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Lemon Smoothie - Kcal 205 Fat 14.3g Fat(sats) 8.1g Carbs 17.4gRaspberry Burst - Kcal 195 Fat 14.1g Fat(sats) 8.0g Carbs 14.0g
Summer is in full flow now and I have been keeping my eyes peeled for all the different summer offerings from all the UK brands. Whilst browsing the shelves of my local Thorntons last week, my eyes came across these Lemon Smoothie and Raspberry Burst bars pictured above (no prizes for guessing which is which!!).
Both these bars came in the familiar Thorntons impulse bar format, priced at 49p and both weighing 35.0g. Neither of the two really struck me as that innovative given that there have been very similar offerings from Thorntons in the past - See 'Thorntons Sicilian Lemon Truffle Bar' & 'Thorntons Winter Fruit Crumble' but in terms of packaging, presentation and product concept they both struck me as attractive and fitting with the summer season.
Lemon Smoothie - 'White chocolate bar with a lemon mousse centre'
This was certainly the better out of the two bars. I have always been an advocate of Thorntons' white chocolate so I was little surprised by my enjoyment of the creamy vanilla tones of the tones of the exterior layer here. Remembering back to my review of the Sicilian Lemon bar a few years ago I recall finding the lemon flavours over powering and dominant but thankfully Thorntons had obviously attempted to address this issue. This time around the fluffy, light mousse centre was sweeter and creamier, yet it still produced a citrusy lemon flavour offering. The centre tasted like a cream based lemon curd filling and produced a pleasant, flowing flavour experience. On the whole it was pretty delicious, and I loved all the different textures delivered by the outer chocolate, mousse and crisp chocolate base.
Raspberry Burst - 'Dark chocolate bar with a raspberry mousse centre'
I don't even know where to start with this one - it was absolutely fowl!!! Taste wise the outer dark chocolate was fine tasting, and the 60% recipe established a decent set of unsweetened cocoa flavours in the mouth. Unfortunately within seconds the dark chocolate became a complete non-factor as the gaudy looking raspberry mousse took centre stage. The mousse can be best described as totally disgusting. I don't know what happened at Thorntons HQ but whoever thought that replacing the tasty red fruit Winter Fruit Crumble filling with a artificial, lip gloss tasting 'mousse centre' needs to be fired now. I can't think of any better way of describing the taste other than cheap kiddie lipstick - it was just so fake tasting I ended up throwing it away after only a few bites.
Overall Thorntons have delivered a real mix bag of Summer offering with these bars. To be honest I'm a little dumbfounded as to how one of them could be so genuinely tasty in it's fruity flavours, whilst the other was so ridiculously bad. What really impressed me about the Lemon Smoothie bar was the way Thorntons seemed to have adapted the recipe from the Sicilian Lemon to allow the white chocolate to have more of say in the taste with the lemon being slightly less dominant. The Lemon Smoothie is a fine example of how to integrate fruit flavours in to chocolate, on the contrary the Rapsberry Burst sits on the other end of spectrum. Although the Raspberry Burst looks the part, when it comes to taste it has to be classed as one of the worst things Thorntons have served up for awhile, and of course it's not a bar I would recommend any of you buying. If you try one of the two this summer I strongly suggest you make it the Lemon Smoothie.
Lemon Smoothie - 7.9 out of 10
Raspberry Burst - 4.9 out of 10
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24 comments:
Yuck that raspberry one sounds terrible. Lol typical bloody Thorntons making one good one and one bad one.
I think thats one of the lowest scores for taste lol. 2/10 is totally pathetic. I wont be buying one.
I saw these in my local Thorntons last week. I did think about buying them then but then I thought I would wait for your review because I knew the chances were that they could be rubbish. I'm glad I did now :)
Dx
I can't think of any better way of describing the taste other than cheap kiddie lipstick - it was just so fake tasting I ended up throwing it away after only a few bites
I was a little confused by what you meant by this but then I remembered back to the chapsticks I used to use when I was small.
This must have tasted so bad.
I wouldn't of bothered buying the raspberry anyway but it is nice to be warned about these things. Thanks for the review Jim.
Jim you should take a rest fella its supposed to be Sunday 'The day of Rest'. I wont complain too much as you've done another corker today well done.
Neither of these are matched to my tastes. They are a both a bit feminine aren't they.
The centre part of that raspberry one even looks toxic lol. I wouldn't trust something that looked like that.
I was speaking to the lady in my local thorntons the other day and she was trying to push me into buying these. In the end I bought this lime and coconut chocolate, I'm so glad I didn't but these now.
