Isis, the premium range from Italo-Suisse, is virtually unknown Down Under. They only rang a bell in my brain because they are made by the same folk in Belgium that make the Coles Supermarkets range of chocolate blocks. I’m still scratching my head though – why does the box proudly have ‘BELGIAN CHOCOLATES’ on them when they’re owned by an Italian and Swiss conglomerate? Economics, global trade and corporate takeovers are beyond my comprehension, but the Isis website does say that the Queen of Belgium and Porsche like them, so they must be good. Apparently their other brand, the dodgily named ‘Tonkeys’ are for younger consumers (maybe they’re endorsed by Peter Andre and Skoda).
Sadly for Isis, the thin white cardboard box doesn’t stand out on the top of the supermarket shelf, which is probably why I’ve seen them slashed to half price at Coles and K-Mart. They just don’t look luxurious enough. As with global economics, I’m no marketing expert, but I suspect that darker, glossier colours and thicker packaging is likely to evoke a classier product than this uninspiring one. However, you can’t judge a choc by its wrapping, so I soldiered on….
And boy am I glad I did. These are lovely. Two layers with eight chocolates in each; and I struggled to keep Love Chunks and Sapphire away from them until I had my ‘official tasting’. None of us are white chocolate fanatics, but the two types here – white shells, milk chocolate bottoms and a fluffy orange liqueur filling and a cappuccino-like coffee centre were indeed luxurious and well crafted.
The dark chocolates made up three out of the eight kinds, and at 59% minimum cocoa solids, I was impressed. Plus, they smelled divine. One of the finest things in life is when you open a box of chocolates and the delightful smell of good quality dark chocolate assails you. Once again, these were lovely lovely lovely. The ‘Royal’ achieved my dream of pairing great dark chocolate with top notch flowing caramel; the Napoli cherry in kirsch was perfectly sweet and bitey and – according to Love Chunks and Sapphire who ate both of them – the Cuba, with a rum and bitter hazelnut cream centre – had them both rolling their eyes and gesturing wildly in what I interpreted as ecstasy.
Middle of the choco-range and middling in terms of taste; the three milk chocolates were not up to the standards set by the whites and the darks in this box. All of them had hazelnut of some kind—chopped, praline or cream which was merely OK. Not exciting, not different and not done in any way that makes them stand out as being above the norm. Perhaps Isis should just have one hazelnut centre and do something different with the other two milk chocolate shells and three duds out of eight lets the side down somewhat.
Despite that, I’m off to see if there are any more left at half price…
The English language is a wonderful thing, especially when manipulated by non-native speakers (witness the hilarious engrish.com if you need to know more). Whilst in Germany some time ago (these have been languishing in a compartment of my fridge for a good while, unnoticed among the jars of anchovies and pesto) I spotted these and had to buy them on name alone. The packaging was another reason I wanted them – a slim silver tin with a neat little sliding mechanism.
When I read the contents list I half wondered whether the ‘Fits’ element referred to the caffeine and guarana mixture that lay beneath the chocolatey exterior. Surely they couldn’t be THAT stimulating?
A 55.5% chocolate shell will at least ensure huge sales in China (and I wonder if that was deliberate?) and it’s a slightly bitter dark chocolate which very quickly gives way to the coffee (nay, espresso) flavoured hazelnut brittle interior. The interior is buttery, crispy and reminded me of the nutty bits in a Daim ball. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that these resembled tiny, coffee flavoured Daim balls. But German. And likely to induce nervous tics or hyperactivity in the caffeine sensitive.
I found them quite tasty myself, and the fact they’re so small makes it all to easy to monster up half a tin just by sitting at one’s keyboard composing a review.
Excuse me, I think I need to go and do something vigorous.
At £3.60 for an 80g bar, this is probably one of the more expensive bars I’ve purchased recently, but as with the Cocoa Tree Ginger bar which I bought at the same time, I was particularly attracted to the packaging. Yes I know, shame on me.
In this case, the chocolate comes in a bright pink, red and gold box with a design that looks a little like an oriental rug, but Prestat is very, very British. It says so several times on the box.
The chocolate inside is equally pretty. It’s dark, not too shiny and proudly proclaims its name in the middle. Unfortunately, those chunks aren’t very deeply defined, so it’s difficult to snap off a small chunk without taking half the bar… so I guess that means I’ll have to eat half the bar. It’s a hard life.
The box describes it as “intensely dark” and that comes across in both the aroma and the taste. In fact, the chocolate tastes significantly darker than the 63% cocoa solids it claims to be. It’s actually a little too strong for my liking – a little too bitter, but without the range of flavours of better chocolates. I kept waiting for the sweetness or fruitiness to kick in, but it never came. Instead I was just left with that slightly bitter aftertaste that put me off dark chocolate as a child.
This is obviously a well made, quality bar, and the packaging helpfully informs me that Prestat is
“enjoyed by royalty and nobility, stars of the screen and stage and, even, by cardinals, bishops, abbots and nuns for over 100 years”.
– a statement which I find a little bizarre. Quite apart from the fact that they seem to have difficulty constructing a sentence without inserting a comma between every other word, why is this relevant?
Perhaps the next version of the packaging will just have a big sticker saying “As Recommended By God” on the front.
I won’t be buying this again, not because it’s bad chocolate, but because of the “we’re a little bit better than you” attitude that emanates from it. There are plenty of better quality, better value and less pretentious chocolates out there and I recommend spending your money on those.
My eye caught this box at World Market, which sells, well, world furniture, trinkets, and food.
They’ve also turned out to be one of the best places to buy chocolate in Arizona. At first, I thought this was just a pretty box, so I was more than delighted to find that it had chocolate inside.
At home, I found the “Spring” label. Just how long had it been sitting on the shelf, anyway? But no matter: this San Francisco chocolate looks beautiful and boasts quality ingredients, including fresh cream.
There are twelve truffles, wrapped in a light purple. The label says that they’re hand-decorated, and they do stand the appearance test. They have a slightly alcholic smell, but this is only from the truffle filling. They’re smooth, rich, only slightly sweet, and very addictive. I was kind enough this time to share, and each very different palate was satisfied. I almost regretted this moment of kindess: my box disappeared instantly.
Ten dollars for a dozen of these beauties, plus a handmade box. A great value. From “Card Box” it was meant as something you can give as a present. I can’t imagine receiving a more welcome package that will appeal to more people.
