Guylian Artisanal Belgian Chocolates: La perlina (milk truffles)

Product name: Guylian Artisanal Belgian Chocolates: La perlina (milk truffles)
Purchase details: £1.00 for a 66g box of eight truffles (Poundland)
Calories: 53 per truffle (424 per box)
Country of origin: Belgium

I’d never had these ‘Belgian milk chocolate truffles’ before but, since they were made by Guylian, I wanted to give them a go.

The white and gold box tied in nicely with the branding of the seashells products and there was also a brief history of the company on the inside cover which taught me something new – it was named after the founders, Guy and Liliane...clever!

Despite being ‘premium chocolates’, their cylindrical appearance made them look quite standard. Decorated with simple lines, the chocolate shells contained a ‘smooth truffle filling’ that looked a bit like a mousse and made up 55% of the product. Free Translation told me that ‘perlina’ means ‘bead’ but I couldn’t quite see the connection!

The milk chocolate contained a minimum of 31% cocoa solids and 23% milk solids and was quite slippery to the touch. Up close, it did smell simply of chocolate, but this wasn’t detectable from a distance.

The product description of ‘a delectably smooth milk chocolate filling’ that had been ‘enrobed within the finest Belgian milk chocolate for an exquisite taste sensation’ suggested that it was the truffle itself that was the star of the show. These centres were really smooth and moist and melted in a way that was not dissimilar to Lindor, although they were more solidified, despite appearances.

The main flavour was cocoa and there was a slight bitterness mixed in with creamier elements of the product. If I’m honest, whilst very rich, I didn’t think the truffles had the best taste in the world. The centres were very nice, if a bit plain, but there was something about the chocolate shells that, initially, didn’t quite seem to match up to their contents. However, the taste did quickly become addictive, and the chocolatey buckets were by no means unpleasant.

The downside of the shape was that the chocolates weren’t great for melting as they were a bit too tall to comfortably suck on. However, doing so did seem to improve the cocoa’s flavour before reaching the filling.

There was certainly nothing wrong with these Guylian Artisanal Belgian Chocolates: La perlina (milk chocolate) but there wasn’t really anything about them that stood out as special either. They may not have matched up to my enjoyment of the Original praliné bar but they were still a substantial treat. I hadn’t thought eight in a box sounded like many but they turned out to be more than enough!

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