Glico Mikado: King choco (praliné)

Product name: Glico Mikado: King choco (praliné)
Purchase details: £1.39 for a 51g box (Tesco)
Calories: 128 per 25.5g six biscuit portion (21 per biscuit)
Country of origin: France 

I was very excited to find this new variety of Glico Mikado from Mondelez International. As the name ‘King choco’ suggested, these biscuit sticks had a bit more going on than normal Mikado and, as a result, were more calories. However, they were still a nicely low-calorie snack.

I loved the imagery of the melted chocolate being poured onto the green box’s logo, and the raised chocolate rings on the picture of the treat looked like a cool little feature too. Designed for ‘chocolate lovers’, these praliné  ‘crunchy biscuit sticks’ were simply described as ‘chocolate with hazelnut flavour’ on the front of the box, but reading the back revealed that this was achieved by an infused chocolate coating  (47%) beneath the ‘lovely milk chocolate swirl’ (21.6%) that finished each piece off. What a fantastic amount of chocolate!

The packet was designed to provide two portions but I prefer to eat Mikado biscuits one or two at a time to use up spare calories. However, this didn’t in any way diminish my enjoyment of them.

The chocolate had a more matt appearance than the box had suggested, and the swirled chocolate was unsurprisingly more uneven and less perfect, but I loved how thick and dark the coating looked against the white biscuit core. Even better was the rich aroma that was emitted, incorporating cocoa, milk and nuts, yet remaining mouth-wateringly sweet.

As I’ve come to expect, the biscuit was pretty standard and plain, but this provided a great basis for the chocolate casing. I just loved the depth of the chocolate and how it provided a softness before reaching the crisp centre. This really thick feature was something that’s not present in the more standard Mikado varieties and it meant that you could choose to enjoy a few seconds of melting if preferred.

The chocolate had a dark chocolate taste with hazelnut undertones. It was really flavoursome with a slight bitterness and, to me, it tasted like a more sophisticated and less nutty Nutella. 

I’d noticed on my receipt that these biscuits came up as ‘kids’ biscuits’ but, if I’m honest, I think these were too good for children! Their flavour felt a bit too dark and grown-up for kids, particularly when considering the sweeter alternatives such as Lu Glico: Mikado (Daim) which seem like a more appropriate after-school treat.

Parents should definitely keep these King choco (praliné) biscuits for themselves!

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 8/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.88/10

Guylian Belgian Chocolate: Original praliné

Product name: Guylian Belgian Chocolate: Original praliné
Purchase details: £1.00 for a pack of three bars (Poundworld)
Calories: 211 per 40g bar
Country of origin: Belgium

When I was kid, we were quite often given boxes of Guylian seashell-shaped chocolates and I absolutely loved them. In fact, for many years, I thought praline was called ‘Belgian chocolate’ as that was my only experience of it! It’s been a long time since I last received Guylian as a gift so I was delighted when I found the product in a bar format recently.

The ‘Belgian chocolate with praliné filling (42%)’ bars were each divided into four pieces that were topped with milk and white marbled chocolate seashell shapes taken from the usual designs (found here). I had no issue with the shells or the seahorse but I tried not to focus on the shrimp as I can’t stand real seafood! The bars came in good quality, fresh white wrappers that featured a metallic brand name and tips, as well as an image of the product. The reality of the bars was very much the same although I did find that the chocolate was slightly discoloured.

The bars had a milky chocolate scent up-close but they didn’t really smell nutty. Thankfully, though, the taste didn’t disappoint. On placing a piece on my tongue, the smooth chocolate coating had a creamy taste with a slight bitterness (it contained a minimum of 32% cocoa solids and 19% milk solids). After a couple of seconds, the hazelnut flavour began to emerge and this lovely nuttiness mixed well with the chocolate’s sweetness. The outer part of the bar had a nice melt to it and this then met with the slighter rougher praline which matched up to its soft and crumbly appearance. This, too, melted nicely, although its graininess made it feel pretty sugary.

The seashell shapes also made the bar nice and chunky to chew. I’ve always loved the inclusion of the white chocolate in Guylian products (containing a minimum of 27% cocoa solids and 23% milk solids) but, in this case, I would have liked it to be more of a feature – imagine if it had been swirled in with the outer chocolate coating too!

I’m so glad I found these Guylian Belgian Chocolate: Original praliné bars – they tasted just how I remembered and I found them to be delicious.

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 8.5/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.63/10