Kev's Snack Reviews

Whilst in Home Bargains the other day I saw they had these After Eight selections for only £1, so naturally I couldn't resist giving them a try - they usually cost £3 so this was a real bargain indeed! I first tried these chocolates in the mid 90's when Nestlé brought them out one Christmas, for them to never be seen again. I don't know why they discontinued them, but they must be popular once again as they've been resurrected once more! The selection contains individually wrapped mint creams in milk, dark and white chocolate. They're leaf-shaped rather than the traditional squares of After Eights. There weren't that many in the box so I don't think the RRP of £3 is really justified. £1 seemed a fair price. There's not a lot to say about them really...they all taste very sweet and pleasant, with the traditional After Eight flavour. The white ones were the sweetest, with a milkier mint flavour, the milk choc ones a little less, and of cours...

Whilst in Asda recently I noticed these Star Wars themed chocolates in the kids sweet section. I bought them out of pure curiosity, but assumed they wouldn't taste very good. Luckily I was proven wrong and they actually tasted ok! They're basic spheres of milk chocolate with a shellac glaze to make them shiny. The chocolate tastes pretty decent, with a nice milky flavour and melt, although it's certainly nothing spectacular. I'm not sure how they relate to Star Wars...maybe they're meant to be mini Death Stars? Overall, for 50p these are an ok snack for kids and I'm sure they'll be very popular when the new Star Wars film is released. I bet they'll be popular with collectors too. As for the name "Roll'Ems", this is apparently because you can "shake, rattle and roll 'em" due to the shape. A bit of a tenuous link but there you go! RATING: 7 out of 10. Price : 50p at Asda. Suitable for vegetarians? : Yes. Aller...

I bought this "xmas pud" yoghurt from The Collective Dairy when I saw it reduced at the Co-Op recently - for 69p I couldn't say no (it usually costs over £2!). It's a mixture of live gourmet yoghurt with xmas pudding flavour "mincemeat" sauce. The yoghurt tasted very creamy and indulgent, with a nice tang. The mincemeat sauce is very plentiful and dispersed throughout the yoghurt, which means you get a generous amount depending on where in the tub you're eating. It tastes very spicy with plenty of citrus peel and raisins, and reminded me of the filling in mince pies rather than xmas pud. This isn't a bad thing as it works well with the creamy yoghurt. Overall, this is a very tasty seasonal yoghurt...and it's a healthier way to get your xmas pud & mince pie fix over the festive season! RATING: 8 out of 10.  Price: I paid 69p but I've seen them for as much as £2.40 in some shops. Suitable for vegetarians?: Yes. Allergy Informat...

There hasn't been many exciting seasonal chocolates this year, hence I haven't had many to review. However when I learnt of the new seasonal Limited Editions available at Aldi recently I just had to try them! There's this Plum & Cinnamon flavour, plus Apple Strudel and Pear varieties. The Plum & Cinnamon variety is described as "Five individually wrapped bars of milk chocolate with a lightly whipped mousse filling, with a plum and cinnamon flavoured topping". It's a similar concept to the Panna Cotta Moser Roth bars I've reviewed previously, with a gooey plum layer above the smooth cream. The chocolate tasted very nice, if a little bit sweet. Initially I got hints of summer fruits, but as I let the chocolate melt on my tongue, subtle hints of cinnamon started to emerge. If I were doing a blind taste test I would never guess this was plum flavour; it just tastes generically fruity, but it works well with the cinnamon and milk cream and...

Whilst in a local discount frozen food store recently I spotted some tubs of Milka ice cream. I've already tried the UK Daim Ice Cream but wondered if this version with Milka might be different. It certainly looked it; it contains a marbled effect with chocolate ice cream with Daim pieces and vanilla ice cream with Daim pieces. The texture of the ice cream was rather light and moussey, as oppposed to the more dense ice creams from the likes of Haggen Dazs or Ben and Jerry's. It reminded me of Carte D'or. It tasted very nice...and surprisingly, I found the vanilla portion to be the nicest part. The creaminess complimented the crunchy Daim pieces perfectly, whereas they got a bit lost in the chocolatey flavour of the chocolate portion. Overall, this was a very tasty ice cream and one that's very easy to eat thanks to the soft texture. I actually preferred it over the UK's Daim Ice Cream . This one appears to be made in Germany and imported so isn't...

When all the new Xmas goodies came out in Marks and Spencer this was the one that intrigued me most. I thought it was some kind of "blonde chocolate" in a similar vein to Valhrona Dulcey, and going by the description on the pack this is a fair assumption: "dulce de leche caramel flavour white and milk chocolate, for the perfect caramel taste experience". Unfortunately it's not quite the same thing at all, and I was left feeling a bit short-changed! Opening the wrapper revealed a beige-coloured square block with different sized segments. This is a nice idea as it gives you lots of different sized pieces to choose from. Unfortunately the taste wasn't upto much. It's basically a sweet, milky white chocolate with a slight hint of caramel. Nothing strong or anything that stands out. The dried milk flavour was the most dominant aspect of the bar and I couldn't taste much else. I was left feeling unsatisfied, a little ill from the large quant...

