Splinter in the Glass

Chau’colat:  Hot Chocolate  by Belfine of Belgium    www.belfine.com

Belfine’s Chau’colat really is a wonderful concept: an adorable packaged chocolate lollipop that you stir into hot milk to make your own hot chocolate drink. The lollipop really is very cute, and the dark chocolate one that I tried had a lovely aroma that suggested real quality. Stirring the lollipop into the milk is fun, and theoretically you could thus make your drink as weak or strong as you liked it (and eat any leftover chocolate off the stick). Never one for half measures, I used the whole thing. The milk seemed to foam up pleasingly and I settled in to enjoy.

But I’m very sad to say, the taste was disappointing. The dark chocolate bitterness was there, but without a quality chocolate flavour. Nor was the bitterness balanced by any sweetness. I really wanted this to be special. It feels special to make hot chocolate this way. But for me, the drink did not live up to its great promise. Compounding my dissatisfaction, there was a big splinter left in my cup from the stick that I might easily have swallowed.

Perhaps the milk chocolate variety is better. I would certainly try it. But as far as the dark one goes, I think Belfine need to ramp up the chocolate flavour to make this the great product it really could be.

Verdict: Sadly disappointing  - 4/10

A Haven for Chocolate Purists.

Monsieur Truffe: 90 Smith Street, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia.

I first sampled Monsieur Truffe’s wares at the Rush Chocolate Festival a couple of years ago. I was most impressed then by his wonderful line of truffles – particularly the innovative and divine-tasting chocolate-passionfruit truffle. So it was with interest that I visited their Smith St cafe.

Delightfully decorated with charming wallpaper murals and a whole wall displaying their range of chocolate blocks, Monsieur Truffe presents a warm and inviting environment for the chocolate lover. Unlike other chocolate lounges which offer different flavours of hot chocolate, MT offers instead a variety of hot chocolates of different strengths and with different origins. I ordered the 72% (I think!) hot chocolate, plus two of the very appealing looking Macarons: salted caramel and chocolate.

The chocolate Macaron was excellent, but the caramel was neither caramelly nor salty enough for my taste. The hot chocolate really is something different to the usual offerings; a very strong, fruity and bitter chocolate taste, undoubtedly made from fine quality chocolate. Perhaps I am not enough of a purist for this kind of chocolate experience though. While I can appreciate the purity, I missed the creamy consistency of other hot chocolates I have enjoyed, and yes, the sweetness. It also gave me an instant caffeine headache (but I have to say I am a little sensitive to caffeine). This is perhaps more like an espresso than the regular milky kind of hot chocolate, and would likely be better enjoyed by lovers of that kind of very strong and intense flavour experience.

Overall, while I admired the decor, and Monsieur Truffe’s dedication to purity in chocolate, I was a little bit disappointed at the small range of eat-in chocolate fare, and a bit intimidated by the prices of their take-home products.

Verdict: Decor 10/10 Service 9/10 Products consumed 6/10

An interesting experience, perhaps more suited to chocolate-lovers with a seriously purist bent than my more mainstream tastes.

The Candy Man Can’t…

Planet Chocolate, Westfield Doncaster, Melbourne, Victoria.

Appearances can be very deceiving. At a glance, Planet Chocolate presents a little Willy Wonka style wonderland of chocolate fountains, desserts and colourful slices, and a large array of pretty individual chocolates.

Very sadly though, the wonders here are only skin deep. My Mars Bar Brownie tasted like a mixture of the refrigerator and cheap Jersey caramels - way too sugary. The Tim Tam Ice Breaker was, alas, not nearly as good as its counterpart at Gloria Jean’s (by which all Tim Tam drinks must be measured). My fellow researchers were equally disappointed with their selections.

The worst part of our experience though was the service. Numerous teens milled around behind the counter, apparently eager to avoid contact with the public. My server actually just disappeared in the middle of my order, to be replaced by another teen whose mouth was so full of food, she looked like a little chipmunk storing nuts for Winter. She couldn’t actually speak. Adult supervision might be helpful here.

Planet Chocolate is probably a lot of fun for kids and teens – who are likely the target market here. But as an adult, I found the whole experience very unsatisfactory.

Verdict: Decor/Styling: 8/10    Food/Beverages 5/10    Service 0/10

White is the new black.

