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Galaxy
We will beging today by looking at the two remaining variants in four flavour 'mini' bar pouch I showed you all in Part #1.
Galaxy Roasted Caramelised Hazelnuts UK -Review (See HERE)Kcal 249 Fat 14.5g Carbs 26.7g (per 47.0g bar)
Ingredients - Sugar, Cocoa Ingredients (Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Mass), Skimmed Milk Powder, Hazelnuts, Milk Fat, Demineralised Whey Powder, Lactose, Emulsifier (Soya Lecithin), Flavouring.
Galaxy Hazelnuts (UAE)
Kcal ??? Fat ??? Carbs ???
Manufactured - Mars, Dubai, UAE
Ingredients - Glucose Syrup, Sugar, Skimmed Milk Powder, Hydrogenated Vegetable Fat, Glycerol, Water, Milk Fat, Hazelnuts, Emulsifier, Dextrose, Thickener, Flavouring (artifical ethyl vanillin). Milk Chocolate Contains Milk Solids 14% Minimum and Cocoa Solids 25% Minimum.
Comments: Any hope of the UAE milk chocolate being improved by the presence of the hazelnuts was all to quickly lost when I saw how they had been implemented in to the bar. The hazelnut element had neither cut through in taste or flavours due to the pieces being so tiny. Whats more some of the fragments were quite sharp and thus roughned up the the already horrid feeling waxy texture. To be honest with you I didn't bother eating most of these ones. There just wasn't enough to keep me wanting to come back for more.
6.0 out of 10
Galaxy Caramel UK -Review (See HERE)Kcal 232 Fat 11.6g Carbs 29.6g (per 48.0g bar)
Ingredients - Sugar, Glucose Syrup, Cocoa Butter, Skimmed Milk Powder, Milk Fat, Cocoa Mass, Lactose, Whey Powder, Vegetable Fat, Emulsifier (Soya Lecithin), Salt, Flavouring, Milk Chocolate contains Milk Solids 14% minimum
Galaxy Caramel (UAE)
Kcal ??? Fat ??? Carbs ???
Manufactured - Mars, Dubai, UAE
Ingredients - Glucose Syrup, Sugar, Skimmed Milk Powder, Hydrogenated Vegetable Fat, Glycerol, Water, Milk Fat, Emulsifier, Dextrose, Thickener, Flavouring (artifical ethyl vanillin). Milk Chocolate Contains Milk Solids 14% Minimum and Cocoa Solids 25% Minimum.
Comments:This was essentially the best of a bad bunch, but even this caramel variant wasn't a patch on the UK equivalent bar. Like I found across all three other variants, the milk chocolate was poor in not only a UK comparator context, but essentially as a milk chocolate. The caramel filling was thankfully nicer in mouth feel and taste, however it was still mostly just sugar rooted in taste and lacked the prestige and buttery, salted flavour depths of it's UK equivalent. The caramel did at least have a nice soft, chewy feel compared to the waxy slimey chocolate.
6.7 out of 10
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Cadbury Dairy Milk
Cadbury Dairy Milk UK -Review (See HERE)Kcal 255 Fat 14.6g Fat(sats) 9.0g Carbs 27.7g (per 49.0g bar)
Ingredients - Milk, Sugar Cocoa Mass, Cocoa Butter, Vegetable Fat, Emulsifiers (E442, E476), Flavourings.
Cadbury Dairy Milk (UAE)
Kcal 233 Fat 12.1g Fat(sats) 6.8g Carbs 27.5g (per 45.0g)
Manufactured - Eygpt, Cadbury Eygpt Group
Ingredients - Sugar, Full Cream, Milk Powder, Cocoa butter, Cocoa Mass, Vegetable Fat, Emulsifiers, Flavours, Milk Colids 20%, Cocoa Solids 20%
Comments: Being a Brit this was always going to be the most interesting of comparisons given that Dairy Milk is probably the most famous chocolate recipe we have here in the UK. In terms of aesthetics and presentation there were no immediate differences of note in regards to the wrapper or blocked nature of the bar. What was noticeable however was how 'Un-Cadbury-like' the smells were that emanated from the wrapper, and how more generic the scents seemed in their sweetness. When it came to the taste and texture, the initial suspicons raised by the aromas were unfortunately lived out - this was not Dairy Milk as I knew it. Essentially the usual cream based tasted came across as watered down in both taste and mouth feel, which I felt was every bit as bad as the waxy, bland Galaxy. I don't think any Cadbury fan alive would say it was even close to many other countries Dairy Milk offerings.
