Klik Kariot-Pillows

Product name: Klik Kariot-Pillows
Purchase details: £1.60 for a 75g bag (Tesco Superstore)
Calories: 504 per 100g (378 per bag)
Country of origin: Israel 

One of my first ever reviews was of Klik Cornflakes and, today, I thought I’d revisit the brand with Klik Kariot-Pillows which I, again, picked up from the ‘Foods of the World’ section’.

These ‘nougat filled crunchy cereals coated with milk chocolate’ came in a similarly designed bag but, in this case, it was blue rather than green. From previous experience, I knew that this ‘nougat’ was likely to be a kind of praline, and with the images on the bag depicting square chocolate-covered cereals containing a gooey chocolate filling, I was expecting this product to be a bit like Krave with an added chocolate coating.

Made by Unilver Israel, the bag had been ‘imported and distributed by’ Empire Foodbrokers Ltd, and its contents consisted of 50% cereal which contained hazelnuts. The chocolate contained a minimum of 20% milk solids and 29% cocoa solids, and had the same kind of smooth and waxy feel as the Klik Cornflakes. Outwardly, these slightly dimpled pieces looked very similar to the product image, but inside was a whole other matter. Instead of being a light shade of brown, the cereal looked more of a cocoa colour, and there was no moist filling. Assuming I’d picked up a dud, I cut into a second piece and found that, this too, just had a cavity as if there should have been a nut present. This second one did have a very slight chocolatey lining that the first didn’t have, but it certainly wasn’t the gooey chocolate that the bag had suggested. I had noticed that the Pillows felt light and hollow so this seemed to be why!

The cereals had a slight chocolate smell from the coating and this chocolate tasted sweet and milky. As with the Cornflakes, it had a smooth feel to it, but it didn’t really melt and, when tasted on its own, I felt it was a bit like Advent calendar chocolate in quality. However, when enjoyed with the rest of the components, it was very enjoyable.

The crunchy cereals were a bit like Maltesers in texture – crunchy with a slightly sticky resistance. Unlike Maltesers, though, they had a slight hazelnut flavour which was similar to mainstream pillow cereals, and this nuttiness went well with the chocolate.

I can’t pretend I wasn’t disappointed by the lack of an interesting filling. My bag was a couple of months away from its ‘use by’ date so I can’t think of a reason why this would have just disappeared. It may be, then, that these were exactly as intended, and that the illustration was simply very misleading. I certainly wouldn’t have felt disappointed by the experience if it hadn’t been for the promise of ‘nougat’! Therefore, brushing that aside, this was a tasty and different snack and I felt that there were a lot in the bag for the amount of calories it contained. 

Appearance: 7/10 
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.25/10