Kev's Snack Reviews

Many thanks to Bring Back Banjo Chocolate Bar for once again sending some lovely chocolates my way! I've been sitting on these for a while and unfortunately they melted somewhat. Not because of me sitting on them... but because of the heat-wave we had recently! So my apologies that I can't do these justice...they were definitely intact when I received them. First up is this Peanut Butter bar from Wawel ...that Polish company I'm not best friends with, since I've had a few duff chocolates from them in the past! Maybe they could woo me back with their peanut butter chocolate...? Opening the wrapper I wasn't too excited...not only because of the melted chocolate, but because it had that distinctly "cheap" aroma that Wawel chocolate is known for. Still, I was hoping the peanut butter filling might save it. Looking at the ingredients list didn't offer me much hope...the bar contains vegetable fat, sunflower oil and other nasties. Biting in...

Many thanks to Bring Back Banjo Bar for sending me this Oreo Peanut Butter wafer recently - she's quite the wafer expert thanks to her campaign to bring back the long lost Banjo bar, and has sent me some great wafer bars recently. Please do sign the petition to bring back Banjo HERE ! At first I wasn't sure what this bar was as the writing is all in Chinese but the blue design just screamed "Oreo!" at me. I gathered that the logo in the corner was Kraft and the images of peanuts suggested it contained peanut butter. A quick google revealed that Grocery Gems reviewed this bar back in January - I must have missed it! Opening the wrapper revealed a crumbly chocolate wafer with a beige-coloured peanut butter cream filling. The wafer had a nice rich cocoa flavour whilst the peanut butter cream provided a hit of nutty, salty creaminess. The cream was a little sparse and got lost in the dryness of the wafer, but despite this the bar still made for a decent ...

Once again thank you to Bring Back Banjo for sending me these chocolate bars as part of a snacks package recently! Most of them are wafer-based, but of course none hold a candle to the awesome Banjo Wafer Bar last seen in the 80's... so please do sign the Bring Back Banjo Petition as well as Like Bring Back Banjo on Facebook :) The first bar we have is the Alibi Max which is basically a Lion Bar imitation. I've seen these in the Polish section of Tesco and I believe they come in different flavours. This one is the regular variety, and splitting it open revealed a familiar looking interior that looked very much like a Lion bar: It tasted pretty good, with a decent thick milk chocolate coating, chewy caramel and crunchy wafer, but it wasn't quite as good as a real Lion bar. It was still pretty tasty though and as an imitation Lion it does what it's supposed to. These are also available in a coconut version, and according to Tesco Online they're on specia...

Another snack from the package  Bring Back Banjo Bar  recently sent me...and surprise surprise, it's wafer-based! ;) Whilst not being as awesome as the sorely missed Banjo Wafer Bar, these Reese's Sticks are pretty amazing as far as nuts and wafer goes! Opening the pack revealed two chocolate coated wafers which were light and crunchy and similar in texture to Nestlé Blue Riband. They were much tastier though! There was a layer of delicious Reese's peanut butter creme running through them with a slight salty edge, which tasted every bit as delicious as it sounds! The combination of crunchy wafer, peanut butter and sweet milk chocolate made these a perfect snack, combining all the best elements of a wafer with Reese's peanut butter - what more could you want? Don't get me wrong I love a Kitkat with my coffee but these made for a tasty change! RATING: 8 out of 10. Many thanks to Bring Back Banjo Bar for sending me these - please sign the Bring Back Ba...

The 3Bit Bar was featured in a Choc It Out 10 Foreign Chocolate Bars video so I'm pleased to have finally managed to try one at last! These bars are often available in Polish import stores and are simple biscuit bars with a layer of cream filling coated in milk chocolate. Although I'm not sure why it's called 3 Bit since it comes in 5 bits!: Polish stores are always a treasure trove of cool snacks as they seem to be a lot more adventurous than us Brits, so you'll always find plenty of interesting biscuits and wafer bars there that you never would in any UK supermarket - I'd highly recommend taking a look sometime! There's also a Pina Colada version of this 3Bit bar! The bar was very tasty indeed - it's about half and half biscuit and cream filling, the biscuit being crunchy and almost shortbread like in consistency, whilst the hazelnut cream is milky and sweet. It's a tad artificial in flavour but still very nice. The milk chocolate is stan...