6.4 out of 10
Cadbury Dairy Milk Fruit & Nut UK -Review (See HERE)Kcal 255 Fat 15.0g Carbs 27.7g (per 50.0g bar)
Ingredients - Milk, Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Mass, Vegetable Fat, Emulsifiers (E442, E476), Flavouring], Dusted Raisins (16%) (Raisins, Cocoa), Almonds (7%).
Cadbury Dairy Milk Fruit & Nut (UAE)
Kcal 233 Fat 12.1g Fat(sats) 6.8g Carbs 27.5g (per 45.0g)
Manufactured - Eygpt, Cadbury Eygpt Group
Ingredients - Sugar, Full Cream, Milk Powder, Raisins (11%) Cocoa butter, Cocoa Mass, Almonds (3%) Vegetable Fat, Emulsifiers, Flavours, Milk Colids 20%, Cocoa Solids 20%
Comments: So did the addition of some Fruit & Nut prove to beneficial? ... no not really I'm afraid. If you take a look at the photos for both the UK bar, and this UAE bar, you will instantly see that both the raisins and almonds were a lot smaller in the UAE variant. When it came to taste, both elements failed to spicen things up, the only additional flavour influence being a minor sweet, fruit one from the raisins. Out of both enhancers, it was the almonds that were most upsetting though. The small fragments were at times quite sharp and irritated the top of my mouth as I let the chocolate melt. I thought this bar was worse than with the Dairy Milk just on it's own.
6.4 out of 10
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Galaxy
Galaxy Smooth Dark UK -Review (See HERE)Kcal 521 Fat 32.6g Fat(sats) Carbs 48.0g (per 100.0g bar)
Ingredients - Cocoa Ingredients (Cocoa Mass, Cocoa Butter), Sugar, Milk Fat, Emulsifiers (Soya Lecithin, E442), Flavouring, Chocolate contains Cocoa Solids 50% minimum
Galaxy Smooth Dark (UAE)
Kcal 227 Fat 13.0g Fat(sats) 7.5g Carbs 18.0g
Manufactured - Mars, Dubai, UAE
Ingredients - Sugar, Cocoa Mass, Cocoa Butter, Milk Fat, Emulsifiers, Artifical Flavours, Natural Flavours (Vanilla)
Comments: So was absolutely everything I tried from the UAE horrible? Thankfully not! Out of everything I tried this Galazy Smooth Dark was by far the best. If you have seen my review of the UK's Galaxy Smooth Dark you will be aware that I rate it very, very highly as a mass produced dark chocolate so if anything this bar should of had a tougher time to meet standards than some of the others. To my delight I was pleasantly surprised by it, and it turned out to be far better than I was expecting. In comparison to the rest of the Galaxy bars I tried from the UAE, this chocoalte was far superior in both taste and texture departments. For a mass produced dark chocolate, the taste was actually quite layered and progressed from it's begginning unsweetned cocoa taste to bring hints of citrus fruits and vanilla to the fore. The melt was also far better than any of the other Eastern chocolates I tried, with the chocolate transitioning from solid to liquid at a nice rate and smoothness. From the limited selection I tried, this Galaxy Smooth Dark would seem to be the way forward if your are looking for a semi-decent chocolate in the UAE.
8.0 out of 10
Posts
58 comments:
Hmmm I didn't see this when I came on this morning! Why has it only just been posted?
Was it my computer or did you forget to post it.
Two bits and bobs posts in the one week? Why you are spoiling us again sir :)
Great comparisons my friend. Its grand seeing all the new products like posted on Monday but I also love seeing these ones where you compare the same bar from country to country. I can't believe there are so many differences.
One of my friends is from India and she says the chocolate over here is loads different to the stuff she used to get there. She thinks ours is a lot richer, especially our diary milk which she somehow finds 'too creamy'. LOl how can dairy milk be too creamy.
Dx
I don't think I could live in a country where my favourite chocolates weren't how I liked them. I would spend all my money buying chocolate from back here by the sounds of things.
Part of me think this all just has to be a matter of you being more used to a certain way of the chocolate being made and not the other. I would of thought if you ended up living in dubai you would eventually just get used to it and end up seeing their stuff as the 'norm'.
