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Milka Good Plum Cream (Limited Edition)

April 20, 2013, 1:36 am
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I'm always wary of the new Milka bars I see in my local Polish store. Like the Raspberry Cream and Cherry Cream bars I've reviewed previously, they are often overly sweet or artificial tasting. So when I saw this "GOOD Plum Cream" variety I was again rather hesitant to buy it. But it sounded unusual and was Limited Edition, and I am the rare snacks hunter, so I had to give it a try regardless!

Apparently there are a few different varities in this range, such as "Happy", "Good", "Sweet" etc. This plum cream variety contains a milk cream filling with a plum "jam" filling sat above.


There was a generous amount of plum filling in this bar, infact it oozed out as I cut into it. The chocolate was very sweet, as was the cream filling. The plum jam tasted artificial as I expected, but not quite as artificial as the Raspberry and Cherry Cream Milka bars. It was actually rather plain. Plum isn't one of the most interesting fruit flavours, in my opinion, so I found the taste a bit boring overall.

If you're a fan of plums with chocolate you might like this bar. It's an uncommon combination here in the UK, although seems to be a lot more popular in Poland. Kudos to Milka Poland for trying new Milka flavours but I wish they'd just make the chocolate less sweet and more creamy, like the Milka we get in the UK.

I'm still yet to find the amazing sounding Milka Elderberry Cream as reviewed here by Grocery Gems, but suspect the time time for that one has passed. Such is the way with limited edition chocolates I guess!

Price: Around £1.10p, although I can't remember exactly.
Made by: Milka Poland.
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Carte D'or Salted Caramel

April 21, 2013, 3:37 pm
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When I saw this new Carte D'or flavour from Wall's I couldn't resist giving it a try. I love all things caramel flavoured, but salted caramel can either be really delicious or really weird, depending on how it's done. Luckily Wall's got it right!

I found this tub on special offer in Morrisons for £1.75. It's described as "salted caramel flavour ice cream with caramel pieces (8%)" and contains no artificial flavours.

Opening the lid it smelled more like butterscotch than caramel to me. I scooped out a few portions into a bowl.


It tasted creamy and delicious, as I expected. I was waiting for the salted caramel flavour to become apparent, but it tasted more like butterscotch. It was very tasty and moreish, and the caramel pieces made it even more so because they added a lovely chewy, fudgey bite to the icecream. After a while it hit me that it did actually have a slightly salty taste, which was difficult to detect initially. The flavour is very subtle and well done, but I maintain that it tastes more of butterscotch than salted caramel. It hardly matters though because it's delicious regardless.

Overall, this is a tasty new flavour from Carte D'or which I'm sure fans of toffee or caramel icecream will enjoy. The flavour isn't too salty or off-putting so if you don't like salted caramel then chances are you'll still enjoy this. It's very addictive and I'll definitely be buying it again. I think it could be improved even more with some actual caramel swirled in.

Price: £1.75 for 900ml at Morrisons, £2 at Tesco.
Nutritional/ingredients: Contains milk, whey solids, condensed milk. May contain nut traces. 

On the subject of Carte D'or does anyone else remember the coconut flavour Wall's used to make? It was one of their best flavours in my opinion; it was so creamy and luxurious and had an amazing coconut taste. I haven't seen it in years so assume it must have been discontinued. I'm seriously considering bombarding Wall's with requests for it's return!

Here is a pic (image courtesy of iceshop.co.uk):
If anyone else remember this flavour please let me know in the comments!
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Chrysanthemum Tea Soda

April 22, 2013, 4:31 pm
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Whilst browsing a local Chinese store recently I was wide-eyed with amazement at all the unusual, interesting and downright odd (at least to my British senses) food items sold there. Amongst the oddities I discovered coconut jam, various Meiji products, soybean soda and...this. Yes, you read the title correctly, this is a fizzy Chrysanthemum Tea Soda Drink.

Looking at the ingredients I noticed it contains 12% "aqueous extract of chrysanthemum", as well as water, sugar and a few e-numbers. The label helpfully informed me that these "may have an adverse effect on attention and activity in children". Thankfully I'm not a child, although you would be forgiven for thinking otherwise!

Pouring it into a glass, I could smell a horrible sickly sweet flowery smell that reminded me of cammomile tea, which is the only reference I have for flowery-tasting beverages. I was a little scared of trying it to be honest; it had a pale yellow colour that didn't look all that appetizing (I won't say what it reminded me of since this is a family-friendly blog!)