Choceur White Coconut block. Purchased from Aldi.

I’m down to my last piece of Aldi’s Choceur White Coconut block, and I’m not happy. I need more. Where did it all go – and so quickly?

I’m generally no great lover of white chocolate, but the siren call of the coconut drew me in, and I had to try it. And can I say that now I am a great lover of white chocolate? What makes this block so friggin’, mother-grabbingly, unbefrackinlievably good is the combination of the coconut plus the addition of crunchy cornflake pieces, which contrast beautifully with the thick creamy texture of the chocolate.

And the aroma! Heaven in a reasonably priced and generously proportioned box! Now I’m down to my last half piece … Trying to make it last …

This is a rich and wonderfully flavoured delight, and I will certainly be buying it again. Tops marks to Aldi on their very impressive chocolate selection, I’m officially impressed. And now it’s all gone, I’m officially depressed.

Verdict: 10/10 More!

Go Fudge Yourself

McDonald’s “M Selections” Chocolate Oreo Shake.

Going into this, my expectations were not high, but I have to say that Macca’s have really raised their game with this offering. Your enjoyment will depend completely on whether or not you like the hot chocolate fudge sauce they use in their sundaes. This sauce is applied liberally to the inside of the cup and adds a rather delicious dimension to the experience – you can stir it in or scoop it out with the straw. The heat of the fudge adds another novel dimension, as you can feel it through the cup. Oreo bits on the top add a nice bit of crunchy texture.

It’s not gourmet fare, but on the cheap and cheerful side of the market, it represents very good value at under AU$4.00, and it certainly holds its own alongside the cold chocolate drinks offered by other chain outlets (which are often ridiculously overpriced).

If you enjoy a good fudge, this milkshake may well be your new fudge buddy.

Tip: Avoid the large size in this shake, as the flavour seemed to be a bit weaker for some reason.

Rating: Affordable indulgence. 8/10

Snap, Crackle and Font

Moser Roth Finest Dark Chocolate, 70% Cocoa

Purchased from: Aldi’s, Benalla, Victoria.

Cost: Forgotten, maybe four bucks fiddy, something like that.

Is Aldi cool or daggy? Either way I bloody love it. The weird familiar/unfamiliar product brands, taunting the copyright lawyer that lurks in the dark parts of our collective consciousness; the WTF? specials, like violins and USB turntables. All of these factors plus the chance to cock a snook at the supermarket duopoly make Aldi a wonderful place for me.

In the not too distant future La Chocista and I will do a Super Aldi Chocolate Roundup, and taste every chocolate product Aldi sells and blog the highs and lows for your entertainment. However I thought today I’d discuss the super chocolate we picked up last week before catching the train from Benalla to Melbourne.

Moser Roth 70% is delightful. The 125g pack is divided into 5 individually wrapped bars. They’re large but dainty enough so that you can’t shove the entire block in your mouth sideways (pretty sure that was part of the design specification for the product). What’s super nice is that each block is imprinted with the branding, which is a very handsome art nouveau type font, with some quite stylish decorative touches on the first and large letters. Mmm, that’s some classy fonty goodness right there.

The second very pleasing thing about this chocolate is the snap when you break or bite into it. The sound and the feel is about as good as it gets, since it achieves a striking balance between sharp precision and softness. Trust me, this is an extremely pleasurable chocolate to bite into.

This inexpensive chocolate compares extremely favourably to the Lindt 70%, so if you’re stopping by Aldi’s to pick up some cellos and front-loader washing machines, make sure you pick up a supply of the 70%.

Verdict: 8/10

If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t.

Mars Triple Choc Bar.

Let’s face it, the Mars Bar is a classic of the genre, like Gone With The Wind; it’s great as it is. We love fiery Scarlett’s flouncing, and Melanie’s sweetness, but would the film be better if there was three times the flouncing, or three times the sweetness? Or would it just be way over the top, and kind of unbearable?

Alas, so it is with the Triple Choc Mars Bar. Even I, heavyweight Olympic-standard consumer of chocolate that I am, found this little bar just too much. What has been tripled seemed to me to be only a kind of bitter simulacrum of dark chocolate – bitterness without a quality chocolate flavour.