Whilst in Sainsbury's recently I noticed they had their own chocolate selection to rival Cadbury Roses and Quality Street. This is a bold move, since they're in the same price range; in fact, they actually cost £1 more. So naturally I expected them to taste just as good or even better in quality... which shouldn't have been too difficult, since both Roses and Quality Street are not good quality any more! Unfortunately they turned out to be very poor. The plain box design set the tone, and the wrappers were all shiny and gauche - the sort of thing you would serve up at a cheap Christmas party. I knew these were going to be disappointing as soon as I set eyes on them! Below are my thoughts on each flavour... Honeycomb Truffle: A bland, overly sweet truffle with poor quality chocolate. Not much else to say about it really! Strawberry Creme: This chocolate was okay and gave a very sweet, artificial strawberry hit. It has a thin layer of strawberry ...

Hey everyone...I'm back! I've had an extended blogging break recently due to life getting in the way, but hopefully, I'll be bringing a few Kev-style stocking fillers for you all in the run-up to Christmas! :) When I saw these Christmas Tree shaped ice creams in a local Tesco Express recently, naturally   I just  had to pick them up. I first reviewed the Winter Wonderland Dairy Milk bar last year and loved the idea of it...and now it seems Cadbury have seen fit to extend it into ice cream format. How does it compare to the bar? Well, its not quite as great to be honest... It's a nice idea poorly executed. Christmas-tree-shaped ice creams sounds great, fun, cute and novel, but unfortunately Cadbury must have used duff moulds - either that or they were trying to cut corners and used Poundland moulds - they look, quite frankly, pathetic! Not like something you would expect from a household name like Cadbury (or should that be Mondelez!) There's nothing ...

A big thankyou to Ultimate English who sent me some products from their lovely toffees and fudges range to review recently! Ultimate English are a company based in Harrogate, Yorkshire producing hand-made fudge and toffee in the traditional English way. They describe their fudge as "The grandest butter fudge in the world", which is quite the claim...luckily I can say they may just live up to it! Below are my thoughts on their Fudge and Honeycomb Nuggets... Simply Marvellous All Butter Fudge: This fudge was simply divine! The texture was firm and crumbly, and although I generally prefer softer fudges like Thorntons, this was pretty amazing. It tasted extremely buttery, with a moreish golden syrup and brown sugar flavour. It melted in mouth and tasted heavenly...it was mega sweet of course, but so nice I accidentally ate too much at once! Overall, seriously amazing fudge - some of the best I've tasted. I've seen this on sale in B&M bargains recently so...

A new Kitkat flavour is always a "big thing" in my opinion, considering it's the biggest selling chocolate bar in the world. Nestlé UK have been quite busy with the Kitkat brand recently, launching a new  Kitkat Chunky Double Caramel , and also this new toffee variety in the multi-pack range found in the biscuit aisle. At first I thought this would simply consist of toffee flavoured wafer, but turns out it actually has a toffee flavoured coating! It's kind of similar to the Kitkat Caramac they did years ago, but this one has two layers: one of toffee flavoured white & dark chocolate, and a base layer of milk chocolate. Opening the wrapper, the bars had a very strong toffee aroma...I could tell this was going to be sweet! Unlike the 4-finger and Chunky Kitkats, this 2-bar version has retained the much-loved foil wrapper, and I have to applaud Nestlé for this as it looks quite grand with the light glistening off it! Peeling the foil off reve...

It's not often we get a new Bounty variety in the UK....in fact, outside of import stores I've never seen anything different from the Milk and Dark chocolate versions. So when I spotted this "Noir" with 75% cocoa solids recently I just had to pick one up! They were on offer of 3 for a pound, which is a great bargain, although they were a little past the best before date...boo! The only other Bounty variety I can remember ever trying was a Mango flavour , way back in around 2004. Sadly it was an import and only available in discount stores. Some countries also get a Cherry Bounty ...now that's one I'd like to see in the UK! This one appears to be made in France and imported by Mars Canada, then shipped over to the UK...confusing! Opening the wrapper the first thing I noticed was that the chocolate looked a lot darker than the "Dark" Bounty we get in the UK.  The extra percentage of cocoa was very noticeable in the taste...it ...

Last year, Magnum UK brought out a new countline chocolate ...or rather, three mini chocolates in a countline wrapper. I was skeptical whether they would stick around to be honest, but it seems they must have been popular as they've now added a caramel variety to the range. Like the original variety this contains "a vanilla flavoured white chocolate truffle filling", and is complimented with a layer of firm caramel running above it. They're like mini versions of caramel magnums!  As with the original variety the chocolate is rich and good quality, a step above most average chocolate bars. The filling was smooth with a lovely vanilla hinted flavour, and tasted very reminiscent of Magnum ice cream. Which is nice...but a little odd in a chocolate bar. The caramel had a nice buttery flavour and complimented the truffle very well.  Overall, this is a nice addition to the Magnum countline range, although I think they could do something a little more exc...