I finally took a sip, and it tasted just as bad as I had imagined. It was insanely sweet, and very sickly. I struggled to drink much because it made me feel a little nauseous. The best way I can describe the taste is like cold cammomile tea, with lots and lots of sugar, but without the calming, gentle taste that cammomile tea has. After a few sips I poured the rest down the sink.

Overall, I'm glad I tried this chrysanthemum tea drink just so I can add it to the list of odd food and drinks I've tried, but I won't ever be touching it again!

Price: 70p at Chinese supermarket.
Nutritional/ingredients info: Contains 12% aqueous extract of chrysanthemum and e-numbers.
Made in: Product of Malaysia.
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Cadbury Double Decker Ice Cream Bars

April 24, 2013, 5:20 am
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Incase you have never heard of a Double Decker bar before, here is an introduction thanks to Bible of the Internet, Wikipedia:

"Double Decker is a brand of chocolate bar currently manufactured by Cadbury. First introduced in 1976, its name derives from the double-decker bus, and these vehicles have invariably appeared in advertisements for the product. The chocolate bar is lightly flavoured with coffee and structured in two layers; an upper whipped nougat layer, with a lower layer of cereal 'crispies', these are then coated in milk chocolate. Originally the bar contained raisins within the base layer, however consumer research in the mid-1980s led to these being removed and the current formulation being introduced."
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Decker_%28chocolate_bar%29

This ice cream version is significant because it's the first time Double Decker has ventured into ice cream (the brand, not the bus - it probably wouldn't be a good idea for a double-decker bus to venture into icecream!).

It's described as "A creamy nougat ice cream top with a chocolate ice cream and crunchy cereal bottom, all covered in Cadbury milk chocolate".


Cutting a bar in half, it certainly looked the same as a Double Decker, with the nougat ice cream layer on top and the crispy cereal and chocolate ice cream layer at the bottom. It was never going to replicate the exact same taste or texture as a real Double Decker, but it did a pretty good job. The upper layer tasted somewhat malty whilst the bottom layer was chocolatey and had a nice crunch from the rice cereal pieces. The milk chocolate coating had a familiar Cadbury taste and finished things off nicely, making for a tasty little ice cream bar.


Overall, I thought these were a decent replication of Cadbury Double Decker, and a good snack for the price. I would recommend them!

Price: £1.25 for a 4 pack at Morrisons.
Allergy advice: Contains milk & soya, may contain nuts and wheat. Suitable for vegetarians. 
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Sainsbury's Discounted Valentines Chocs - Chocolate Rose, Lovemobile, etc...

April 25, 2013, 12:07 am
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I know it's a bit late for a Valentines themed post, but I had taken pics for these chocolates a while ago and thought it about time I do a brief review of them.

They were all discounted after Valentines Day at my Sainsbury's Local, and to be honest I can see why: they were all quite cheap tasting and tacky.

First up is the Chocolate Rose. It's basically a hollow chocolate rose with a plastic stalk and leaves, wrapped  in red foil. It's a nice idea, but unfortunately the chocolate used in it was very cheap. It tasted quite waxy and without any real chocolate flavour. If your Valentine likes novelty then they might get some kicks out of it, but otherwise it's rubbish. Did you get one of these for Valentines Day this year? If so please feel free to have a moan about it in the comments!



Next up is the Chocolate Lovemobile. It's called "You make my heart race" and is a little chocolate car with a pink chocolate heart sat in the drivers seat. Which is a really sweet idea, to be fair. If your loved one has a sense of humour I'm sure they would enjoy this as a novelty gift, but I doubt they'd be laughing once they taste the chocolate. Like the Chocolate Rose, it was cheap-tasting and poor quality.



Lastly we have the most interesting product of the lot, the white chocolate LOVE bar:


This was one of the few chocolates from the selection that tasted OK, in a "it's cheap and sugary... but I kinda like it" way. It tasted slightly creamy, at least. The pink coloured letters didn't taste of strawberry or anything, just coloured white chocolate. Don't get me wrong, it was still a cheap tasting white chocolate, and I would never give one of these to someone I love, but for the cheap price it wasn't too bad (about 30p or thereabouts).

Overall, I can't complain too much about these chocolates because they didn't cost a lot, but it does make me wonder who would give these as Valentine's gifts, or who would want to receive one from their lover. It's not the product concepts that are bad, it's the quality of the chocolate.

