Kev's Snack Reviews

I was very excited to find this bar of Milka Lila Pause recently. I've always had a soft spot for Milka chocolates, having been to Germany and trying many different bars from their range in the past. So whenever I see a new Milka product it always brings back happy memories. Unfortunately, I keep having bad experiences with them. The Milka raspberry cream was far too sweet, as were the Christmas Minis , plus I have an upcoming Milka review that was also a disappointment. Onto the Lila Pause. This bar comprises of a bubbly strawberry filling and crispy rice pieces. When I opened the wrapper I was met with a strong smell of artificial strawberry, kind of like Nesquik powder. It wasn't that appetizing. The chocolate coating the bar didn't smell as creamy as Milka usually does either. Biting into the bar, my suspicions were confirmed - the whole thing was very cheap, artificial tasting, and overly sweet. The rice crispies tasted stale, as did the rest...

Here we have the Laima Christmas Chocolate bar which is described as a "dark chocolate bar with apple-toffee crisps". I found it in my local Polish store for £1.10.  I wasn't all that excited about the prospect of this to be honest as I've never been a fan of chocolate containing crunchy toffee pieces. They usually add a bit of sweetness and crunch but no real flavour. And that was exactly the case with this bar. The chocolate tasted like a standard 50% cocoa dark chocolate - nothing groundbreaking, but pleasant nonetheless. The "apple-toffee crisps" added a bit of crunch and a vague hint of fruitiness to the chocolate. Overall it was nice enough, but could have been much better. There wasn't a strong enough taste of either apple or toffee for my liking, and nothing to distinguish this bar as being particularly "christmassy". This is the first chocolate bar I've tried containing apple flavour, as far as I can recall. I'm ...

Here we have the Gubor Winter Apfel, which I discovered on a shopping trip to TK Maxx recently. They sell an array of interesting European chocolates there but this caught my eye as it looks similar to Terry's Chocolate Orange . But because of the name "Winter Apfel" I thought it might be apple flavoured. How cool would that be?! Unfortunately, it isn't. Boo hoo! In reality it is "Finest milk chocolate with hazelnut and gingerbread flavour" in the shape of an apple, and is made by German company Gubor .  I loved the presentation of this. It comes in a little box similar to chocolate orange, but once opened it fans out: Looks cool, huh? It also has a little "apple leaf" decoration in the top of the "apple". For some reason this brought out the kid in me, I love novelty stuff like this! :) When I removed the wrapper I found this isn't a "solid" chocolate that needs slamming on a hard surface to break it up, like...

"Sssh!" says Santa There're been a lot of chocolate santas appearing in discount stores lately; I've seen the white chocolate Boci one I reviewed a while ago, some popping candy ones, and this Milka Zartherb (bittersweet) chocolate santa. I was a bit confused what zartherb meant at first, I presumed it was the equivalent of "plain" chocolate we get here in the UK. But it's actually a darker version of milk chocolate, with 45% cocoa solids. Santa strips off... Compared to the Boci Santa , this Milka Santa is delicious. The chocolate has that distinctive creamy Milka taste, but is a lot richer than usual, giving it more flavour depth. I much prefer this rich type of milk chocolate over lower cocoa chocolates like Dairy Milk. It's by no means the best ever but for £1 it's a pretty good bargain. Santa got smashed. Well, it is Christmas! Overall, a very delicious bittersweet chocolate santa which I would happily recommend. Have you tr...

A big thankyou to Katherine from Grocery Gems who kindly sent me this Frey Chocobloc Air recently. Being a fan of the company I was very excited to try it! This is a very unique chocolate bar, like a cross between an Aero and a Toblerone. The chocolate had a nice familiar "swiss" taste (if you've eaten swiss chocolate before you'll know what I mean) with a strong honey flavour. I felt the honey was a bit overdone to be honest, as it really dominated the chocolate, making it very sweet. The almond nougat pieces gave a nice crunch which contrasted nicely with the soft bubbly chocolate. I love the shape of the bar, it's less "blocky" than Toblerone and breaks off into nice little pieces. Overall I would say this is a very unique bar, and definitely worth a try if you see it (I believe Katherine found these in a 99p store). It makes a nice change from the norm, and I think it's a great idea from Frey to mix bubbly Aero-style chocolate with what ...

