May 9th: Meiji Chopan Assort Strawberry

Kcal 213 Fat 13.6g Carbs 20.4g (per 37.0g)

In my penultimate review from my latest batch of goodies supplied to me by J-List, I will today be taking a look at yet another offering from Meiji's extensive portfolio. To be honest when I first saw this product nestled in alongside the other familiar looking Kit Kats and Pocky packets, I had no idea at all what it was, as I had never seen nor heard of the Chopan Assort brand before. After a little investigating on the J-List website, Google and the on-pack pictures I managed to determine that this was a product formed of a 'strawberry flavoured chocolate cup, filled with milk/white chocolate, topped with small pastry piece'. It did sound a little out of the ordinary, but I guess this is a product from Japan so it would have been silly to expect anything else.

The Chopan Assort Strawberry packet consisted of four individual chocolates that weighed in at a collective 37.0g. As you may have been able to tell from the photo above, and from my previous description, the pack was split in to milk and white chocolate varieties, each of which was portioned twice. Keeping standard with Japanese confectionery norms, the packaging was very classy and probably even more so than normal with swish looking fonts and clean looking visuals communicating the strawberry flavouring clearly and in a non overly elaborate manner. The presentation was a real strength of this product, and the chocolates themselves did more than justice to the prestigious look of the outer packet and looked nicely crafted. Contained within a very cool looking foil tray, the strawberry fruit scents that emerged smelt genuine and made for a very appetising prospect at hand.

Before I ate these I didn't quite know what sort of occasion they were best suited to be eaten - they weren't a product that seemed suitable to eat all at once, but neither did they strike me as product to be savoured and eaten one-by-one. In the end I settled on eating them two at a time alongside my usual mid-afternoon and after dinner coffees. Starting with the outer chocolate cup layer, much like the aromas suggested the fruit flavours tasted genuine, and the red berry flavours avoided a common strawberry confectionery pitfall of tasting fake and artificial. The creamy strawberry flavours nicely led in to one of the two different chocolate centres - with the white chocolate reaffirming the sweet cream flavours, whilst the milk chocolate delivering an extra dose of cocoa notes to the taste. Texture wise the melt of both chocolate layers was very nice and felt soft and smooth feel in the mouth when in full flow. The real excitement though came from the small pastry bits placed on the top of each chocolate, as not only did they bring an extra crisp, crunchy element, but they also brought a delightful brown sugar noted wheat biscuit influence to the taste, which proved to be a lovely way to round off each bite.

Overall I have to say that I really have struck lucky with my latest sampling package from Japan, as these Meiji Chopan Assort Strawberry were yet another very enjoyable product for me to review. It is quite incredible how the simple addition of such a a basic thing like a small piece of crusty pastry can make a product really stand out, but it genuinely was what separated these from being 'just another chocolate'. Speaking of the quality of the strawberry element, it has to be said it was really very implemented, and the juicy berry flavours came through well in the taste, and in a non-artificial manner. Out of the two different chocolate varieties on offer, I can't say I liked one more than the other as they were both effective at what they did. The white chocolate pieces were extra creamy, whilst the milk chocolate ones delivered more of a chocolate flavour hit - I guess it will be down to personal preference as to which you will prefer. On the whole, my everlasting impression of these Chopan Assort Strawberry is very positive, and I would recommend them to anyone who likes strawberry flavoured chocolates.

8.3 out of 10

Fancy trying these Meiji Chopan Assort Strawberry for yourself? Head to J-List

May 8th: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 42

**** COMPETITION WINNERS ****

Hi All,

I'm sure you are desperate to know who the winners of the 1000th ChocolateMission post competition are, so please let me reveal all ....

Starting with our 3 runners-up we have ....

... each winning a Hotel Chocolat Sleekster Selection box ...

...
..
.

Daniel Ness, Plymouth
Coleen Allison, Leeds
Emma Reid, Berkshire

... and our winner ... taking home the Hotel Chocolat Mini Chocolatiers Table ....

...
..
. is .......

Paul Marshall, Oldham

Congratulations to the winners, and thank you all for your entries (more than 10,000!). If you didn't win don't worry ... there will be another competition coming very soon!

*** READER SITE SUGGESTIONS ***

During my 1000th post I asked you readers how I should change the site to make it better. Through the mediums of Twitter, e-mail, Facebook and on-site comments I received plenty of suggestions. Here are my comments in regards to the more popular/realistic suggestions I received.

1. "ChocolateMission Chocolate Shop" - I announced at the start of the year that the wheels were motion for me to set up my own shop. Unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to dedicate enough time to make this a reality as yet. I don't want to make promises, but this is still very much something I would like to have set up and functional by the end of the year. All I can say is keep your eyes and ears open for news in the near future.

2. "Create a Chocolate Swap Shop" - In the coming month I will be creating a section on the site for people to do this. It will be as simple as me creating a page where you guys can leave comments stating where you are based, and what sort of swap you are looking for. I will not be taking responsibility or any governance role over these chocolate swaps, though I will be recognising successful traders in the main body of the post on that page.

3. "Can you review more things we can buy in the UK" - I understand that not being able to buy some of the products I review may be frustrating, however the website is visited by people from all over the world. In order to keep these interesting and to appeal to a wide audience I will have to continue reviewing products from a widespread distribution.

4. "Create a ChocolateMission Forum" - Personally this is something I'm not keen on doing, however if there is widespread demand I will seriously consider it. Currently I think the 'Comment' functionality is working quite well for the site, and the number of posts a day seems to be ever increasing. Whilst I can see the benefits of having a forum, I can also that this would be a lot of additional work for myself what with the upkeep and maintenance demands that such functionality would demand. My suggestion in the short term would be that if you want to create discussions, or debate things ... use the 'Comment' button. If this isn't meeting peoples needs I will happily reconsider my stance.

5. "Improve the website design" - This site is by no means perfect, but I quite like the rough around the edges presentation style. I think if I was to get a snazzier looking design people might think that I am taking myself a little bit too seriously as a 'chocolate critic'. If anyone knows/is a website designer I could possibly be swayed in to changing the design if they could spoon feed me how to make the changes (or want to design it themselves ;) ). One thing I will be changing soon is adding some 'popular brands' buttons to make some of the more popular reviews easier to find. Again any further suggestions on how to improve the site functionality are very welcome.

6. "Make your competitions worldwide" - Yep ok! I promise that by the end of the year I will have at least one competition that is open to EVERYONE. Message received loud and clear :D

7. "Make a thumbs up functionality for the products" - Currently there is a stars rating available under each review. I will be adding a Facebook 'Like' button in the next few days as well.


If I have missed out your suggestion please drop me a note with what it was and I will gt back to you.

A big thanks to everyone who had nice words to say about the site, there were so many of you I was very surprised by all the love. Please continue to read, who knows I may make it to 2,000 posts :D

Have great weekends


JIM

May 7th: Cadbury Huesitos

Kcal 95 Fat 4.7g Carbs 11.9g (per 20.0g bar)

If you take a look back a couple of days you will see my first ever Spanish chocolate review in the form of the Cadbury Tokke bar (See Here). Just as I said in that write up, the Tokke was not the only bar I bought on my recent holiday - I also manged to pick up two different variants of another Spanish Cadbury range called Huesitos. Taking a look at the first one today, I first of all feel the need to inform you that Huesitos translated from Spanish to English means 'Bones'. I wasn't all that sure about the name, but the proposition of 'milk chocolate covered wafers with a milk chocolate creme filling' sounded much more familiar and not all that different to the Tokke.