The effect was rather like being force-fed Milo straight from the jar. By the end I felt a bit sick.

Verdict: Why tamper with perfection? 1/10

Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Sugar-Free

Valor Chocolates 70% Dark Chocolate, Sugar Free

Purchased from: Leo’s Fine Food and Wine, Melbourne.
Cost: Forgotten, I think around the $5 mark for a 100g block

March 2011

A delightful alternative to having your legs drop off.

A lot of chocolatistas and theohombreros will turn up their noses at the idea of sugar free, as opposed to pure hardcore unsweetened chocolate. Sugar free products are of course loaded with chemicals that don’t taste quite right in products that are meant to be simply sweet.
Chocolate, particularly fine chocolate, is not meant to be an uncomplicated matter of sweetness. One should expect a complex interplay between the bitter and the sweet and ride the razor’s edge between the savoury and the pudding, so while sweetness is necessary it is not the dominant component in one’s appreciation of chocolate.
Beloved picked this block and a couple of others in Leo’s last month and put it in the trolley. Sometimes I feel we need to circumvent the candy aisle and select the confectionery-free checkout when shopping with him, since Beloved is like a giddy treat-seeking missile of a boy, always placing chocolate and marshmallows in the trolley and hoping I won’t notice.
My eyebrows were raised by the “Sugar-Free” label, but I was reassured by the following message on the back of the package: “IT IS NOT A LOW CALORIE FOOD”. Whew! Thank Cripes for that! The English/Spanish packaging yielded other Spanglish goodies:
- Keep in a cool, dry and smellfree place.
- DIABETICS: This product may be useful in your diet on the advice of a phisicyan.
This second piece of hilarity struck a more sombre chord, since Ma has been diagnosed pre-diabetic, and muttering darkly about diabetics on both sides of the family, so it’s good to know that while we can do sensible things like knock off the sauce and exercise there still is room in one’s life for delicious chocolate.
And Valor 70% is a tasty chocolate. The sweetening is subtle, and the overall flavour is a complex, fruity-bitter Ghana/Panama/Ecuador blend. Any strange undertastes of the Phenyl Ketonurics* are masked by not making sweetness the dominant flavour in this chocolate.
Overall, faced with any illness where sugar can cause your legs to drop off, this sugar-free alternative offers hope for humanity.

* The packaging also feels compelled to point out that these ingredients are not found in regular chocolate, so that’s alright then.

Verdict:  7/10

Reese on Earth, Goodwill to Men…

Reese’s Clusters.

I look back on the day I was given a bag of Reese’s Clusters as a mixed blessing. What can I say except that these little individually wrapped portions of Heaven tick all my boxes. But of course there’s a hitch, and a truly dreadful one.

Combining thick caramel with salty peanut butter and nuts, generously proportioned and coated in pleasing milk chocolate, these little confections are like the concept of Yin/Yang manifested in chocolate form. They achieve the perfect balance of sweetness and saltiness, the ideal combination of disparate elements into one irresistible harmonious mouthful that will take you to Nirvana.

So what’s the problem? My friend bought them in Singapore. I have not seen them anywhere here in Australia. This is a situation that the United Nations should deal with – urgently!

Verdict: I have glimpsed a Heaven I may never reach again 10/10

Small Easter Bunny Delivers Big.

Koko Black – Easter Caramel Trio – Dark.  Made by Koko Black, Melbourne.

The phrase “it’s the thought that counts” is one usually applied to excuse a small gift. In the case of Koko Black’s little packaged trio of gorgeous dark chocolate Easter bunnies though, the thought counts for plenty.

I derived pleasure from simply inhaling the rich, dark aroma contained in this little bag. Is it wrong to “chrome” chocolate? Not this chocolate. For me, the quality of Koko Black’s chocolate is always at the high-end of the scale. This small offering offers delight to every sense.

Not having read the label, I was expecting a solid chocolate bunny, and was ecstatically surprised to discover that these bunnies are filled with thick, creamy, but not overly sweet caramel that balances beautifully with the flavours of the very generous, dark chocolate coating.

If you were looking for a small Easter gift for someone who appreciates quality chocolate, you could do no better than this. How do they fit this much luxuriant, decadent delight into three tiny bunnies?

Verdict: Heavenly mouthfuls of perfection. 10/10.