Kev's Snack Reviews

This is another one of my recent finds from a local Chinese store, and it's a new one on me as I've never seen a chilled coffee energy drink before. But then I'm not the greatest fan of energy drinks and rarely pay attention to them. I find they have all have a weird sickly taste, although I guess they're good for a quick burst of energy. This Monster drink sounded like it would give me the best of both worlds - a boost of coffee in the form of a traditional energy drink, with all it's additives like Taurine, Ginseng etc that supposedly boost mental focus. In reality it didn't turn out to taste very nice and re-affirmed my feeling that energy drinks just taste weird! Something I should mention is that it contains nitrous oxide as a foaming agent. For those unaware, Nitrous Oxide is commonly known as "laughing gas" and is often used in dentistry for it's anaesthetic and analgesic effects. Unfortunately this drink didn't have me in fits o...

I couldn't believe my eyes when I spotted packs of Nestlé Wonka Gobstoppers, Runts and Nerds in my local Poundland store. They're usually sold for very high prices at American import stores, so getting them for £1 was a real bargain! Fruit shapes! I declined to buy any Nerds because I've had plenty of them in the past and the smaller packs are already available at Morrisons. However Runts were a new one on me, I've never tried them before despite always seeing them in American import stores. They never really appealed to me for some reason, however what I never realized is that they come in little fruit shapes! How cool! It made me grin like a big kid when I shook a few out of the box to find strawberry, banana, orange, apple and grape shaped candies. This is what the UK has been missing out on in sweets all this time! Top banana The colours are insanely bright, so it comes as no surprise that they contain lots of e-numbers. But who cares, they're swe...

I love 99p Stores, they're always full of such odd European foods. When I spotted these Barfix bars near the tills there recently I just couldn't resist, since the wrappers were so shiny and they looked just like Lion bars! I thought they might be like those imitation versions of popular bars you usually see in shops like Aldi or Lidl, and I was right! This bar is made in Turkey by a company called Simsek. It's described as "Crisp wafer coated with milk chocolate, crisped rice and caramel". It tasted pretty much like a cheap knockoff version of a Lion bar. The wafer wasn't quite as tasty as Lion, and the chocolate was somewhat sweeter, as was the caramel. Overall, it was ok but it was never going to come close to the real thing! Especially when real Lion bars can also be found cheaply in White Chocolate and Peanut varieties! (reviews by The Snack Review). Overall, if you're strapped for cash then these are a decent bargain, but I think it...

Today's review comes courtesy of Cybercandy , a well-known company specializing in imported snacks from around the world. They offered me a product for review when I joined their bloggers network, so I chose this Chocolove bar as it's not one of the most well-known American products they had on offer, and because fruity chocolate always gets my attention! I loved Cybercandy's presentation of this bar with the coloured foam pieces in the box - it reminded me of fruit loops cereal. The premise of this bar is that it's meant to be a gift for your lover, and contains a love poem by Robert Browning inside the wrapper. If your partner loves chocolate and poetry then this is probably the perfect combination, but then perhaps some people might find it a bit cheesy. Personally, I think it's a lovely idea, being a lifelong chocolate lover and romantic at heart! The wrapper is also made to look like a love letter envelope, which is a cool idea - who wouldn't want t...

I know it's a bit late for a Valentines themed post, but I had taken pics for these chocolates a while ago and thought it about time I do a brief review of them. They were all discounted after Valentines Day at my Sainsbury's Local, and to be honest I can see why: they were all quite cheap tasting and tacky. First up is the Chocolate Rose . It's basically a hollow chocolate rose with a plastic stalk and leaves, wrapped  in red foil. It's a nice idea, but unfortunately the chocolate used in it was very cheap. It tasted quite waxy and without any real chocolate flavour. If your Valentine likes novelty then they might get some kicks out of it, but otherwise it's rubbish. Did you get one of these for Valentines Day this year? If so please feel free to have a moan about it in the comments! Next up is the Chocolate Lovemobile . It's called "You make my heart race" and is a little chocolate car with a pink chocolate heart sat in the drivers seat...

Incase you have never heard of a Double Decker bar before, here is an introduction thanks to Bible of the Internet, Wikipedia: "Double Decker is a brand of chocolate bar currently manufactured by Cadbury. First introduced in 1976, its name derives from the double-decker bus, and these vehicles have invariably appeared in advertisements for the product. The chocolate bar is lightly flavoured with coffee and structured in two layers; an upper whipped nougat layer, with a lower layer of cereal 'crispies', these are then coated in milk chocolate. Originally the bar contained raisins within the base layer, however consumer research in the mid-1980s led to these being removed and the current formulation being introduced." Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Decker_%28chocolate_bar%29 This ice cream version is significant because it's the first time Double Decker has ventured into ice cream (the brand, not the bus - it probably wouldn't be a good ide...

Whilst browsing a local Chinese store recently I was wide-eyed with amazement at all the unusual, interesting and downright odd (at least to my British senses) food items sold there. Amongst the oddities I discovered coconut jam, various Meiji products, soybean soda and...this. Yes, you read the title correctly, this is a Chrysanthemum Tea Drink. Looking at the ingredients I noticed it contains 12% "aqueous extract of chrysanthemum", as well as water, sugar and a few e-numbers. The label helpfully informed me that these "may have an adverse effect on attention and activity in children". Thankfully I'm not a child, although you would be forgiven for thinking otherwise! Pouring it into a glass, I could smell a horrible sickly sweet flowery smell that reminded me of cammomile tea, which is the only reference I have for flowery-tasting beverages. I was a little scared of trying it to be honest; it had a pale yellow colour that didn't look all that appetiz...