The Huesitos is available in quite a few different forms in Spain, though the bar I picked up was smallish 20.0g single finger bar. Looking at the wrapper it was a little less distinctive and classy looking than the Tokke, but it still had a relative appeal with the silver foil branded very clearly with the Huesitos logo giving a nice vibrant look (still note the small sized Cadbury brand logo!!). Undone from it's foil dressing the bar looked pretty generic, however from a more positive POV it at least had some distinct layering and was fairly enticing with it's sweet, chocolatey biscuit scents.

I have to admit up until this point I wasn't all that enamoured by the prospect of 'yet another chocolate wafer bar' but I am glad to say that it turned out to be slightly better than your average thanks to a small dose of creamy Cadbury chocolate magic. As you can see from the photo above the outer chocolate wasn't all that thick, but it still yielded with a nice snap once the bar had been left to chill in the fridge for a while. In regards to flavours the chocolate was just a small touch above what I would deem as the average market offering, and brought a minor, yet noticeable creamier dairy taste than you would get from your average chocolate. As expected the inner wafers were crunchy but were pretty flavourless aside from some minor wheaty malt flavours. The intermittent layers of inner chocolate creme offered nothing that the outer coating didn't in terms of flavours, though their presence was very much necessary as it was needed to moisten the dry wafer constituents. I don't think it will surprise any of you to hear that the 20.0g wasn't all that fulfilling but it wasn't as if anything else could be expected from such a light, wafer based product.

Overall this Cadbury Huesitos isn't a bad chocolate wafer bar by any means, but at the end of the day the likes of Nestle's Kit Kat, the Lindt Wafer and even the Cadbury Tokke does make it somewhat unworthwhile. What I don't quite understand is how Cadbury Espana can justify having both the Tokke and this original Huesitos in it's range architecture!? When you compare them both side-by-side the Tokke is just a better version of this Huesitos. From what I remember when I bought them the price wasn't all that different, (around 1 euro each I believe!) yet when you compare them the Tokke gives you more bang for your buck as it has thicker chocolate and an additional rice cereal layer on top. As a stand alone product this isn't a bad product whatsoever and it does provide a more than sound chocolate wafer experience. Unfortunately comparisons are very much the name of the game on this site, and I see little reason why you would choose one of these original Huesitos bars over the Cadbury Tokke if you were a Spanish citizen.

6.7 out of 10

May 6th: Lindt Petits Desserts Tiramisu`

Kcal 550 Fat 36.0g Fat(sats) 21.0g Carbs 50.0g (per 100.0g)

On ChocolateMission the Lindt Petits Desserts range has remained a relatively untapped area of Lindt's extensive portfolio, but I can no longer ignore the calls from my readers to get some reviews up. Back in November 2009 I gave Lindt Petits Desserts Creme Brulee bar a terrific score of 9.0 out of 10 (See HERE), and commented that 'the bar brought to life the creme brulee flavour theme fantastically'. Today I was hoping for more of the same from this Lindt Petits Desserts Tiramisu chocolate, which came described as 'milk chocolate with a creamy filling, with dark chocolate crunchy biscuit and coffee'. Tiramisu ranks as one of my all time favourite desserts ever (a restaurant I go to when on vacation in Spain does a particularly amazing one!) so I was pretty curious as to how Lindt planned to implement it into a chocolate bar.

This bar cost me just over £2 from my local Waitrose supermarket (I know, I know me buying chocolate for myself ... that hasn't happened for a long time!) which I guess is probably on the expensive side of things for a mass produced chocolate. One thing that made me feel a little bit more at ease with the price point was the fact that this bought me 150.0g of product, and the packaging looked pretty glamorous with the attractive tiramisu picture and premium looking golden coloured fonts. Inside the chocolate was coated in the usual branded thick layer of foil, that protected the large, thick block pieces nicely. The chocolate itself looked nice on the eye with clear distinct layers of filling visible in each block. Whilst admiring for it's aesthetic prestige I also took note of the delightful hints of dairy, cocoa and coffee being emanated which only went to further heighten my anticipation.

To let the 'cat out the bag' early so to say, I can confirm to you all now that this was one fantastic tasting chocolate. To get the only minor negative out the way my only complaint with the product as a whole comes in the fact that the bar would have been better designed had it smaller mouthsized blocks, though to be honest biting each in half hardly required much effort. Starting with the outer chocolate it was just as good as you would come to expect from Lindt. It had a real fresh snap when bitten into, yet melted with a delightful smoothness whilst delivering a crisp and forthcoming creamy, cocoa taste. Sitting in the middle of the piece the creme layer was nothing short of outstanding and I have no idea how they managed to pack so many different flavour influences in there. To rattle them all off at once there notes of brandy, coffee, almonds, double cream, butter and a minor hint of yogurt to deliver the mascarpone element. To top it all off the dark chocolate biscuit at the bottom reaffirmed the cocoa flavours of the outer constituents, ensuring the chocolate flavour hit was delivered in every bite. The taste was busy, yet never overly so and the flavours never felt rushed or over with too quickly. A few blocks of this at a time made for a decent sized snack, however at the same time I felt like I could have quite easily consumed more given the enjoyment that each mouthful gave me.

Overall the only feeling of regret I have after eating this chocolate is one of why it has taken me over two and a half years to pick this bar off the shelves? I would love to say that the answer to that question is because I have been discouraged by previous attempts at tiramisu flavoured chocolates (Dove Desserts Tiramisu - See HERE, Cadbury Dairy Milk Desserts Tiramisu - See HERE), but I think it is more down to the fact I have been a little ignorant. To sum things succinctly (not my strong point I know!) - this chocolate is utterly superb, and is one of the finest bars I have tried this year ... make that last two and a half years. This chocolate may be more expensive than your average mass produced offering, but lovers of the dessert tiramisu will have no regrets forking out that little bit extra. Much like I found with the Lindt Petits Desserts Creme Brulee chocolate the character of the pudding was captured with amazing effect. This Lindt offering gets a double thumbs up from me - I would strongly suggest you give it a try if you just have the mildest curiosity.

9.1 out of 10

May 5th: Glico Pocky Dessert Chocolat Fromage

Fancy trying these Glico Pocky Dessert Chocolat Fromage for yourself? Head to J-List

Kcal 97 Fat 5.3g Carbs 11.0g (per 17.9g packet)

This review starts with some good and bad news. The bad news is that I am coming to the end of my latest sample package from J-List Boooo! The good news is that today I get to complete a long standing request from ChocolateMission reader Steven, who what seems like ages ago now asked me to review these Pocky Dessert Chocolat Fromage. In fact, Glico Pocky is one of the most commonly mentioned ranges when it comes to reader requests, and I have to admit up until this point I probably haven't really paid enough attention to this particular part of the Japanese market. In an attempt to start putting things right today, I bring you my review of these Chocolat Fromage flavoured Pocky, which I believe sits in the higher end 'Desserts' part of the range.

