June 8th: Artisan du Chocolat Tasting Selection Box

It's been a long while since Artisan du Chocolat last featured on the site and judging by the experience that my family and I have just had with this Tasting Selection Box I have to say it has been far too long. Hands up I have to admit we were a bit naughty and opened the box up without the 'Old Man' doing his usual mastery photography - the photos you see today are a mix of the ones I was sent by Artisan and the some shots the 'OM' took of the few remaining pieces left after our first attack on it :-D 

I was sent this 285.0g selection last week and I was instantly struck by the classy presentation and overall high quality feel that radiated from the box. The outer packaging was decorated beautifully with sparkly, subtle branding and the sealing ribbon tie ensuring the inner content remained firmly intact. Opening the box up we were amazed at the sheer number of different chocolates inside - there were so many different colours and shapes in front of us it felt like there was only really one thing we could do about it ....

Assorted Os - These thin disk chocolates felt like a good place to start are there were several different flavours on offer. I went straight for the caramel, my mother the cherry, my sister the lychee & rose and my father went with the honey. All round we felt the chocolate was fantastic and we felt that all of the flavours promised were delivered with stunning accuracy. The fruit flavours were real tasting and distinctive, and the mint discs were refreshing and crisp. The other flavours we sampled were praline, pistachio, passion fruit, cinnamon and the aforementioned mint - all were every bit as tasty as the first lot we sampled. Superb.

No.1 Liquid Salted Caramels - Remember these? (See HERE). I needed no second invitation getting reacquainted with these golden nectar laden truffles. My words will never do these justice but I will try my best. These award winning caramels are some of the finest I've ever tasted and no surprises they all disappeared within seconds of the box being opened. As with everything in the selection the chocolate quality was incredibly high with semi-sweet shells establishing a crisp chocolatey base to every piece. The dusting of cocoa on the shell is a genius, yet slight messy touch with it bringing a welcome contrasting rich cocoa influence on the sweet filling. The caramel centres!? Well what can I say - elements of butter, maple, sugar, honey and salt all rolled in to one. Superb.   

South Sea and Tahiti Pearls - (top to bottom) The top two were white and milk chocolates that contained a rich tasting cocoa ganache. These pieces were not only tremendously good looking, but they also tasted fantastic with the smooth feel centres bursting with cocoa flavours. The bottom Tahiti pearl chocolates were equally as good and hid a delicious hazelnut praline underneath the dark chocolate shells. Very Good.

Dark Truffle - The Old Man made a beeline for these and I don't blame him. This was a simple dark chocolate truffle that had a coating of wonderful cocoa powder. He isn't normally one to comment much on the textures of chocolates but even he remarked on the melt in mouth feel. Very Good.

Milk Truffle - Whilst the Old Man was tucking into the dark variety my mother and sister went about tasting the milk chocolate truffles. These were lighter and more creamier than the above but they enjoyed them every bit as much.Very Good.

Truffle2 - I settled for best of both worlds and tried out this 'Truffle Squared'. This piece was a layered truffle of both milk and dark varieties and was possibly one of my favourite pieces in the entire box. The way the taste built up in it's cocoa strength from it's starter base of sweet creamyness, to it's richer earthier aftertaste was just luxury in every sense. Superb.

Couture Chocolates - Artisan split these chocolates into six different types and we got to try representations of most of them: Fruits, Flowers, Herbs, Spices, Nuts & Seeds and Pure Origins. In our selection box the fruit flavours were the orange and passion fruit chocolates. My fruit chocolate loving mother thought the passion fruit flavour was wonderful and was an accurate depiction of one favourite fruits. Among the 'Flower' cotoures we simply got a honey chocolate - it got a big thumbs up from me. The herb chocolates were sadly not present among the collection. I despise smoking but even I was intrigued by the prospect of a 'tobacco' flavoured coture which was displayed on the menu. The other flavours actually present in the box more than made up for the lacking herb chocolates, the ones that drew the most attention and praise were the Tonka (Spices), Black Cardamom (Spices) and Madagascar Dark (Pure Origins) pieces. The variety each of these different flavours was terrific and made for an exciting and variable experience. Very Good.