I recently ordered this bar of "Lindt Edelbitter Mousse Blueberry & Lavender" from ebay, as I fancied trying something a little new. I'm tired of the uninspired chocolate combinations we get in the UK so this was right up my street. And surprisingly it didn't taste as unusual as you might expect. The dark chocolate was very rich (70% cocoa) and gave a nice chocolatey hit, but it was the blueberry filling that really brought this bar to life. It was fruity and sweet but not overly so. The lavender was more of a faint background taste, which gave the blueberry a pleasant floral flavour. It was a lot nicer than I expected. The mousse component didn't really bring much to the bar, it was a bit too firm and tasted too similar to the chocolate coating. There's more varieties in the "Edelbitter Mousse" range such as Cranberry and Mango, which I would love to try some day, but I'm not sure I'd pay the high import prices again any time ...

We're at that time of year when marzipan seems to be popping up in every shop, so I thought I'd review this Alpia marzipan bar I found in Home Bargains. I'm more curious about the brand itself than the marzipan, because, well, what can you say about marzipan? Most of it tastes the same unless it's the good quality stuff from the likes of Niederegger . So I'm not sure what to say about this Alpia marzipan bar other than it tasted "nice". Nothing amazing, nothing awful, just nice. It had a basic 50% cocoa dark chocolate shell with a standard marzipan filling inside. At 39p for 100g, it's certainly nothing to be sniffed at. I google-translated "edel-marzipan" and apparently it means "noble marzipan". I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean. Is this is a wise variety of marzipan that looks down on all other marzipan? Is this marzipan fit for royalty? Your guess is as good as mine. Alpia is a German brand and I'm c...

When I heard about this new product from Marks & Spencer on Twitter I knew I had to seek it out. I've always had a sweet tooth and enjoy white chocolate when it's of a decent quality. I can say that if you have a sweet tooth then you will LOVE this! It's a lot creamier than I expected, and is extremely rich as it contains double cream as well as white chocolate. You're supposed to heat the sauce for 15 seconds in the microwave, but I scooped it straight from the jar and ate it as it was - I'm sure Nigella would approve! This would probably be great poured over puddings or icecream (as it's meant to be), although I haven't tried either yet. There's also a salted caramel version which I'm hoping to try at some point, as well as chocolate truffle. They're £2.99 a jar which sure ain't cheap, but then this is M&S quality we're talking about... I would recommend this if you have a sweet tooth or if you're a white chocolate...

Here we have Mieszko Michaszki white chocolate peanut candies, which I found in the import section of Sainsbury's. I'd never heard of these before so thought I'd try something new. I love chocolate and peanut combinations such as Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Nutrageous, so was looking forward to seeing how these compared. Looking at the ingredients list I was a little hesitant as these candies contain hydrogentated vegetable fat, which is a common bulking agent used in cheap chocolates. I'm not sure if I liked these or not as they tasted more salty and peanutty than sweet. They were kind of moreish yet sickly. The texture was dry and powdery, with little bits of crunchy peanut. The thin white chocolate coating didn't bring much to the party other than a bit of sugary sweetness. Overall, I'm not really sure what to think! I didn't hate these but didn't love them. They certainly have their own unique charm though. If you're a fan of sal...