I guess they're meant to be just fun "supplemental" gifts, so on that note I will let Sainsbury's off on this occasion. It'll be interesting to see if they make a return next year!
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Chocolove Peach & Pecan (Cybercandy)

April 25, 2013, 11:51 pm
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Today's review comes courtesy of Cybercandy, a well-known company specializing in imported snacks from around the world. They offered me a product for review when I joined their bloggers network, so I chose this Chocolove bar as it's not one of the most well-known American products they had on offer, and because fruity chocolate always gets my attention! I loved Cybercandy's presentation of this bar with the coloured foam pieces in the box - it reminded me of fruit loops cereal.

The premise of this bar is that it's meant to be a gift for your lover, and contains a love poem by Robert Browning inside the wrapper. If your partner loves chocolate and poetry then this is probably the perfect combination, but then perhaps some people might find it a bit cheesy. Personally, I think it's a lovely idea, being a lifelong chocolate lover and romantic at heart! The wrapper is also made to look like a love letter envelope, which is a cool idea - who wouldn't want to receive one of these through the post?

The chocolate contains 33% cocoa solids as well as 33% freeze-dried peach pieces. Each piece has a loveheart printed on it which you can hopefully see here:


Given that this bar is all about luuuuuurve you'd expect it to be delicious, so how did it taste? Well, it was very good! It's tastier than most mainstream chocolate bars like Dairy Milk or Galaxy and has a quality feel to it. Infact I would describe the taste as a "better quality Galaxy" - it has that distinctive creamy smoothness that Galaxy has, but is less sugar-laden and has a richer cocoa flavour. The peach pieces were quite crunchy, but surprisingly they didn't have a very strong peach flavour. They were subtle and fruity but I wouldn't be able to distinguish them in a blind taste-test. The pecans added a lovely woody, savoury sweet crunch, and balanced out the fruity flavour with a nice hint of nuttiness. Combined with the creamy milk chocolate these flavours worked together really well.


Overall, I thought this was a delicious bar of chocolate. I would certainly love to get one from my other half; they're very romantic and and I love the concept of them.

Looking at Chocolove's website I see they do many other flavours, such as cherries and almonds in dark chocolate, salted peanut in milk chocolate, toffee and almonds in milk chocolate...and more! It'd be nice if more of them were available in the UK, please get on it Cybercandy! :)

This bar is available from Cybercandy's online store here:

http://www.cybercandy.co.uk/store/American-Candy-Everything-Else.html

Cybercandy Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/www.cybercandy.co.uk
Cybercandy Twitter: https://twitter.com/CyberCandyLTD

*Cybercandy sent me this bar for an honest review and all views expressed are my own. 
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Barfix (Turkish Lion bar copycat!)

April 28, 2013, 3:56 am
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I love 99p Stores, they're always full of such odd European foods. When I spotted these Barfix bars near the tills there recently I just couldn't resist, since the wrappers were so shiny and they looked just like Lion bars! I thought they might be like those imitation versions of popular bars you usually see in shops like Aldi or Lidl, and I was right!

This bar is made in Turkey by a company called Simsek. It's described as "Crisp wafer coated with milk chocolate, crisped rice and caramel".


It tasted pretty much like a cheap knockoff version of a Lion bar. The wafer wasn't quite as tasty as Lion, and the chocolate was somewhat sweeter, as was the caramel. Overall, it was ok but it was never going to come close to the real thing! Especially when real Lion bars can also be found cheaply in White Chocolate and Peanut varieties! (reviews by The Snack Review).


Overall, if you're strapped for cash then these are a decent bargain, but I think it's better to fork out the money for a real Lion bar, or for the legendary White Chocolate Lion! (which are currently 3 for a pound in some Poundland stores!)

Verdict: Go for the real thing!

Price: 4 bars for 99p at 99p Stores.
Made in: Turkey.
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Wonka Runts & Gobstoppers (at Poundland!)

April 29, 2013, 6:33 am
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I couldn't believe my eyes when I spotted packs of Nestlé Wonka Gobstoppers, Runts and Nerds in my local Poundland store. They're usually sold for very high prices at American import stores, so getting them for £1 was a real bargain!

Fruit shapes!
I declined to buy any Nerds because I've had plenty of them in the past and the smaller packs are already available at Morrisons. However Runts were a new one on me, I've never tried them before despite always seeing them in American import stores. They never really appealed to me for some reason, however what I never realized is that they come in little fruit shapes! How cool! It made me grin like a big kid when I shook a few out of the box to find strawberry, banana, orange, apple and grape shaped candies. This is what the UK has been missing out on in sweets all this time!

