Nestlé Le Chocolat: στρατσιατέλα

Product name: Nestlé Le Chocolat: στρατσιατέλα
Purchase details: £0.59 for a 90g bar (99p Stores)
Calories: 124 per 22.5g serving (498 per bar)

Every now and then I pick up an interesting-looking product and then wonder how on Earth I’m going to review it when its name uses characters which are foreign to me. Thankfully, the wonderful world of the internet has meant I’ve been able to properly name this Nestlé Le Chocolat: στρατσιατέλα, but how you pronounce that last word, I have absolutely no clue!

It was the shiny silver wrapper that caught my attention, adorned with images of what appeared to be cookies and cream chocolate and ice cream, so I took a guess that this bar would be along the same lines as Lindt Lindor: Stracciatella. Although the entire wrapper was in Greek, there a small English translation on an added label, and this told me it was ‘white chocolate with dark chocolate chips and crispies’. With it being white chocolate, I was happy to give it a go anyway, but I did later translate the Greek Nestlé website  which turned ‘στρατσιατέλα’ into ‘stratsiatela’ which Google seemed to think was the same thing as ‘stracciatella’ – boom!

I felt the bar was very good-looking with visibly wide spread dark chocolate chips (7%), as well as the rice ‘crisp pieces’ (2%) that could be seen through the base. Strangely, the dark chocolate seemed to have its own filling that almost looked like biscuit, but I couldn’t work this out. The white chocolate itself was divided into 28 small, slightly curved pieces that each featured a little decoration, and I later found their size to be just right with the level of flavour on offer.

Although there was an absence of a drifting scent, the bar did have a white chocolate smell up-close. It also had a good snap to it, although I found the texture to be quite unusual. The white chocolate seemed to separate out when chewing, but this was also broken up with splinters of dark chocolate, as well as the crispy pieces. Alternatively, the white chocolate did melt, but this was slow and not very smooth. Although the pieces left behind were a little bit uncomfortable, I didn’t find the bar to be too bitty, so this was a plus for me.

I found the melting flavour to be more like a milky vanilla ice cream rather than white chocolate and this was pretty nice. However, despite containing a minimum of 50% cocoa solids, the dark chocolate only seemed to add texture rather than flavour.

When chewing, the flavour was a bit more like white chocolate, although this still wasn’t majorly the case. Fairly early on, there was a familiar burn at the back of the throat and a hint that the bar was going to become too sickly to eat a lot of, but it actually turned out to be perfectly manageable. It was by no means amazing but it certainly wasn’t bad.

This Nestlé Le Chocolat: στρατσιατέλα was a nice little find but I’m not about to swap my favourite white chocolates for this one!

Appearance: 8.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 7.38/10

Snickers Bar: Rockin' nut road

Product name: Snickers Bar: Rockin’ nut road
Purchase details: £1.59 for a 49.9g bar (Mr Simms)
Calories: 230 per bar
Country of origin: USA

I’m not generally a fan of Snickers which is why, so far, I’ve only reviewed the mini version included in Celebrations. However, this Rockin’ nut road variety (based on rocky road) caught my eye on my first ever visit to Mr Simms. (That’s right – we have a Mr Simms now! I always wondered what this magical place was like and I can now report that it smells amazing!)

This bar consisted of dark chocolate, almonds, caramel and marshmallow flavoured nougat, and it was the change in nut type and nougat that got me so excited. I can usually take or leave marshmallow since I like the flavour but, in other things, I don’t tend to like its elasticity. As a result, having the flavour in a nougat seemed like a win-win situation, particularly since it’s the presence of marshmallows in real rocky road which tends to put me off eating it, usually.

Made by Mars Chocolate North America, the bar came in a striking black wrapper and was a very good looking specimen. The semisweet chocolate was nice and glossy and the pale nougat, large nuts and gooey caramel were all well-defined against this dark shell.

It may have contained artificial flavours but this Snickers Bar: Rockin’ nut road wasn’t bad at all. Its aroma was a simple but deep dark chocolate one and this ingredient was definitely the main one in terms of taste too – it made the product noticeably more bitter and it balanced well with the inner features, almost creating a saltiness by comparison. The downside was that the nougat and caramel weren’t as sweet as they could have been and the inside, generally, wasn’t very flavourful but, overall, the taste wasn’t miles away from an actual piece of rocky road.

The texture was the standout element for me, though. The inside was stringy but not too chewy, and I loved the softness of it, as well as the fact that it wasn’t overrun with nuts that got in the way. If anything, I’d say the feel was very much like a Mars bar but with the odd dull crunch here and there.

In conclusion, I would have liked the flavours from the nougat, almonds and caramel to be more prominent in this bar, but its squidginess was very enjoyable indeed.

