comparison to this bar would be the Nestle Crunch bars that are widely distributed throughout the US and Europe. What I am pleased to confirm is that this bar did indeed taste better than the Nestle Crunch but at the same time it wasn't exactly light years ahead. The milk chocolate in this bar was formed using a 34% min cocoa and 22.5% milk solids recipe so it was unsurprising that this chocolate was a little less sweet tasting and more cocoa rooted in it's flavours compared to the more mass produced chocolates. Personally though I would say that whilst this chocolate was no doubt of a fair quality it was far less distinctive in terms of it's taste compared to say Dairy Milk or Galaxy. Another thing that I have also commonly failed to understand is the addition of rice cereal to chocolate. I find more often than not that whilst it adds a relatively nice additional crunch element to the texture it simply adds very little in terms of flavour and this was very much the case here. A cereal like influence was detectable amongst the taste of the milk chocolate but it's impact was minimal.

Overall this bar just turned out to be yet another rice filled milk chocolate that never went further than just being a slightly better than average offering. As aforementioned the standard of the chocolate was higher than what you would find in the equivalent Nestle Crunch bar but truth be told it wasn't really to my preference to some of the more mass produced chocolates that we can find here on the UK market at least half the price. If you are a fan of the Nestle Crunch bars this could be worth a look at if you wish to treat yourself but I think price is a really important issue here as Montezuma's actually charge £5 for four of these Speciality bars - that's £1.20 each. When you factor this into the equation I just can't really justify recommending this bar to anyone as it does very little to differentiate itself from what is already out there to warrant the high price.

7.5 out of 10

November 5th: Cadbury Dairy Milk Desserts Berry Pannacotta

Kcal 570 Fat 36.9g Fat(sats) 21.1g Carbs 52.1g (per 100.0g)

I have had a bit of a turbulent time with these Cadbury Desserts bars that Shopenzed have been sending me from New Zealand. Whereas the first one I tried, the Creme Brulee flavour (See HERE) was pretty excellent the next one I sampled, the Tiramisu variant (See HERE) was not quite so great. Although it is obviously not the most consistent of ranges it seems to have caught the imagination of many readers as the review requests came flooding in when this new Berry Pannacotta flavour was announced. One e-mail to Shopenzed later and it wasn't long before I had this Cadbury Dairy Milk Desserts Berry Pannacotta bar in my hands.

The bar came in a 210.0g size ... no that it not a typo!! Within one year these Cadbury Desserts bars have gone from 250.0g, to 235.0g, and now down to 210.0g. I would be very interested to hear from one of my readers from the Southern Hemisphere as to whether the prices have fluctuated at all? Anyway as with the rest of the range I thought the presentation looked swish with the Berry Pannacotta flavour communicated through an on-pack picture and pinky purple secondary colour scheme incorporated into the traditional purple Cadbury background. The chocolate itself was nicely held within a branded silver foil though neither the smell of the look the chocolate appealed to me all that much. The pink inner filling to me looked odd and it had that familiar terrible artificial sweet, berry smell that just didn't entice me in any manner.

Despite the chocolate failing to impress me up to this point I was hoping that it was going to prove me wrong like many have done in the past. Like all Cadbury Dairy Milk products I ate the chocolate one block at a time letting the blocks melt away on my tongue. Just as I expected the outer milk chocolate was of good quality and the Dairy Milk didn't fail in delivering its highly milk driven sweet chocolaty taste. Personally I think Dairy Milk from Australia and New Zealand isn't quite as thick in melt or rich in taste as our UK Dairy Milk though the differences are minimal and it delivers a similarly pleasurable experience. Unfortunately where the chocolate was the good the filling was poor - how many times have I written that over the last two years? Much like the smell suggested the filling seemed very artificially derived and the berry flavouring was very sugary in its fruity taste. The pannacotta element was delivered reasonably well bringing a slightly creamy cheesiness to the aftertaste but my feelings towards the filling on the whole were that it was reasonably poor.

