Nestlé Lion

Product name: Nestlé Lion
Purchase details: £0.29 for a 42g bar (Home Bargains)
Calories: 207 per bar
Country of origin: France

Having reviewed the Polish Nestlé Lion: Peanut and White bars, I thought it was only right I had my first original Lion in many years.

The bar continued with the usual Lion branding and imagery but, this time, the wrapper was a nice shade of chocolate brown. It was described as ‘filled wafer, caramel (30%) and cereals (5%), covered in milk chocolate (41%)’ so I was pleased to see this French version had actual chocolate rather than the Peanut's ‘cocoa icing’!

Outwardly, the Lion had the same level of knobbliness as the White one had, but the inside looked a little different. The caramel layer looked thicker, and the wafer looked whiter and smaller than the Peanut bar.

I was surprised at just how much of a difference the chocolate made to this product. It had the sweet, milky scent of most Nestlé chocolate, as well as the same sugary taste. Combined with the caramel wafer, I was really reminded of Tunnock’s Caramel: Wafer biscuits but, the bonus for me was they weren’t quite as chewy.

This Lion, whilst still crispy, was also texturally different to the other bars. It was really stiff to bite into, and the caramel was quite stretchy, but working through this helped release the juiciness of the flavour so the effort felt worth it.

Looking back, I’m not sure why it had been so long since my last plain Lion bar...maybe they just appeared too ‘manly’ for me! I really enjoyed this, though, so I plan to buy them more often in future.

Appearance: 9/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 7.63/10

Nestlé Lion: White

Product name: Nestlé Lion: White
Purchase details: £0.29 for a 42g bar (Home Bargains)
Calories: 200 per bar
Country of origin: Poland

I’ve not had a Nestlé Lion: White for a while but it is a bar I love. Featuring the usual Lion branding, the creamy wrapper looked appetising, and it stated that that the ‘caramel filled wafer (35.7%)’ was now ‘more crunchy’.

Interestingly and, perhaps worryingly, the coating that made up 39.5% of the product wasn’t white chocolate but a ‘white glaze’. Remembering that the Peanut version was covered in a ‘cocoa icing’ rather than chocolate, but still tasted ok, I decided not to be put off by this.

The bar was a really, really pale white colour – closer to snow than ordinary white chocolate! Some brown from the filling was visible through this but I wouldn’t have described it as a thin coating. Inside, the bar had the same brilliant appearance as the Peanut, although the cereal didn’t look as prominent against the white backdrop as it had done against the darker one.

I really liked the deep, sweet milky scent that came from the bar. It didn’t smell like white chocolate but it reminded me of vanilla candles instead – I could have sniffed it all day long!

Once again, the bar was very crispy, but it was hard to differentiate between the wafer and the cereal. There was no added crunch here, due to the absence of peanuts, but the caramel remained chewy and provided a delicious juicy flavour. The different elements of the bar combined to provide a thick texture in every mouthful and I enjoyed the extremely sweet flavour from the glaze. I don’t know if it was the white chocolate and wafer combination that reminded me of the Nestlé Princessa: Kokosowa, but I could have sworn there was a coconut flavour in there too! There was no mention of this on the ingredients list though...

As much as I enjoyed this tasty Lion: White, I think I would have preferred it if it had been coated in proper white chocolate. However, it was still a very good product, even with the fakery!

Appearance: 9/10
Aroma: 8/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 8/10

Nestlé Lion: Peanut

Product name: Nestlé Lion: Peanut
Calories: 195 per 40g bar
Country of origin: Poland

It’s been a good couple of years or so since I last had a Nestlé Lion: Peanut and this bar was kindly bought for me by a colleague who said she thinks of me every time she sees something containing peanut butter. As it happens, the Lion: Peanut only contains actual peanuts rather than peanut butter, but that wasn’t exactly a problem!

 

This bar came in an orange wrapper that contained illustrations of a lion (the animal) and a Lion (the chocolate bar). The description given was of ‘filled wafer covered with caramel (29.9%), crisp cereals (3.3%) and peanuts in cocoa icing’ and, as suggested by the name, it was the peanuts that made this variety different from the standard one. I also thought it was interesting that the coating was listed an icing rather than chocolate!

The Lion was really knobbly on the outside, but had a neat appearance inside, with a central wafer surrounded by a layer of caramel and crisped rice around the edges. I’m not going to pretend it smelt as good as Reese’s products but it did have a nice nutty and chocolatey smell too.

Despite not being actual chocolate, the coating had a good flavour and was quite nutty. It had a thicker texture and was less smooth than ordinary chocolate but I had no complaints about it. Combined with the other ingredients, the bar had a great texture since it mixed crunchy, chewy and crispy elements really well. I did find it difficult to differentiate between the feel of the rice and the wafer, but this wasn’t an issue, and I also didn’t find it frustrating that caramel tended to be the last thing to disappear as its chewiness meant it took slightly longer to swallow.

Overall, the Lion: Peanut was sweet but had just the right level of nuttiness to it in order to tame it. These nuts also had a slightly toasted taste to them which was a nice additional flavour. What was even better, for me, was the fact that the layers between the wafers tasted like peanut butter even though this wasn’t listed on the ingredients list – winner!

I don’t think I’ll be leaving it so long next time... 

Appearance: 9/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.75/10