Today we have "Milka Weihnachts-Minis", which translates to "Milka Christmas-Minis" in English. I found these chocolates in a discount store on offer of 6 large bags for a pound. Not bad eh? Each large bag contains 8 mini-bags with 3 different Christmas-themed designs: I think the name of this product is a bit boring, considering these are a Milka version of Smarties. I would've expected something more unique and quirky than "Christmas-Minis". I can't help but wonder if they already exist under another name in Germany - if anyone knows please do leave a comment! Unlike Smarties, they come in only purple and white colours, to fit with the Milka branding: I wasn't very impressed with the taste of these at all. They were overly sugary; the sugar shells dominated and spoiled the creamy taste of the chocolate. When I ate a lot at once I could just about get a creamy-chocolatey hit, but it didn't last. I think perhaps the problem...

Clothed santa Here we have the Boci Straciatella Santa. I picked up two of these santas for £1 in a discount store - whatever would Mrs Claus think?! Naked santa This santa comprises a white chocolate shell with crunchy straciatella and hazelnut pieces. When I opened the wrapper I thought the white chocolate had an odd colour - kind of beige. I was a little worried it might have gone off or something. However, it tasted fine. It was a cheap white chocolate, very sweet tasting, but the stracitallea and hazelnut pieces gave it a nice crunch. Santa had an accident Overall this was a nice little novelty, I think it would be quite popular with children, but probably isn't for everyone. When I bought this I also saw a popping candy milk chocolate version, which I'm not sure the world is ready for... Have you tried Nestle Boci products before? If so what did you think?

After seeing The Snack Review's  recent posts on Chocolat Frey I thought it about time I did my own Frey review. This is quite an old product and I'm not sure it's around anymore, so this is mainly for archive purposes and to let people know this odd-sounding bar did indeed exist! I bought this from Home Bargains back in 2007, and kept the wrapper as I often do with unusual chocolate bars I've tried. It cost around 50p and I was very intrigued because I've never heard of a combination such as rhubarb and aloe vera before. To be quite honest, the taste wasn't all that nice, as far as I can remember. It was rather sickly and the rhubarb and aloe vera didn't really work with the white chocolate. If anyone has tasted aloe vera before you'll know that it has has an odd taste - to say the least - so combined with the flavour of rhubarb it was a very strange combination indeed. However I love Chocolat Frey as a company because they try new ...

This is another bar I found in a local discount store, which cost me 50p. There's not a lot to say about it really, it's just a standard cheap milk chocolate with a pleasant tasting cherry filling. It's a nice novelty and the cherry taste is very good, but overall it's not mind-blowing. If you happen to see this I'd recommend giving it a try as a one-off. I'm not sure where it's actually from; the writing on the wrapper is all in foreign and I couldn't determine what country the flag was (I was never that good at Geography!). If anyone has more information, please leave a comment!

Here we have another Côte d'Or product review...you'd think I was obsessed with them or something! ;)  Chokotoff are a brand of toffees popular in Belgium , and I found this white chocolate version of them in B&M bargains for £1. I don't have a picture of the actual toffees I'm afraid as I ate them all a few months ago, nom nom :) They were quite tasty, the toffees are chocolate flavoured and work well with the creamy white chocolate, however they suffered the same problem as most toffees - they were too hard. I solved this by popping them in the microwave for 10 seconds; this made them softer and much easier to eat. I overdid a few and they turned into a melted mass of white chocolate and toffee, which was actually very tasty! Overall I would say this is a decent product and I'd like to try the original dark chocolate version - hopefully I'll come across them some day. Have you tried Chokotoff before? If so what did you think of them?

Here we have the Cote d'Or Speculoos Lait, a milk chocolate bar with speculoos biscuit pieces.  Côte d'Or  is a Kraft-owned brand popular in Belgium.  I believe they used to sell some of their bars in UK supermarkets, but they disappeared after a while. Nowadays they pop up randomly in discount stores. This is one such bar I found in a discount store. They were selling them at 5 for a pound, which immediately made me suspicious. These days you're lucky if you can get three bars for a pound, so I knew something was up. I decided to buy just the one bar, which cost me 20p. My suspicions were confirmed when I opened the wrapper - I was greeted by an awful musty smell with a hint of cinnamon. Usually I like cinnamon flavoured things, but this bar was rather unpleasant. There was a vague crunch from the speculoos biscuits, but they mostly tasted stale and musty. I couldn't taste the chocolate because the stale cinnamon...