Overall I have to give this bar a thumbs down despite the milk chocolate being of a good standard. The one fundamental problem with this chocolate was the way the berry element was executed which was undeniably poor. Rather than mix the berry and pannacotta constituents together I think Cadbury would have been better off splitting the two. I would have kept the underlying pannacotta filling bit but I would put a layer of either raspberry or strawberry jam placed on top to bring the berry element in to the mix. I think Cadbury should have taken more care when putting this bar together. It is great that they are willing to attempt to make new and exciting flavours like this one, but having tried a ridiculous amount of fruit flavoured yogurt bars from Germany this summer I think I am in a good position to say whether this was executed effectively. Unfortunately this isn't one I would recommend from this range - stick to the Creme Brulee!

6.6 out of 10

November 4th: Cadbury Mini Bakes Chocolate Brownies

Kcal 80 Fat 4.1 Fat(sats) 2.0g Carbs 9.8g (per brownie)

I hope you all aren't getting bored of these mini cake themed reviews because I have another lined up for you today. As reported in my '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' roundup post a few weeks ago Cadbury have recently released some products that sit within the cake aisles of our supermarket and I brought you my review of the Cadbury Mini Bakes Chocolate Flapjacks just last week. Well the other variant in this new Mini Bakes range are these Cadbury Chocolate Brownies, which came described as 'chocolate brownies sprinkled with milk chocolate chunks'. Brownies are not my normal choice of bakery item, though I do remember being rather partial to M&S's one which I reviewed HERE.

The box did not display an offical weight though inside it contained 8 separate brownie pieces. Much like with the Cadbury Mini Bakes Chocolate Flapjacks I liked the presentation of the product on the whole and thought the integration of the usual Cadbury Purple themed was well entwined with the Mini Bakes branding and brownie on-pack photos. The brownies themselves looked worryingly the same small size of the flapjack pieces which I ultimately thought were too small. More positively these brownies were also included in separate plastic packets and both looked smelt very tempting indeed with some visible chocolate chunks and fresh smelling chocolate aromas that hit my senses as soon as the wrappers were broken.

I am not going to launch into another rant about how the chocolate used in these brownies wasn't Dairy Milk as I have to admit these certainly weren't lacking in the chocolate flavour department. The base of the brownies were excellent with some fresh, buttery sweet dough flavours wonderfully built upon by a delicate touch of salt in the aftertaste. Throughout the taste had strong undertones of milk and cocoa and the chocolate flavours were only further enhanced by a generous helping of chocolate chunks which delivered fine chocolate flavours bursts leaving a lasting Cadbury chocolate impression in the mouth with every bite. Despite these brownies being on the small side the dense, viscous nature of them made them seem a far more fulfilling option in comparison to the same sized Cadbury Mini Bakes Chocolate Flapjacks and they provided a satisfying snack for my mid afternoon coffee.

Overall I think Cadbury have done a good job with these Chocolate Brownies and although I think they could be slightly improved in some areas I was pretty happy with what I got here. One immediate improvement they could have made was that they could of used Dairy Milk chocolate instead of their secondary recipe, though as I have alluded to already this wasn't so much of an issue as it has been with other Cadbury products I have been trying recently. The chocolate flavour hit was still very here with both the brownie base and chocolate chunks combining to provide a surprisingly strong chocolate hit in such a small dose. With fewer calories and fat I was also surprised in that I felt just one brownie felt like a reasonably sized snack and unlike with the chocolate flapjacks I didn't feel the need to reach for another straightaway after finishing my first. If your a fan of both Cadbury chocolate and brownies then these are a bit of a no brainer - get involved sooner rather than later.

8.3 out of 10

November 3rd: McVitie's Milky Way Cake Bars

Kcal 125 Fat 6.3g Fat(sats) 3.2g Carbs 15.7g

The cake bar reviews have been coming in quick and fast but the search for the best one is quickly drawing to a close. At present the Thornton's Chocolate Cake Bars hold the crown as the ChocolateMission highest rated but McVitie's gave them a good run for their money with their Galaxy branded cakes. Although I wouldn't say the UK Mars Milky Way is up there as one of my favourite chocolate bars ever I certainly thought these Milky Way Cake Bars were worth a try given that seemed to offer something a little different in proposition to most the other cake bars I have tried so far this year. These came described as 'light sponge cakes with a creamy filling, covered in milk chocolate' and just like the Galaxy Cake Bars were baked by McVitie's.

