David Jones Handmade Assortment
David Jones is perhaps the poshest of Australia’s department stores, with their food hall nearly as legendary as Harrods’. Brushing aside their specialist butcher, baker, cake selections, delicatessen, greens, sushi and salads are, naturally, their chocolates.
I’ll save their truffles for another less hot and melty day because this time DJs sleekly innocuous gold boxes grabbed my attention. Not because they’re particularly enticing, but because it seemed like a better way to take home chocolates packed snugly rather than rattling around in a paper bag rapidly getting squashed and drippy in my backpack.
The blurb on the back of box emphasises that the white chocolate contains 16% minimum cocoa solids; the milk chocolate has 29% and dear old dark has at least 59%. It was also nice to read that the box is made of break-downable, ‘earth-friendly materials’ and that even the plastic tray inside is made of vege matter that dissolve quickly. So quickly, in fact, that there were huge holes appearing within an hour of us opening up the box.
Look at them – aren’t they lovely with their coloured-chocolate paint
Predictably, my husband Love Chunks and daughter Sapphire chose the moment of opening to stubbornly hang around, insisting on trying their share. Batting them away I managed to try the mint first (the one with the green leaf) which was a pleasant truffle inside but could have been a bit stronger in order to cut through the chocolate. The strawberry chocolate was sensational and it was easy to taste the real fruit inside. The nut-nougat crème (the one with the white swirl) was also very, very nice.
Having had my first three selections as dark ones, the fourth was the milk chocolate coffee-walnut. This was also particularly good and made me note that it would be worth finding out if David Jones do this in dark chocolate as well.
Love Chunks gave top marks to the dark rum-n-raisin and the milk caramel (white top). The orange-topped one was a milk orange chocolate that didn’t seem to create an enormous amount of ecstasy but he was pretty impressed with the milk hazelnut. Sapphire loved the dark cherry which was like an upmarket version of Cadbury’s Cherry Ripe inside but she was so-so about the mini coconut rough. None of us knew why DJ’s had to include a boring plain white disc in the box when they have so many other flavours to choose from and Love Chunks could not even work out what flavour the rectangle milk-chocolate was supposed to be.
So, a bit of a mixed bag of different flavours – and success rates – to try, but we did find some some real winners in there (strawberry, rum-n-raisin, nougat and cherry) that we’d like to buy more of individually.
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OMG, they look so gorgeous! Wish I could get those in the UK. Oh well, I’ll need to stick to my Hotel Chocolat stuff for now (which is not bad at all). And maybe one day, when I’m in Australia…
(BTW, it’s just turned out I have some family there, so you never know ;))
Maggie, just hint very loudly that some DJs chocolates would be nice – especially when they come over to visit. Of course, that’ll mean that you’ll have to repay the favour with Hotel Chocolat treats for them, but then if you’re family, hopefully there’ll be sharing….
I haunt my local DJ’s chocolate section quite a bit but have never seen these? Are they actually at the counter with all of the handmade ones and not on the shelves?
Christine they’re not at the counter with the gorgeous home made truffles (they’ll be another review – or seven – entirely) but with the other boxes of chocolates, including other brands.
The shop assistant who sold them to me said that a lot of people buy the boxed version because it looks nicer than having a few dented truffles rolling around in a paper bag and they are easier to give as gifts. I agree with both of those statements and think the plain gold box is rather elegant. Now if I can just convince them to fill it with the strawberry centres…..
I also wish that sometimes it would be possible to buy a box full of just one favourite flavour. I can do this at Haighs or Swiss Glory, but a box of Cadbury Roses, for instance, has to be taken as is. There’s no chance of getting a box of the strawberry creams, or the lovely new flavour in the mix, lemon cheesecake.