I don’t know about you, but I’d never heard of Duc d’O. They may be a premium Belgian chocolatier, but their wares haven’t made it as far as my corner of Finchley – until today.
This little box of “Mini d’O” is a perfectly formed box of chocolates in miniature. Measuring around 10cm square, this box contains 9 perfectly formed milk, dark and white chocolates. According to the obligatory menu we have…
Praline Nougat X3, Crisp Chocolate Truffle Cream, Cream and Vanilla Truffle, Crisp Hazelnutpaste, Mocha Praline Truffle X2, Cream and Pistachio Truffle
Reading that list, I have to say I’m a little disappointed. Despite the fact that all the chocolates look different, many of them have very similar fillings… and they’re all ever so slightly… well, bland.
Now don’t get me wrong, these are beautifully made chocolates and they look amazing. I just wish as much thought had been put into the flavours and textures as had gone into the design. There is a little bit of variation in the consistency of the truffle fillings, but not enough to be able to tell one from another with looking at the box.
Taste-wise, it’s very difficult to get a good idea of quality with chocolates this small. Suffice to say it’s not offensive in any way, but it doesn’t stand out either. All the chocolates are sweet and creamy, and the truffle flavours very quickly overwhelm the chocolate ones.
Now I may be being a little over critical here, simply because my hopes were so high when I opened the box. I’d love to see Duc d’O take the concept of a mini box of chocolates but make them taste as exciting and fun as they look. Until then, I’m sure these miniature chocolates would make a very welcome gift for a miniature friend, but I don’t think I’ll be buying them myself.
Raspberry and chocolate is still something of a rare combination here in the UK, so I was rather pleased to have found this bar on sale in a branch of Whittards in London. As regular Chocablog readers will know, I rarely have anything bad to say about Lindt’s products, so the prospect of tasting their milk chocolate and raspberry bar had me rubbing my hands together and smiling to myself as I made my way home.
As you can see, this bar has a liquid filling, which marks it out as a first among the huge range of Lindt bars I have sampled.
If you read my review of the Cote d’Or Dark Raspberry bar, you’ll already know that I rate the pairing of flavours quite highly. Lindt’s choice of liquid filling means that the raspberry flavour hits your mouth a fraction before the chocolate starts to melt, which works really well. It isn’t overly sweet, but definitely sweeter than the Dark Raspberry bar, so it might have a wider appeal than the bittersweet 70% cocoa variant. Personally, I prefer the combination of dark chocolate and raspberry, but that’s just my taste buds for you.
I’m not sure if this is a new addition to the Lindt range. The packaging is certainly unlike any previous Lindt bars I have seen, so I can only hope that this is one of a range and not a limited edition bar that will soon disappear from the shops.
Another Christmas present! This time from Paola.
First things first though. Paola mentioned she bought this bar from Little Green Men, an online chilli store, but also that she had extremely poor customer service from them. As such, I have to recommend you go direct to the maker’s web site – The Chocolate Cellar – if you want to buy one of these.
The first thing you’ll notice about this bar is the very plain packaging. A plain white cardboard box with home-made stickers… and the best before date written in biro. For me, that kind of thing gets my attention much more than fancy packaging. This is obviously handmade, and that usually means it’s either going to be really good or really bad.
So which is it?
Well luckily, we have a winner here.
Aside from the fact that my bar was broken (hardly surprising, given it’s been through the UK postal service at least twice), this is a deliciously warming bar of dark (53.5%) chocolate. Perfect for cold winter nights.
Biting into a chunk, the first flavour to hit you is the rose oil. This is the same stuff that Turkish Delight is flavoured with, and the taste is very reminiscent of a good quality Turkish.
The next flavour that hits you is the smooth, rich dark chocolate. It’s fairly sweet and complements the rose flavour perfectly.
Finally – and only when most of the chocolate has melted away in your mouth – does the chilli start to make itself known. But it’s not a strong kick, just a subtle warmth that builds in your mouth as the chocolate disappears.
In summary, a rather delicious bar with wonderful flavours. I would have no hesitation in recommending this as a first-time chilli chocolate bar. It will leave you feeling warm inside without kicking you to the floor and stamping on you like some “hot” chocolates can.
This is definitely a case of a product that speaks for itself. No fancy packaging or expensive web site. Just delicious chocolate. Perfect.
When those lovely people at Chocolates Direct sent me the Dolfin bars for review, they also included an extra treat in the form of this rather attractive blue box of peppermint creams. I must admit that I haven’t eaten a peppermint cream (barring the occasional After Eight) in a very long time, and the rear of the box (and the enclosed leaflet) made for some fascinating reading.
I had no idea that Chocolate and Mint were first combined by a fashionable London cafe in 1674, nor that English Mint was famous for centuries as the best in the world. Summerdown Farm have reintroduced the traditional Black Mitcham Peppermint, which is farmed and refined in Hampshire. They say that the taste of their mint is ‘mint as your great-grandparents knew it’, all of which added to my desire to taste these choccies.
The dark chocolate shell is 55% cocoa solids, thin and light on the base and sides and slightly thicker on top. The cream filling is pretty much as one would expect, white in colour, sweet and gooey, but the taste of the mint is something rather special. It’s an incredibly smooth taste that increases in intensity as you chew but never becomes harsh or overly warm on the palate. Instead it builds up to a mouth-watering peak and as you finish the sweet you are left a taste of slightly sweetened mint that lingers on the tongue beautifully. In spite of the obvious sugar content of the cream filling, I found these to be rather moreish, and I’d be very interested to see what other minty confections Summerdown have in the pipeline.
I’d recommend these as an excellent, slightly posher alternative to your usual after dinner mints, especially as Summerdown have revived a great English product. I’m all in favour of rediscovering great old tastes and classic foodstuffs, so these will definitely feature in my dinner party menus at some point.
