Kev's Snack Reviews

Christmas is fast approaching, and while it might not be a White Christmas weather-wise (more like a washout-mas!) it now can be in terms of chocolate! Because you can get Cadbury Dream White Christmas bars with almonds, raspberries and rice crispies (available from Gb Gifts - Kevs10 gets you a 10% discount off all items). They've been selling out fast and I can see why! Now I'm a big fan of Aussie Dream white chocolate, maybe it's nostalgia since they stopped making it in the UK, but it does have a distinct "Cadbury" creamy flavour that I enjoy. So I was surprised that it actually played second fiddle in this bar and you could barely taste it! Yes, this bar is chock full of mix ins, from dried crunchy raspberries, crunchy roasted almonds and crispy rice pieces. Turning the bar over they're literally all that's visible on the bottom. I'm not always a fan of dried raspberries in chocolate to be honest, it can be either gritty or too tart...

You may have heard in the news recently that KitKat Chocolatory has been launched in the UK - it's a service where you can create your own KitKat bar with different chocolates and fillings, or choose ready made creations. The service is available in selected John Lewis stores as well as York's Chocolate Story, but will soon be more widely available to buy online too! I was very lucky to receive some samples recently from KitKat Chocolatory - thanks so much guys! There's some interesting flavours and varieties like Billionares Caramel, Gin and Tonic and more...but today lets start with the Springtime in Japan variety, which consists of 6 wafers coated in Ruby Chocolate, filled with an apple and cherry jam and cherry pieces. It's inspired by the beautiful springtime in Japan. Now I'm not a huge fan of Ruby Chocolate, I've had mixed experiences of tasting it thus far so wasn't the most excited about this, however I have to admit it looks very pretty inde...

Wow, it’s been a long time since I posted! Apologies to anyone who still reads my blog. I’ve somewhat migrated to Instagram and it’s taken up most of my time, although I do miss doing the more wordy food ramblings on here! I’m returning with a bit of a different review; it’s less of a snack and is actually a condiment - Mayo! But not just any ordinary Mayo, this is “Mayocado” from Hunter & Gather, a company specialising in paleo, grain free, and generally healthier products. They also do Extra Virgin Avocado Oil... I was intrigued by this mayo as it’s not only vegan, it’s made with avocado oil which is supposed to be healthier than the sunflower or rapeseed oils used in most commercial mayos. To make it egg free and vegan, they’ve used pea protein, and it also contains apple cider vinegar, Himalayan pink salt, lemon juice and konjac root. I’ll be honest, opening the lid and taking a spoon the texture looks neither super appetising nor “instagrammable” (yes that’s a...

Recently, Mars UK launched their M&M's bars range as well as Salted Caramel M&M's - what a treat! They're finally giving us more interesting products than they have in previous years. And these bad boys are extremely tasty; in fact I think I liked them more than regular M&Ms for a few reasons. Today's review is for the US version I got from A Taste Of The States - which I presume is the same as the UK one. Look at the block design - isn't it cool! The milk chocolate is smooth and has mini chocolate M&M's and peanuts embedded within, and the M logo on each block plus the M&M character smirking at you! The bar doesn't contain actual Peanut M&M's unfortunately, as I imagine they'd be a bit too big to cram into the block and still have it look all glossy. Instead it has milk chocolate mini M&M's plus roasted peanuts. The chocolate tastes pretty good quality, it's smooth and with a good cocoa flavour,...

Recently, folks got rather excited when two new Munchies varieties were announced by Nestle: the first being today's review; Munchies Chocolate Fudge Brownie, and the other being Cookie Dough. They're possibly the first new products from Nestle in a long, long time (maybe since the Munchies Bar in the 90's?) so this was indeed quite exciting news! The Chocolate Fudge Brownie variety had me rolling my eyes initially, because it sounded like it would just be chocolate flavoured caramel. However it turned out to be quite different - they've removed the caramel and replaced it with a chocolate fudge mixture! And in my opinion this is actually a good thing as it makes these a bit different. The Munchies look like the regular ones, but cutting them open reveals the fudgey chocolate filling with the classic biscuit centre in the middle.  I have to admit it does look a bit wrong without the caramel - that's what makes a Munchie a Munchie, after all! It...

I didn’t even know that Galaxy UK had stopped selling their Fruit & Nut variety until recently, when GB gifts announced they were getting some in. Apparently they haven’t been on shelves for a while now but I always just assumed they were still around. However I do have strong memories of trying them as a kid, in fact I had relatives who would buy the big blocks of them, back in the days when chocolate bars were still BIG. Whilst I came to love Cadbury Dairy Milk Fruit & Nut over the years, I did remember enjoying the Galaxy version for its creamy chocolate paired with fruit and nuts - a sweeter experience than Dairy Milk, but then Galaxy chocolate always has been (I think that may have changed in recent years). This version from GB Gifts, which is sourced from Galaxy Arabia like the Galaxy White Chocolate (why do they get all the best snacks?!) is pretty much the same as I recall although now comes in the sleek thin block design. Still it’s the silky Galaxy choco...

