Today's Review: Walkers Sensations Thai Sweet Chilli Crispy Thins

Everyone's getting in on the thin crisps lately. Jacobs (yum), Ritz (eh), and now Walkers have introduced Sensations Crispy Thins. They're like Sensations, but crispy and thin. Which is exactly what Sensations are... Hmm.

These may have a few flavours, but I only saw the Thai Sweet Chilli, which is no bad thing as that's a good flavour of Sensation. Unfortunately, it doesn't transfer over too well. It's not all bad, these things certainly are thin and crispy, a little Cheeselet like in texture (though not as much as the Ritz versions), they're a little crumbly but they do have quite a satisfying crunch and are somewhat filling. But the flavour is just disappointing. The regular crisps have a lovely spicy kick, but these just lack any real heat. Sure, some came through after making my way through most of the bag, and then these did taste alright, but I was left hankering for some spice that just wasn't delivered. These may be a healthier alternative to crisps, but I think I'll stick with the original Sensations if I have to sacrifice the actual flavour. These aren't truly awful, but they are bland. Jacobs still hold the title as my favourite cracker crisps.

My rating: 2/5

Today's Review: Cadbury Milk Tray: New Flavours

Many thanks to Cadbury for sending me a nice big box of Milk Tray. As you can see above, they certainly know how to wrap their packages. You see, it's the 100th anniversary of Milk Tray, and to celebrate Cadbury have rolled out three new chocolates. There's a Truffle Heart, an Apple Crunch and a Salted Caramel Charm. I guess the salted caramel is in keeping with the latest snack craze, but that's certainly no bad thing.

What a lovely layout. As you can see, one of the Strawberry Temptations didn't survive the trip. It lay there, a hole in its head, its life force seeping onto the box, so I had to put it out of its misery. Certainly a good start, but I'm mostly here for the new flavours. Here they are:

They certainly look the part, all striped and patterned like their more experienced brethren. Yes, they look nice. Certainly like chocolates. Chocolates from a chocolate box even. The only thing left to do was to taste them.

That's better. The Truffle Heart was probably the least exciting sounding one, so I started with that. I'm surprised that a standard chocolate truffle isn't already the norm, but the white chocolate truffle fares pretty well, and this one is... quite good. It's not spectacularly smooth on the inside, but it certainly offers a softer experience than a plain old hunk of chocolate. It's nice and creamy, certainly chocolatey, but it's not all that exciting. 

The Salted Caramel Charm is a very chewy beast. The milk chocolate slides off pretty quickly and lends a nice creamy texture, but the bulk of it is a big block of lovely chewy caramel. It's a little tough to begin with, but soon gives way and presents with a nice bold caramel flavour. There's definitely a lovely salty taste to it, and one that stuck with me throughout chewing and even after the chocolate was gone. I would have preferred there being a gooey salted caramel, but this is definitely nice enough. 

The Apple Crunch is the one I was most looking forward to. The orange and strawberry varieties are staples of any good box of chocolates, but I can't say I've seen an apple one before. Even better, this one contains an apple flavoured white chocolate truffle, which gives it a great creamy texture with a nice fruity taste. As with a lot of apple flavoured snacks, there's some cinnamon thrown in too, in the form of some crunchy pieces. They certainly give a sweet, spiced kick, but they are a little overwhelming, taking over the apple to make it more of a cinnamon flavour white chocolate. Still, the apple was noticeable at least, so it's not all that bad. The balance could be a bit better though.

So there we have it, three new Milk Tray varieties to pop in your mouth. They're all pretty good, not perfect by any means, but they're interesting new varieties that I certainly didn't mind eating. These are worth picking up while they're around.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: This Anti-Littering Ad

There I was yesterday, minding my own business, when my eye was drawn to this interesting advert on the side of a bus stop. "Bin your litter", it said. Alright, I'm on board with that. I am certainly not a litterer. But I think they should have stopped there, because the rest of this poster is an atrocity. 

"Bin your litter" is a nice simple message, one we can all relate to. However, the phrase that follows it in this case is simply baffling. "It's a pretty quick thing to". To what? I assume it was meant to say "to do" but somehow this went through several people who aren't aware of how to end a sentence. Binning your litter may be a pretty quick thing to do, but so is proofreading, and no one bothered with that here. 