Top banana
The colours are insanely bright, so it comes as no surprise that they contain lots of e-numbers. But who cares, they're sweets, they're meant to be fun and full of junk! They tasted verrrrrry sweet and artificial, but were weirdly addictive, and the flavours were quite nice despite being artificial. After a few small handfuls though I couldn't eat much more as I got that familiar throat burning sensation and felt a little ill.


I've had Wonka Everlasting Gobstoppers back when I was a kid, infact I used to buy them regularly but they were the large ones that took hours of crunching before you could get to the "core" part. These Gobstoppers by contrast are a mini version which can be crunched through much more easily, although they are still very hard so I wouldn't recommend trying if you have sensitive teeth!


The flavours are pretty decent - fruity and sour, but also very artificial tasting. They're verrrry sugary too, which makes it difficult to eat too many at once.


Overall, out of both of these I would say the Runts were my favourite, but they were insanely sweet. I'm not sure why Nestlé USA can't tone down the sugar in them a bit and add some fruit juice instead, like most UK manufacturers are doing these days - it would make them more tolerable. Still, they're a fun product and I enjoyed them for what they were.

If you're a fan of Nerds, Gobstoppers or Runts then I'd suggest stocking up on these from Poundland while you can! According to Poundland's facebook page they're selling out very fast (apparently some people have been buying up to £70 worth in one go!)

Price: £1 at Poundland.
Nutritional: Contains mostly sugar, colours and e-numbers. May contain wheat or egg.
Made by: Nestlé USA.
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Monster X-Presso Coffee Energy Drink

April 30, 2013, 4:57 am
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This is another one of my recent finds from a local Chinese store, and it's a new one on me as I've never seen a chilled coffee energy drink before. But then I'm not the greatest fan of energy drinks and rarely pay attention to them. I find they have all have a weird sickly taste, although I guess they're good for a quick burst of energy.

This Monster drink sounded like it would give me the best of both worlds - a boost of coffee in the form of a traditional energy drink, with all it's additives like Taurine, Ginseng etc that supposedly boost mental focus. In reality it didn't turn out to taste very nice and re-affirmed my feeling that energy drinks just taste weird!

Something I should mention is that it contains nitrous oxide as a foaming agent. For those unaware, Nitrous Oxide is commonly known as "laughing gas" and is often used in dentistry for it's anaesthetic and analgesic effects. Unfortunately this drink didn't have me in fits of laughter after tasting it, which was disappointing!

Pouring it into a glass, it had a foamy appearance thanks to the Nitrous Oxide:


It tasted very sweet, but quite smooth and creamy. Presumably the creaminess was coming from the Nitrous Oxide. It had a weird, almost "bitter" chemical aftertaste, which spoiled the overall flavour. Coupled with the excess sweetness I didn't enjoy it much at all. It gave me a bit of an energy boost though, so at least it served its purpose.

Overall, I can't really recommend this drink as it's neither a tasty fizzy drink nor a delicious creamy coffee drink (I would recommend Emmi Caffee Latte for that instead). It sits somewhere in the middle but tastes too artificial to be enjoyable, at least to my tastebuds. If you need a caffeine boost I would go for real coffee!

Price: £1.30 at Chinese supermarket.
Nutritional/ingredients: Contains caffeine, nitrous oxide, taurine, panax ginseng root, guarana seed extract, inositol, l-carnitine, l-tartatate.
Made in: Ireland.
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Nestlé Aero Bubbles have changed! (plus some history)

May 1, 2013, 12:23 am
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Aero Bubbles latest incarnation - 2013
When Aero Bubbles were first launched in 2005 they had a duel green and milk chocolate shell with a milk chocolate mint flavour centre. Here is a pic (courtesy of the brilliant snacks archive on chocolatereview.co.uk):

Original incarnation launched in 2005
Then for some inexplicable reason Nestlé changed them to being all milk chocolate, with a milk chocolate shell and milk chocolate mint flavour centre:
Then they changed the centres to being green coloured, with a milk chocolate shell (this pic is from Jim's Chocolate Mission who reviewed them back in 2008):



Now, Aero Bubbles have made the full transition to a duel milk and green shell, with a bubbly green mint centre!:

The latest incarnation of Aero Bubbles
Confusing huh? Presumably the reason they initially changed them was because they're cheaper to make in all milk chocolate. But the charm of Aero Bubbles was always the duel green and milk chocolate shell, as well as the addictive minty taste.