It's pretty clear which one of these you think is ok :) You dont mine about with your criticism do you. It always seems to be thorntons you go after.
these would both appeal to me, and I'd probabaly try the Raspberry oen anyway just to taste it lol. The colour wouldn't put me off, never sure why people complain about the colour of centres, to me it adds to the product lol how does it look toxic? its just rasperry colour! lol
Nice pictures Jim. I get what nigel is saying a little bit, neither of these really appeal to me to much. If I was going to buy one now it would be the lemon smoothie. I wouldn't even consider the raspberry mousse after reading what you have had to say about it.
Lemon Smoothie is an odd name considering you can't really buy lemon smoothies in shops. And I can totally imagine the taste of the raspberry one from your description - ugh! I've had those nasty artificial raspberry flavoured things when I was younger. They should have gone for a different flavour.
I think I'm going to buy one of those raspbery ones now just to see if it is as bad as you say. lol that may sound perverse but it will be funny. The way you describe it makes it sound like its barely edible.
I think I've had my share of fowl tasting raspberry fillings for this year :))
They both look pretty in their wrappers, but the color of the raspberry mousse would turn me off...
These are so much more made for women. Thorntons are getting really dull. They use to be bringing out new stuff all the time. Now we are lucky if we get two crappy things like this.
Nice one Jim. The Raspberry Burst is on my avoid list.
I think I will just give both of these a try if I see them. They are never that expensive so if I'm going to try one I might as well try the other.
A good tip for these Thorntons mousse filled bars is to leave them in the fridge for a bit before you eat them.
If someone had offered me the chance to try one of these I'm pretty sure I would have gone with the raspberry one. I think I would reconsider that now after your review. It sounds so horrid.
I know it's a day late for the weeks round up but I thought this might be of interest! :
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1297380/Exodus-Cadbury-fears-grow-march-Milka.html?ITO=1708&referrer=yahoo
I'd heard about the execs leaving but I was intrigued by the tagline 'Milka CReme Eggs'! lol Some of the comments people leave make me laugh aswell!
lol the colour of the filling looks a bit mental. It looks the colour of a pink highlighter pen lol.
None of these two are my sorta chocolate. Fruit flavoured things are an instant turn off for me. They all taste so similar.
Yay, thanks Jim, I requested you do a review of these so I am happy! Off to buy a lemon one to try now...
David
They are the most unpredictable of all the manufacturers we have here in the UK. They come out with some superb things, but then follow them up with some utter dross.
Golden
To score two out of ten you have to be verging on being inedible. That Raspberry Burst nearly was in my opinion. Others may think differently.
Daisy
I'm glad to hear you regard my opinion as so valuable. I hope I haven't totally put you off buying them, I would like to hear your views.
Katie
I'm surprised no one has piped up with a comment asking how I know what make up tastes like. It was the only analogy I could come up with at the time. It didn't taste great put it that way.
Tim
No problem. Glad to be of service. I would welcome your own views mind you.
Nigel
Me!? I never rest :D I have such a big review backlog I see little point not posting a review up for the sake of it.
I see your point about them being more female inclined. The packaging would certainly suggest that.
Alicia
Haha its most likely she was just being nice but it would be funny if they were already having to try shift them because they weren't selling well.
Alex
I don't 'go after' any manufacture. I just tell it like I see it.
Steven
Thanks for the nice words about the photos. If you're going to pick one I would suggest it be the lemon smoothie.
Phil
Haha that is a good point. I can't recall ever seeing a lemon flavoure smoothie either!? Regarding the raspberry one, I don't think they need to go for a different flavour ... they just needed to the raspberry one better.
Mark
It would be cool to hear your views :D in a strange sort of way I hope you dislike it just as much as I do so it doesn't look like I'm causing a fuss.
Ana
If you have indeed had enough of sickly tasting raspberry fillings it is best off avoided.
Mysterio
I think that isn't quite accurate. They are bringing out several additions to their square bars *ahem* Ritter *ahem* range. I have one of them coming up this week infact!
Nick
I never like hearing that I put people off things, but I think it is probably best people don't spend their money on the Raspberry Burst.
Kim
That is indeed a good tip - I do that with a lot of chocolates myself. It always helps them last a little bit longer don't you think.
Lauren
As I was saying above, please don't be put off just by my review. I'm only one guy I'm more than happy to be disagreed with. Part of the fun is hearing everyones views.
Alan
It's never too late chap :D Any fears people have about Milka replacing Dairy Milk are ill founded. I would bet big money on them co-existing for the forseeable future. You're right some of the messages people have left are hilarious :D
Paul
It doesn't looks too appetising does it. It was very, very dayglow!
Hannah
No problem Hannah my pleasure :D If you have any more requests be sure to drop me a note.
Thanks everyone. I hope more of you get to try them out. If you do be sure to let me know your favourite.
JIM
The lemon smoothie one was superb. Thanks for warning us off the raspberry one, otherwise I would have been torn between them :)
Wow I'm surprised to hear these are still around! I thought they were supposed to just be summer limited editions! They must not have sold that well I guess. I'm glad you enjoyed the lemon bar :D
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