Overall it's really hard to sum up this Selection Box without wanting to name every single piece as a 'stand out'. I tried to be succinct in my summaries above but there were just so many good things to say about each variety of chocolate in this wonderful collection that I just couldn't help myself. I get to try plenty of chocolate selections running this site but I don't think there has ever been one that has been able to offer as much variety and quality than this one from Artisan. I think £28.00 is expensive if you are buying a box of chocolates so it's going to have to be something extremely special to justify such a price tag. Well if you ask me Artisan du Chocolat's Tasting Selection Box warrants that price and is one I would recommend to absolutely anybody who appreciates fine chocolates. The truffles are outstanding, the coutures and discs amazingly varied and the caramels ... well ... they are just simply sensational. Before this starts sounding too much like I'm starting up an Artisan du Chocolat fan club (Edit: too late reading this all back haha!!) I will just leave you with the JCM scoring chart - trust me, try it and you wont disagree.

9.2 out of 10

June 6th: Snickers Marathon Smart Stuff Bars

Thank heavens for AmericanSoda!!! Without these guys there would be no way I would be able to keep you lot up to date with all the latest chocolate and candy products coming out in America. The chaps over @Americansoda have just updated their store with some of the newest offerings from Mars, Hershey and Reeses and Nestle (See HERE). Among all the new and exciting products you will see that Mars have developed a brand of bars called 'Smart Stuff' - a sub-brand that they have released under the Snickers/Marathon brand name.

The range consists of several variants of cereal bases bars - three of which I got to try over the last week. Clocking in at 34.9g each and promising no more than 140 calories a bar, these looked to me to be positioned as energy boosting, pro-active lifestyle health bars. What led me to believe this was the on-pack blurb displayed on all three flavours, as each brought attention to the bars packing '8 essential vitamins & minerals', as well as them not containing 'high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners or artificial flavours or colours'. This sounded all well and dandy to me but trust me I've had plenty of so called 'healthy cereal bars' in my time. I was more interested in putting them to the taste test.

Snickers Marathon Smart Stuff Honey Graham

Kcal 140 Fat 4.0g Fat(sats) 1.5g Carbs 22.0g (per bar)

The smell of honey and caramel was very strong here and this was consistent with the taste test that followed. The base layer of chocolate was thin but it was substantial enough to create and impression on the cereal and peanut elements above. Out of all three bars the caramel that fused the cereal together was much thicker and this obviously meant it had a grander say in the total taste. Ultimately this was very very sweet with it's buttery focused caramel flavours, though the saltiness of the peanuts did stem the sugar focus to a reasonable degree. It wasn't the most satisfying out of the three however it was still a good cereal bar in my opinion.

7.7 out of 10
 

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Snickers Marathon Smart Stuff Multi-Grain

Kcal 140 Fat 4.5g Fat(sats) 1.5g Carbs 21.0g (per bar)

This was my least favoured out of the three though that's not saying much as I've rated them all quiet highly. This particular variant was basically the Honey Graham described above, however it didn't have the extra honey and caramel emphasis in the sticky stuff binding the cereal. What was noticeable here was that because there was less emphasis from the caramel, an additional extra hint of cinnamon shone through. Personally I didn't think it played off as well with the peanuts and it was somewhat disruptive to the sweet and salty flavour contrasts as it heavily sent the bar down the sweeter route. 

7.5 out of 10
 

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Snickers Marathon Smart Stuff Chocolate Crisp

Kcal 140 Fat 4.0g Fat(sats) 1.5g Carbs 22.0g (per bar)

In true JCM style I saved the best until last :-D It will probably come as no shock to anyone that the 'chocolate review site' rated the double chocolate variant the best, but I did go in to this comparison review with an open mind and it was frankly just the way it was. The 'double chocolate' proposition lived up to the billing and simply delivered a taste that had a much stronger, more satisfying chocolatey flavour hit. The chocolate taste was sweet and uncomplicated in it's construction of cocoa flavours but I could of cared less because it played off rather nicely with the binding caramel and salty peanuts. I certainly found it the most fulfilling of the three. 

8.1 out of 10

Overall I think Mars can be happy with their cereal bar offerings here and I like the fact they are something altogether completely different to what we have seen from them previously. Mars in the US are a little more adventurous with their new products than Mars UK and it was clever of them to use the Snickers brand to quickly bring a level of familiarity and credibility to the bars straight away. Ask me for a favoured variant and I will point you in the direction of the Chocolate Crisp though the other two are also worth checking out with them being close 2nd/3rd's. Take the health giving credentials with a pinch of salt but there are three nice bars at hand here  I would happily suggest any of them. 