And make no mistake, they are as delicious and addictive as they always were! They taste creamy, and refreshingly minty but not overpowering. The bubbly texture makes them light and moreish and I soon munched through this little bag, although to be fair it didn't contain many!

Overall, I don't get why Nestlé changed these so much, but at least they saw sense and ditched the "all milk chocolate" version. Curiously, the bag doesn't state how many grams it contains, so I wonder if this is because of a stealth reduction in size. I feel some snacks detective work calling me...

At least they haven't had the audacity to put a "New!" label on them like some companies do! (for a funny take on this phenomenom, see Grocery Gems fantastic post "Who knew it was not so new?" here: http://grocerygems.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/who-knew-it-was-not-so-new-review.html)

Price: Large packs are currently £1 at Asda.
Nutritional: Contains milk.
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McVitie's Lemon & Vanilla Cheesecake Digestives Creams

May 2, 2013, 11:57 pm
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When I heard this new variety of McVitie's Digestives were available at Tesco (hat-tip to Bring Back Banjo chocolate bar) I just had to track them down. They reminded me of a comment I made in my review of McVitie's Double Chocolate Digestives earlier in the year, which was: "I wish they would do something like a lemon cheesecake digestive, now that would be truly something".

Now either I'm psychic and sensed they were planning to introduce this new variety, or McVitie's read my comment and pinched my idea! I think I should start copyrighting them! ;)

These Digestives come in both vanilla and lemon cheesecake flavours, and are basically small digestive biscuits with a sweet cream cheese layer sandwiched in between. They're described as "wheatmeal biscuits with vanilla/lemon and cream cheese flavour filling".

Vanilla:
vanilla flavour
Vanilla Cheesecake Digestives
On opening the pack these smelled lovely; very wheaty and with a familiar comforting digestive biscuit smell. There was also a slight aroma of cream cheese, making them even more tempting.

mcvities
Vanilla Cheesecake Digestives
They tasted as nice as they smelled. The cream was similar to what you get in a custard cream, but not as sweet and with a much creamier taste from the cream cheese. It was slightly tangy and did somewhat resemble cheesecake, at least as much as a biscuit containing 4.5% cream cheese can. They tasted great dunked in coffee!

Lemon:
cheesecake digestives creams
Lemon Cheesecake Digestives
This lemon variety was even tastier than the vanilla. The cream cheese filling was complemented with a lovely zingy lemon flavour, which gave it a light, fresh taste. I enjoyed them a lot more than the vanilla variety and soon munched through most of the pack!

mcvities digestive creams
Lemon Cheesecake Digestives
Overall, I think McVities's are onto a winner with these cheesecake-inspired Digestives (thanks to pinching my idea! haha ;)). Both flavours are really tasty and offer something unique as far as biscuits go. My only complaint is that they were too small!

Price: £1.19 at Tesco.
Ingredients: Contains 4.5% cream cheese, plus yogurt powder. Suitable for vegetarians.
Allergy advice: Contains milk, wheat & gluten. May contain soya.
Nutritional information: 67 calories and 3.5g fat per biscuit.
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Nestlé Rowntree's Randoms Rip 'Ems

May 7, 2013, 5:47 am
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nestle rowntree

When I first heard about these Randoms Rip 'Ems I was intrigued, as the press release made them sound really exciting and unique: "Rowntree's Randoms Rip 'Ems is a highly innovative and unique product that is certain to capture shoppers' attention as well as their imaginations".

Judging by that you would think these Rip 'Ems are something special that have never been done before, but it's actually a load of marketing smoke and mirrors to disguise the fact that they're quite a plain product. Just look at this picture of Rip 'Ems:

nestle rowntrees fruit

They're basically just two strips of fruity gummy laces stuck together. The "fun" supposedly comes in when you pull them apart. Oh, how exciting and innovative...instead of getting the laces already seperated you get to do it yourself! And because they're in different colours and flavours that supposedly adds to the "fun" even more! You can also "Wear 'em" as the pack helpfully advertises:

nestle

I'm not sure how you're supposed to wear them without them falling off though - maybe Nestlé are planning another "innovative" product for that purpose such as "Randoms Glue"? (note to self: copyright that idea!)

nestle

I guess I shouldn't be too harsh since they did taste pretty nice; they were very fruity and with a lovely chewy texture. They contain 25% fruit juice, which is certainly better than most sweets that just contain a load of sugar and e-numbers.