For some inexplicable reason, other countries get a lot of delightful snacks we seem unable to get ahold of here in the UK. Things like White M&Ms, Cadbury Caramilk Bars...and White Chocolate Galaxy! Yes this mythical creature actually exists and it’s thankfully now available to UK folks thanks to GB Gifts. They’re offering my readers a 10% discount off their site with code Kevs10 so be sure to use it if you want to try some! Check out the site here:  https://www.gbgifts.co.uk/ I was half expecting this chocolate to be a letdown if I’m honest, despite being so excited to try it. Surely it would just be a gimmick? Thankfully not! This chocolate is actually just as good as if not even BETTER than brands like Cadbury Dream and Milkybar! Yes, I did just say that! The bars come in the nice sleek-shaped block format that UK Galaxy also now comes in. The chocolate has a very milky and creamy aroma with a hint of vanilla. The taste is super creamy, very "full on" and wi...

So in the midst of this heatwave what did I do? Buy chocolate! Only because it’s new and only in the name of research, you understand ;) This new Cadbury Dairy Milk 30% Less Sugar is available from Sainsbury’s and costs £1.00 for an 85g bar. Obviously with this hot weather, it went squishy in my bag so I waited until I got home and popped it in the fridge to firm up again...  Hence the slightly melted appearance! But chocolate is chocolate so I just got stuck right in... The pieces are a little thinner than a regular bar of Dairy Milk, more akin to Milka bars. The aroma is an interesting sweet almost milkshake like smell. Intriguing!   The taste is interesting and actually surprised me to be honest. The ingredients list soluble maize fibre which is presumably how they’ve reduced the sugar content. So it also has extra fibre in compared to a regular Dairy Milk bar. Taste wise it's definitely lighter than a regular Dairy Milk, a bit less sweet but it still ha...

For once, it seems that Mars UK are giving British consumers a new M&M's variety we actually want (since they're denying us lovely treats such as White Chocolate M&M's, Peanut Butter Snickers, White Chocolate Galaxy and more - boo!) They've gone and replaced last years Crunchy Caramel M&M's with a Salted Caramel variety, which is very wise and does beg the question: why didn't they do this, like, 5 years ago when the salted caramel trend was at its peak? I guess things move slowly in the confectionery labs! (coming in three years time - Unicorn M&M's!) They've taken the smart step of using a chewy caramel in these, much like the Caramel M&M's available in the US, but with a salty twist. And they're honestly delicious! Better than the US variety, which although were good were not exactly what they'd been hyped up to be. The shells are classic colourful M&M's, with the chocolate being a little richer than ...

Amongst some of the sweets I got from A Taste of The States recently were these Dr Pepper Gummy Bottles - a rather unique take on the classic soda bottle sweet! To get a 20% discount off these or any other products on A Taste Of The States you can use the code KEV20. I've never been the biggest Dr Pepper fan I will admit, but I've always appreciated it now and then and I did used to enjoy it mixed with bourbon whisky in particular. The taste is hard to describe but everyone who's tried it knows it well - it reminds me of a marzipan almond type flavour, but super sweet. So how does this work in gummy bottle form? Opening the bag these certainly had a strong aroma of Dr Pepper - there was no mistaking it! The taste is interesting. I wouldn't say I loved it but nor did I hate it. It has a strong Dr Pepper flavour, but it's actually a lot sweeter than the drink itself in this gummy form - I don't know how they've managed that. A few sweets are nice, bu...

If you're into dairy free or vegan ice cream, good news, there's a new plant based alternative on the block: Coconuts Organic! Formerly called Coconuts Naturally they have rebranded and are now available in selected Tesco stores - do check out their website to see if they're available near you. You can find them in the Free From frozen food section for £5 a tub. This Choc Orange Swirl variety is described as "Organic, non-dairy chocolate orange ice cream, made with coconut cream, unrefined coconut sugar and laced with an indulgent chocolate sauce swirl". It contains no dairy, nuts or gluten and is free from major allergens. It's soil association certified organic and also approved by the vegan society. I couldn't wait to get this home to eat so cheekily ate some whilst in a Costa store right after buying it. There's a lovely orangey chocolate aroma on removing the lid. And the consistency is creamy, not too solid and was just beginning to get me...

Recently, I spotted a totally new vegetable/fruit (not sure which it actually is!) in Asda called Banana Blossom in a tin. It was next to the tins of Jackfruit which is a well known vegan meat alternative. I assumed it was a similar thing so happily bought some to try - it’s £1.50 a tin. The image on the wrapper looked innocent enough - battered fish pieces, only vegan! Surely this stuff must be good? Turns out that packaging was very misleading because nothing could prepare me for the horror that was lurking inside...when I opened the tin it was like opening something from a horror film, discovering the mouldy body of an ancient alien creature or other such evil. It looked hideous!! “Surely this is not meant for human consumption?!”, I thought. Heck it’s not even suitable for bird consumption....I think flies would even turn their nose up at this thing, which looked like rotten infested seaweed. When I posted this on my  Instagram  page the responses were pr...

Despite being a knock-off of Toblerone, Poundland's Twin Peaks bar has now racked up quite a number of varieties...there's everything from Milk Chocolate , White Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, Fruit and Nut...and there was even a Honeycomb flavour. It seems however that Honeycomb has made way for this new variety - Caramel Crunch (at least, they didn't have Honeycomb in Poundland when I spotted this). It sounds a bit like Daim crossed with Toblerone, doesn't it? The description certainly made it sound as such: "Milk chocolate with caramel, almond and honey nougat pieces". It comes in a vibrant, eye-catching red wrapper which is the only reason I noticed it nestled amongst all the other Twin Peaks bars. The block design is a bit different from Toblerone - probably to protect it from infringing copyright - and honestly doesn't look as cool. It's supposedly inspired by the Wrekin and Ercall hills which are based in Shropshire. But we all know what it...