This particular variant came segregated in to five 17.9g packs that consisted of three stick pieces in each. In previous experiences with the Pocky range I have always thought that the presenatation has been of a great standard, however these Chocolat Fromage took things yet another step further and really came across as premium offering from the brand. The sense of premiumality was driven mostly by the prestigious looking design of the outer box which was beautifully designed with well placed branding and pictures. Inside the actual Pocky was equally as pleasant on the eye, and if you look above you will hopefully be able to determine that the stick pieces were far thicker than standard Pocky, with each decorated with a generous beige coloured coating with woven chocolate on top.

Once I had finally got over marvelling at the aesthetic beauty of the Pocky the next thing I took notice of was the strong toffee yogurt like scents that were emanated from each of the individual plastic packets. As good as the Pocky smelt and looked, the true determinant was of course going to be the taste, so I straight away set about putting them to the test. Taking my first bite from the tip of one of the sticks I was first struck by a sweet tasting milk chocolate which was a nice way to start each bite as the chocolate flavour hit was established from the outset. As the chocolate melted away smoothly, the under fromage layer was exposed and it soon had an equally strong say in the taste. The fromage element brought a delicious cream cheese like influence, and it's yoghurty nature reminded me of the sort of flavours you get from mascarpone desserts like cheesecake. The base sticks were nothing more than what you would expect from Pocky, with their crunchy nature bringing all the usual moreish wheaty, brown sugar flavour notes to the party. In comparison to other Pocky products I have had previously I felt these were more satisfying, and found just one of the five mini packs a decent amount for a light snack.

Overall although I don't have extensive experience with the brand, I have to say that these were the best Pocky I have ever tasted. I guess having tasted only four other Pocky variants previously it isn't the greatest claim to make, however if you ignore that and just look at the scoring matrix it should give you some sort of idea of how much I liked these. If I was to sum up the taste in just three words I think it could be best described as 'delicious chocolate cheesecake'. Indeed, the flavours were very reminiscent of slightly tangy mascarpone and the generous portioning of the woven chocolate that coated each piece proved to be not only there for decoration, but also to ensure that the all important chocolate flavour hit was present in each and every bite. One of the most frustrating things I find with products like Mikado and Pocky is that they are often annoyingly moreish, but this wasn't quite the case here. The three sticks per pack made for decent sized portions, and whilst I could have easily eaten more at a time I thought that it was a sensible amount for each serving. If you are a Pocky fan then I would really recommend these a flavour well worth trying. After this success I am very much open to more requests for other flavours of Pocky that I should review.

8.5 out of 10

May 4th: Heavenly Cakes Millionaires Shortbread

Kcal 494 Fat 25.6g Fat(sats) 3.2g Carbs 64.2g

For the past few days I have been inundated with readers e-mailing me asking me who Heavenly Cakes are, and how they are associated with ChocolateMission. Well I can reveal that Heavenly Cakes (run by the very friendly Nigel & Maeve) are an online, homemade cakes company established only this year, originating in Hertfordshire, England. If you take a look at their site you will see photos of their products which can only be classified as foodporn (See HERE), but if you sit tight for just a minute I will take you through my review of their Millionaire Shortbread offering. As many of you will know, it is a very poorly kept secret of mine that Millionaire Shortbread (if it is good quality!) sends me weak a the knees. I guess it was no surprise then when Nigel and Maeve decided to make their ChocolateMission debut by sending along some of their freshly made 'all-butter shortbread, covered in Dulce de Leche caramel, smothered in Belgian milk chocolate'.

Being the nice people that that they are, Nigel and Maeve sent me a 'gift pack' sized serving of this Millionaire Shortbread, which weighed in at hefty 725.0g (about 15 man sized servings). As I have said I am huge fan of Millionaire Shortbread, but not even I could possibly justify saving this all to myself, so conducted the usual acid test of sharing with my work colleagues. The packaging and presentation was obviously the first thing I took notice of, and I have to say that it came to my relative surprise that it was very good. The outer cardboard box wasn't anything overly amazing design wise, though it does have to be said that the vinyl finished cardboard used was very smart, and the transparent window at the front allowed ample opportunity to see what was inside. If you have taken the effort to take a peek at the Heavenly Cakes website it most likely that you will have noticed the amazing pictures they have of their cakes. Being the pessimistic person I am, I thought these photos would be too good to be true, but a quick dig in to the silver foil try and the first slice revealed itself to be just as tempting as the pictures on the website, with the chocolate and caramel layers looking just as thick and plentiful.

Once all marvelling at how good the cake slices looked was over, the next thing I took notice of was the buttery, biscuit smells that were being emanated. I can't quite say they were bakery fresh, but they still managed to further increase anticipation for my first bite. As is plain to see in the pictures, these cakes were very thick in terms of depth, so just small little helpings at a time made for the richest of chocolate, caramel fixes. One thing that was playing on my mind before I tasted these, was that no matter how thick and plentiful the chocolate and caramel layers were, there was going to be little point in them being so if they were of a poor standard. It only took one bite to lay all these fears to rest - both the chocolate and the caramel were absolutely delicious! Starting off with the chocolate layer it had nice cream based taste which reminded me of softer Galaxy chocolate with it's sweet finish and loving feel on the tongue. The caramel was equally as good and brought all the desired toffee, brown sugar and minor salt notes to the taste with it's soft chewiness. Lastly the biscuit base was similarly enjoyable, with the shortbread buttery wheat flavours and bursts of white sugar and further salt notes rounding off what was a sinfully rich taste.

Overall these were nothing short of the finest Millionaire Shortbread cakes I have ever tasted, and I certainly wasn't alone in this thinking as a number of my work colleagues agreed. The previous product to hold this title was of course the Thorntons Mini Millionaire Shortbreads, and I can still see myself buying them on occasion as they are still very good in their own right and are a fraction of the cost. Frankly though, when it comes to quality these Heavenly Cakes are in a league of their own, with everything about them making for a nigh on perfect Millionaire Shortbread. Exceeding even my own expectations the chocolate and (especially) caramel layers stood out as being nothing less than 100% delicious. They were packed full of creamy sweet flavours, were insanely rich, and most notably were so wonderfully fresh tasting. The people I shared these with are pretty used to me bringing sweet treats in to the office, though never before have so many of them asked where I bought/obtained something from. For the sake of your health and your wallet and I wouldn't encourage anyone to be making these an everyday purchase, but as a treat or a special occasion I can promise you that you can't go wrong here. Coming from a guy that never promises anything, you will hopefully get some understanding as to how much I rate these. More Heavenly Cakes coming soon!

9.1 out of 10

May 3rd: Ritter Sport Bio Kakaosplitter Nuss

Kcal 498 Fat 33.0g Carbs 42.0g (per 100.0g)

Despite the never ending procession of new flavours and varieties coming out of Ritter towers in Germany, it has been a long while since I last reviewed a bar from their 'Bio' range. For those who haven't come across the 'Bio' sub brand before, I can inform you that it is the organic part of Ritter's portfolio, and there are currently six different flavours on the shelves. Thanks to the ever so kind people at Ritter Sport, I today got the opportunity to try this new Kakaosplitter Nuss flavour, which translates roughly as 'Cocoa Nibs & Nuts' to us English speaking folk. It was recently reported in the UK that sales of organic foods was down 7.0% in latest year, driven largely by the fact consumers are tightening their belts because of the recession. Due to this fact, I have very little confidence of this range ever making it to the UK, but I was still very keen to give a try nonetheless.