I bought these in a local supermarket at the price of £1 for a pack of 5 cake bars. Looks wise I have never been the great fan of the Milky Way packaging as I think it looks a bit dated and in need of refreshing. I will admit that it does have a relatively fun and colourful look that may appeal to kids but this with this particular product only the outer packaging looked vibrant as it was made out of a foil materical. On the contrary I was a little disappointed to see that the inner bars were wrapped in that cheap plastic packaging which I feel doesn't always keep products at their freshest and certainly makes the on pack design look that bit duller. Luckily the cake bars themselves did offer a little more promise and they certainly looked very appetising when cross sectioned where the inner cream layer sat glistening in between the chocolate and sponge. In regards to smell these bars did emanate any strong scents that were immediately obvious but on closer inspection a sweet smelling chocolaty aroma could be detected.

Like with all the other cake bars I have tried recently I sampled these over a course of a week eating one every afternoon with a nice cup of tea. In line with expectations the milk chocolate was good yet certainly not spectacular in any manner with the main flavours influences being milk rooted and quite sweet and sugary in its chocolatyness. Whilst it wasn't the best quality chocolate ever it was thick enough to substantiate a nice chocolate flavour hit with every bite and it melted with relative ease to reveal the sponge and cream elements below. Both the sponge and cream layers were a bit like the chocolate really, in that they tasted nice but were by no means spectacular. The sponge was light in texture and was neither spongy or overly dense. In terms of flavour it offered quite little aside from a floury taste with a touch of brown sugar. The cake did also have a noticeable note of vanilla essence to it which was further accentuated by the cream layer on top. The cream was really quite sugary yet offered up a nice bit of moistness to the drier cake layer. Altogether these Milky Way Cake Bars were not as rich or fulfilling as the Thornton's or Galaxy Cake Bars but they did a reasonably nice job of tieing over my hunger until later in the day.

Overall I guess it is a good sign that over the course of a week I did eat all five bars from the multi pack which suggests that they would of have to have been a fairly pleasant snack. Writing this review a few days later I would have to agree with that, though I wouldn't say that these Milky Way Cake Bars did anything more for me than any other has done over the past few weeks. If you asked me to name one amazing feature about these cake bars I simply couldn't name one, they were more just an all round good product. Each layer from the milk chocolate, sponge and cream filling were all of a fair standard without any of them being either exceedingly tasty or exceedingly not. I am not sure I would buy these again in the near future given the fact I know there are better out there, but if you like your Milky Way chocolate bars these could be well worth checking out.

7.4 out of 10

November 2nd: Lindt Swiss Classic Double Milk Caramel Chocolate / Petits Desserts Creme Brulee

The Lindt Petits Desserts Creme Brulee has been a bar I have been meaning to review for well over a year now so I am sure a number of you will be pleased to see it finally get its long over due review. To make the review all the more interesting I thought I would make it a showdown, comparing it with one of Lindt's newest products, the Swiss Classic Double Milk Caramel Chocolate. In the effort to keep this review reasonably concise I will give my conclusion of both bars at the very end of the post.

The on pack propositions were very similar but I will go into more detail of them later. I bought both these chocolates in Waitrose (oooh fancy) with the Swiss Classic costing £1.19 and the Creme Brulee £1.99. Looking at the packaging I think you will agree there is one clear winner between the two. Having said that I thought both looked far better than the average market offering.

Lindt Swiss Classic Double Milk Caramel Chocolate:

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

This bar was described as 'Swiss milk chocolate with a milky filling and crunchy caramel pieces' and came in a 125.0g size. Unwrapping the foil layer the blocks looked very sleek and I was pleased to see some golden pieces lining the inner beige coloured creme filling.

Formed of 30% cocoa solids the milk chocolate was forthcoming from the outset and established some fine cream rooted chocolate flavours in the mouth. As the chocolate melted the inner creme filling was revealed little by little and it had a noticeably drier texture than the outer chocolate. The inner filling was sweet tasting and further went to reaffirm the milky flavours of the chocolate with a wonderful note of vanilla ever present. The caramel pieces were a not quite as impactful on the taste as I was hoping as they added only minor hints of toffee when bitten into. Although a slight let down in this instance the caramel brought a lovely crunchy element to the texture that was best enjoyed once the chocolate and inner creme filling had melted away.

