August 20th: Mr Tom Chocolate

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

Before I kick off this review I must first take the time to thank my friends over at Candyholic.com for making this post possible. My pal Kristian from Candyholic was recently kind enough to send me a parcel containing some of the newest products out in Germany. Included in the package was some of the latest Milka and Lindt bars that you will no doubt see appearing on the site in the coming weeks. Kristian also happen to include some of his own favourite chocolates, including this Mr Tom Chocolate bar. Here in the UK the original Mr Tom bar can be found in most newsagents and supermarkets, however I have never seen this chocolate variety before. On the packaging this bar came described as 'milk chocolate with caramelized and roasted peanuts' and was of course produced in Germany.

This chocolate came in the slightly odd sized 150.0g and came in a square bar format not unlike a Ritter Sport chocolate. The wrapper wasn't totally reminiscent of the crazy retro looking Mr Tom bars we get in the UK, but it looked fine nonetheless and the chocolate looked reasonably appetising with visible chunks of peanuts distributed throughout. One slight annoyance for me was that despite the wrapper being similar in style to Ritter chocolates it wasn't resealable, which obviously wasn't ideal for a bar of its size. As I ate the bar over the course of a few days, it seemed to lose it's freshness a little, that said the wafts of peanut smells I got when I opened the thing for the first time were extremely tempting.

Judging by the aromas and the sheer volume of peanuts dispersed throughout, I was expecting a very nutty tasting chocolate and this is exactly what I got. Starting with the quality of the chocolate it has to be said it wasn't the best I have ever tasted, though neither was it the worst. On the back of the wrapper the ingredients stated that the chocolate comprised of 30% cocoa solids which I guess is around the expected strength for the average mass produced milk chocolate. In terms of taste it was nothing out of the ordinary with the flavour base centered around sweet milk and mild cocoa influences. To be honest it didn't really have any compelling or unique features about it, and was more just a bog standard milk chocolate that wouldn't have seemed out of place in any Nestle or Mars produced mass confection. The peanut pieces placed throughout the chocolate were portioned pretty generously, though as I so often find their chopped nature came to their detriment as they failed to have the same sort of cut through in taste as I'm sure whole nuts would have. Don't get me wrong, the caramel and salty influences were still there in force, however they didn't create the lasting impression that other peanut flavoured chocolates have done in the past.

Overall this was a decent enough milk chocolate that had it's strong points, but I ultimately felt like it could have been done a little better than what I experienced here. On the rare occasion that I do indulge in a Mr Tom bar, one of the things that I always love about it is how the peanuts are implemented in their natural whole state as it gives the bar not only a unique and compelling look, but also a raw and very 'in your face' peanut flavour experience. In this Mr Tom Chocolate bar the peanut element was somewhat masked by a no better than average milk chocolate, which leads me to be the question why didn't they just use the base of an original Mr Tom and then just coat it in milk chocolate!? Casting my mind to better alternatives I would say the Whittaker's Original Peanut Block is the best example of a bar that does this combination the best. In light of that I would recommend you give that bar a try before this Mr Tom Chocolate.

7.3 out of 10