What's as equally baffling as the missing word is the emphasis on the word "pretty". You'd think if they were trying to point out how binning your litter is a simple task, they'd highlight the word "quick", but I can only assume the bolded "pretty" is in relation to the woman in the picture. I mean, sure, she's pretty. But what's that got to do with littering? I assume they were going for some sort of word play, without first looking up the meaning of the term. It's a crappy explanation of why that word is highlighted, but it's literally the only thing I can think of. Speaking of the picture, I do hope they took some kind of stock model shoot and photo shopped in that empty carton of cut price chicken, instead of hiring someone to explicitly pose with said carton. I guess you've gotta start somewhere, but if this was my first modelling gig I would be pretty unhappy. Ha, see what I did there? Puns.

You know what? I'm done. I can't analyse this thing anymore, it's making my brain hurt. I'm glad I don't have an NFC equipped phone, tapping that on the side of this ad would probably cause it to explode, or become sentient in a bid to wipe out the stupidity of the human race. This ad makes me want to litter. I mean, this whole poster is rubbish, but they put it in a bus stop instead of throwing it in the bin, and I hear that's a pretty quick thing to.

My rating: 0/5

Today's Review: Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Until the last few years, I hated cinnamon. I couldn't get on board with it at all, and I certainly couldn't see why kids love Cinnamon Toast Crunch. But now I've grown to like it, so I figured I could finally understand those kids when I finally came across a reasonably priced box of this cereal.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch is pretty much like the Cinnamon Grahams (or Curiously Cinnamon) you'd find in the UK. Small, crispy squares of cereal, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. I think the difference lies in the sugar element, I don't recall the Curiously Cinnamon being overly sweet, but it certainly shows in this cereal. The cinnamon is quite strong, but has a lovely sweet taste that's aided by the sugar swirled on top. So this stuff is equal parts sweet and spice, and it's pretty pleasant, especially with the lovely crisp cereal that it's all piled on top of. This box certainly didn't last long, I surely can see why kids love Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I can't fault it, it's a cinnamon cereal that just tastes great.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Galaxy Flutes

Now here's a bar I know has been around in the UK before, and I remember quite enjoying it too. But for some reason you can't get them over here anymore, and they were all over the place in Oman, so I picked up a few during my stay.

These are kind of like Milky Way Crispy Rolls, but in Galaxy form. They consist of Galaxy chocolate, wrapped around a crisp, cylindrical wafer, which in itself is filled with more Galaxy chocolate. The stuff on the inside seems to have a softer texture to it, more like that of a truffle. Maybe it's just the transition between wafer and chocolate giving that illusion, but I actually quite enjoy it. It makes for a nice, creamy block of chocolate that blends together nicely with the crunchy wafer. Sure, the wafer is a little dry, and not particularly flavoursome, but this is an interesting variation on a Galaxy bar that I certainly wouldn't hesitate to pick up if it reared its head on these shores again. Good stuff.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Twix Top

Although my basket was already full of chocolate by the time I got to the Carrefour checkout, my eyes wandered to the impulse items by my side, and settled on a tiny little bar named Twix Top. Apparently these were a thing in the UK until 2005, but I don't think I'd had one before now. It's pretty small, the size of a biscuit bar, quite wide and pretty flat. So what makes it a Twix Top instead of a Twix? 

Well, yeah, it's like an inside out Twix. There's basically a crunchy biscuit base, which has layers of caramel and chocolate on top. It's an interesting enough variation on the regular bar, but in practice it's not all the great. The biscuit is pretty plentiful, and while it packs a nice crunch, it's quite dry. Compared to the meagre amount of chocolate it makes for a pretty bland bar. The caramel is almost non-existent, I tasted it a little, but it's pretty disappointing. As much as I like Twix bars, I couldn't get on board with this one. I'm not too upset that this isn't around in the UK anymore.

My rating: 1/5

Today's Review: Galaxy Caramel & Nut Crunch

I may have picked up a few too many Galaxy bars over here, but there are certainly a few interesting varieties I haven't tried at home. Take this one for example. In the UK we have Caramel, and we have Nut Crunch, but this one combines the two into a Caramel & Nut Crunch. Why have one when you can have both?

What is quite nice about this bar is that the caramel isn't that regular, oozing stuff you'd find in the solely caramel variety. Instead, it's caramel flavoured crunchy pieces, which pack quite a bit of flavour while adding a nice bit of texture. Sure, there's already some in the form of the nut pieces, but it makes for a pretty balanced flavour overall instead of the whole bar being overpowered by gooey caramel. The nuts are a little bit far between, but they're strong enough to give a nice nutty flavour throughout. All in all it's a very well balanced bar, and everything in it is good. It's a creamy, chocolatey, crunchy, nutty caramel delight.

My rating: 5/5