June 5th: Meiji Lucky Stick

Although the summer season has begun in the Far East (thus no chocolates from JList for awhile DOH!!), my friend Peter couldn't help but share one last lot of goodies from his fine array of Japanese snacks and foods - See HERE. Over the past few years I've tried many a different biscuit stick snack from those shores - everything from Picola, Mikado, Fran ... oh yes and of  course the legendary Pocky :-D Well today I got to try yet another biscuit stick brand - this time two flavours from Meiji's 'Lucky Stick' range.

Both of these varieties were sent to me in 45.0g boxes that contained single foil packets full of the biscuit sticks. The two flavours I got to try were the original Milk Chocolate and Cappuccino varieties and I tested them alongside some work colleagues who unsurprisingly were more than happy to lend a helping hand with the taste testing. Before going to detail on that it is worth making mention to the standard of the presentation which was consistent with most products from the Far East in that it was all rather classy. The boxes were constructed with glossy cardboard and articulated the product content well with clear on pack visuals and branding. It was also nice that both had English translations of the on the back so I could tell what the hell I was eating :-D 

Milk Chocolate - 'Biscuit sticks covered with chocolate flavoured cream'

Kcal 210 Fat 10.0g Fat(sats) 5.0g Carbs 28.0g (per 45.0g packet)

These had a nice cookies and cream type vibe to them with the biscuits surprisingly leading the way with the stronger cocoa influence. The milk chocolate coating had a creamier influence on the taste, with the stick portion providing a substantial chocolate, buttery shortbread base for every mouthful. The sticks were noticeably thicker than most other brands but as ever with these sort of snacks to me they were more moreish than substantial. They were universally liked by the taste test group.

7.6 out of 10

Cappuccino - 'Biscuit sticks with cappuccino flavoured cream'

Kcal 220 Fat 11.0g Fat(sats) 4.5g Carbs 28.0g (per 45.0g packet)

These smelt strongly like the instant cappuccino sachets you get and the aromas wafted out the foil packet as soon the seal was broken. Compared to the biscuit sticks of the milk chocolate variety above they weren't as strongly flavoured and had more of a milder, sugary wheat biscuit impact on the taste. The cappuccino cream did bring a creamy coffee aspect to the party, however it was more of a 'fake' coffee influence that one could expect from any run of the mill instant powdered coffee. I was a little disappointed with them in all honesty.

7.0 out of 10 

Overall these were both fair standard biscuit stick products but they certainly weren't special or over and above anything I had experienced before. If you were going to try one of the two I would say to go for the milk chocolate ones as I personally thought they were nicer, more satisfying variety with their stronger taste.   

June 2nd: Heavenly Cakes British Bakewell / Sovereign Shortbread

There's a good chance that 2012 is going to go down as the proudest year in British history. with us celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee this weekend and of course the Summer Olympics starting in just a few weeks time. Suffice to say the country is feeling rather good about itself at the moment and there is many a celebration being had up and down the land. I myself will attending a few parties this weekend and no doubt will be raising a glass of swift sherry and burnt banger to our dear Ma'am. Of course I wont be able to turn up at these parties without taking my own contribution to the gathering. Not wanting to be boring and show up with something anyone could have bought from their local supermarket, I thought that this sounded like a job for Heavenly Cakes. Take a look at what they sent across:

Heavenly Cakes British Bakewell

Ladies and Gentlemen I don't like Bakewell Tarts - not even the ones by the daddy himself Mr Kipling. They aren't something I have bought in years, but from memory having them as a kid I just remember them being overly sugary and sickeningly sweet. Suffice to say I really wasn't all that excited by this cake but it managed to exceed expectations and then some. What impressed me first was the look of the cake when I finally negotiate unwrapping it from it's uber sticky wrapper. It looked fantastic with the layers of cake, almond topping, jam and pastry base clearly defined and smelling incredibly fresh. The aromas reminded me of lovely hot croissants so it was no surprise that the taste reminded me of them also. Indeed biting into the cake all memories of Bakewell cakes being sweet and sickly disappeared as I was confronted by a delicious array of golden pastry, buttery nut, vanilla sponge and red fruit flavours.The variety and dexterity of the taste was just fantastic and all these different elements were delivered within a wide range of different textures. There was stickyness, there was crispy pastry and there was moist and light cake, it was just wonderful. I savored every bite of this cake, thank goodness the Heavemly Cakes guys were kind enough to send me a lot of samples. If I only had a few I don't think they would have made it to this weekends parties.