8.2 out of 10

Lindt Petits Desserts Creme Brulee:

Kcal 570 Fat 38.0g Fat(sats) 23.0g Carbs 52.0g (per 100.0g)

Described as 'milk chocolate with a delicate creme brulee filling' I have no idea why I have resisted trying this bar for so long - it sounds wonderful don't you think? A product of the Lindt Factory in France this bar came in a 150.0g tablet which was split into ten big sized blocks. To be honest I preferred the size of the blocks from the Swiss Classic, though the chocolate was undeniably sharper looking with the both the outer surface and inner filling glistening giving a real sense of freshness.

Looking at the pictures above you will be able to see that chocolate on this bar was slighlty thicker though this had no effect on the taste of the chocolate whatsoever which was unsurprising given exactly the same recipe was used. The difference and reason for my overall preference of this bar over the Swiss Classic came as result of the sheer quality of the creme brulee filling - it was simply magical. The inner creme was every bit as smooth as the Swiss Classic but had extra dimensions in its flavours with notes of custard, vanilla and butterscotch adding wonderfully to the overarching creaminess. Dispersed throughout the filling there were small pieces of wafer and caramelised sugar which added delightful crunchy elements to the texture. The latter especially brought a hint of burnt sugar to the taste which really brought to life the creme brulee flavour theme fantastically.

9.0 out of 10

Overall I could clearly pick my favourite between these two bars but at the same time I think it is worth recognising how brilliant both were. For me I felt the Petits Desserts went just that bit further with its flavours and I was surprised to the degree at which the Creme Brulee flavour was delivered on. There is no doubt that this was largely down to the presence of the caramelised sugar pieces as they brought the crunchy creme brulee topping to the party with great effect. The Swiss Classic wasn't perhaps as complex in terms of taste in comparison to the Creme Brulee but it certainly had wonderful appeal with it's cream based taste. If I was to recommend one of these bars to you it would have to be the Petits Desserts, however I would have no qualms recommending the Swiss Classic Caramel Chocolate as a very close second if you are watching the pennies.

November 1st: '7 Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 21

### Jim's Corner & QOTW ###

Hi All,

I hope you have all had good Halloween weeks and have bags full of chocolate and candy to much your way through.

This week I received my Christmas samples from Hotel Chocolat so prepare yourselves to start seeing some reviews coming your way soon.

In addition to that I also received a big parcel of different chocolates from Germany courtesy of ChocolateMission reader Susie. The package contains so many different chocolates I have no idea what to try first ... this got my thinking about question of the week ...

'Which country produces the best chocolates?' UK? US? Germany? Japan? Other??

Let me know what you think - I will tell you my view later this evening.

Have a good week and thanks for all the ongoing contributions.

JIM


The ChocolateMission Omnibus:

Right at the start of last week I posted Hotel Chocolat's answers to the questions that all you guys sent them a month or so ago. Thanks again to Matt at HC for co-ordinating this with me, be sure to take a look at the interview HERE.

This week has been full of reviews of Nestle's and Cadbury new mini bakes / mini bites products HERE. Readers like Lottie and Steven has expressed their annoyance and this ongoing trend of 'Mini' products and I have to say I agree with them. Like reader Mark so aptly put it wouldn't hardly hurt these manufactures to start thinking about outside the box.

The review I most enjoyed writing this week was the Snickers Fudge which was sent to me by my chums at CandyPirate HERE. Whilst most were excited by the product it was duly noted by Rachel that it wasn't the cleverest move taking the caramel out the bar ... a view I very much agreed with.

Despite my best efforts to ignore Halloween this year I did yield yesterday and posted a review of the Cadbury Cinder Toffee Cake Bars HERE.


News from the Chocolate Market:

* Hancocks are introducing a new brand called Bella Vista to the UK market ... SEE HERE

* Kraft have got a new Terry's Chocolate Orange TVC coming on air for Christmas ... SEE HERE

* Cadbury's strong business will only push up the price for Kraft according to the Grocer ... SEE HERE

* Fox's have revealed their Christmas NPD which contains some tasty sounding chocolate biscuits ... SEE HERE

* Nestle are already planning their 2010 Easter range ... crazy world eh!? ... SEE HERE


Posts from other Blogs I enjoyed this week:

* ImpulsiveBuy - Marvo posted his 7th podcast ... includes Marvo man boobs ... SEE HERE