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 7.63/10

Kingdom Dark Chocolate Lemon & Lime Centre

Product name: Kingdom Dark Chocolate Lemon & Lime Centre
Calories: 162 per 30g serving (541 per 100g bar)
Country of origin: England

I can’t remember when or how I first heard of the Kingdom brand but I do remember it was their peanut butter-filled chocolate that I found out about at the time. Up until now, I’d never been lucky enough to have tried any of their chocolate, but I have been keeping a close eye on them on social media and was delighted to win three bars from their Facebook page – thanks, Kingdom!

My first impressions of the brand were excellent. Kingdom pride themselves on making ‘modern British chocolate’ which they describe as being ‘new and uniquely flavoured bars’ that are ‘delicately decadent’ and the product of ‘British creativity’. They are also keen to combine fun with high quality produce.

The first bar I’m reviewing  is the Dark Chocolate Lemon & Lime Centre which contained no artificial ingredients and contained ‘Ethical Ugandan cocoa’ as part of the Cocoa Development Project.

As excited as I was by this brand, I wasn’t really expecting to like this particular variant as I’m not a huge fan of dark chocolate, lemon or lime! They’re all ingredients I can eat, just not ones I’d necessarily choose. My interest was raised, however, when I saw that it was described as ‘dark chocolate with a white chocolate lemon and lime centre’. Regular readers will know that I’m a little bit obsessed with white chocolate so this was a massive plus for me. There was also something about the combination of the main three ingredients that I thought would actually work, even if they weren’t my favourites.

Kingdom’s branding is royal-themed, with their logo being a crown that is featured on their wrappers, as well as each of the 12 squares that this bar was divided into. I absolutely loved the striking colours used as well. The vibrant green and pink shades were very different, and there was a little image of a lemon and lime too, to represent the flavour. Unfortunately, this bar was already partly open at the top when I received it, but I assumed that this happened in transit as the chocolate itself was fine. It had still been sealed in a jiffy bag for delivery and, once I received it, I transferred it to an airtight bag to keep it as fresh as possible.

The dark chocolate contributed to 80% of the bar and contained a minimum of 61% cocoa solids. Another 38% was sugar! The white chocolate accounted for 13% of the product and I was also interested to see that 4% of the bar was coconut oil. As for the flavours, these came from lemon, lime and lime oil.

The chocolate was properly chunky and actually pretty hard to snap. I was also a bit alarmed when breaking off a row didn’t reveal the ‘delightfully delicate centres in every chunk’ but it turned out that these fillings were entirely contained within each piece. Once I cut a square in two, I could see the lovely contrast between the very dark brown shell and the white centre.

 

The bar had a pretty strong dark chocolate scent but there wasn’t a hint of lemon or lime within this. The chocolate’s strength was just as prominent in its flavour and it was certainly the dominant element of the bar. It was bitter, with strong cocoa tones, and it also had a smooth melt which eventually led to the slightly softer, but still smooth, white chocolate. As you can probably imagine by the bar’s appearance, the chocolate was also enjoyably chunky to chew too.

 

The filling didn’t taste of white chocolate but the citrus flavour managed to make an impact against the powerful dark chocolate. It had the subtlety of the lemon mousse centres that can often be found in selection boxes but it still did enough to lessen the chocolate’s bitterness. I was pleased that the citrus taste wasn’t sharp and imagined that it was the white chocolate’s sweetness that achieved this.

Due to personal taste, this product’s flavours still weren’t my favourite, but I did think the combination worked well together and I liked how the dark chocolate’s bitterness was lessened by the lighter filling. I actually thought these ingredients would work well together in a cake as, in a solid chocolate, I found it a bit too intense and sickly. However, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would, and I can’t wait to try my other bars!

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

Fox's Melts: Mississippi mud pie

Product name: Fox’s Melts: Mississippi mud pie
Purchase details: £1.59 for a 120g pack (Tesco)
Calories: 83 per biscuit
Country of origin: UK

Well this is the last of my Vinnie’s Taste of America reviews! It was the only variety I purchased that wasn’t on offer but, due to it being a limited edition, I didn’t want to risk missing out altogether.

Once again, these Fox’s Melts: Mississippi mud pie came packaging featured the American flag and an image of our panda friend. There was also a photograph of one of the bumpy ‘chocolate Viennese biscuits sandwiched with a chocolate cream’. The reverse of the pack warned that this wasn’t actual size but, on opening, I begged to differ!

Both the biscuit and cream aspects of the product came in pretty much the same shade of brown which resulted in a lovely, chocolatey appearance. I also enjoyed the scent which was like a mild chocolate cake batter – yummy.

The biscuits had a really buttery shortbread flavour (butter did actually contribute to 4% of the finished product) with an added chocolate element that hit the back of the mouth. The cream was actually creamier than I expected it to be, and the overall 2% dark chocolate content produced a good general chocolate experience.

The biscuits also had a nice dull crunch which, when dipped in tea, softened a little. I found this method of consumption added a little surprise too – just when I thought the flavour experience had ended, a juicy chocolate sensation suddenly burst out from the cream.

I really enjoyed this take on a chocolate biscuit – the buttery aspect made it something different to your standard Bourbon.

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