In line with the rest of the Bio range, this Kakaosplitter Nuss bar came in a 65.0g size that was split into sixteen mini sized blocks. One thing that I have consistently said about the Bio range is that Ritter Sport have done a fantastic job of communicating the natural proposition of the product through the packaging. Once again the wrapper had a fresh look, and the on-pack pictures were clear in communicating the flavour at hand. The chocolate itself looked similarly appetising and it was noticeable that not only did the surface look particularly smooth, but the inner chopped nuts were generously portioned and dispersed well throughout. Having commented on how fresh and sparkling the chocolate appeared, it probably won't surprise you to hear that the product had a strong aroma that was laden with enticing cocoa and nut scents. Speaking from past experiences, I tend to find that products that look and smell good, often turn out to be better tasting than others that aren't.

Speaking of the taste itself I can thankfully report that this bar provided further evidence of my above hypothesis. In comparison to standard line Ritter Sport milk chocolate I couldn't really detect a massive difference in the quality of the cream based, sweet cocoa taste, though there was a noticeable difference in the pace and feel of the melt as it felt softer and smooth in it's transition from it's solid state. Although the additional cocoa nibs were more subtle than other cocoa nib enhanced chocolates I have tried previously, the product was still better off for presence, as they drove home a friendly cocoa flavour hit without bringing any question of bitterness to the taste. Normally I am not really one for approving of chopped nut pieces, however the fine particles of hazelnut still delivered the desired woody, savoury nut flavours, whilst at the same time also bringing a satisfying crunch element to each and every block. A minor complaint of mine would be that I still am not a huge fan of the mini sized, Ritter blocks. The 65.0g size is too much for one sitting, though half a bar isn't all the satisfying - I think an 80.0g bar compromise is needed.

Overall this Bio range has never set the world alight for me but this Kakaosplitter Nuss was yet another solid offering. Apart from appearing and smelling a bit fresher than some of the standard Ritter bars, I honestly can't tell much of difference in the taste of the normal milk chocolate compared to the organic Bio chocolate. Although I didn't perceive anything out of the ordinary taste wise, this is not to say that the quality wasn't high, and once again Ritter proved that a relatively average milk chocolate can be seriously enhanced with some wonderful added ingredients. As I have gone in to above the additional cocoa nibs brought a richer chocolate flavour hit, whilst the chopped nuts were delightfully fresh tasting and crunchy. I wouldn't rank this as among the best Ritter Sport bars ever, but if you are after an all natural, nutty milk chocolate this would be a great place to start looking.

8.1 out of 10

May 2nd: Cadbury Tokke

Kcal 115 Fat 6.0g Carbs 14.1g (per 23.5g finger)

Last month you may recall me telling you all that I went on holiday for a short period. Indeed mid March I took a five day vacation to Alicante in Spain where I had a glorious few days in the sun during Easter. Of course being the dedicated guy I am, I couldn't help myself but look at some of the local chocolate goodies on the Spanish market. In fact if you look at the archives you will seen that today will mark the first ever review for a product from Spain (pretty surprising huh!?) and it will be this Cadbury Tokke bar taking centre stage. Produced by Cadbury Espana, the Tokke came billed as 'crispy milk chocolate wafers', though you may want to treat that translation with an aire of caution as it has been a long while since GCSE Spanish lessons :D

The Cadbury Tokke came in a 47.0g form that was split in to 2 separate finger bars. In regards to the packaging the Cadbury branding took a back seat to the Tokke logo, which I guess is some sort of indication that the Cadbury masterbrand isn't as strong in Spain as it is in other countries. Interesting observations aside both the wrapper and inner chocolate bars looked impressive, and I thought the red foil packet was both eye catching and exciting to look at. Inside both of the wafer fingers were kept in immaculate condition, and the foil fresh material ensured that a strong waft of sweet chocolatey scents emerged when the seal of the packet was broken.

Breaking apart the first finger piece I straight away noticed how defined each of the different layers were. The outer chocolate layer was pretty thick all the way round, though there was an larger helping on the top on the bar where rice cereal pieces were also incorporated. Underneath there were several layers of wafer and chocolate creme, which broke away with a fresh sounding crunch when snapped apart. Taking my first bite into the piece was really overwhelmed at just how different the chocolate tasted compared to any Cadbury product in the UK. Although I wouldn't say it was as creamy as the Dairy Milk recipe, I would say that it was less sugary and packed more of a cocoa flavour hit with every bite. Similarly the wafer, cereal and inner chocolate creme elements packed more flavour than the UK's comparable Cadbury Timeout bar, with each respectively bringing further doses of cocoa and wheaty, biscuit flavours to the party. Considering this was predominantly a wafer based product I was surprised at just how satisfying this bar was. I ate the total thing in one sitting but 230 calories hardly felt like a sin for the sense of hunger fulfilment it gave me.

Overall I have to give Cadbury Espana a big thumbs up for their first appearance on ChocolateMission. As concepts go, a milk chocolate wafer product is hardly going to win innovation of the year 2010, but for what this bar was, it was actually very good. If we compare it to the highly comparable Cadbury Timeout we have in the UK there is a clear winner and it our Amigos en Espana who take the plaudits! Essentially the milk chocolate used here wasn't as distinctive in taste as the UK Dairy Milk, however it was of a good quality for a mass produced chocolate product and I wasn't surprised to read that it contained more cocoa (29% cocoa solids) which is higher than most standard Cadbury products in the UK. It would be very silly for me to tell you guys that this is a 'must try' product because it simply isn't. What it is though, is a very good milk chocolate wafer bar, and I will certainly be entertaining the idea of grabbing another when I am in Spain later this year - well worth a try!

8.3 out of 10

May 1st: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 41

### Jim's Corner ###

Hi All,

Firstly I have to start off by saying thank you for all the kind words you have all sent me through your e-mails, comment and tweets this past in regards to my 1000th post. I hope you have all entered the competition (See HERE if you haven't).

Please remember that there is a special prize for the person who can supply me with the evidence that they have gone above and beyond to help spread the word about the competition.

Last week I said that I would be giving you all feedback on your suggestions of how to improve the site. I have decided that since these are all still coming in with the competition entries I will leave my responses a while longer. I have loved some the ideas so far - please keep them coming, I am reading each and every one.

In a bid to keep this short and snappy - enjoy your long May bank holiday weekends! Coming soon (in the next week or so!!) we have reviews of the Ritter Sport summer variants, Hotel Chocolat's summer range and Heavenly Cakes making their first ChocolateMission appearance. Surely there will be some decent stuff in there!