8.8 out of 10

Heavenly Cakes Sovereign Shortbread

Whilst I believe the British Bakewell is going to be available all year round (and so it should be!!), I think I'm right in saying that this Sovereign Shortbread has been specifically created to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee this weekend. This Sovereign Shortbread is essentially Heavenly's Chocolate Shortbread but with a little British twist with the addition of a milk chocolate crown shape at it's centre. Knowing just had good my friend @BettyBakes is with her shortbread I was expectant of good things and Heavenly Cakes being Heavenly Cakes didn't let me down. The biscuit was epically crumbly, and melted in the mouth like butter - a mouth feel entirely suitable given the taste. Indeed the biscuit was just incredible with underlying butter biscuit shortcake flavours complimented expertly with finely balanced elements of sugar and salt. Eating around the middle crown shaped piece it meant I saved the best until very last and the remaining few bites were just utter bliss with the addition of the creamy milk chocolate to the party. Real, bakery fresh biscuits just don't get better than this.

8.3 out of 10

Overall both were superb tasting cakes from Heavenly and part of me can't wait to take them to the parties this weekend to see what everyone makes of them. The other part of me wants to hoard them all to myself but that wouldn't be much in the spirit of British communal cheer now would it :-D I will give an update in a few days to let you know how well these were received.

June 1st: Hotel Chocolat Dark Costa Rican Coffee Selector

I'm sure you will all be glad to hear that Hotel Chocolat have sent across my latest sampling package containing all manner of Summer and Jubilee themed chocolates for 2012. In the coming weeks I will be giving you all the JCM scoop on those new products, however today the focus will be on one of their all year round available 'selector products'. Indeed hogging the spotlight today we have these Dark Costa Rican Coffee beans - 'Whole roasted Peaberry coffee beans sealed within dark chocolate'. Being both a coffee and dark chocolate lover I couldn't have been more excited to try these out.

As I mostly get sent my Hotel Chocolat goodies as samples I often miss out on providing you guys with the pricing information but today I couldn't help but take notice. Looking on the website one of these 100.0g packs costs only £3.50 - as you will come to learn from the enjoyment I got out of these I thought they were outstanding value, especially given the quality of the ingredients.

Before I start lavishing the praise out again I will briefly speak of the one negative which I thought was the presentation. I've commented on this before with this type of packaging but I think it's worth making mentioning again that the plastic packet/tray combo is not something I think stands up for either the Hotel Chocolat brand or their products. Packaging snobbery aside :-) these were otherwise glorious. First off they smelt amazing. The coffee and cocoa scents that overcame my senses once the plastic packet seal was broken were just drool worthy and from my first handful I was hooked. The dark chocolate was just the right strength (I would guess 70% cocoa) and the rich, earthy, chocolatey cocoa flavours grew beautifully in their intensity as I let them slowly melt away on my tongue. Once the chocolate had melted away it was time to get munching on the remaining coffee beans and boy were they equally as great! They were fresh, crunchy and provided the most delicious rich roasted coffee flavours - the small caffeine buzz they provided was an added bonus for my mid-afternoon coffee and snack.

Overall after reading the above I'm sure you become well aware that I absolutely loved these. Casting my thoughts about the packaging style aside I thought these were just wonderful. I don't for one minute think they will change anyone's opinions on coffee flavoured chocolates if they don't like them, but for the rest who sit in my camp of loving them I have no doubt you will get some serious enjoyment from them. As with all Hotel Chocolat products I never had any fear about the quality of the chocolate - it was up to it's usual standard here and the strength chosen really suited the coffee beans it coated. The coffee beans themselves also lived up to the standard of the chocolate and as suggested by the product description they were evidently carefully chosen for their depth of flavour and quality. Coffee chocolate fans get involved! You wont regret it.

8.9 out of 10

   

May 30th: Bits & Bobs Misc 2012 # 1

Bits & Bobs is the order of the day so as usual these reviews will all be short and sweet. Enjoy the pictures and please use the Jim's ChocolateMission Pinterest (HERE) and @Chocmission Twitter feeds (HERE) to give me your own thoughts on any of the products featured today.
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Milka Loffel Ei Chocolate Cream

Kcal 570 Fat 37.0g Carbs 53.0g (per 100.0g)

