CFR Bitez: Assorted sticks

Product name: CFR Bitez: Assorted sticks
Purchase details: £1.00 for a 70g box or two for £1.00 (Poundworld)
Calories: 21 per 4.5g biscuit
Country of origin: Europe

When I spotted these CFR Bitez: Assorted sticks, I knew immediately that they were Mikado-inspired, and I just had try them. The three different colours of biscuit sticks, combined with the splash of milk, caught my eye in-store, and it was the ‘breadstick with strawberry flavoured coating’ that I particularly wanted to sample.

These ‘crispy biscuit snacks, smothered in a variety of delicious coatings’ were nearly twice as many calories as Lu Glico: Mikado (milk chocolate), but each one also weighed almost twice as much. To be perfectly honest, I was a bit dubious about whether each piece would feel substantial enough to warrant the extra calories, but they were most definitely longer and thicker.

As well as the strawberry variety, the sticks came coated in ‘chocolate flavour’ and ‘white chocolate’. Strangely, the ratio of biscuit to coating differed with each one – the milk chocolate contained 43% breadstick, the white chocolate had 46%, and the strawberry had even more: 48%. Unfortunately, all three varieties also contained an awful lot of vegetable fat, but this varied too – 36% for standard chocolate, 40.5% for white chocolate, and a smaller 35% for strawberry.

Before opening, it hadn’t occurred to me that the flavour combination would result in a Neapolitan-style appearance, but the pink one still looked the most exciting to me! It was also the only type which had any kind of individual scent, reminding me of pink wafer biscuits. When all the flavours combined, though, they had the general, sweet scent of the inside of a biscuit tin...I guess that was to be expected.

The chocolate flavoured biscuit contained 19% skimmed milk powder and also contained cocoa powder to provide the chocolatey taste. I was actually able to try this variety immediately after a milk chocolate Mikado and, I must say, it tasted very different. It had a very sweet and fake chocolate taste and there was no doubting that it was the lower quality product. It did have a thick and crispy texture but the use of the term ‘breadstick’ suddenly became clear as it certainly had a different feel to other biscuit sticks – there was a slight chew at the end of each mouthful which was a bit unusual for this style of product. In fact, they reminded me of matzo crackers.

As a big fan of white chocolate, I’d been really pleased that this variety was also included in the pack. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a white chocolate Mikado to compare it to, this time, but I didn’t need this to know that, once again, the Bitez were an inferior product. I couldn’t get a sense of white chocolate from the flavour at all. Instead, it was just really sweet with a stale biscuit kind of taste, although the crispy/chewy texture remained – at least they weren’t soft!

Thankfully, the biscuits that contained both natural strawberry powder and flavourings, saved the day. These ones actually did have a white chocolate element to them but, most of all, they had a strong strawberry milkshake flavour. They were really nice (more creamy than sweet) and I would happily buy a box that only contained this variety in future. (I did see Poundworld were selling boxes of the chocolate flavoured sticks on their own but that was all!)

The box that these CFR Bitez: Assorted came in claimed that the product was ‘truly delicious!’. Unfortunately, I didn’t find this to be the case. The two chocolate varieties tasted cheap (which they were, to be fair!) and not-so-cheerful. On the plus side, the smooth coatings and crispy biscuits were texturally consistent throughout the flavour offerings, and the strawberry version did shine through as a product I’d want to eat again.

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 6.5/10
Overall score: 7.13/10