JIM


News from the chocolate market

* McVitie's have just announced the launch of these Medley bars. They sound nice - See HERE

* Chilli and chocolate flavoured meatballs anyone? - See HERE

* I announced the launch of these Cherry flavoured Cadbury Mini Rolls a few weeks ago, but here are some more details - See HERE

* Oh no ... chocolate now isn't good for us :D - See HERE

* With the UK election race hotting up the Lib Dems have gone as far as trying to sweeten voters with their own 33% cocoa chocolate ... no surprise that it wasn't produced by Kraft - See HERE


Posts from other blogs I enjoyed this week

* GiGi Reviews - Last week Gi went in to writing over drive chronicling her adventures at the Ben & Jerry's factory in Vermont! These are seriously worth reading if you love their ice cream - See HERE

* The Impulsive Buy - We think our UK election is the hottest voting race going!? Nuh-uh! Not according to Marvo. Check out his reviews of the latest Mountain Dew - Dewmocracy flavours - See HERE

* Japense Snack Reviews - It has been a week of Japanese snacks here on ChocolateMission, but these guys do it for a living. Check out their Lotte Crunky Biscuit review - See HERE

* CandyBlog - Cybele posted her reviews of the new Ritter Sport Spring flavours. She was similarly disappointed by the Vanilla flavour - See HERE

* Foodstufffinds - Seemingly not a week goes by that Cin doesn't manage to come across a new product that I want to try. This week its these new flamed steak flavoured Kettle Chips - See HERE


Updated Reviews of old

New photos have been added to some of my old Twix reviews - take a look! Special thanks to ChocolateMission reader Alan for the Polish Twix Dark!!

* Twix Dark (Polish & UK) - See HERE
* Twix - See HERE

April 30th: Meiji Meltykiss Creamy Milk Chocolate / Caramelized Almond

Some of my favourite reviews this year have been Gianduja based products, with Hotel Chocolat's leading the way in terms of quality (See HERE). Up until this year I was frankly pretty oblivious that this sort of product even existed, though it seems even over in Japan that this kind of melt in the mouth confection has some sort of existence.

Meiji's Meltykiss brand has long been in existence, and in true Japanese style there have already been several different flavour variants available on the Japanese market down the years. Thanks to my friends over at J-List, I today got the chance to try two of the Meltykiss varieties - namely the 'Creamy Milk Chocolate' and 'Caramelized Almond' flavours.

If my research is correct then the Meltykiss brand is positioned at the more premium end of Japanese mass confections - the packaging would certainly go as far to suggest this. Both variants came in 100.0g boxes which contained several small cubed pieces that were held in thick foil wrappers. The outer packaging was sublime with the gold colour fonts and intricate sealing mechanisms (god that sounds geeky!!) really communicating that these were a more sophisticated option than your standard Japanese offering. Below are my brief thoughts on each variant ...


Meiji Meltykiss Creamy Milk Chocolate

Kcal 377 Fat 28.6g Carbs 25.8g (per 60.0g)

I guess it can be argued that if a product is to be classified a Gianduja then it has to contain some form of nut - hence you could say these don't fit that requirement. Although these Meltykiss Creamy Milk Chocolate contained no nut content whatsoever and were rather just cubes of soft milk chocolate, it was hardly liked they lacked flavour. Placing the first cube in my mouth a dry sensation was immediately brought to my tongue as the outer lining of cocoa powder brought about the first texture interaction. Within seconds this dryness turned to a wonderful cooling sensation, as the gloriously soft melt kicked in, and the cube melted like butter and with infinite ease. As the cube did this an explosion of double cream like flavours were released and created a delicious sweet chocolatey flavour hit. Each piece only lasted a matter of seconds on the tongue, but every last moment was immensely enjoyable.

8.4 out of 10



Meiji Meltykiss Caramelized Almond:

Kcal 377 Fat 28.7g Carbs 24.7g (per 60.0g)

Out of the two these sounded like the more exciting flavour but they were going to have to really go some to trump the Creamy Milk Chocolate variant above. Cutting the long story short like I usually like to do, I will say right now that they were simply equally as good - not better, not worse, just a little different flavour wise. One area that both variants didn't differ was in the texture delivery - these Caramelized Almond pieces felt just as amazing in the mouth and their melt was every bit as luxurious. Where they did offer something different was in the taste, as the creamy flavours of the aforementioned variety were unsurprisingly replaced by a more buttery tasting nut influence. The more savoury slant on the taste was abided somewhat by the minor note of the toffee, though it was the almond nut element that definitely came through the strongest, and it similarly just as delicious.

8.4 out of 10


Overall I have once again metaphorically 'bottled it' when it has come to picking a favourite out of the two flavours, but I genuinely couldn't separate one from the other. To get one thing straight these MeltyKiss didn't quite deliver the same rich experience that the Hotel Chocolat Gianduja do, but as products in their own right they were still incredibly moreish, and were genuinely a joy to both eat and review. If I was to live in Japan I could see Meiji's Meltykiss being one of those brands that I would really love. Not only is the taste and texture interplay superb, but actual the concept of the product is brilliant, and it is delivered in a well packaged and sophisticated manner. If you are going to be buying confectionery in from Japan soon you shouldn't be leaving Meiji Meltykiss off your shopping list.

Head to J-List to buy Meiji Meltykiss

April 29th: Galler Orangettes

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

Last month for the first (and second!) time Galler featured on ChocolateMission, with their Piemontais bar gaining a high 8.5 out of 10 rating on the score matrix. After reading that review many readers requested that I review some more of the offerings in Galler's range, and more than a handful of you suggested I try out these Galler Orangettes. Constituting of 'orange peel slowly candied and enrobed in 70% dark chocolate' these sounded none to dissimilar to the Hotel Chocolat Orange Tangs which I described last August as 'disappointing' - See HERE. The question I was pondering today was whether Galler could conquer, where Hotel Chocolat had previously failed.

These Orangettes were kindly sent to me as sample from my contacts at Galler, and they came in a 150.0g tube that I shared with a few other keen taste testers. The tube packaging was interesting in design, though I have to say it was a little on the excessive side as the contents only made up about half the inner space which made it feel somewhat empty. Inside the Orangette pieces were kept within a plastic packet, which when opened revealed a glorious orangey chocolate set of smells. The Orangette sticks were quite thin but were nicely sized and consumable in two bites.

One thing that I am yet to be able fault Galler for is the quality of their chocolate, and once again it was of a superb standard here. Despite the dark chocolate coating not being the thickest, each and every mouthful had a really tasty cocoa emphasis, and the unsweetened chocolates flavours were fresh and delivered with a divine smoothness with the glorious soft melt. Sitting below the delightful dark chocolate, I was hoping the orange centres would take centre stage but their impact on the taste was more relaxed than I was expecting. The candied orange peel wasn't as impactful in terms of it's citrus flavours than I was expecting, and was more along the lines of being sweet rather than zingy or tangy. Although I would have wanted the orange to have a little more cut through, the quality of the dark chocolate was enough to keep us all reaching back in to the tube many a time - they didn't last long in our household.

Overall these were by no means perfect in any sense, but the high quality chocolate made sure they were still highly enjoyable. In comparison to the Jaffa Cake like taste that the Hotel Chocolat Orange Tangs offered, the orange centres here were superior, yet just not quite there, and could have been better if they were a little more juicy. Going back to my point about the packaging; although I liked the way they were presented in the tube, I think it could have easily of been half the size it was and I would suggest that Galler look in to reducing the size if only to put consumers minds at ease that they haven't been short changed. On reflection this is a pretty trivial point, as I'm sure that as soon as anyone tastes the quality of the chocolate on offer, they will feel comfortable with any expense they pay. Despite there being room for improvement, I would really suggest these as a very suitable high end offering if you are a fan of dark chocolate and orange.

