Will's UK Candy Round-Up

A little backstory: Heather and I have been to the UK twice--London in 2005 and Dublin just recently. On both occasions, I marvel at the candy available at convenience stores and share my thoughts with Heather. This time around, she told me to write a blog about it so I would stop pestering her. We selected what I thought was a nice cross section of the candy available and without further ado: Will's UK Candy Round-Up.

Time Out - It's helpful to think of this bar as kind of like a big Kit Kat. It's got a nice crunch to it which is somewhat unique compared to it's UK competition.

Moro - At the heart of Cadbury's Moro bar is what seems to be a chocolate nougat along the lines of a Three Musketeers Bar only darker. It has some crunch to it but rather that a solid cookie backbone, there are bits of cookie--or "biscuit"--scattered throughout. An aspect I thought was unique was that there is a layer of caramel that surounds the entire nougat/cookie nucleus. A membrane, if you will. It's kind of like eating a science project. A delicious science project. On top of this membrane is a coating of chocolate. The bar is kind of big so you really get your money's worth. I would definitely buy this one again.

Aero and Mint Aero - There was a serious ad campaign for Aero going on when we were in Dublin. It seemed like every other bus was plastered with Aero posters. The slogan for Aero is "Feel the Bubbles," which is fun, but tells you nothing about the taste. The bubbles aren't liquid bubbles or anything like that. They're suspended throughout the bar like styrofoam, but tastier. I wouldn't have used the bubbles as a selling point. I've never been eating a candy bar and thought to myself, "This candy bar is good but it could use more bubbles." Nevertheless Aero is an intriguing bar. I think the bubbles help the chocolate melt a little in your mouth, giving the texture a smoothness it might not otherwise have. Both the chocolate and mint flavors are very good. but I prefer the mint.

Crunchie - Heather and I didn't particularly care for this one. At its core there is a honey flavored wafer of some sort--like a weird caramelized cookie. For me, honey and chocolate don't go together particularly well. It's an interesting experience to be sure, but one that I don't have a strong desire to repeat.

Yorkie - I've known about the Yorkie since 2005 but it was only on the Dublin trip that I got around to trying one. The slogan is, "It's Not For Girls." The O in Yorkie contains a depiction of a woman that you might find on a ladies room door. The figure is holding a purse and it has a giant red slash through it. I suppose the marketing relies on reverse psychology to reach out to women. A female might pass a Yorkie on a candy stand and think, "I'll show them." The bar is nothing more than solid milk chocolate perforated into big hunks. I suppose it is pretty intense. Having a giant wad of chocolate in one's mouth is not the most ladylike thing one can do. Perhaps Nestle sees the slogan as nothing more than fair warning.

Starbar - When I picked up a Starbar at the convenience store, I thought for some reason that it would be like a 100 Grand Bar or a giant Ferraro Rocher. The slogan is, "Shot through with Peanuts and Caramel." I was surprised to find that it was actually more like a Reese's Fast Break or a Funny Bone. It has a sort of peanut butter creme filling with the peanuts and caramel under the chocolate coating. Not really my cup of tea but if you like Fast Breaks, you'll probably like Starbar.

Galaxy - No scam here. Just really good chocolate. They're packaged a lot like Dove chocolate is here in the States and with good reason. Very smooth, very rich milk chocolate. We also tried one with a cookie crunch to it which was also very good. Heather also bought a package of Galaxy Mistletoe Kisses--little bite size pieces of Galaxy--for us to enjoy closer to Christmas.

Twirl - A Twirl comes with two little bars about the size of Twix Bars. The filling might be hard to explain. It's just chocolate, but little ribbons of chocolate. Like somebody took a sheet of chocolate and crumpled it up into a cylinder. Not rolled but crumpled. And once it's in cylinder form, they coat it in chocolate. It's good, but I got kind of bored with it. I don't know that there's a need to put two in the same package.

Flake - A Flake Bar is like a Twirl Bar except it's bigger, there's only one of them and it has no chocolate coating. It's just the crumpled up chocolate ribbon. Interesting but brittle. Little flakes of chocolate were getting away from me and landing on the table. I'm fairly surprised that they are able to manufacture and ship these without the chocolate coming apart.

Those are all the candies we tried. We would have tried more but this is how Heather gets me to go on European vacations in the first place. She bribes me with candy. Maybe next time I can buy a whole box of something. I'll be saving up my Euros.