* CandyBlog - Cybele had me drooling at the sight of the worlds biggest Reese's Peanut Butter Cup! This had me drooling like Homer Simpson ... SEE HERE

* GiGi Reviews - Is running a soup competition ... yep you read that right ... a soup competition :D Get your entries in now ... SEE HERE

* JapaneseSnackReviews - These guys are awesome at getting the latest Kit Kat products from the Far East. Check out their review of the Salty Caramel KitKat mini bite things ... SEE HERE

* Foodette Reviews - I wish Starbucks in the UK did cookies like this - these sound divine. SEE HERE

October 31st: Cadbury Cinder Toffee Cake Bars

Kcal 150 Fat 8.2g Fat(sats) 4.5g Carbs 16.8g

I know said I wasn't going to do anymore Halloween themed reviews this year but I couldn't resist adding to my exploration of the cake bar market. Nestled in between all the usual Halloween junk you get in the supermarkets this time of year I managed to stumble across these Cadbury Cinder Toffee flavoured cake bars at the knock down price of £1 a pack. As much as I loathe Halloween I just couldn't resist the sound of 'golden sponge with cinder toffee flavour topping with milk chocolate' - those of you who aren't aware the difference between normal toffee and cinder toffee take a look HERE at our trusted friend Wiki.

At 20p a cake bar I thought the price was very good and happily parted with my hard earned £1 for a multi pack of 5. Looking at the packaging I have to say it was fair enough standard and I liked the fact that Cadbury at least when to some effort to incorporate a Halloween theme despite it looking a little on the messy side. More positively the cake bars themselves looked pretty good when cross-sectioned and I liked the fact the cinder toffee filling stood out nicely wedged between the chocolate and cake elements. Straight out the wrapper these cake bars didn't smell all that strong, however when I bit into one I immediately detected a strong brown sugar type aroma.

From my very bite I had an overwhelming wave of nostalgia come over me, but annoyingly I still can't quite pinpoint the taste down to a specific product. The taste was exactly like a cake bar product that I had as a kid but frustratingly I just can't remember what it was? Part of me thinks it may have been a 'Crunchie' version of Cadbury cake bars but to be honest that is a real stab in the dark! Anyway ... back to matters at hand I had mixed feelings about these Cinder Toffee cakes. On the plus side the outer milk chocolate was as enjoyable as always and the sweet, milky taste nicely set up the vanilla noted golden sponge that lay below. With the cake layer providing a bit of substance to the bite the cinder toffee layer was surprisingly light and whipped in texture and melted almost instantly in the mouth. The toffee flavours were pleasant with sharp, sweet, burnt sugar led flavours that unfortunately just didn't last for the desired duration in the mouth. With the flavours lacking longevity I have to say these weren't the most well rounded cake bars I have ever had but they did the job for a mid-afternoon snack.

Overall having now tried my fair share of cake bar products I can conclude that these are no better or worse than your average offering from this part of the market. The cinder toffee flavour was a good idea however it just wasn't executed as well as it might have been given its limitations due to the ease at which it melted and disappeared in the mouth. Aside from the chocolate not being Dairy Milk I had no gripes with the milk chocolate or sponge element to this bar and actually thought that the golden sponge was just a bit more flavoursome than the usual chocolate sponge used in the rest of the Cadbury Cake Bars range. By now you will know I am no fan of Halloween but would it not have been awesome to see Cadbury go for a toffee apple flavoured cake bar!? That to me sounds like a winner and I think these would have benefitted from a different type of flavour influence as they were just a little one dimensional. These are worth a try for just £1 a punt ... if only to tell me what old product these taste exactly like.

7.3 out of 10

October 30th: Nestle Munchies Mini Bites

Kcal 78 Fat 3.3g Fat(sats) 2.1g Carbs 11.2g (per bite)

I have to hold my hands up from the start here and admit that I was pretty reticent about reviewing these as Nestle's Munchies brand has previously come in for a fair bit of flack from me on this website. Way back in July 2008 I reviewed the original Nestle Munchies and concluded that they were 'an unspectacular offering'. My view of the Munchies Munchies which I reviewed in January 2009 was little different and I rated them a poor 6.1 out of 10 so suffice to say all the indicators were that I was hardly going to get on to well with these Nestle Munchies Mini Bites. Described as 'chocolate and biscuit bases with a layer of caramel, covered in milk chocolate' it sounded a very familiar proposition so I was expecting much the same experience as per my last two reviews from this brand.

