Gu After Dark Blueberry Cheesecakes (Waitrose) [By @Cinabar]

I though Gu and Fru were products from the same company. I thought the distinction was that Fru were the fruity desserts, and Gu were the chocolaty ones and this is what I have believed until today. This pudding is clearly more fruity i.e. Fru than chocolaty Gu, but it is still Gu branded... so perhaps they just toss a coin to chose a brand? To be fair their goodies are good with whichever packaging, so I’ll stop worrying about it! The box is neatly designed with a very tempting cover image.
The last cheesecake style dessert I had from Fru was the Key Lime Pie, which I thought was absolutely fantastic, so I was really pleased to see this blueberry version albeit from Gu. Inside the glass dish is a sweet biscuit base, made up of crushed and compacted crumbs. The next layer up was the creamy cheese. It had a gentle flavour, velvety but with a nice subtle hint of sweet to balance it. I have to say as much as I liked it, I did just prefer the lighter whipped version in the Key Lime Pie. The next section was the blueberry compote, which was a rich deep purple in colour. It had a nice mix of textures from the berries, and the flavour was sweet, fruity and very fragrant from the blueberries. It was a lovely layer and really made the dessert. There was some crumble decorating the top too, but it was mostly for visual effect but did add a nice edge to the texture.
All in all this is a lovely blueberry pudding, the layers all worked really well together bringing a clever balance between creamy and fruity. As always with Gu and Fru it’s another fabulous luxury dessert that is definitely worth checking out.

By Cinabar

New Milka: Milka Rice Vanilla / Milka Cream & Almond Splitter [Pound Shop][By @Cinabar]

I have to start with a big thank you to David H for locating these two new bars of Milka for me. They are both quite interesting flavours, one of which is with a rice dessert taste which is something I’ve not seen before. I’m a big Milka fan, so as usual apologies for any bias that may have sneaked subtly in to the following write ups...

Milka Cream & Almond Splitter
This bar is enrobed in the finest milk chocolate known to man. ;-) Inside its filling is a thick creamy layer of light almond paste, with small pieces of almond mixed in for good measure. The filling is lovely and creamy, and the nutty flavour is strong without being too floral as almond sometimes can be. I liked the gentle crunch from the nut pieces, as it gave the bar a good mix of textures. The flavour was smooth and I really adored the nut and Milka combo, so this made a fabulous bar for me.

Milk Rice Vanilla
Well this is an unusual combination of flavours for a chocolate bar, and I think it is trying to represent some sort of rice pudding dessert. The Milka chocolate is obviously perfection as an outer shell as Milka always is. ;-) The filling is a little bit different. It is creamy, but has a slight crunch to it from what seems to be puffed rice. As these puffed rice bits are in a paste, they are also kind of lightly chewy. The texture is a bit odd, but the flavour of the filling is nice, it’s sweet almost honey like and does have a hint of rice pudding about it. So the tastes are really positive, but the texture lets it down a little. Out of the two new bars, the almond one is the clear winner, but I’ve always had a weakness for nuts and chocolate. This rice bar does get bonus points for creativity though. :-)

By Cinabar

Pot Noodle – Chinese Chow Mein (Sainsburys) [By @SpectreUK]

I picked up this Pot Noodle with a second in the local supermarket. The second Pot Noodle was Southern Fried Chicken flavour. I put the SFC flavour on a cupboard shelf and have been quietly dreading eating it ever since. On opening the Chinese Chow Mein flavour I noticed this pot consisted of the usual type of noodles with dried bits. There was also the usual sachet, this time full of Soy Sauce. I added freshly boiled water, left it to stand for a while and then stirred in the Soy Sauce. This produced a lovely smell of Chow Mein. I noticed there were bits of carrots and chives in with the brownish liquid and noodles. The ingredients also included; tomato, ginger, cinnamon and garlic. All the flavours subtlety blended into one to provide a delicate Chow Mein taste that belied the stronger smell. This was a good quality moreish Chinese noodle soup. Actually, “good” doesn’t give this Pot Noodle justice. I reckon it’s one of the best Pot Noodles I’ve tasted to date. It wasn’t over spicy, as some are, and didn’t taste a bit weird as some do. I’m sure it’s perfect for a late night snack in front of the television, especially after too much booze and something light is required for a dickey tummy. I enjoyed John Wayne’s Horse Soldiers whilst I ate this Pot Noodle, dipping in bits of bread to soak up the sauce, and had a couple of packets of Salt ‘n’ Vinegar flavoured Chipsticks on the side to dip in Salad Cream. I’d definitely buy this Chinese Chow Mein Pot Noodle again, but it hasn’t stopped me from dreading the Southern Fried Chicken flavour... not one bit!