Why have you posted this late on a Friday night?
What a thing to be able to put on your CV :-) You experienced consumer of cadburys chocolate from all over the world now lol.
I'm sorry to hear that most of these didn't live up to what you wanted. You should just count yourself lucky that the bad ones aren't the kind you have to eat every day.
Thankfully Dubai has more going for it than its chocolate lol. I went there a few years ago and it was luxury man. Sand, Sun and great food - its an amazing place you have to go. Their chocolate certainly is reflective lol.
I'm glad you found one that you liked =) That would have been horrible if you had gone through all the brands and makes and found them all to be rubbish. Thumbs up Mars.
Oh dear. It sounds like they need to hire some people from the UK to help them make their choc up to scratch. I can't for one minute think how or why they would make them so different to ours. Why tamper with the tried and tested recipe?
Some of your descriptions had me genuinely laughing out aloud (and feeling a little sorry for you at the same time)
I think my favourite one is 'waxy, slimey chocolate' .... mmmmm sounds nice NOT!!!!
This is such an interesting post to read. I can't imagine there will ever be a time when I will be given any UAE chocolate but at least I know now that I needn't bother with it. The poor people who leave out there and have to eat it on a daily basis, I hope they just don't know any better and don't realise it sucks.
Wow its often I leave this site feeling appreciative of the chocolates we get in this country. I think this is a timely reminded to us all that the grass isn't always greener on the other side.
Excellent review mate. I feel sorry for you that you had to try so many crappy chocolates though.
Do you know if they have any flavours out there that are unique to that country or are they all just rehash makes of what we have already?
I saw your annoucement on your news page about getting sent more Thorntons chocolates. I look forward to seeing the reviews chap. Its been way too long since you last sunk your teeth in to something from them.
If anyone from cadburys UAE is reading this and wants to employ someone from the UK to act as a chocolate taster to get them up to scratch I hereby offer my services =) Its a tough job but somone has to help these people out.
I will save my chocolate buying for the duty free if I ever go to Dubai now :) Lol I will have to stock up on my way out there if I end up going for a decent length of time, I cant be dealing with crappy cadburys now. Thank you for the reviews J.
I wish you had done a cadbury caramel like for like review aswell. Its my fave bar of like forever so it would have been nice to see how they matched up. Something tells me it wouldn't have been a favourable one on the part of the uae chocolate :).
A while ago a few foriegn galaxy chocolates found their way to one of the bargain stores near me and I remember they tasting a load different to what ours did. I thought it might have been because of them being slightly after their best before but looking over what you have said Im starting to think they were made differently to. I think they were called Galaxy liason though im not sure??? Did anyone else ever come across these?
I hope this is a fair face off and your not just saying ours are better because you come from the UK. You should have done the tasting blindfolded so you didn't know which was which.
Did you test them out on other people to get a gauge of what they thought?
Fantastic work Jim. I'm 100% with what some of the others have said these posts are consistently brilliant and thoroughly enjoyable to read when you do them.
Can you do like a European one next? You could do the same but looking at Germany/Poland/Italy etc.
Poor Fiona. Thanks for sending Jim the chocolate and making it possible for such a comparison. I would be interested to hear from you Fiona about what you do for your chocolate fixes now. Do you have to eat these terrible uae chocolates or do you buy from abroad?
Rxxx
If I ever had to move to Dubai I wouldn't bother taking any of my clothes. I would just buy them all out there and use my suitcase space to pack as much chocolate as possible. I can't understand how the chocolate can be so different but I guess it must be if the chocolate master himself says so.
I hope no one from that country sees you bashing their chocolate Jim. I can see the idiots coming in with their stupid comments already.
NOTE TO SELF: Do not buy chocolate from UAE
LMAO
Thanks Jim x
If they can't even get Dairy Milk right then there is very little hope for them. It's one of the most famous recipes going. I don't understand how they could create a chocolate that is so far removed from what the original. I hope its not assumed by people in Dubai etc that this is the standard of all GB chocolate. It's not very fair if they do.
Instead of trying the 'me2' chocolates they have did you try any of their own chocolate i.e. not ones that are copes but their own?
You never know their own stuff could be loads better than the chocolate they try to make copies of.
How do these get priced out in UAE? Are they sold like they are here as mass market brands or are they seen as more specialist products that get sold at a premium? It would suck even more if they are more expensive then you would have to pay here for them. That would be a double whammy of higher prices and poorer products.
