One of the things I love most about the Internet is that it lets you discover the most interesting people and places that you’d never otherwise know about. And it also lets them discover you.
This week, for instance, I learned all about Mackinac Island. A 3.8 square mile Island in Lake Huron, Michigan. I also learned they have a rather excellent Fudge Shop when they contacted and asked if they could send some samples. I replied saying “Sure, but we’ll only review the ones with chocolate”…
A week later and a rather large, heavy box arrives at my door. Inside the box, two smaller boxes. One with 3 large slices of fudge (review coming soon!), and one with these 4 truffles.
As you can see, they look rather good. They’re all different but all chocolatey. And I’m not sure this picture conveys how big these are, but unless you have a very large mouth, there’s no way you’ll eat one of these in a single mouthful. However much you might want to.
These truffles are all very soft, very smooth, moist, sticky and utterly delicious. They’re like the soft centres from expensive chocolates without the chocolate shell. Instead, each one has been gently rolled in cocoa powder or coconut. Despite this, they are still quite messy, but a lot of fun to eat. I don’t think it’s possible to eat them without getting a sticky face, sticky fingers or sticky everything.
These four truffles lasted me about a day, and were all delicious. I’d be tempted to buy some more if it wasn’t for the ever increasing stockpile of chocolate in my house waiting for review. It’s a hard life.
Purchased at the same time as the Raspberry Bar (and refrigerated for safekeeping), this was one I was definitely looking forward to sampling, as I do rather enjoy the old pistachio nuts.
Lindt’s Pistachio Bar is made with milk chocolate like the previously reviewed Raspberry and Cherry bars, and has the same physical characteristics. A flat base with ‘blisters’ of chocolate concealing whatever filling happens to be contained within. In this case what was contained within was a single whole roasted pistachio nut in a fondant cream.
The milk chocolate has been covered in previous reviews, so I won’t go into too much detail about it. It’s creamy, milky, with good cocoa flavours and it isn’t overly sweet. In short it’s the sort of high quality product you’d associate with the Lindt name.
No, what concerns us (or rather, what concerned me) was the filling. The fact I like pistachios made this bar an odds-on favourite for a good review anyway, but the fondant cream that surrounded the nut sealed the deal for me.
The nuts are perfectly preserved – still crisp and full of flavour – and the fondant cream is amazingly smooth and melts away like a spring mist, filling your mouth with a creamy, slightly sweet nutty flavour which combines beautifully with the milk chocolate. My personal preference is to save the nut for last, letting the sweet stuff melt away before attacking the pistachio on its own. As previously mentioned, the nuts are always crisp and fresh tasting, as one would expect from a premium brand.
Of course being milk chocolate and having this fondant filling means that Lindt Pistachio does tend to be on the slightly sweet side, but that’s hardly cause for concern. This is a great addition to the already massive Lindt range, and well worth seeking out.
We’ve mentioned many times before just how important packaging is. Whether simple or extravagant, it can make or break a product.
Hotel Chocolat have always been experts at packaging, and this is no exception. In fact, the packaging for the product is so good, this review is going to be a little different… it’s mainly photos…
You can see the full sized photos over on our Facebook gallery.
Impressive, isn’t it? It’s risqué, yet elegant and beautifully produced. And I’m happy to say the chocolate is just as good as it looks. The four “Beginner”, “Curious”, “Daring” and “Hardcore” packages each contain two slabs of increasingly dark chocolate. Ranging from white & fruity to 85% Ghanian chocolate in the “Hardcore” package.
The “Mouth” box contains some utterly divine Champagne truffles (deliciously soft and smooth without being overly alcoholic), and the “Eyes” box contains… a blindfold! How wonderfully bizarre!
It’s this kind of sense of humour, adventure and quality that make Hotel Chocolat stand apart consistently. The chocolate is, as you’d expect, fantastic. But it’s the experience of opening the box that really makes this special. So if you love someone who loves chocolate, head on over to the Hotel Chocolat shop and get some of these delivered in time for Valentine’s Day.
I absolutely guarantee that you will not regret it.
You may recall that last week I reviewed Montezuma’s Sweet Paprika & Strawberry Milk Chocolate, and wasn’t overly impressed with it. I found it decidedly bland, but dressed up as something more interesting. So how does that bar’s darker, orangier cousin stand up?
The first thing I want to mention is the packaging. As you can see, it looks pretty much the same as the Strawberry and Paprika bar, and has a similar inane rant on the back of the box:
Aside from the fact that it simply doesn’t make sense (giving up chocolate for lent is easy in a chocolate factory?), I don’t find hearing about the disgusting mess that ‘Claire’ keeps under her Mac particularly conducive to me enjoying a nice bar of chocolate. If it were funny, then it might be acceptable, but it’s not. It’s just the kind of pointless, unfunny story that drunk people share at the office party.
The couple of paragraphs that actually mention the chocolate don’t do so in an informative – or even seductive – way either. It reads like it’s been written by a marketing student who has been taught to use every cliché in the book. Then there’s the line:
“There is little we can say to help the uninitiated with some of the unique and some may say, challenging combinations.”
..which, roughly translated means “If you don’t like this, it’s not our fault. You’re just uneducated and not good enough to appreciate it.”. Yeah, right.
By the time I actually opened the box, I simply wasn’t interested any more. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m overly critical. But it can’t be a good sign.
Upon opening the plastic wrapper (yeah, plastic packaging on “organic” chocolate!), you are greeted with the rather pleasant aroma of orange oil. Maybe things are looking up.
Unfortunately, all hope is lost when you bite into a chunk. The distinctive and unique flavours of Bournville (overly sweet, decidedly average dark chocolate) and dish water fill your mouth. Ack. Granted, it’s a subtle dish water taste with a hint of orange and a slightly flowery aftertaste, but flowery dish water is still dish water.
I don’t know what it is about Montezuma’s. Maybe it’s the quality of the ingredients. Maybe they’re just really bad at making chocolate. But I’ve not been even remotely impressed by either of the bars I’ve tried so far, and I won’t be seeking them out again.