Easter may be long gone but JCM reader Catherine insisted that I try these chocolate cream flavoured Milka Loffel Ei eggs after she sampled them on holiday in Germany earlier this year. Indeed Catherine enjoyed them so much she brought me back my own pack of four (136.0g) and was kind enough to send them long to me. These eggs were essentially the same as the original Milka Loffel Ei (review HERE) apart from the obvious substitution of the milk flavoured creme with the chocolate one. When I say the same I literally mean the same! Even three years on since trying the original cream eggs the packaging and presentation was entirely consistent with each egg foil wrapped and accompanied by a cute little spoon for the inner cream. Now, to the all important taste test and unfortunately I have to report that I didn't quite think theses stacked up against the milk cream ones. The inner cream was pleasant and accentuated the creamy sweet flavours of the Milka milk chocolate, but it didn't have the creamy qualities of the aforementioned originals. I still really enjoyed these but given the option between the milk cream or the chocolate cream Loffel Ei I would have to go with the milk ones.

8.0 out of 10

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Kellogg's All Bran Chocolate Breakfast Biscuits

Kcal 167 Fat 6.0g Fat(sats) 2.0g Carbs 21.0g (per 40.0g)

One of the most common questions I'm forever being e-mailed about is 'is this (insert dodgy brand name X here!) healthy chocolate good for me!??'. Ninety-nine times out of one-hundred I politely respond back with an e-mail pointing out the ridiculousness of the question. Yes, a sensible amount is of course good for you, it will make you happy and to me at least that's a good and healthy thing! On the other hand, consuming ten tons of the stuff is not going to be a good thing for any of us - not at least for our waistlines. What I often do out of courtesy is point people in the direction of some of the 'healthier' chocolate flavoured alternative products I've tried down the years. Falling nicely into that very category today are these new Kellogg's All Bran Chocolate Breakfast Biscuits. I found these a few weeks ago in Tesco priced at a rather expensive sounding £2.39 (6 bar multi-pack) and promising 'bran enriched wheat and oat fibre cereal bars with chocolate chips'. I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that these are going to be your 'chocolate heaven; the bran cereal is certainly the dominant element of the taste, but the chocolate chips do bring a chocolatey influence to pretty much every bite. Like I said, chocolate heaven maybe not, but as a healthier alternative these are certainly more satisfying than many of the lighter weight sugar intensive chocolate cereal bars out there. Give them a try and tell me what you think.

7.1 out of 10

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Nestle Aero Biscuits Mint

Kcal 99 Fat 5.4g Fat(sats) 3.1g Carbs 11.2g (per biscuit bar)

I've commented a few times in the last year about the recent explosion of new Aero products we've seen released here in the UK. Lambs, dark chocolates, reappearing orange bars ... you name Aero have done it recently! Though a lot of these have been re-released or repackaged old products one of the more innovative creations of late has been their venture into the chocolate biscuit aisle. April 2011 I gave you my views on the first product from this very range - See HERE. Twelve months on Aero have seen fit to add some more of their flavours to the chocolate biscuit aisle, one of which is this new mint variety. These mint bars are available in multipacks of seven, and yes of course cost me the token £1.00 on offer in my local supermarket. Packaging and presentation wise these maintained a lot of consistency from the standard Aero range. One thought I did have is that is thought they look attractive enough they might not be too similar looking to the normal Aero bars!? Perhaps a little more could be made of the 'Biscuit' element in this sense ... just a thought!? Minor concerns over the wrappers aside when it came to the taste test I was duly impressed. The long finger pieces made for a comfortable two bites with the extra golden biscuit pieces lining the base adding minor enhancements to both the taste and texture with an element of shortbread crunch.As expected the milk chocolate and mint taste was standard Aero fair - sweet and milky with a friendly, non-threatening peppermint coolness. I know that chocolate biscuit products are traditionally smaller but I could have done with these being a little larger; one can only suspect they were this small to keep below the 99 calorie glass ceiling. To summise I would happily recommend these to mint chocolate biscuit fans. Not all that satisfying but they are hardly going to damage you in the pocket.

7.7 out of 10

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ION Break Milk Chocolate

Kcal 234 Fat 14.0g Fat(sats) 9.0g Carbs 23.0g (per 42.5g serving) 

ION!?? Who!? What!? Where!? Allow Wiki to do the honours ...

"Ion is a Greek chocolate brand. Although the first chocolate recipe has been manufactured since 1927, the company was formally incorporated in 1930. The main factory is located in Athens and they are best known for their almond milk chocolate variety. The company has grown to be one of Greece’s 50 largest companies with annual sales of over €100 million."