These have got to be crap if the best of the bunch is something that gets a score of 6.7. I feel so sorry for anyone living over there. A life without decent chocolate is a life not worth living.
It must be the milk where the differences lie. Its obvious because the chocolate you like is the one with less milk in it.
Are you trying to make up for lost time or something Jim lol. 3 reviews on Monday, 5 on Wednesday and another 5 today. Thats got to be nearing a record.
@Fiona (if you read this lol). Do you buy these chocolates yourself?
Are you used to them now?
Do you find any of them taste better than our UK ones?
Where is the news post and why is there a review on here instead?
Whats going on? The posting on here is becoming so erratic, I never know if you are coming or going.
Hey J
You all confident about securing the title then today? I would expect you guys to be wrapping it up today just to take the gloss off City winning the cup final lol. Im predicting wins for City & Utd today + I think Liverpool with beat Spurs tomorrow.
What happened with the review on Friday btw? I was disappointed to see nothing new come up :(
Cheers
N
Are you up for doing any more of these? The comparisons are fascinating, I just cant get my head around why they would be so different though.
What a lucky guy you are having your readers send you chocolates. It must be nice knowing that people value your opinions on a set of chocolates so much that they are willing to send you some to review.
Do you work in a chocolate company in real life or is this someting you do as a hobby. I want to know more about you lol :P
UAE choc FTL!!!!!!! Im not touching the stuff now. Thanks for the warnings.
Im still not talking to you Jim :P :P :P :P I cant believe you didn't pick me to win the Snickers PB. I was so gutted about that, I will have to buy my own now.
Wow those Galaxy and Dairy Milk bars sound so disappointing. I'm surprised at the smooth dark though. Is the UK one still available? I've not seen it in a while.
Jim have you tried the Lion Peanut? I searched for it but you've not reviewed it yet - check it out:
http://www.swistak.co.uk/upload/Products/lion-peanut-1630.jpg
There's a little shop in Glasgow which sells loads of random imports, offcasts from factories like Thorntons, Tunnocks and Cadbury. They always have loads of cool random stuff! I got some Snickers Crunchers at 5 for £1 and some Polish Lion Peanut, 4 for £1. They were tasty :)
I was totally surprised to see that the galaxy dark got a half decent rating. By the time I got down that far I was expecting another epic fail. Unfortunately that alone isn't enough to convince me that I need to start buying my chocolate from the U.A.E. :-) I think I will stick with the British stuff for now.
Is there a part 3 or is this it now? I want to see if they have managed to ruin anymore of the nestle classics like aero lol. One would imagine they would be crapper too.
Is there any part of the world left where you haven't eaten chocolate from? You should do a map showing all the places you have managed to get some from. You would probably be surprised at all the places you have sourced it in from.
I wish you could have tried a mars or snickers bar from that country. Are those compares happening or was this the final lot? If you don't have them you should try doing a world wide Mars review. that would be cool I think.
Oh no not Dairy milk aswell. Mate they have it hard out there in Dubai. I think the differences in texture must be the way they have to create them to deal with the heat they get out there. It must be quite an important issue they have to deal with it would make sense for them to put some sort of stabilising agent in the chocolate to prevent it from melting as easy. I can just imagine the amount of write offs they would have to deal with Dairy Milk. The one we get here does melt in the slightest of heat. I remember my local newsagent being extremelly grumpy one summer time because he had to chuck out all of his cadburys caramel bars. They turned into molten smoosh and they were only just sat on his shelves. Poor guy.
I was half expecting you to have got all the bad stuff out the way in part one and had left all the better stuff for the one today.
Obviously not by the looks of the scores. It must be so horrible moving from one country where you are used to decent chocolate to another where it tastes like rubbish. The only saving grace I think there might be for fiona is that I think there are increasing amounts of Brit expats making there way over to Dubai so she might start seeing more importing shops open. A similar thing has happened in this country with all the Polish shops etc.
Next time Jim try some of the local chocolate as well. Its unfair doing just reviews of the copycat bars they make. You should be fair on them and let them show what they can do with their own chocolate.
These side-by-side reviews are so cool Jim. Have you thought about doing a similar thing with another region. How about doing one for Australia or South America? It must be so cool trying chocolates from all corners of the globe. You have to be one of the most experienced chocolate tasters going now.