A big thankyou to Bring Back Banjo Chocolate Bar for sending me this Tunnock's Caramel Log as part of a cool snacks package recently...stay tuned for more, and in the meantime please sign her  Petition to bring back the awesome Banjo Wafer Bar! I was a big fan of Tunnock's Coconut Snowballs as a kid, but oddly I've never tried any of their other products. I know they have a lot of history and a strong fan-base, though, so was very curious to see what this Caramel Log Wafer would be like. Although the packaging is rather retro and plain, opening it up revealed a rather cool-looking wafer bar that somewhat resembles the Hershey's Zagnut : It's described as a "Roasted Coconut Covered Caramel Wafer Biscuit" which sounded like the perfect combination to me - coconut and caramel? I couldn't wait to get stuck in! Cutting it open revealed a thick caramel wafer, which smelled sweet and coconutty. Biting into a piece I was met with dense waf...

A big thankyou to Bring Back Banjo Chocolate Bar who sent me this Polish "WW" wafer bar recently! It's made by Wedel, one of the most popular chocolate brands in Poland, and is clearly copying the concept of another famous 4-finger wafer bar... Yes, we all know which one! I was really excited to try this and see how it compared to the iconic wafer bar that is Kitkat ... but as I suspected it was a poor imitator. Opening the wrapper revealed a very familiar looking bar - the size and design is pretty much identical to a Kitkat, save for the "WW" printed on each finger. It smelled very pleasant and chocolatey. Splitting it open revealed much lighter wafers than those in a Kitkat - they're a lot less crunchy and compact, but with a slightly thicker layer of milk chocolate. Taste-wise the chocolate was sweet and milky, with the wafer providing a light wheaty crunchiness. The bar made for a pleasant snack with a cup of tea...but was nowhere ...

Whew...life has been hectic lately and I've had barely any time for blog reviews! I thought it about time I crack down and do some though since my friend Bring Back Banjo Bar kindly sent me some snacks recently! Here are a few from the haul she sent me... Paynes Poppets Strawberry Milkshake: First up are these strawberry milkshake flavour poppets from Paynes confectionery. I always loved Poppets as a kid, especially the raisin, toffee and orange varieties...so was excited to try these! They were nice enough but extremely sweet and sugary, and without much chocolate flavour. They're ok as a quick snack but there's better strawberry flavoured chocolates out there. 6 out of 10. Reese's Pieces: Next up are Reese's Pieces. I first tried these years ago and remember thinking how rubbish they were, considering they're meant to be like a Reese's version of Smarties or M&M's. They're so bland and pointless and only taste mildly of peanu...

Unfortunately today's post isn't a review as I can't review the iconic Banjo chocolate wafer bar...as it no longer exists! That's because Mars Foods shamefully and selfishly stopped production of this fantastic bar in the early 1980's, leaving its fans heartbroken and a generation deprived of its awesomeness! Ok... I will admit I haven't actually tasted a Banjo bar, but I'm assured they were fantastic and far better than any other wafer bar on the market. Their unique selling point was their crispy wafers with a layer of chopped peanuts on top. There was also a toasted coconut version!: It sounds like a unique combination and not something you would find on shelves today. The only similar bar I can think of is Kinder Bueno, which is a bit of a different proposition altogether. It's about time Mars brought a bar like this onto the market again since they rarely do anything other than Galaxy variations these days, or Mars bars without the nougat ...

A big thankyou to the lovely Bring Back Banjo Chocolate Bar who kindly sent me this Tesco chocolate bar over the Christmas period. Please do check out her petition to bring back the iconic Banjo Wafer Bar (it was around in the 80's) which is sorely missed by many. Please also sign the petition and Like the Bring Back Banjo Facebook page ! If Wispa can come back then so can Banjo! Onto the Tesco bar then, the packaging looks like a £50 note, which must surely mean it's one of the most expensive chocolate bars around?! Unfortunately it's not, but it turned out to be a surprisingly tasty bar of Belgian milk chocolate. To cut to the chase, it tasted very delicious. It had a typical Belgian chocolate flavour - very silky and luxurious, as well as being creamy and melt-in-the mouth. I'm not sure if this is the same as the milk chocolate in Tesco's finest range but it was pretty fine indeed. It didn't take me long to scoff half of the bar! Overall, ...