I just don't think they're as exciting or innovative as the press releases makes them out to be. I mean once you pull them apart you're left with regular fruity laces, which are already widely available in most supermarkets. They don't even look all that exciting; they're a rather boring, dull colour.

Overall, these Randoms Rip 'Ems are a tasty product for sure, but they're just not as exciting or innovative as Nestlé seem to think they are.

This is the second brand extension from Rowntree's Randoms this year as well as Randoms Squidgy Speak, which I've previously reviewed here.

Price: 59p at Waitrose.
Ingredients: No artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. Contains 25% fruit juice. Suitable for vegetarians.
Allergy advice: Contains wheat and gluten.
Nutritional information: 58 calories and 0.3g fat per strip of 4 laces.

Have you tried Randoms Rip 'Ems? Do you think they're as exciting and innovative as Nestlé claim? 
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Snickers Dark - Polish limited edition!

May 8, 2013, 4:36 am
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limited edition polish

Whilst browsing a local discount store recently I came across this Snickers Dark, which is a Polish limited edition. They were selling at 4 for a pound and slightly past their sell by date, but as I have never tried a dark chocolate Snickers before I thought I'd give them a try.

As far as I'm aware there's never been a Dark chocolate Snickers in the UK before. Mars have brought out dark chocolate Mars bars under the name Mars Midnight plenty of times (see a review of it here by Foodstuff Finds), but I've never seen an actual dark chocolate Snickers.

polish limited edition

The first thing I noticed about this Snickers is that it's a lot smaller than our UK version. It doesn't surprise me because Polish Lion bars are also much smaller than the UK versions. Maybe the Polish just like smaller portions of chocolate compared to us Brits?

limited edition

Taste-wise, I wasn't very impressed. Perhaps it's because of being out of date but it just tasted quite plain and without much definition of flavour. The caramel was too hard and chewy and pretty tasteless, and the dark chocolate wasn't particularly rich or flavoursome. The peanuts tasted nice, though.

Overall, unless you're very curious I would avoid this one. I believe there's a US version of dark chocolate Snickers available at American import stores, so I would go for that instead.

Price: 4 for £1.
Made by: Mars Polska.
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Cheetos Pizzerini & Cheetos Arcticos

May 9, 2013, 5:00 am
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polish cheese herb tomato

Whilst on the hunt for the Cheetos Robalos reviewed here by Grocery Gems, I came across this pizza flavoured variety and a cheese and ketchup "Arcticos" variety, in a local Polish import store. I haven't had real Cheetos in years but I know they are very popular in America, and also Poland too it seems.

These Cheetos Pizzerini didn't really resemble "proper" Cheetos; they are triangular and "pizza" shaped rather than knobbly like the originals:

cheese tomato

Taste-wise, they were okay. The flavour wasn't very strong, they just had a mild herby tomato flavour, with more emphasis on the herbs. They were quite boring to be honest and I didn't bother finishing the bag. They just didn't taste rich or exciting enough.

Overall, if you're a fan of Cheetos these might be worth a one-off try, but they are nothing compared to the originals so you have been warned!

Cheetos Arcticos:

polish limited edition cheese ketchup

This Limited Edition "Arcticos" varient was much better. It has a picture of cheese and tomato ketchup on a bread bun on it, so presumably the flavour is meant to be cheese and ketchup. I couldn't tell as there was no English writing on the pack.

cheese and ketchup limited edition

The flavour was very rich and full on, with a spicy tomato tang. They were much crunchier in texture than the Pizerrini variety, and tasted very addictive. I soon munched through most of the bag. Like the Pizzerini though, these aren't really "proper" Cheetos as they have a completely different shape; they're practically a completely different crisp. They're tasty though and if you happen to see them I would recommend giving them a try.

Overall, these Polish Cheetos varients make a nice change from the norm, but I think they would be better if they had kept the characteristic Cheetos knobbly shape and texture.
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LaCasa Pineapple Praline

May 10, 2013, 5:23 am
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It's quite hard to find a proper praline bar in UK shops these days, so I was really pleased when I came across this bar for 99p in Family Bargains recently. It's from the Spanish brand LaCasa, and is called "Praliné De Piña", or "Pineapple praline" in English. It contains sugar, ground nuts, cocoa butter, hydrogenated vegetable fat, whey powder and dehydrated pineapple, amongst other things.