Like the Nestle Toffee Crisp Mini Bites these Munchie Mini Bites did not have a catch weight on box, however it did tell me that 15 Mini Bite pieces were contained within. Apologies if it sounds like I am repeating myself from the Toffee Crisp review but my thoughts regarding the packaging and presentation were very similar - aesthetically all was well but the product let itself down with its lack of inner wrapper. The Munchie branding gave the box and fun and inviting look, though the problem of the inner pieces having dusty, scuffed surfaces reared its ugly head again and the Mini Bites just didn't look fresh. Aroma wise the Mini Bites failed to register anything more than a slightly chocolaty smell when I opened the box which neither managed to excite me or put me off.

I was frankly expecting to launch into a full on rant about how poor these tasted but I was relatively surprised (and pleased) with what I came across. I needn't bother going into detail about the quality of the chocolate as I am sure you are all already well aware of the sweet, milk based taste of Nestle milk chocolate. The surprise factor of these Munchies Mini Bites came in the proportion of caramel to biscuit and thankfully unlike the packaging indicated the proportion of biscuit to caramel was far greater than I thought it was going to be. Unlike in the original Munchies where the biscuit elements plays a minor role in these Mini Bites the biscuit base had a real say in the majority of the taste and the brown sugar noted, malt flavours were exceedingly welcome given the average standard chocolate and relatively poor caramel. The biscuit base not only provided a well needed burst of flavour to the bland caramel but it also provided a nice crunchy variation to the texture as well as making each bite feel quite substantial. A few of these Munchie Mini Bites complimented an afternoon coffee relatively nicely and subsequently did tie over my hunger until the evening.

Overall these are probably the best of the Munchies products I have ever reviewed but if you look at the score you will be able to see that this wasn't exactly a hard feat. Having tried both the new Mini Bites products I am still wondering why Nestle felt the need to leave out a layer of inner wrapping. Given that the box itself isn't air tight it makes very little sense to me and it subsequently affected not only the look of products but most likely probably the taste as well. One thing that I did like about these Munchie Mini Bites was the biscuit base which I felt made up somewhat for the poor standard caramel (less said about that cheap tasting stuff the better) and the bog standard Nestle milk chocolate. So down to the all important question .... would I have these again? Most likely not given the price point would be my answer. If your a Munchies fan I would give these a try but if your unfussed by the brand already there is no real reason for you to venture into these parts.

6.9 out of 10

October 29th: Moser Roth Milk Chocolate Caramel

Kcal 546 Fat 33.1g Fat(sats) 19.8g Carbs 56.0g (per 100.0g)

Before I launch right into the review today I must once again thank Susanne for so kindly sending me the Moser Roth chocolates you have been seeing reviewed on this site in the last couple of weeks. If you don't remember from my last review Moser Roth is a German produced chocolate that is distributed in Aldi stores. The Dark Chocolate and Orange variant I tried previously was very good but this milk chocolate and caramel proposition offered up something completely different and came described as a combination of 'milk chocolate and crunchy caramel pieces' - it certainly sounded like something I would like!

Just as the Dark Chocolate and Orange this came equally as well presented in a 125.0g package that contained five separate 25.0g bars. Aesthetically I thought all was rather good and liked the way the two gold and orange colours combined to give the packaging really good stand out without making it look overly busy. I have to say I am a real fan of the five separate servings and think it is a idea that some more well known manufactures should take note of. The separate foil wrappers just made the chocolate seem fresher and each bar was decorated nicely with the Moser Roth branding. The smell of the chocolate didn't quite impress me as much as its looked but it smelt nice nonetheless with a notable toffee hint amongst some sweet smelling cocoa scents.

I knew this bar reminded me of something when I read the description and it wasn't long before I clocked that it was the Lindt Excellence Crunchy Caramel that I reviewed back in February. In a comparison of milk chocolate the Lindt bar was an obvious winner but that is not to say the milk chocolate on offer here was bad in any manner. The chocolate was formed of 36% cocoa solids which came through nicely in the taste as soon as the melt started. The predominant flavour influences throughout were milk based though things took a turn when the caramel pieces were encountered once the chocolate had smoothly melted away. Just as described the caramel pieces were crunchy and crystallised in texture and once bitten into released a fine set of sweet butterscotch and golden syrup flavours. With the volume of flavours being so high just one bar made for satisfying and fulfilling serving - it is not often you can say that about a 25.0g bar.

