This box, perhaps a more traditional offering for Valentines Day than a giant heart, comes from Galler.
La Boite Ronde (The Round Box) is home to a wide variety of shapes and flavours, with a menu covering over forty items, a possible content of thirty two, and the likelihood that you may also get something that isn’t on the menu, as I seemed to have. Mystery items aside, first impressions are good. Galler’s trademark burnt orange looks good, and the choice of a lightly corrugated feeling card for the box gives it a good texture. The double ribbon is a neat touch as well. The box also has a weighty feel to it. There are 330g of chocolates in there, and it feels like it.
There’s something mildly eccentric about the fact that the chocolates vary in size as well as shape, and I found it quite pleasing to the eye. The non-uniformity of presentation was strangely appealing, with the chocolates seemingly randomly distributed through the two layers. Some of the size differences were interesting as well. The smallest of the white chocolates was positively dwarfed by the biggest milk and dark chocolate squares, making sharing an even more difficult business, I suppose.
There’s certainly something to suit every chocolate lover, from rich, nutty pralines to smooth, gooey caramels, a smattering of floral flavours, a coffee ganache, or a dark, bittersweet marzipan treat. Standouts are the caramels and the Florales (naturally) but the whole collection is classic Belgian chocolate. There are a couple of ‘repeat’ flavours but in the main you tend to get one of almost anything, making this a rather interesting gift (and a real pain when it comes to sharing, because you tend to want to try everything for yourself).
These chocolates are very much as you would expect – very well made Belgian classics. They’re a fairly safe bet in that there aren’t any challenging flavours. No chilli, curry, tree by products or anything remotely ‘odd’ at all. Every one a tried and trusted favourite (unless you’ve never tried a rose, jasmine, or orange cream), and very one a prime example of it’s type. I thought the inclusion of three of the Florales might be considered a bit much – after all, there are four ranges in the ‘Elements’ set – but there again, if the Florales are the most popular with female customers, why not include three of them here? I suppose we could argue that one forever.
At over twenty five pounds, this isn’t a cheap gift, but it’s decidedly elegant; the chocolate equivalent of a hand finished Valentines Card methinks, and definitely something to consider for the more sophisticated recipient of your affections.
I must not be a Valentine’s Day person; I very nearly didn’t get to any chocolates for the holiday this year. Then when I finally pick something up, it is nothing comparable to the all-out Hotel Chocolat offerings that have been gracing the site.
Not that I believe I could have found anything to compare had I tried. What I did find looks like a Terry’s Chocolate Orange, but sounds like Ferrero Rocher. On the contrary, however, it is a milk chocolate strawberry ball, not orange, and the name is Ferrara, with an “a” not an “o.” How fortunate, since I’m not keen on orange chocolates, to find an orange shape without the orange. Ferrara also makes dark chocolate, toffee crunch, and of course, milk chocolate orange balls, along with chocolate-covered oranges and imported Belgian chocolate bars.
The pink and gold box didn’t promise me much, but I had a change of heart on pulling out the chocolate sphere. Wrapped in shiny red foil, it looks as tempting as Snow White’s apple. Ferrara tells you to “burst, then enjoy,” but like Terry’s, the pieces don’t come apart with ease. I gave up after a few whacks, not wanting the neighbors to think I was mad, and still only found less than half of the pieces broken off. A coaxing knife of fingernail breaks the rest off. Still, I’d hardly think banging chocolate on the counter is romantic.
After opening up the orange/ball/apple, I had it sitting at my desk for a while, through which I found that it has a very appealing aroma. Not all fresh strawberries, but not too artificial, either. The pieces all have one of ten prints on them, like a rose, cupid, and an “Only You” heart. Not the most classy-looking designs, but they are details. Going along with my “better than I’d expected” comments, is the taste. Same strawberry set with milk chocolate, which I’d put a bit above average. You do need some sort of a sweet tooth, but the effect isn’t sickly-sweet. Instead, it’s a yummy treat.
This isn’t the sort of Valentine’s gift to make a statement, yet it has enough of a market. Maybe in a group of presents, for someone who wouldn’t want to be tempted by too much chocolate, or for a younger couple. I’m certainly glad it found its way to me.
Another pick from our seemingly endless supply of Butlers bars here. We don’t often do white chocolate, but the picture on the wrapper of this one got my attention. It looked like there was a decent amount of fruit packed into it, so I though I’d risk the sugar overload and give it a go.
Open the wrapper and you’re immediately greeted by the aroma of fruit. Lots of fruit. Strawberries, primarily, but this bar also contains blackberries, blueberries, raspberries and lingonberries… yeah, I had to look that one up as well.
The fruit takes the form of tiny freeze dried pieces embedded through the bar. Lots and lots of them. And all that fruit certainly gives this bar something unique because the overwhelming flavour is that of strawberry milkshake. A really good strawberry milkshake at that.
The white chocolate is sweet of course, but not too sweet, and the fruit is the dominant flavour. Those tiny pieces become more intense as they melt in the mouth which just make the whole thing extremely moreish.
But those tiny fruit pieces are also give the bar an interesting crunchy texture. Just occasionally though, there’s a little piece that’s too hard, which is really the only thing that spoils this bar. Feeling like you’ve broken a tooth on a strawberry isn’t much fun.
That aside, this is one of the nicest white chocolates I’ve had in a long time – a fact that has more to do with the fruit and the chocolate.
Another heart-shaped Hotel Chocolat product for Valentines, and this time it’s a 70% cocoa dark chocolate creation studded with fruit and nuts.
Before we continue with this, I feel I ought to pout this particular item into perspective.
Yes, it’s THAT big. Like Dom’s milk chocolate, strawberry and puffed rice creation, this weighs in at a slightly over-the-top 650g. That’s an awful lot of chocolate.
It reminded me of an occasion in my youith when my girlfriend at the time told me she ‘only wanted a card’ for her birthday, so I went out and bought one of those oversized, metre-square greetings cards/ It’s larger than life, ridiculously over the top, and possibly more than one person should be given.
As you can see (using the new Chocablog 20p piece standard measurement), it’s a fairly hefty slab of dark fruit and nut chocolate. Hotel Chocolat’s 70% cocoa house blend, combined with Raisins, hazelnuts, pecan and cherries, or should I say ‘The thrilling crunch of hazelnuts and pecans, as well as the succulence of raisins and the thrill of cherry pieces.’ Hmm – I’m not sure I’ve ever been thrilled by fruit and nuts, and isn’t the use of ‘thrill’ and ‘thrilling’ in the same sentence a little lazy?
This lacks the intricacy of the Fruity Affair heart, and the black and red packaging and no-nonsense seal suggest that this is possibly aimed at the male recipient. None of your girly pink chocolate here, oh no.
As for the chocolate itself, well it’s a very well made, absolutely enormous bar of posh fruit and nut. You’ll either love it, or you won’t. The chocolate is (as one might expect) excellent, and the nuts are crisp and full of flavour, The cherries add a little zing and chewiness to the overall taste experience, making it probably one of the best fruit and nut combinations I’ve had in a long time. The packaging is luxurious, with rich, deep colours and a very subtle rose motif that shouldn’t offend the more macho among us. It also has a decent shelf life, meaning that it will; probably keep you going until Easter. At almost £30 it is something of a grand gesture, but I reckon it’s better value than a fistful of roses, and will certainly provide more pleasure.