Hands-up if you had heard of them before reading this ... no ... me neither!!! My ION education started when I came across this chocolate in my local Tesco supermarket. When I first saw it my immediate thought was that this as a new 'knock-off' Ritter Sport brand as the packaging and presentation of the bar was deeply reminiscent of the German brand with it's square shape and plastic foil wrapper. Indeed, just like any Ritter bar the chocolate was segregated into a 4x4 block grid and broke with ease. This was simply ION's milk chocolate variety and was a 29.0% cocoa recipe. The aromas emanating from the chocolate were highly indicative of the taste that followed with strong vanilla scents forthcoming from the outset. The flavour and melt development of the chocolate was ultimately sound. It had a nice enough paced melt and the taste progressed from a mild, friendly sugary cocoa base, to an aftertaste most notable for it's aforementioned vanilla influence. At the end of the day, this was hardly a chocolate that set my world on fire but at the same time I can see why it's probably universally liked in Greece. It's not a chocolate you need to search out as a must try, but if your curious to try some Greek chocolate then I would suggest it as a nice enough one to start with. 

7.2 out of 10

May 28th: Hotel Chocolat Jubilee Selection

Since 1952 - no that's not how long Hotel Chocolat have been making excellent chocolates, but rather it's the year of coronation for the nations' favorite nanny! Yes indeed it's Jubilee time this weekend folks, you wouldn't have guessed it huh ;-) I maybe sounding a little cynical there and I don't mean to be! What isn't to love about this weekend!? We have four days to have time off work, fine food and drink, national cheer and dare I tempt fate by saying some nice weather :-D It's going to be great, but we all know though that no celebration is complete without a box of chocolates! Cometh the coronation celebration, cometh the Hotel Chocolat Jubilee Selection!!! Guess who got to give it a try.

The Hotel Chocolat Jubilee Selection is a 195.0g collection featuring 20 individual chocolates. Just as I expected the presentation of this Limited Edition was first class and the uniquely styled round shaped, ribbon decorated box caught the eye with it's attractive curves and well presented chocolates placed inside. As you can see above and below the 'Old Man' dusted his camera down for this one and went snap happy with some excellent looking photos. Here are our thoughts on the eight chocolate varieties inside:

Raspberry Liqueur Truffle - This showcased HC's fine talents with fruit flavoured chocolates brilliantly combining a dark chocolate outer shell with a creamy, red berry infused, boozie white chocolate centre. The alcohol hit was superbly balanced in this one and even brought a small warmth to the party. Very Good.

Salted Soft Caramel - Just sensational, I needn't say more - See previous review HERE

Raspberry & Hibiscus - This was another new one we hadn't tried before and it came with an 'Academy of Chocolate Gold Winner 2012' certification. This chocolate was essentially the same as the   raspberry liqueur truffle above, but rather had an even fruitier emphasis and a sweeter floral note to it rather than a boozie focus. Again I loved it - as did my mother. Very Good.

Simple Milk Truffle - Simple ... Yes! Delicious .... Yes! See previous review HERE

Cherry Bombe - Cherry flavoured chocolates can often be awfully fake tasting but HC proved that their skills with raspberrys and strawberrys also carry over to this other sweet red fruit. Indeed this milk chocolate contained a very tasty, creamy cherry flavoured white flavoured ganache filling. It was soft in texture, but bold and 'real' tasting flavour wise. Very Good.

Classic Whisky Truffle - The 'Old Man's favourites! I didn't get a sniff of these but he said they were the usual high standard. See previous review HERE

Dizzy Praline - It wouldn't be a Hotel Chocolat selection box without a praline chocolate in there. Suffice to say usual high standards were consistent - See previous review HERE.

Eton Mess - The star attraction - fit for the Queen herself! It's the fourth year I've been reviewing this chocolate and it still remains in my opinion one of their finest. White chocolate, strawberry buttercream, meringue and real strawberry pieces. Still as epic as ever! See previous review HERE.


Overall this collection was everything it should have been and that's a celebration of the things that Hotel Chocolat do best. Fruit chocolates ... check, caramels .... check, liqueurs .... check, Eton Mess .... check :-D you get the picture! If you were going to put a selection of the best truffles that Hotel Chocolat do, and put them in all one box you find it hard to craft a better mix than the one on offer here. At £25.00 you are paying over £1.00 per chocolate and normally that would be hard to justify. Frankly though, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee only comes around once in our lifetime and if we are going to celebrate we might aswell all do it properly. If your buying a box of chocolates for the occasion (of course you will be!!) then you needn't look past this option here. Diamond quality for a Diamond weekend!

9.2 out of 10