I was a bit concerned about the hydrogenated vegetable fat, which as many people know is often used as a cheap filler. However I was pleasantly surprised by this bar! It tasted smooth, creamy, nutty and fruity. The pineapple flavour was very unique and worked surprisingly well with the nutty praline. I must admit it did taste a tad artificial. But it was one of those instances where it didn't really matter, because combined with the hazelnut praline, it was very delicious and just worked in some odd way. The coating of the bar was strange; it was a kind of beige colour, presumably meant to be pineapple flavoured. I'm not sure as I could only really taste pineapple flavour in the filling.

Overall this bar was a pleasant surprise, and I would definitely buy it again. I looked up the LaCasa company and according to their website they make a range of different products, including strawberries and cream and custard and cookies praline bars, which sound delicious! I hope to find more of their stuff in the UK again!

Price: 99p at Family Bargains.
Nutritional facts: Contains milk, nuts, vegetable fat.
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Vanini Cherry milk chocolate

May 11, 2013, 3:12 am
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Whilst browsing Tk Maxx a while ago this Vanini bar caught my eye, mainly because of the stylish packaging as well as the picture of the cherries. I'm always a sucker for fruity chocolates so I had to give it a try.

The chocolate contains 49% cocoa solids and is described as "Fine milk chocolate with black cherries". It's made by Vanini, who are a relatively new Italian brand. They describe themselves thus: "Only the best cocoa bought directly from selected plantations. Long term partnership with the cocoa growers. Direct control of the whole process from cocoa beans to chocolate. Total commitment to excellence".


Opening the wrapper, the chocolate looked very impressive - clean, smooth and with the Vanini logo imprinted onto each block. There were some strong cocoa scents coming from the chocolate with a faint hint of cherries.

I want to say I enjoyed the taste of this bar, I really do... but I can't. That's because the dried cherries spoiled it, simply because they were coated in vegetable oil which must have gone rancid. The rancid taste permeated every bite of the chocolate and ruined the whole experience, which is a shame because from what I could taste, the chocolate itself was quite smooth and rich. I suspect this bar must have been heat affected during transport or something.


Overall, this Vanini Cherry was a disappointment, but luckily, I found another Vanini bar which was a much more pleasant experience, so please stay tuned for that...

Have you tried Vanini's chocolates before? If so what did you think?

Price: £1.69 at Tk Maxx.
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Vanini Bianco white chocolate

May 12, 2013, 2:09 am
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Here we have the Vanini Bianco. I'm completely new to the Vanini chocolate brand, having only seen a handful of their bars in Tk Maxx, but so far my experience has been disappointing (see my review of the Vanini Cherry). Luckily that seems to have been an isolated incident and this Vanini Bianco was much better.

Vanini describe this chocolate as "...a taste experience worthy of the attention even of the most demanding chocolate lovers. This chocolate is irresistable because of the creamy richness of its ingredients: cocoa butter and premium quality milk, to which is added very little sugar, and the delicate perfumed flavour of Bourbon vanilla from Madagascar".

Like the Vanini Cherry, the Bianco comes in a stylish looking box. Opening the wrapper, I was met with a delicious creamy vanilla hit. It smelled amazing! The chocolate looked great too; clean, glossy and with little speckles of vanilla seed in it. The Vanini logo is imprinted onto each block.


Taste-wise, it was almost too good. It was so creamy and buttery it made my throat tingle. The vanilla flavour was delicious. Usually white chocolate has a sugar dominated taste, but the predominant taste here was one of creaminess and vanilla. The texture was smooth and melted in the mouth without any hints of graininess.

Overall, this was a very delicious and good quality bar of white chocolate which I would happily buy again!