By Spectre

Really Fruity Mango Spaghetti (Marks & Spencer) [By @Cinabar]

Before anyone gets too excited about the craziness of this product, it isn’t a new strange variety of pasta, just a bag of sweets. A novelty one though, that claims to be ‘newfangled’ no less. I used to eat strawberry laces all the time as kid, and these look like a modern version of those with a tropical fruit base. I can’t tell you how much I loved strawberry laces, and kola kubes, and white candy sticks... and you get the idea. ;-)
I took one of the long thin orange strands out of the brightly coloured pack, and was surprised by the lack of fruity smell. The only aroma was sweet but neutral and not that fruity at all. I took my first bite, and have to say I was disappointed. I thought the taste was a bit odd, mainly because there wasn’t much flavour at all. The pack says that it contains “10% fruit juice” but I can’t imagine where that flavour went. That should have provided a fantastic hit of natural juiciness, but the only taste I had was so weak, it was unidentifiable, and certainly not strong mango. I also noticed that that my fingers were covered in a layer of an oily substance despite the fact that I had been holding just one strand. I found this profoundly confusing because as a brand Marks & Spencer consistently brings out excellent quality products and it is very unusual for them to miss like this.
I gave Spectre one of these strands to check it wasn’t just me and he said; “shall I bin the rest of the bag?” I am starting to think I may have been unlucky and bought a packet that just didn’t meet the normal quality standards, and perhaps had some of the flavourings missed out? The trouble is I don’t fancy buying another bag to find out. Has anyone else tried them? What did you think?

By Cinabar

Mr Simms Chocolate Bars: Cocoa Cola / Rhubarb & Custard / Mint With Dark Chocolate Chips [By @cinabar]

If we all think back to our first experience of chocolate we put aside thoughts of cocoa percentages and origins of bars and just enjoyed the sweet melt in the mouth treat in front of us. Chocolate used to be simple and fun, not serious and Mr Simms seems to be trying to recreate that. Aficionados will declare the substances in the bars here confectionary not chocolate, and they may well have a point - but no one can argue that the tastes and flavours really are quite something.

Mint With Dark Chocolate Chips
This is the green bar. I haven’t eaten a lot of green chocolate, but I wouldn’t worry about eating peppermint green ice cream so I’m not going to let this bother me! The mint base has dark chocolate chips in it which is a fun idea. The bar is sweet and has lovely tones of both refreshing mint and chocolate. The green part seems to be a minty sweet white choc, as there is a creaminess about it too. The bar has a lovely texture, fairly firm to break but gives easily when bitten and melts pleasingly in the mouth. It’s very easy eating and if you like peppermint choc chip ice cream you'll live this, I did!

Cocoa Cola
I love the name! I don’t know if they named it after they made it or whether they made it because someone thought of the name, but either way it is genius and made me laugh. There are giant jelly cola bottles decorating this one which makes it difficult to break up and share, but they do look the part. The flavour is quite something. There is lots of cola taste, but also the smooth flavours of both white and milk chocolate. It’s very different and a curious combination but it worked. I have a sweet tooth and I think you'd need one for this bar. Cola is sugary but the cola’s citrus and warm flavours shone through too. It’s hard to describe the taste as I’ve never had anything like it before, but the closest thing I can think of is Caramac and that doesn’t do it justice, but probably gives you a sweetness guide. I loved this bar, but I would like it without the jellies as although they looked pretty they were a tad chewy and broke up the texture.

Rhubarb & Custard
This bar is a bright pink and yellow in colour, and reminds me of the classical sweets. It is very vibrant to look at. There are sweets decorating it too, but thankfully they are lovely and soft and not at all chewy. The base flavour is gorgeous, there are wonderfully creamy tones of custard, and a fabulous zingy flavour from the rhubarb. The flavours changes with each bite, and brings a different ratio of custard and rhubarb flavours. It worked surprisingly well as a bar and the white chocolate tones helped the smoothness of the custard too. I loved the unique nature of the concept, and the strength of flavours was very impressive.

In short these bars are fun, creative and tasty and really do tick all the boxes. Enjoy them for what they, different and flavoursome and when you eat them let them take you back to being a kid when chocolate was just a fun treat.

By Cinabar