I've always thought you have never been critical or harsh enough on chocolates you haven't liked so to see scores like this gives me a real impression of how bad they must have been. They really do sound disgusting, I'm glad I didn't have to eat them.
I understand the ratings are all rubbish (apart from the dark choc of course) but I wouldn't of minded doing a similar comparison myself just for kicks. I think someone above nailed it when they stated that 99% of the time they leave the site feeling envious of all the foriegn chocolates you get to review. I still am a bit today but it's not for the usual reasons.
A good deal of these chocs sound horrendus. Maybe you should go over to the factory over there Jim and offer your services to help them out.
I think you should consider the shoe being on the other foot. People in the UAE might think that our chocolate isn't as smooth melting and is too dry for them. It just has to be a matter of what you are used to rather than one being 'better' than the other.
With that said I do hope we don't ever switch to the same method of production as them. It doesn't sound that nice to be honest with you.
There has to be something fundamentally different to the process in which they make their chocolate if you get the same problems across all of the brands. If what I read is correct then I think it must be that they use more vegetables fats and stuff in their chocolate to keep it from melting. That is what seems the most likely thing given all your descriptions and stuff.
I'm probably wrongly assuming that it would harder to make a decent dark chocolate than it is a milk one. If that is the case all of this doesn't make much sense does it. If that was the right logic then the last galaxy one should have been the worst of them all.
Ah shame that the stuff wasn't as nice, at least the dark chocolate one was slightly enjoyable!!
Hi All,
Sorry for all the confusion that is about regarding how the posting has gone this weekend.
Unfortunately on Thursday/Friday Blogger was acting up and not letting any blog owners log in to their accounts. Due to this it meant I couldn't write a weekend post, or post my review on Friday.
To make sure you all got your chocolate fill for the weekend I decided to post one of the longer posts I had in the archives. I hope you have enjoyed it - the majority of you seem to have done which is good news.
I think I might have put you all off chocolate from the UAE for life if your responses are anything to go by :D I don't think the people out there will ever look upon this site with much love now :D Oh well.
Jay - I have a review of the Galaxy Jewells which has some specialist Arabic flavours in it. That will be posted in a few days.
Webb - Galaxy Liason is sold in Germany. They might be from the factories in Poland though. That is where a lot of the European Galaxy products get made.
Sam - Yes of course. Some of the work colleagues I gave these to only mentioned they could tell the difference when I said something though. They were either being a) less observant than me or b) Being polite and not saying anything because they didn't want to be rude.
Mick - I don't see why not chap. Its just a matter of getting hold of the bars.
Nigel - Yesterday was a glorious, glorious day! 19 titles and 12 for Sir Alex. I can't say how sweet it feels :D Your predictions were all correct this weekend apart from Liverpool :D
Kels - I will of course do more if I can get hold of some suitable chocolates.
Lily - No I don't work for a chocolate company, this is something I just do as a side project to my normal work.
Linz - It's been a bar I have wanted to try for a few months now but I have never been able to find somewhere that sells them. If I can get one I will happily review it. It does sound like my sort of thing.
Eric - no part 3 chap.
Anon - I think I have tried some chocolates from most places in the world.
Matt - I think they just import those bars in from other countries. As far as I know they aren't making their own ones yet.
Duncan - Like i've said to everyone else I will happily review/do any comparisons that come my way
Stu - I see what you mean but I'm only giving my opinion on something from my view point. I would be surprised at all if someone from the UAE thinks the complete opposite.
Thanks for all the feedback on this review everyone. It was a fantastic thing to be able to do and I'm glad so many of you enjoyed it.
Thanks
JIM
I live in dubai and yes I agree those brands of chocolate are not the same standard or taste as UK. I personally prefer my chocolate to be creamy instead of too sugary. That could be because of the dairy as well as manufacturing the chocolate to not melt so easily in such hot regions. But besides mass produced brands there are some lovely local chocolatiers that make some tasty chocolate....and you have the speciality date shop bateel that does chocolates as well. So its not all bad
I live in dubai and yes I agree those brands of chocolate are not the same standard or taste as UK. I personally prefer my chocolate to be creamy instead of too sugary. That could be because of the dairy as well as manufacturing the chocolate to not melt so easily in such hot regions. But besides mass produced brands there are some lovely local chocolatiers that make some tasty chocolate....and you have the speciality date shop bateel that does chocolates as well. So its not all bad
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