Nestlé Chunky

Product name: Nestlé Chunky
Purchase details: £1.19 for a 39.6g bar (boldstreetsweets.co.uk)
Calories: 190 per bar
Country of origin: USA 

I’ve been a pretty regular customer of Bold Street Sweets since it opened last year but, last Sunday (partly fuelled by a Juice FM discount voucher!), I decided to place my first online order on their website (see here). I chose the free in-store collection delivery method and, impressively, my items were ready for me the next morning – I can’t praise the service I received highly enough.

One of the items I bought was this Nestlé Chunky which was a product I’d never had before. I thought its packaging was quite old-school and the silver wrapper with thin stripes and red writing seemed in keeping with its American identity since it made me think of baseball uniforms.

Prior to trying this bar, I was expecting it to be the Nestlé equivalent of a Cadbury Dairy Milk: Fruit & nut since it consisted of milk chocolate and raisins. However, instead of almonds, the Chunky contained peanuts.

On opening the chocolate, it was clear to see where it got its name, since it was a thick block of chocolate that greeted me. This was split into four smaller square mounds that were imprinted with the Nestlé logo. Due to the size of the block, I was expecting it to be difficult to snap apart, but this turned out to be easy to do due to the deep ridges between each section.

I was also immediately met with a really sweet scent that also had the unique aroma I specifically associate with American chocolate. In addition to this, there was a faint nut smell.

Pleasingly, the pieces of raisin and peanut were big, and they also provided a decent amount of flavour. When melting, I didn’t find the chocolate to be very flavourful, but the nuts tasted lovely and quite earthy when left behind in the mouth. What was strange about this method, though, was that I didn’t really feel the chocolate melt – it just seemed to disappear!

Unsurprisingly considering the point of this product, it was far more enjoyable to chew the bar, and I found it had a really satisfying texture. The good, solid chocolate combined well with the really crunchy peanuts and the soft, chewy raisins. I also felt that, by chewing, the chocolate became quite creamy in flavour, and the slightly sharp sweetness provided by the raisins also became more prominent.

As far as the chocolate itself was concerned, I felt this did far more for the texture of the product than the taste. Instead, the main flavours seemed to come from the filling. In itself, this wasn’t a problem, but as I neared the end of the bar, I did think it was a little bit too sweet so I would have appreciated a stronger cocoa taste in the mix. 

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.13/10