February 17th: Guylian Trufflina

Kcal 610 Fat 47.0g Carbs 42.0g (per 100.0g)

Last month the January chocolate promotions were in full swing trying to tempt the even the keenest of the early year dieters back into a world of chocolate sin :) One of the best deals I found was across Guylian's selection box range, and I found both the Guylian Opus and this Trufflina collections on a 2 for £4 deal in my local OneStop. Considering just before Christmas I saw each retailing for £5 a box in my local Tesco you would have to say that is a pretty good deal. As you will have seen by the title I decided to get stuck into the Trufflina box first which was a collection described as simply 'truffle filled Belgian chocolates'.

These chocolates came in a 180.0g box which contained about 20 or so individual truffles. Just as I found with the Guylian products I reviewed a few years ago the presentation was absolutely fantastic with everything from the packaging to the chocolates themselves looking first class. I particularly liked the outer box as it was so simple and clean cut in design making use of clear branding and visuals. Inside the chocolates were protected in both a plastic tray and paper wrappers which maintained the delicate exterior of each truffle perfectly. Although I have only nice things to say about the aesthetic properties, the chocolates' aroma credentials were noticeably not up to much and they failed to further raise my anticipation with their faint chocolate scents.

Now I know normally use a different review format and scoring chart for selection box products but for this particular collection I thought better of it as I drew such similar conditions about all three different flavours in the selection. If you haven't put managed to work it out by the photos this collection constituted of three different variants with milk chocolate, dark chocolate and white chocolate offerings, all of which had a milk chocolate truffle filling. Starting with the quality of each of the outer chocolates I would say that all three were of a standard quality with each bringing exactly what you would expect to the party. The milk chocolate was the least strongest flavoured out of the three with quite a resigned a milky taste but the dark chocolate and white chocolate coatings were more distinct with the dark offering a greater cocoa emphasis and the white bringing an additional creamy vanilla note. A thing I liked about all three variants was the outer coating of crumbly chocolate flakes that lined each piece which helped bring a pleasant melty feel to the initial stages of each chocolate in the mouth. Unfortunately as good as this all was what I found overwhelmingly disappointing was the quality of the inner truffle filling which was abysmal across all three variants. If I was going to rate the filling in isolation I would give it a 'Poor' and to be honest that is being rather kind. The main problem with it was that it lacked any flavour whatsoever - indeed it was silky smooth in melt but that did little to make up for the lacking contribution to the overall taste with only the mildest of chocolaty notes on offer. The lack of flavour from each of the fillings made each chocolate seem completely lacklustre and unsatisfying, so much so that I saw little point reaching back into the box.

Overall Guylian really let themselves down with this box of chocolates and it has made me reassess where I think their total brand sits in terms of quality. Having tried a few of their bar products and Sea Shell Praline chocolates before I had really high hopes for this Trufflina selection but it was nothing short of a real let down. As far as I understand Guylian's core competence is praline!? ... which begs the question why were these chocolates not filled with a hazelnut praline truffle rather than a bland, flavourless 'chocolate one'. If I was to liken the truffle filling to anything on the market I think it would be best compared to a flavourless Lindt Lindor truffle - indeed it was silk smooth in melt but what is the point of this when their is nothing registering in terms of taste. Having eaten these the only thing I am mildly pleased about is the fact that I didn't pay full price for them. I can only hope the other box I got in this 2 for £4 deal (Opus) is a lot better.

5.7 out of 10