Kev's Snack Reviews

After seeing this bar on a few Polish blogs, I was excited to see if it would make it's way to the UK, and luckily it has! It's a little difficult to track down, and only seems to be available in selected Polish stores. It's basically a Wedel version of Caramac, although it consists of white chocolate as well as caramel powder. The bar weighs 90g and cost 89p, which isn't bad considering it's an imported chocolate. Opening the wrapper, I was met with a lovely butterscotch aroma. The chocolate was of course very sweet, as you would expect. The flavour of caramel and white chocolate went together very well, and there was a hint of salt in there which helped temper the sweetness a little. Compared to Nestlé's Caramac, I would say this was nicer as it didn't have that waxy texture that Caramac does. Overall, this is a very tasty bar and if you happen to spot one in any European stores I would recommend giving it a try! It's definitely one for the...

Whilst in my local Polish store recently I was in need of a choccy fix...and decided to go for this large Wedel Crème Brûlée bar. It's quite a hefty slab of chocolate so I knew it would be worth the price (£2.19). They also had a Raspberry Panna Cotta bar but Crème Brûlée is more up my street! The chunks are sectioned with an interesting shape on each block - they reminded me of bottle caps, but I think they're meant to resemble the ramekins traditionally used for crème brûlée. Inside these sections was a layer of gooey golden caramel, with a layer of panna cotta cream and crunchy caramel pieces underneath. It tasted...amazing! The cream filling was very smooth with a subtle vanilla flavour, with the crunchy caramel pieces adding a nice crunch. The softer caramel tasted gooey, sweet and buttery and went perfectly with the cream, making the bar feel very indulgent. It was a massive sugar overload, of course, but the kind that makes you feel warm and happy inside! ...

Last year I found some unusual and interesting chocolate bars in a local Polish store. I was very excited because these flavours aren't typically found in most UK shops, and it seems the Polish are an adventurous bunch compared to us Brits! Thanks goodness their chocolates are available in the UK then! Wedel are a well-known Polish chocolate company, and I believe they used to be owned by Cadbury. They make pretty decent chocolate compared to other Polish companies (such as Wawel) and do some pretty exciting flavours too! An example of that is Wedel Maxi Smak. This is a milk chocolate bar with a cream filling and a layer of lemon and orange jam. The jam provided a zingy tartness which tasted rather unusual combined with the cream and milk chocolate. Usually I like lemon flavours paired with cream, but in this case the inclusion of orange somewhat spoiled the overall flavour. Overall, this was an interesting bar in terms of novelty but didn't quite work for me. ...

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 ...

Just a quick review for these "Ptasie Mleczko" today...they're made by Polish company E Wedel and are basically two marshmallow fingers coated in milk chocolate. They come in a twin-pack and remind me of those 2-finger Kitkats you get in multipacks. According to Wikipedia they are very well-known in Poland and Wedel have exclusive rights to the name. The name means "birds milk" (hence the bird image on the wrapper) and is attributed to old Slavic folk tales, where a beautiful princess tests the resourcefulness of her man by sending him into the wilderness to bring back the one fantastical luxury she does not have: bird's milk (source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptasie_mleczko ). Sounds like these have quite an interesting history! Each finger is quite thick with a thin coating of milk chocolate, and when I cut into one I found it rather soft and squidgy. The marshmallow tasted pleasant enough, and had a lovely creamy vanilla undertone, but ...

I couldn't resist this bar of Wedel "Leśny Duet" when I saw it in my local import store recently. The name translates into English as "forest duo", but presumably it's meant to be "fruits of the forest". The back of the wrapper describes the bar as "Milk chocolate with blueberry and wild strawberry filling". I'm not sure what the difference between regular strawberries and "wild" strawberries is - perhaps these ones are grown in forests? Taste-wise the chocolate was lovely. The fruity filling was delightful and had a nice blueberry and raspberry tang. They weren't the freshest of flavours and did taste a tad artificial, but I didn't mind because they actually worked really well with the cream centre and the chocolate. It was a very moreish combination and I soon ate most of the bar! Overall, I thought this was a very tasty bar from Wedel and I'm disappointed they no longer stock it in my local store. ...

I've had a lot of snacks reviews building up for a while now - things that get left by the wayside as newer, more interesting snacks get released. In light of Grocery Gem's fantastic Random Reviews posts I thought I'd do something similar, so here's introducing Kev's Pick & Mix: an assortment of mini snacks and drinks reviews! Barratt British Mix: I don't think these are available in shops anymore, I found them several months ago in Discount UK and they were a month out of date at the time. They tasted slightly stale but came in some interesting "British themed" shapes, such as teapots, red telephone boxes, Queen's guards, Bulldogs and Big Bens: They appear to have been a limited edition release to co-incide with the olympics and Royal Wedding last year. Bloc Candy Jelly Bean Lovehearts: "Bloc" branded sweets are available from Asda stores, but I've also seen a lot of their range in discount stores such as B...

Whilst looking at the chocolates in my local European import store recently I spied this bar of Wedel Pierrot. It caught my attention because of the vibrant packaging and also the jesters hat. After a bit of online research it seems that it's to represent a pantomine character called Pierrot . The bar is comprised of milk chocolate with a peanut praline filling and chopped peanuts. I was looking forward to tasting it because I love the combination of peanuts and chocolate, it's so moreish! And indeed it tasted amazing. The peanut praline was super creamy and with a moreish nutty taste, and was so addictive I demolished most of the bar in one go (peanut butter has a similar effect on me!). The chopped peanut pieces added to the moreishness, giving the bar a delicious crunch. Overall, a delicious bar of chocolate which I would definitely buy again. If you like praline and peanuts, I would recommend having a look for this bar in your local import store. I notice...