Price: £1.69 at Tk Maxx.
Nutritional facts: Contains milk and anhydrous butter (don't ask me what that is!).
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Nestlé After Eight Limited Edition Mint & Orange

May 13, 2013, 2:40 am
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nestle deutschland limited edition

Yes, you read the title right, these After Eights are mint AND orange flavoured. As in, both flavours in the same chocolate! This odd limited edition flavour is the brainchild of Nestlé Deutschland, and has somehow ended up in B&M Bargains stores in the UK.

limited edition germany

Opening the box, the After Eights smelled very lovely; they had a familiar dark chocolate and orange aroma. They were in little paper cases like regular After Eight and looked very well presented:

mint and orange limited edition

The taste was as odd as you would expect. When I bit into one I was first met with a strong zingy orange flavour, which was very pleasant. Then the taste of mint made its presence known, which dominated and ruined the orange flavour. Then the orange taste came back once again. It was almost like it couldn't decide which flavour it wanted to be! The two competing flavours made for a very odd taste experience to say the least.

mint and orange limited ed

To be honest I didn't really enjoy these After Eights, yet after eating one I wanted just one more; there was something slightly addictive about them. I put that down to the combination of dark chocolate and sugary fondant, rather than the orange and mint flavour.

nestle limited edition

Overall, I wouldn't really recommend these After Eights, yet at the same time I do think they're worth trying at least once. The combination is so odd you probably won't ever see them in shops again!

Price: £1.99 at B&M Bargains.
Ingredients: Conatins milk and whey.
Made by: Nestlé Deutschland.
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Butlers Mixed Berry White Chocolate

May 14, 2013, 4:33 am
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A big thankyou to Butlers Chocolates who kindly sent me some bars from their extensive range to review back in February. It's taken me a while to get round to reviewing them but they were definitely worth the wait!

For those who have never heard of Butlers they are a family-owned luxury chocolatier based in Ireland, and they have 15 "Butlers Chocolate Cafes" in Ireland and 1 in the UK. Their tagline is "purveyors of happiness", and after sampling some of their range I can certainly agree with that statement!

Butlers are relatively unheard of here in Britain, although they have a selection box available in Waitrose. They really should be more well-known because their chocolates are all delicious in my opinion!

For today's review I'm starting with one of my favourite bars from their range, the Mixed Berry White Chocolate. This bar came packaged in a simple, stylish paper wrapper and the chocolate itself was foil-wrapped. Opening it up I was met with a lovely fruity aroma of strawberries and blueberies - it smelled verrrry enticing!


Biting into a piece, I was met with an intense creamy and fruity taste. The mixed berries tasted zingy and fresh and had a lovely crunch to them. Combined with the sweet and creamy white chocolate it was a dangerously addictive combination - very, very moreish! The chocolate melted in the mouth nicely and was super smooth.


The blueberries and strawberries were the most noticeable flavours, although there were raspberries, blackberries and even lingonberries in the mix too! All these flavours combined together to make a fruity and creamy hit which was very moreish.

Overall I would highly recommend this bar if you get the chance to try it, it's practically perfection in terms of white chocolate, and I wish it were more widely available in the UK!

More Butlers reviews to come soon... I've become a bit of a fanboy of their chocolate so expect lots of gushing!

Butlers range of chocolates are available from their website here:

http://www.butlerschocolates.com/uk/our-products.html

*Butlers kindly sent me this bar for an honest review and all views expressed are my own. 
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Cadbury Pots of Joy - White Chocolate Buttons

May 15, 2013, 5:37 am
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white chocolate buttons

After reading Grocery Gems review of these new Pots of Joy I've been on the hunt for them ever since. I found the twin packs in the Co-Op, but for some odd reason they didn't have any of the white chocolate buttons variety - the ones I wanted to try the most! So I bided my time, and it's just as well I did because I found them on offer in Asda a few days later at £1 for a 4 pack! Bargain! I bought these and the caramel variety.

white chocolate buttons

One thing I wasn't quite expecting, despite reading Grocery Gems' reviews, was just how small they would be. There wasn't much more than two spoonfuls in a pot! Before I knew it I'd eaten it all and had to break into a second pot to feel like I'd eaten something (I'm sure this is a trick to get people to consume more!).

white chocolate buttons

Taste-wise they were very creamy and smooth, and being white chocolate flavoured they were also quite sweet. A little bit too sweet for me, infact. The white chocolate flavour was nice but I thought it could have been a bit stronger. The smoothness of these desserts more than made up for the sweetness though - they were ridiculously smooth and creamy.

Overall I thought these were nice desserts, they're very smooth and creamy and if you like white chocolate you're bound to enjoy them. They were just a little bit too sweet for me though, as well as being too small. That said, I would still buy them again if I wanted a white chocolate fix in dessert form.

Price: £1 for 4 pots at Asda.
Ingredients: Contains gelatine - not suitable for vegetarians!
Allergy information: Contains milk and soya.
Calories: 160 Calories and 6.6g fat per 70g pot.         
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