What to say… what to say…
When Nestlé’s PR send you a box of 36 Milkybars, it’s only polite to say something.
Apparently, these are new, improved “adult” Milkybars, with added raisin and biscuit – and that makes them suitable for grown-ups. I can only think that Nestlé are short of ideas, because this is exactly what they did to Yorkie Bars a couple of years ago, and I can tell you now the bar I ate didn’t make me grow up at all.
The ingredients helpfully explain that the milk comes from whole cows (maybe I’m reading that wrong…), the cocoa butter comes from cocoa beans (shocking!) and the added vegetable fat comes from “tropical plants”. Yes, that means palm oil.
Ethical issues aside, I suppose I should mention the taste at some point. It’s ultra sweet and bland, like any Milkybar. But the addition of raisins and biscuit pieces does actually help. The raisins don’t taste of much, but the do cut through the sweetness slightly, and the added texture does make the bar more palatable.
It’s not really offensive, but it’s cheap confectionery. Any amount of added fruit and biscuit aren’t going to change the fact that it’s really aimed squarely at kids.
I was going to leave my review at that, but upon trying another chunk, I encountered a hard, inedible stalk (presumably attached to a raisin) that I could only spit out. I don’t know what that says about Nestlé quality control, but if I’d actually paid for this bar, I’d probably have taken it back to the shop and asked for a refund.
So there you have it. It’s sweet, contains nasty, environment destroying palm oil, and in the case of the bar I tried, was partially inedible. But aside from that, it’s just lovely.
To be completely honest, I’m glad I don’t live in Toronto for a few reasons, but the one that is jumping to mind has to do with Soma Chocolatemaker. If I did live there, I’d be down there at every opportunity, nose pressed up against the window like a scene out of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory before finally going in, hoping that my credit card didn’t get declined. Basically, it wouldn’t be pretty. Plus this way, every time someone visits me from T.O. (short for Toronto, Ontario for the non-Canadians), I get to look forward to an occasional Soma goodie bag instead which is a much more acceptable form of chocolate-related madness.
This latest one brought a bar of their incredible Dark Fire (which was reviewed as part of the Soma Exploration Box ) which meant I could finally eat the one I’ve been keeping in reserve so that I always have some available when I need it, and also a strange looking bar called Old School.
I actually thought they had started baking brownies when I saw it because it has that same cracked top to the bar. But it turns out that Old School is made of partially ground cocoa nibs and crystals of organic cane sugar and nothing else, then pressed together into a very unusual bar of chocolate. It sometimes tastes a little sweeter than its 66% would suggest, probably because of the sugar crystals that give it a surprising amount of crunch. The larger bits of cocoa nibs add to that texture too, making this a bar that isn’t going to melt away by itself – it needs a little bit of chewing to help it along. It is also a wonderfully messy bar that leaves little pieces behind with every bite.
When it comes down to it, Old School is more an interesting experience than anything else. The nibs bring a bitterness that isn’t always balanced out by the sugar, and while the flavour of the Mexican beans might be authentic in the way that the name of the bar hints at, there are plenty of better tasting bars around. Anyone who really, really likes cocoa nibs might enjoy the rawness of this but it isn’t the finest that Soma has to offer.
Some years ago, long before I started writing for Chocablog, I discovered Australian Homemade chocolates in a store in Amsterdam, of all places. I remembered them as being very pretty to look at (they were the first chocolates I’d seen with the pretty printed patterns). I also remembered them as being quite delicious. With this in mind, I picked up a (rather plain-looking) box of nine beautiful “dreamers”, concentrating on the white chocolate with a few forays into milk and dark.
So here’s what’s inside the box:
White chocolate with milk chocolate nutty filling – Both creamy and crunchy and very strongly nutty. Quite sweet, as you’d expect from a white chocolate.
White chocolate with soft chocolate caramel filling – soft, creamy and sweet. I could taste the chocolate more than the caramel but it was a very pleasant combination
White with coconut orange – Very light and fluffy inside. Zesty with a distinct but delicate coconut edge and noticeable small orange chunks inside.
Milk chocolate with almonds, nuts and chocolate – tasted like very delicate marzipan inside. Blended well with the chocolate and was quite rich.
Milk chocolate with almond filling – tasted quite similar to the other almond milk chocolate. Felt more condensed than the other ones.
Milk chocolate with almonds – again very similar to the other almond offerings. I wasn’t quite sure what the difference is, but it was an enjoyable chocolate anyway.
White chocolate with nuts – again very similar to the nutty offerings. See above.
Dark chocolate with mixed nuts – most satisfyingly crunchy, rich and strong. Quite sweet for dark chocolate.
White chocolate with almonds – boozy, sweet and delicate. Possibly my favourite, along with the coconut orange one.
All in all, this is a great selection of chocolates and I am now curious to taste their other milk and dark chocolate offerings. It’s a shame you can’t seem to be able to get them in this country!
This is the third and final bar I received from The Chocolate Cafe a while back. It’s a simple dark chocolate flavoured with mint. As with the other bars, it’s presented in a simple but elegant paper wrapper, that really is quite attractive.
As you can see, the bar itself looks quite nice too.
This is a 70% dark chocolate of unstated origin. But it has a glossy finish and a nice snap. There is a subtle aroma of mint, but it’s not too strong.
Unfortunately when it comes to flavour, the mint does overpower the chocolate. The bar is flavoured with real mint oil, so it’s not a bad taste, it just doesn’t go with the chocolate. There’s no real depth of flavour, and what you get ends up tasting like a very average after dinner mint.
I also found my bar had a lot of (what I assume to be) undisolved sugar crystals scattered through the bar. About half the chunks in the bar had a ‘crunch’ to them, because of this. I’m sure this wasn’t deliberate, as it’s a little disconcerting to come across unannounced solid crystals in an otherwise very smooth chocolate.
The Chocolate Cafe do an unflavoured 70% dark chocolate, which I presume is the same chocolate without the mint oil. I’d be quite interested to try that, because the chocolate does have a nice feel to it. But I’m not convinced it should be paired with mint.