7.9 out of 10

April 28th: Glico Pakitz Original

Kcal 122 Fat 6.3g Carbs 14.7g (per 23.4g)

I really hope you guys aren't getting bored of these Japanese themed chocolate reviews, as they have not only been coming thick and fast, but there plenty more planned for the next few days. Why the rush you ask!? Sorry for repeating myself but J-List are cutting their stock of chocolate products soon in preparation for the hot Japanese summer - hence I need to get all the samples they sent me up on site before they disappear. On show today we have this Glico Pakitz Original, which is a product consisting of 'milk chocolate with tiny crispy balls of rice, coated in a layer of wafer' - you might say that this was an 'inside-out' chocolate bar'.

Paying homage to it's own name this bar came in two separate 23.4g packs, that I shared with a work colleague over a well earned afternoon coffee break. The packaging it has to be said for a Japanese product was somewhat subdued, though the usual combination of the outer cardboard box and inner foil wrappers kept the contents in fresh shape and the bars were unscathed despite the hectic air miles. Whilst I thought the exterior design work was good, the actual product was less to my liking as it was immediately apparent that there was a problem with the chocolate not sticking to the wafer ... more on that later! Despite being well protected by the foil wrappers, the bars didn't offer much in the way of an aroma, which did little excite or raise anticipation.

As I have mentioned above there was one glaring issue with the product, with the chocolate not being in harmony with the wafer i.e. it fell out from the wafer casing straight away. This subsequently left me with two things - on one hand a random layer of pretty flavourless wafer, and the other a block of milk chocolate with small rice crispy pieces. To be honest I didn't even bother eating the wafer as soon as I realised it was just a generic and dull tasting ice cream cone like layer ... a complete waste of calories if you ask me. The milk chocolate on the other hand was a tad more exciting, and had a surprisingly strong creamy cocoa taste that I found quite enjoyable. For me the inner rice crispy pieces proved to be more of a distraction than a pleasant addition taste wise, however I will concede that brought variety in terms of textures. At the time of eating this I wasn't particularly hungry, though I guess this was pretty lucky as this probably wouldn't have done a job worth mentioning in this sense.

Overall this was far from being a disaster, however Glico have made a product that fundamentally doesn't seem to work. The idea of placing the wafer on the outside of the product may see like a funky concept, but it was flawed in it's execution as it failed to contain the inner chocolate layer like it was supposed to. When you also factor in to the equation that the actual wafer itself was just of a plain and unfancy variety (yes you can get fancy wafers), then the necessity of it's presence becomes somewhat questionable, and I for one did without it after it failed at attaching itself to the chocolate. Speaking of the chocolate, it was actually surprisingly good quality, though it wasn't like it was good enough in my mind to make up for the failings of the actual product concept. It is on this basis that I wouldn't recommend this as product that you guys and girls should bother with. There are so many options out there in the Japanese marketplace, that average products like this Glico Packitz are simply not worth wasting your money on.

6.5 out of 10

Fancy trying this Glico Pakitz Original for yourself? CLICK HERE

April 27th: Ritter Sport V.I.P Editions

I know I have been feeding you all one Ritter Sport review a week for the past month or so, but today I bring you quite a special Ritter post.

Recently Ritter opened a new chocolate themed shop in Berlin, Germany, and to celebrate their grand opening they held an auction for 11 custom made bars that had been crafted by some German celeb VIPs. All proceeds of this auction went to the childrens charity organisation 'Children for a better world', so not only was there the opportunity to try some unique Ritter Sport chocolates, but at the same time there was the chance to help a really worthwhile cause(More details HERE).

Being the Ritter Sport fan I am, I couldn't let such an opportunity pass me by - so I threw my ChocolateMission hat in the ring and went about bidding on three bars via my German friends over at Candyholics (See HERE).

Below are the bars that I managed win - one crafted by Michaela May (German actress - See HERE), another by Caroline Link (German film director - See HERE), and last but not least Amelie Fried (German TV presenter & writer - See HERE). To be honest I had never heard of any of these people before, but I am sure they must be famous enough in Germany. They even went to the trouble of signing each of the 100.0g bars!


Ritter Sport - Michaela May

'Cranberry, orange nuggets and almond'

This was a milk chocolate bar crammed full of fruit and nut pieces. The chocolate was it's usual good standard, and simply just let the inner contents do the talking in the overall taste. The nuts were plentiful and crunchy, whilst both fruits were forthcoming in their juicy sweet flavours (the cranberries were especially tasty!). I have had many good fruit and nut chocolates in my time, but this one was very nice indeed. I can see Ritter Sport releasing a bar very similar to this in the near future for their permanent range - I for one wouldn't be disappointed if that was the case.


Ritter Sport - Amelie Fried

'Chilli, orange & ginger'

Ginger is not an ingredient that I have experienced with Ritter Sport before, but if this chocolate is anything to go by, we could soon have something very special lighting up the ChocolateMission rating system. As you can imagine, with both the ginger and chilli elements this was a quite a spicy chocolate, though the sweet orange oil made sure the heat generated never became too much. The aftertaste was long and warm and really left a lasting impression in the mouth. It is funny to say, but this reminded me a lot of the Christmas chocolates you get in Germany.

Ritter Sport - Caroline Link

'Ground chilli, shredded coconut and cocoa nibs'

Boy oh boy, Caroline must be a fan of spicy food ... well either that or the Ritter chocolatier got a little happy with the chilli flakes :D This was the bar I was most looking forward to trying, as I had never had the opportunity to try a flavour combination anything like this before. As I said the chilli was at times a little overwhelming (blow your head off levels of hotness!!), however there was a delicious, cooling effect generated by the milky, sweet nutty coconut that was spread generously throughout. The cocoa nibs took a bit of a back seat in terms of featuring in the taste, though they added a nice degree of crunchiness alongside the coconut bits.


Overall you guys may have noticed that there is one (or three!) things missing from today's post - the scoring charts of course!! Well, I have decided not to put a score on these bars - who am I to critique charity work!? The crux of the matter is these bars were crafted with good intentions, and it was a pleasure for me to get to feature them on this site. Ritter Sport claim to be a 'family company', and I can do little to dispute this when they are doing good deeds like this. I hope you enjoyed the post.

JIM

April 26th: Kit Kat Sakura Green Tea

Kcal 100 Fat 5.8g Carbs 11.3g (per 18.0g)

Another week, another day and it's another Japanese Kit Kat review!! Just as I informed you guys and gals last week, J-List very kindly sent me along another box full of chocolate goodies, and over last few days I have been doing some serious snacking in order to get some reviews up on the site before they cut their chocolate supplying for the summer. Taking centre stage today is this Kit Kat Sakura Green Tea, which I approached somewhat with caution having tasted some not so great green tea flavoured chocolates from Japan before (Meiji Matcha - See HERE & Kit Kat Jasmine Tea - See HERE). According to the J-List website, this flavour is yet another limited edition, aimed at parents who want to give something to their sons and daughters to wish them good luck for upcoming exams - nice culture huh!?

The Japanese are known for presenting their Kit Kats in many different and funky ways, though this one came as a traditional 36.0g four finger product. The packaging was ... well ... damn cool looking! The lime green and pink colours on the box may appear gaudy and ugly to some, but I personally thought they were eye catching, and thought they created an aire of anticipation as I didn't quite know what to expect inside. Speaking of the Kit Kats themselves I am sure that you have already taken a second glance at the green coloured fingers in the photograph above. Again I am sure there are some people who may find the colour a little off-putting, however I found myself to be only more intrigued by the unique colour and herby, sweet smells that were on offer.