Overall the quality of both the chocolate and caramel pieces were ever so slightly lower than the Lindt equivalent both this was still a very enjoyable chocolate. Despite the milk chocolate not having quite the creaminess of the Lindt milk chocolate both the flow of flavours and texture were wonderfully and made for what I would describe as a good quality chocolate. Similarly the caramel pieces were not quite as good as in the Excellence Crunchy Caramel but they still delivered on what they promised and brought a nice caramel element to the taste. I wouldn't say this was a bar of the highest quality but it was a very good one that was presented well and tasted just as pleasant. I am not quite sure of the price point of this chocolate but one would suspect it is going to be lower than Lindt. If this is the case I would certainly give this bar a try as it certainly gives it a run for its money.

8.3 out of 10

October 28th: Lindt Wafer

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

Last week I brought you all my review of the Lindt Nocciolatte which was the first sort of 'on the go' chocolate bar I had seen from Lindt. On that very same trip to WH Smith I also came across another similar product in the form of this Lindt Wafer bar. Whereas the Nocciolatte was produced in Italy this bar originated from Austria and came billed as 'milk chocolate with wafer and hazelnut creme filling'. If you read my Nocciolatte review you will be aware that it didn't quite reach the high exceptionally high standards set by the rest of the Lindt range. Despite this my expectations were pretty high and I was hoping that this bar could better represent the brand.

This bar came in a 35.0g size that I ate in one single sitting. The product looked very similar to the Nocciolatte incorporating the same royal blue colour scheme though this particular variant had a larger proportion of the wrapper covered with gold foil. The chocolate itself looked as superb as the outer packaging and was split into nicely sized chunks with each sporting a Lindt logo. When cut into I was surprised to see that the centre was a little randomly put together with no distinct layering between the wafer and hazelnut paste. Despite appearing a little jumbled a fine array of nutty, biscuity smells emanated from the chocolate which certainly set up a nice enticing prospect.

I wont take long describing the outer milk chocolate that coated this bar as I guess you can probably tell that it was utterly superb. Lindt have a cracking milk chocolate recipe and it is nice to see that they haven't used a cheaper alternative across either this Wafer or Nocciolatte bar. The chocolate was delightfully smooth and thick in melt and delivered a consistent double cream like taste that had just the right volume of cocoa to deliver a friendly chocolaty taste. Inside the filling tasted just as it appeared with the wafer and hazelnut creme filling a little all over place. Tastewise I had no problem with either and enjoyed their presence but personally I would have preferred a better distinction between the two with some sort of layering. In relation to other wafer products the one on offer here was well recieved as it delivered a fine set of flavours with some pleasant wheat and malt influences brought to the party. The hazelnut creme was pleasant though could have certainly have been stronger and failed to really make the desired impact I was hoping it would do. The real issue with the mixed up nature of the wafer and hazelnut creme was that neither really came through that strongle in the taste and the wafer didn't have the same crispness as it would would have done if it had just been one defined layer. On the plus side with the chocolate being so strongly flavoured this relatively small 35.0g bar actually made for a pretty fulfilling chocolate and complimented an afternoon coffee quite nicely.

Overall this may sound absurd but I think Lindt could learn something from the Nestle Kit Kat bar when it comes to the actual construction of this bar. The Kit Kat is a really well put together product with clear layering of outer chocolate, inner creme and crisp wafer. As I have alluded to many times above the wafer and inner creme were mixed together which I think failed to bring out the best of either. The wafer seemed to absorb the creme which left it with less of a crispness and meant that both had less of a distinguishable impact on the taste. Where the centre components were ever so slightly disappointing what could not be faulted was the outer milk chocolate and it delivered the high quality Lindt experience that I had come to expect. At the end of the day this wasn't the best Lindt offering I have ever had but it was a pretty tasty one nonetheless. I am a little unsure as to whether I will pick another up again anytime soon, however I think if you like your Lindt milk chocolate this could certainly be a product that you might want to try at some point.

8.1 out of 10