This review is mainly to serve as a warning: DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT! "Marzipan with out of date rum flavoring that's been left on a shelf for five years, then wrapped up and sold", is how my friend described the taste of this bar. A tad dramatic maybe, but I have to agree. This bar was awful in every way and took us totally by surprise. I initially assumed it was some kind of fruity coconut bar, judging by the exotic looking picture on the wrapper. It actually turned out to be some rum-flavored coconut/marzipan abomination. The taste was just awful. Artificial, chemically, mega-sweet, and just..inedible really. My friend spat his out, but I managed to gulp my piece down...just. This isn't the first bad experience I've had with the Orion brand (although I enjoyed the Studentska bar)...but more to come on that later! You have been warned: if you happen to see this in your local Polish store, do not buy it! It actually baffles me that someone, somewher...

Here we have Côte d'Or Chokotoff spreadable. I found this spread at a local market stall for 59p - what a bargain! It has a strange grainy kind of texture, which isn't unpleasant, but I get the feeling it may have something to do with having traveled across Europe. For those of you that don't know,  Chokotoff is a Kraft-owned chocolate toffee brand that is apparently popular in Belgium . This spread was very rich, and definitely had hints of toffee but they weren't all that strong. Since there is no English on the back I couldn't determine what this actually contained, but I would guess there was a decent amount of cocoa in it. Overall I would say this was a pleasant surprise - definitely nicer than the average chocolate spread found on UK shelves, but it could have done with more toffee flavor. My verdict: worth a shot if you come across it.

This is another "old" review I'm afraid, from before I began this blog. I found this bar in B&M bargains, along with two other varieties in the same range. It's basically a thin layer of cake, topped with a layer of nut cream and coated in Milka chocolate. It actually sounds a lot nicer than it tasted. The cake was very dry and tasteless, and the nut cream was rather cheap tasting and unpleasant. I'm not sure if this has something to do with it being close to the sell-by date, as so many B&M products often are. Or maybe it's just a poor product hence why it's being offloaded into UK discount stores. Either way, I was very disappointed in this bar - it promises more than it delivers. My verdict: this is one to avoid. Edit: After browsing some other reviews of this range I noticed they were a lot more positive, so I'm guessing I was just unlucky with this product. If you happen to try it for yourself, please let me know your thoughts!

For my second review here we have the Orion brand "Studentská Pečet White", another bar I purchased from my local Polish shop. Hmm I'm starting to sense a theme developing here! :) The white chocolate in this bar wasn't all that great, to be honest, but that didn't matter because it was crammed full of raisins, peanuts and crunchy "jelly-like" orange pieces. As you can see here, the chocolate is quite chunky and has plenty of filling: I really loved the mixture of different textures and flavors in this bar. The peanuts were especially good, giving a nice savoury, salty taste that worked well with the sweet white chocolate. The orange pieces were very nice too, and added a nice fruity zing to the bar. The raisins were also good, and quite large in size. If only the white chocolate itself has been nicer...sadly it was just very sweet and only slightly milky. Still, it was a good carrier for the fruit and nuts. Overall, I thought this was a ver...

So, in an attempt to start off this blog, here we have the Milka Raspberry Cream, which I discovered in a local Polish shop. It's a while since I ate this bar, but as I recall it was very, VERY sweet. I presume it's intended to be a Polish-only edition as there is no English on the back of the wrapper (but there is on the front, strangely). I can't help but wonder if this bar had a different recipe to regular Milka bars, because the sweetness totally overpowered any taste of chocolate. The raspberry sauce was very artificial tasting; the kind of flavor those cheap kiddies juice drinks used to have. And the "cream" pretty much just tasted of sugar. My verdict: Give this a miss, unless you're a rare snacks hunter like me :)

Testing. Please forgive the basic layout for now..I am just getting to grips with blogger :)