This Kit Kat was made up of white chocolate that had been flavoured with 0.5% matcha tea, with the inner contents constituting of wafer and an inner creme. As I have found with previous white chocolate Kit Kats before, the main crux of the taste was a combination of sugary sweet flavours that had a consistent milky undertone. In the latter stages of the chocolate melting in the mouth, a herby, grass like note came in to the taste, which I thought brought the green tea element to party nicely. Where other green tea flavoured chocolates have failed in that past, is that many have left bitter flavours in the mouth, which has made for undesirable aftertastes. I am pleased as punch to say though, that this wasn't the case with this Kit Kat at all, as the fruity, creamy taste of the inner creme combined with the brown sugar hinted wafer layers to provide a nice finish to each bite. I ate all four fingers over the course of one single sitting, and as many other Kit Kats have proven previously it was just about right to be eaten as a light snack with a coffee.

Overall I was surprised at just how much I liked this Kit Kat, as I was almost certain it was going to run in to exactly the same problems as all the other green tea flavoured chocolates have done previously. These inaccurate preconceptions were my own fault entirely - had I not been in such a rush to get this review up on the site, I probably would have looked up the meaning of the word 'Sakura' before I tucked in. For those unaware (as I was until I looked it up!!) 'Sakura' means 'cherry blossom', which would go some way to explaining the fruity sweetness that I experienced with the inner creme. Although it may sound insignificant in the grand scheme of the green tea element, I would go as saying that it was this simple addition that made this Kit Kat as delicious as it was. I was not expecting to reflect so positively about this Kit Kat, but I have to say it was hugely enjoyable, and it would definitely be one I would both recommend and have again if given the opportunity. This was one of the better Japanese Kit Kats I have had this year.

8.4 out of 10

Fancy trying this Kit Kat Sakura Green Tea for yourself? Please CLICK HERE!

April 24th/25th: 1,000th Post Spectacular + Competition

***** 1,000 POSTS *****

Hi All,

As you may have guessed, today marks the day that I post my 1,000th post on this site, and I am running a huge competition to mark this historic triumph.

Before we get in to the mix with the competition, please allow me two minutes to bask in this glory. When I first set out creating this site almost two and a half years ago, I had no idea that it would quite go so far. Having now reviewed well in excess of 1,000 products I have to say I am nowhere telling you what the best chocolate bar in the world is (although the Hotel Chocolat 85% still holds the lead of course!), but I guess that is half the fun and it is a never ending process.

Going forwards, I want to make the site even bigger, even better and that can only happen with your continual input. Your requests and comments are what make the site so enjoyable to run - so please continue to contribute to this ongoing project.

It is at this point I would ask for you to do two things for me, through any method you wish, be it e-mail, comment, smoke signals, twitter ... can you please tell me two things ...

1. What you enjoy about the site
2. How you think I can improve it

Thanks for all your contributions to the site so far - I appreciate each every one of them. Please keep reading and adding your input. Now I have blabbed on for long enough let's get on with the competition.


JIM

**** COMPETITION TIME ****

Over the past 2.5 years Hotel Chocolat have been a key supporter of this website. They have sent samples of their latest products for the majority of this project, and given me the license to say what think whether it be bad or good.... it has to be said it is mostly good :D

In yet another example of amazing goodwill, Hotel Chocolat are sponsoring this 1000th post spectacular competition, and are offering a Mini Chocolatiers Table as 1st prize (See HERE), as well as three boxes of Sleekster Chocolate Selections (See HERE) for three lucky runners-up.

All you have to do is send an e-mail to Jim{@]Chocolatemission.net with the answer to the following, please include 1000th post competition in the subject, as well as your address for potential prizes to be sent ...

Q. Hotel Chocolat have recently just released a product named the 'Peepster - Summer Sizzler'. What four mini slabs are contained within this selection?

Winners are to be drawn at random from all correct entries. Please ensure entries are received by May 8th 2010. Please lets make this as big as possible so plaster this competition over facebook and twitter ... there will be an extra special small prize for the person who best exemplifies that they have got the competition message out there :D

Usual competition rules apply...

1) One entry per person
2) UK entrants only
3) Anything I say goes :)


GOOD LUCK!!

JIM

April 23rd: Lotte Crunky Crunch Chocolate Banana & Cereal

Kcal 269 Fat 16.4g Carbs 27.3g (per 48.0g)

ChocolateMission readers beware!!! Brace yourselves for a deluge of Japanese themed reviews over the next week! J-List have just sent me another huge box of samples full of chocolate goodies, which I have to get reviewed and up on the site before they shut down the chocolate part of their business for the summer. With the help of my very willing family, today I started my latest sample box off by trying this Lotte Crunky Chocolate Banana & Cereal bar. Those with long memories may remember that it was the Strawberry Tart variant of the Crunky brand that I reviewed last from Lotte (See HERE). Given their expertise with fruit flavoured chocolates displayed there, I was really looking forward to see what they could do with this Banana & Cereal flavoured chocolate. It was going to be interesting to see if they could outdo Meiji's attempt at a banana chocolate (See HERE).

This bar came in a 48.0 size that we ate across just the one sitting. The packaging and presentation was very much to my liking, which has to be said, isn't that unusual for me to say about products from Japan. It was bright, welcoming and exciting looking with it's funky fonts and pictures, whilst it was also very functional, as the combination of the cardboard box and inner foil wrapper kept everything in immaculate condition. Unwrapped from the branded silver foil layer the chocolate was both visually striking and noteworthy for it's smell. In terms of looks the bumpy surface told me that the chocolate was packed full of cereal, and I thought the golden cream colour looked pretty appetising. The aromas emanated were very forthcoming, but I couldn't quite decide whether I thought the sweet fruity banana scents were enticing or just artificial smelling.

As I mentioned above I did have two fellow taste testers - one of which was my mother who goes absolutely 'head-over-heels' at just the prospect of trying banana flavoured chocolates. After not being totally convinced by the fragrance of the chocolate there was one way to gauge how good it was, and that was of course through tasting it. Despite the bar constituting quite heavilly of rice cereal, the blocks were easy to break up, and they did so with a nice snap each time. Placing the first block in my mouth, I was immediately rid of all wariness around the banana element tasting artificial, and it soon became apparent that fruit had actually been implemented very well. At the heart of the taste the white chocolate wasn't anything that exceptional, but it melted at nice rate and was the sweet, milk rooted base tones were relatively ok. Similarly the puff cereal was equally average with it's mild malty taste, however I understood that it was more there to bring excitement to the texture. Where this bar really picked up the points was the fruit element, which was immediately detectable and delivered some delightfully fresh tasting banana flavours that left a real lasting impression in the mouth. Between three of us this bar lasted no time at all, though I am sure that if a single person was to eat the whole thing it would seem like a decent sized snack.

Overall credit where credit is due, I think this is another well manufactured fruit flavoured chocolate by Lotte. My banana chocolate loving Mother similarly thought that this was a tasty bar - she said wasn't perhaps the best banana chocolate she had ever tasted, but she thought it was decent nonetheless and said that she would have it again if given the chance. Looking back at my review of the Crunky Strawberry Tart it seems like I came to some very similar conclusions about this bar than I did with that one. The white chocolate base wasn't the greatest, and the cereal element was unspectacular, however the integration of the fruit into the chocolate was well done and it took my perceptions that this was just an average product and made me think that it was a pretty decent one. As far as recommendations go I don't think this is a 'must try' for the average person, though I would say if you like your banana chocolates I am very confident you would really enjoy it.

