British Archives - Page 2 of 3

December 17, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Yorkie – A Decent Dairy Milk Knockoff

Candy Bars, Chocolate

Yorkie is the British bar which proudly proclaims that “it’s not for girls!” Based on that slogan, I had sort of figured that Yorkie was going to do something like cram every conceivable candy bar filling into one bar, or something similarly ridiculous. But nope, it’s just plain milk chocolate. I’m really not sure what makes that female-inappropriate, since on the whole women tend to appreciate plain chocolate more than men. Yorkie is slightly bigger (and thus higher in calories) than your average single-serving candy bar, so I guess that could be it? Anyway, it’s highly probable that I’m overthinking what amounts to a silly (and potentially offensive) marketing gimmick.

What about the bar? Well, as I said, it’s just plain milk chocolate. The wrapper describes it as “chunky milk chocolate”, which is something else that puzzles me about this candy – it’s pure chocolate, no chunks. In North America, “chunky” is generally only used to denote something with chunks (at least in the context of candy), but I guess that’s different over there in the UK. But again, I digress.

So how’s the chocolate? It’s not bad, actually. It kind of reminds me of a slightly inferior version of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk. It’s sweet and creamy, with a similar taste and consistency to Cadbury’s product. I don’t think it’s quite as good, though if I had tried this without knowing what it was, I certainly could have been fooled into thinking it was Dairy Milk.

Manufactued by: Nestle
Calories (68 g bar): 367

November 5, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Terry’s Chocolate Orange: Mini Segments – A Fun Twist on a Classic Flavour

Chocolate

Terry’s Chocolate Orange are those fun, baseball-sized chocolates that you get to slam onto the counter in order to separate all the little segments. They are surprisingly delicious (I say surprisingly because, though the combination of chocolate and orange doesn’t exactly sound like a slam dunk, it actually works a lot better than you’d imagine).

These minis are pre-separated and individually wrapped, so you don’t need to slam them on anything (unless you want to, I guess). They all feature that classic combination of creamy chocolate and fruity orange that have made Terry’s so famous, with a bit of a twist. They are:

Puffed Rice: The puffed rice really doesn’t add much here – there’s not much of it, and the rice itself isn’t particularly crispy. It’s still good, but only because the chocolate is good; I normally like the combination of chocolate and puffed rice, but here the somewhat soggy rice is completely superfluous, and if anything, detracts from the chocolate. Definitely the weakest of the bunch.

Milk Chocolate: This is just the standard Terry’s Chocolate Orange, no frills. The milk chocolate is nice and creamy, and it strikes a good balance between the chocolate the and orange. Good stuff.

Cornflakes: This is definitely a big improvement over the rice; the flakes add a satisfying crispiness to the chocolate, and along with that, they contribute a surprisingly pronounced corny flavour.

Dark Chocolate: This is about a half-and-half split between the milk and the dark chocolate. If you’re not necessarily a fan of Terry’s signature chocolate/orange taste, this is probably the one for you – the dark chocolate doesn’t seem to be orange flavoured, giving this one a much more subtle orange flavour. It’s also, not surprisingly, much less sweet than the standard chocolate orange.

Crunchy Honey: The description of “sweet, crunchy honey flavoured bits” made me think of Toblerone, however the honey bits are larger and crunchier than the ones found in that bar, and they give this a fairly strong honey aftertaste. Another winner.

Aside from the somewhat anemic puffed rice flavour, these are all quite good an a definite must-buy if you’re a fan of Terry’s Chocolate Orange. However, with the possible exception of the dark variant, these all definitely have that specific Terry’s flavour, so if you’re not already a fan then these aren’t going to change your mind.

Manufactured by: Terry’s
Calories (for 5 pieces, 39 g): 200

October 29, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Double Decker – A Seriously Delicious British Candy Bar

Candy Bars

This is yet another British bar from the import store. This one actually makes me wish I lived in Britain; I’m not sure I’ve ever had this bar before, but I know I’ll be eating it again – even if it means a trek out to the import store and paying a bit more than normal (imported candy bars tend to go for two or even three bucks).

Double Decker consists of two layers: the first being milk chocolate nestled with bits of crisped rice, and the second being “chewy nougatine” (no, I haven’t heard of nougatine either – perhaps it’s a British thing?). The nougatine actually reminded me more of marshmallow than nougat – it had that sort of soft, spongy texture marshmallow tends to have, and it tasted a little bit richer than the usual nougat, with an almost subtly roasted marshmallow type of flavour.

As for the bottom layer, it’s kind of like a Crunch bar, only with crunchier, more substantial pieces of crisped rice. The crunchy rice works very well here, doing a great job of complimenting the chewiness of the nougatine. Also, the amount of chocolate in the bottom layer gives this bar a much chocolatier flavour than the standard candy bar.

Double Decker kind of tastes like the love child between a Nestle Crunch bar and a Mars bar (a.k.a. Milky Way, for all you Americans). It’s pretty great. Cadbury definitely needs to bring this one to North America, and fast.

Manufactured by: Cadbury
Calories (60 g bar): 275

October 27, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Cadbury Flake – Plain Chocolate in an Interesting Shape

Candy Bars

Flake is one of those candy bars where the title really says it all – it is extremely flaky. It’s basically just plain milk chocolate, molded in such a way that it becomes very flaky and delicate. It’s not a particularly attractive bar, resembling an old tree, or an extremely old piece of chocolate, if chocolate were able to grow old and become wrinkly.

Other than the very different presentation, it’s essentially just Cadbury milk chocolate, though it does seem a bit sweeter than usual. It’s also not quite as creamy as you might expect, with a slightly grainy consistency, however that might just be because the bar I had was a bit on the stale side (the packaging indicated that it was due to expire in a couple of months).

The real highlight of Flake is its signature shape — it has an appealing crumbliness in your mouth, which makes it a bit more interesting to eat than a standard piece of chocolate. It’s kind of like Aero or Mirage in that sense, so it’s a bit more exciting than your usual bar of plain milk chocolate (not that plain milk chocolate isn’t exciting, but sometimes you want something a bit different).

Manufactured by: Cadbury
Calories (32 g bar): 170

October 21, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Lion – Crispy, Chewy, and Delicious

Candy Bars

This is another British bar that I purchased at the import store I mentioned in my Time Out review. This one’s called Lion, and it’s essentially a denser version of a Mr. Big bar (which, I suppose, will mean little to most Americans as neither bar is available in the States, as far as I’m aware). Basically, it’s a filled wafer, topped with a rather thick layer of chewy caramel, and coated with milk chocolate and bits of crispy puffed rice.

It’s good. The caramel is very chewy – it takes a while to fully chew, even after the other stuff is long gone. This gives the bar a satisfying richness. It helps that the caramel is surprisingly subtle, and not very sweet at all (by candy bar standards, at least). The whole bar is actually a bit less sweet than the usual American offering. The crispy rice and wafers provide a nice contrast to the soft caramel, making the bar texturally interesting. The wafer adds some sweetness to the bar, as well as the usual mildly wheaty/wafery taste (What’s that you say? “Wafery” isn’t a word? Sure it is! Don’t look it up, though. Just take my word for it).

I think I might prefer Lion to Mr. Big, as it seems to have a bit more substance, though I’d have to try a Mr. Big again to be sure. It’s definitely a shame that this isn’t available in North America outside of specialty stores.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Calories (55 g bar): 277