When I saw this new Carte D'or flavour from Wall's I couldn't resist giving it a try. I love all things caramel flavoured, but salted caramel can either be really delicious or really weird, depending on how it's done. Luckily Wall's got it right! I found this tub on special offer in Morrisons for £1.75. It's described as "salted caramel flavour ice cream with caramel pieces (8%)" and contains no artificial flavours. Opening the lid it smelled more like butterscotch than caramel to me. I scooped out a few portions into a bowl. It tasted creamy and delicious, as I expected. I was waiting for the salted caramel flavour to become apparent, but it tasted more like butterscotch. It was very tasty and moreish, and the caramel pieces made it even more so because they added a lovely chewy, fudgey bite to the icecream. After a while it hit me that it did actually have a slightly salty taste, which was difficult to detect initially. The flavour is ver...

I'm always wary of the new Milka bars I see in my local Polish store. Like the Raspberry Cream and Cherry Cream bars I've reviewed previously, they are often overly sweet or artificial tasting. So when I saw this "GOOD Plum Cream" variety I was again rather hesitant to buy it. But it sounded unusual and was Limited Edition, and I am the rare snacks hunter, so I had to give it a try regardless! Apparently there are a few different varities in this range, such as "Happy", "Good", "Sweet" etc. This plum cream variety contains a milk cream filling with a plum "jam" filling sat above. There was a generous amount of plum filling in this bar, infact it oozed out as I cut into it. The chocolate was very sweet, as was the cream filling. The plum jam tasted artificial as I expected, but not quite as artificial as the Raspberry and Cherry Cream Milka bars. It was actually rather plain. Plum isn't one of the most interesting fru...

This delicious bar of Lemon and poppy seeds white chocolate is made by Seed & Bean, a company specializing in organic, ethical and fairtrade chocolates. Described as "Italian inspired dreamy white chocolate infused with organic lemon oil from Italy, with a gentle dusting of poppy seeds" it is also hand made and has won a "Great Taste Gold 2011" award. I'm not that familiar with Seed & Bean but I've seen their bars in Holland and Barrett plenty of times, which is where I bought this. I've wanted to try it for ages now because it's always made me wonder: how does white chocolate, lemon and poppy seeds taste together? Really nice, as it happens! Opening the wrapper I was met with a delicious creamy lemony scent, like lemon cheesecake. Infact, that's how I would describe this chocolate: "like lemon cheesecake in a bar". I've never had poppy seeds in chocolate before so this was a new experience for me. And despite ...

Today's review comes courtesy of The Grown Up Chocolate Company, who kindly sent me some of their bars for review recently. The Grown Up Chocolate Co are a small company producing hand-made luxury chocolate bars in small batches using only quality ingredients. They set up their business in 2011 and have grown in popularity ever since. For more info do check out their website here:  http://www.thegrownupchocolatecompany.co.uk/about/ The idea behind Grown Up Chocolate Bars is that they're reminiscent of the chocolate bars we ate as children, but with an adult twist. I think they've certainly succeeded - all their bars are like much higher quality versions of a lot of mainstream chocolate bars, for example they do a coconut bar that is similar to a Bounty bar, but is much nicer. Today's review is for their Fruit & Nut Hunky Dory. Firstly I have to comment on the packaging; the design is very quirky and..."different". I've never seen a...

There's been a lot of excitement brewing in the snacking world about these new bars from Cadbury. They have already been launched in Australia and are apparently a big hit over there, so Cadbury have decided to launch them here in the UK too. To my surprise, I found these almost literally on my doorstep at a local Premier store. They were price marked at 50p per bar, which is an RRP Trial Price. Presumably they will be bumped up in price at a later date. The wrapper designs are quite cool and very eye catching. I think they look a lot more fun and quirky than regular Dairy Milk bars. Opening the wrappers I was met with the unmistakable aroma of Cadbury Dairy Milk. I couldn't wait to tuck in! The blocks are irregularly shaped which I think is a nice idea; it adds to the overall "fun" experience of these bars. Jelly Popping Candy Jelly Popping Candy Shells: This bar is described as "Milk chocolate with fruit flavour jellies (6%), sugar coated cocoa can...

When I saw this Laima Miks bar in my local import store I thought it was a Latvian version of Snickers or something. Upon examining the ingredients however, I became a bit more interested as I learnt that it contains apricots, various types of nuts, raisins, dates, coconut, roasted sunflower seeds and even banana chips. This sounded pretty unique to me so I couldn't resist giving it a try! I certainly didn't expect this to be a bar of what is essentially apricot jelly coated in fake chocolate compound! Dissecting it, I found lots of different nuts and bits of dried fruit embedded in the jelly centre: "What a bizarre chocolate bar" was my first thought upon tasting this. The apricot jelly had a weird "air freshner" kind of taste, which is the only way I can describe it: fake, artificial and perfumey. It wasn't very pleasant. The fruit and nuts added a bit of texture to the jelly and were kind of interesting, and even the chocolate ...

I've wanted to try these M&S Percy in the Pink chocolates for ages now, even after reading Gobble Monkey's funny review here saying how overly sweet they are. I'm a big fan of the original Percy Pigs; they're basically the best gummy sweets ever made (though with the recent food scandal I do hope horse hasn't somehow ended up in them!), so I was hoping these would be just as good. They're described as "Flavoured white chocolate with dried raspberry and strawberry concentrates" and cost £1.25 for a 90g bag. I'm a big fan of coloured and flavoured chocolate, it seems so much fun even though it usually ends up tasting too sweet. I guess I'm still a little kid at heart. So I kind of expected these Percy in the Pink to taste too sweet, and indeed they did. Infact they were as I expected - vaguely fruity, chalky, and very sweet. Underneath all the sweetness there was a hint of creaminess from the white chocolate, but the predominen...