7.8 out of 10

Fancy trying this Lotte Crunky Crunch Chocolate Banana & Cereal for yourself? CLICK HERE

April 22nd: Wonka Exceptional Scrumdiddlyumptious Chocolate Bar

Kcal 170 Fat 10.0g Fat(sats) 6.0g Fat 19.0g (per 33.0g serving)

Rounding off my reviews of the Wonka Exceptionals range, I today bring you my views on the Scrumdiddlyumptious Chocolate bar. If we get this out there from the start - if this was a site rating chocolate bars out of ten for the ridiculousness of their names, I think we can all agree now that this bar deserves a 10 out of 10. Unfortunately for Mr Wonka and Co this isn't quite the case, and this bar formed of 'milk chocolate, with toffee, cookie and peanuts' will be rated on the same basis as all the others. Out of the three Wonka bars I have reviewed over the last couple of weeks, this bar Scrumdiddly (see what I done there!), sounded the most exciting, thus why I saved it until last.

Despite containing several added ingredients Nestle ensured that this bar made their stringent weight cap of 99.2g - why not just make it 100.0g guys!? Apart from having a very silly name, the actual presentation of the bar was very little different to the other variants, and came in a stunning looking purple and silver foil wrapper. Where this Scrumdiddly bar did vary somewhat from the other two flavours was the size of each blocks, as they were a bit smaller, which positively made them easier to consume in a single mouthful. Speaking of the actual chocolate, each piece was branded with the Wonka W, and was visibly brimming with small golden bits filling. The nutty, sweet scents that emerged from the wrapper also went on to only further my intrigue and by the time came around to it, I couldn't wait to taste it.

To be 100% clear from the outset this was not the highest quality chocolate I have ever had in my life, though we have to approach this with a mass produced chocolate mindset. In comparison to the standard offering on the market, the milk chocolate on offer was just about better than average, but it was the inner fillings that took it many a level above. Just like I experienced from the Wonka Waterfall bar, the milk chocolate base had a sweet and creamy taste that had an element of fudgenyess in that latter stages of it's soft melt. Whilst the milk chocolate in isolation was pleasant, it was the way the additional elements of the peanuts, toffee and cookie combined to deliver what was a wonderfully enjoyable and friendly taste. All the above were implemented generously, and were dispersed well which made sure that each brought their different flavour enhancement to the party. The toffee pieces added delightful bursts of buttery, caramel flavours, whilst the peanuts brought savoury notes of nut and delicious licks of salt to the aftertaste. Out of three the biscuit was probably the least powerful in terms of flavours, however the crunchy and crisp texture variations it brought were equally as important to the experience. Being the greedy guy I am, I couldn't help but gnosh away half a bar at a time. Generally I eat chocolate in far smaller amounts than this, but this was some seriously good stuff and I found that I just couldn't help myself.

Overall I have to take my hat off to Nestle here - this was one great bar of chocolate, and certainly my favourite out of all the three Wonka Exceptionals flavours I have reviewed over the last few weeks. As I talked about above, this wasn't a chocolate that was exceptional for the quality of ingredients - this was a product that was superb because of it's use of flavour combinations. Of course with any chocolate it always helps have a fair quality base of chocolate, and the milk chocolate on offer here, was again like I said in the Wonka Waterfall review, comparable to the likes of Milka in taste (certainly a step up from other products in Nestle's portfolio thats for sure). Where the milk chocolate was solid in quality, the added peanut, biscuit and toffee pieces were all superb, and each played a great hand in the prestige of the overall profit. The contrasting flavours of the sweet toffee and salty nuts, were wonderfully delivered within the crunchiness brought to the party by the biscuit. If you look at the score I doubt it will surprise you to hear that I would recommend this Scrumdiddly bar above the Waterfall and Domed Chocolate varities - it is well worth trying for yourself.

8.5 out of 10

In the UK & Fancy trying the Wonka Exceptionals range for yourself? Head to Yankee Soda & Candy

April 21st: Ritter Sport Milchcreme Mandel

Kcal 578 Fat 40.0 Carbs 47.0g (per 100.0g)

Coming straight off the back of my reviews of Ritter Sport's 2010 Spring range, I today have the pleasure of bringing you all my thoughts about their new 'variety of the year'. I understand that some of you may be starting to think that Ritter are making flavours for almost every day of the year, but if you think back to last years 'variety of the year', you may remember that the Ritter Sport Karamell Nuss proved to be a really fantastic limited edition that won several prizes in my 2009 awards. With that top of mind it wasn't like this Ritter Sport Milchcreme Mandel had a lot to live up to then did it ... no pressure :) ... at least the prospect of 'milk chocolate with a milk cream and almond nut filling' sounded like it had a chance of matching up.

Just like last years special edition this bar came in the usual 100.0g, sixteen chunk format that I devoured (with some help!!) over the course of two separate sittings. Looking at the wrapper it is was exactly what you would expect from Ritter Sport. It was clean cut in design, and simply presented with the inner milk cream and almond nut flavour well communicated through both branding and pictures. The chocolate itself was also pretty pleasing on the eye, with the light coloured cream centre visibly studded with small golden pieces of almond nut. Taking in the aromas on offer I detected the usual sweet chocolatey scents - as nice as these were I was a little disappointed that the nuts didn't have a presence at this point.

I always say that the smell of a chocolate is often indicative of the taste, and this particular bar would further strengthen my hypothesis. If you want to read about what I think about Ritter Sport milk chocolate in great detail I suggest you take a look at any of the 25+ Ritter Sport chocolates that I have reviewed which have included the stuff (to be more precise look - HERE). Long story cut short it was it's usual sweet, milky self - it wasn't really distinctive in any manner, but it did the job nicely of delivering a fair standard chocolate flavour hit with every chunk. Sandwiched in the centre of the outer milk chocolate the milk cream and almond centre did little but further compounded the creamy nature of the chocolate. At times the almond nuts did cut through adding a further buttery, nutty hints to the cream flavours, however these instances were few and far between and I would much rather the nuts of had a grander say in the taste. The work colleague I shared this bar with was not half as disappointed at the mildness of the almonds, but they did admit that they would have liked the nut pieces to have been larger in size.

Overall compared to other Ritter Sport flavours I would have to say this Milchcreme Mandel would be verging more towards being a 'miss' rather than a 'hit', but put in the perspective of the whole chocolate market it has to be considered a sound offering from our German friends. Fundamentally there was nothing wrong with this bar whatsoever - the chocolate was of a fair standard, the milk cream was ok and the nuts didn't detract from the experience in any manner. Unfortunately when I compare it to other bars in the Ritter range I wouldn't say it delivered the same impact with it's flavours that others have done in the past. I guess what I am trying to get at here is that if you want a pretty 'safe' tasting chocolate, that isn't overly elaborate in flavour then this would be a fairly decent option. However, if on the other hand you want a more exciting, hard hitting taste I think you are best off looking at other Ritter Sport alternatives.

7.0 out of 10