Kev's Snack Reviews

So there's been a big fight recently between Waitrose and luxury chocolatier Hotel Chocolat; the latter have claimed that Waitrose's new chocolate slab range are copying their famous Selector bars (see my #slabgate post for pics of the new range). They've even gone as far as taking legal action, but that hasn't stopped Waitrose who launched their new range this week. I thought I'd try one of the bars to see what all the fuss is about - would it live up to Hotel Chocolat's high standards? I chose the Espresso Swirl bar as it appealed to me the most; these are currently on offer for £2 and this bar is described as "Marbled Belgian milk and dark chocolate delicately swirled with hazelnut praline and coffee, topped with chocolate mocha beans". Sounds delightful doesn't it? Opening the wrapper it was definitely reminiscent of Hotel Chocolat's slabs, the sides are curvy although less so than a HC bar. One side contains the coffee beans whil...

There's been a bit of a barney recently between luxury Chocolatier Hotel Chocolat and Waitrose - Waitrose have launched a new range of chocolate slabs with a similar design to Hotel Chocolat's selector range. Hotel Chocolat aren't happy about this at all, and offered customers an exchange of the Waitrose slabs for one of their Selector bars for free over the weekend. They've even gone as far as demanding Waitrose removes their bars from sale and destroys them! Wow...get that promo HC! ;) The new range includes the Eton Mess White chocolate bar shown above, as well as... This Espresso Swirl bar, containing a mix of milk and dark chocolate with coffee bean pieces. There's also this Totally Chocolate variety, with a mix of milk, white and dark chocolate plus chocolate buttons. There's also this Gentle Ginger bar, with dark chocolate and ginger pieces. Unfortunately it isn't dairy free, sorry vegans :( Similar to one of Hotel Chocolat's top se...

Taking a break from the constant deluge of sugary treats this festive season, I've decided to review something a little more normal but still fitting for Christmas and the snowy weather - snowdrop carrots! No, these are not parsnips despite looking like them, they are actually carrots and taste like carrots. So what's the difference between these white versus orange carrots? And are they just parsnip-carrot wannabes? I bought these from Waitrose, reduced to 85p from £1.50. I peeled, boiled and chopped them as you would regular carrots. Taking a bite of a slice before cooking, I was subconsciously expecting the taste of a parsnip...but they tasted just like a carrot, albeit slightly sweeter and lighter. They didn't seem as "heavy" tasting as regular carrots is the best way I can describe them! Cooked and mashed, they were also a little sweeter and lighter tasting than regular carrots, but not much different. It was nice to have something creamy looking an...

I do enjoy Madecasse chocolates, ever since I was introduced to them a few years back I've been a fan. Their range is made with Heirloom cocoa - "Earth's original and most flavourful variety of cocoa", which is quite the claim but may just be accurate. Madecasse work directly with farmers in Madagascar, making them "Direct Trade". To learn more about their story visit www.madecasse.com . Madecasse have changed their packaging recently, and I have to say I do prefer it over the previous look. There's now a monkey holding a cocoa pod on the front which is very fitting. This Honey Crystal variety caught my eye in a large Waitrose store - but it's also available from waitrose.com . I found it on special offer of £1.99, and if you hurry it might still be on offer! As well as a new packaging design they are also using gold foil to wrap the chocolate, which I love - it makes the bar feel super special! The chocolate contains 63% cocoa solids, with hon...

It's #veganuary, and although I'm not vegan myself I do like to minimize the dairy, and have friends who do too, so I thought I'd mark the occasion with one of the nicest vegan chocolates I have ever tried, made by none other than Waitrose! This bar is part of the Waitrose 1 Single Origin range, made with fairtrade cocoa beans and consists of 54% cocoa dark chocolate, coconut milk, coconut sugar, and to top it all off ground coconut flakes. This bar is unusual because not many companies make dairy free chocolate with coconut milk. The bar had a strong rich coconut aroma when I removed it from the cardboard sleeve; each square is imprinted with a cocoa pod. It's a lovely touch and makes it feel like a very special bar indeed. It costs just over £2 in Waitrose, and annoyingly they always sell out fast whenever there's new stock - must be popular! The chocolate is quite simply, luscious. The coconut flavour is sort of caramelly, almost like burnt caramel...

I reviewed the new White Chocolate & Matcha Green Tea & Pistachio bar from Waitrose's "Waitrose 1" range a while ago, and I really enjoyed it, but it seems my local Waitrose have stopped selling it to make way for this bar instead...Dark Chocolate with Raspberry and Blackberry. I thought I'd pick it up since I'm a big fan of fruity chocolates, and it's quite rare to find a good quality dark chocolate with fruit added. This bar cost £1.60 for 85g, is gluten free and suitable for vegetarians and vegans since it's dairy free, and contains 65% cocoa solids. It's made by an Italian chocolatier for Waitrose using selected fair trade cocoa beans. The bar contains freeze dried blackberry pieces at 2.5% and freeze dried raspberry pieces at 2%, which may sound like a small amount but they're actually quite plentiful...see the above pic! There's cocoa bean symbols on each square of chocolate, which I think is a nice touch. The bar s...

All the posh supermarkets seem to be upping their game in the chocolate stakes recently, we've had a boatload of fancy new snacks from M&S, but now Waitrose have stepped into the ring with some new bars in their own label range. The one I went for was this White Chocolate with Matcha Tea & Pistachio, but there's also another new variety that contains Wafer and Caramel - sadly I couldn't try it as it contains gluten :( The bar is described as "Roasted Pistachio pieces and green matcha tea in vanilla-rich white chocolate" and cost around £1.60 for an 85g bar. Not bad for posh chocolate! It's been years since I've had white chocolate flavoured with green tea, so I was a little weary as to how this might turn out. Thankfully, it was very tasty! The pistachios dominate the flavour, bringing a lovely nutty, almost floral edge to the bar, with the green tea bringing a slightly sharper aftertaste. All of this works very well against the creamy...

A big thankyou to Kingdom Chocolates who kindly sent me some samples from their new range to review recently! Kingdom are a company aiming to add some "British creativity" to the chocolate world. Amongst the bars they sent me, this Rhubarb & Vanilla variety intrigued me most as I've never really seen or tried a rhubarb flavour chocolate before. According to their leaflet, Kingdom are a brand new British-owned chocolate company launching a range of bars focused entirely on innovation and quality. Their cocoa is ethically sourced from Uganda, and their bars contain no artificial ingredients. This bar is described as "Milk chocolate with a white chocolate rhubarb & vanilla centre", and contains 34% cocoa solids. Opening the wrapper I was very impressed by the thick, chunky feel of the blocks. Each one has the Kingdom crown logo imprinted on it: Cutting into one of the blocks revealed the white chocolate rhubarb centre: Biting into a ...