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Coeur de Caramel au Beurre Demi-Sel & Coeur de Nougat

How interesting to find Kath singing the praises of a Nestlé bar the day I decide to review these two offerings from France (bought in Spain, as it happens).

Nestlé’s “Coeur De” range is not, to the best of my knowledge, available in the UK, so I was interested to see how it would measure up to other, more recent (and distinctly more posh) milk chocolates. Both of these bars use the same milk chocolate, and I was somewhat surprised to find that the cocoa content wasn’t listed on the packaging. Not a great start, as far as I’m concerned.

Couer De Caramel (au beurre demi-sel) had a layer of crunchy caramel surrounded by milk chocolate. Well, I say surrounded, but once I tried to break the bar into squares it became very apparent that the alliance between chocolate and filling was an uneasy one. The chocolate couldn’t wait to get away from the Daim-like layer of caramel – possibly due to the fact that this type of caramel has a slightly oily sheen, but also equally possibly because the milk chocolate is of such low quality.

It’s waxy, not very creamy, unpleasant in the mouth, and delivers very little flavour.

The caramel part of the bar is perfectly acceptable (if a little on the sweet side), but I’m afraid Nestlé haven’t built a reputation for making caramel, and this bar is not going to do them any favours in the face of such huge competition these days.

Having disliked the first bar so much, I have to admit that the prospect of Couer De Nougat didn’t thrill me. Same cheap, nasty milk chocolate but with a thin layer of chewy nougat to repel the chocolate, and boy, was it chewy! My initial attempt to break the bar along the lines given proved fruitless. At one point I considered resorting to a pair of scissors to divide this one up properly! Again, the filling is perfectly acceptable but very sweet, and the chocolate is completely forgettable.

How on earth Nestlé think they can get away with punting this sort of dreadful old rubbish out when all over the world people are waking up to the huge range of complex flavours and taste possibilities that good quality chocolate offers is beyond me. I don’t remember exactly how much I paid for these bars, but I know it was too much.

The milk chocolate used in these bars epitomises everything that’s wrong with mass produced, ‘industrial’ chocolate. Putting it into a well-designed box which hints at a luxurious taste experience just won’t cut it any more, Nestlé people. I’m sure you have the wherewithall to produce some half decent (or even excellent) chocolates, so why have you even bothered to begin inflicting this sort of nonsense on your customers?

Avoid.

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