Sunfeast Dark Fantasy Chocolate

Because biscuits, especially chocolate cream biscuits, are forbidden to those that huff and puff about with weights in the gymnasium every morning, these are a staple in my larder. Between fitness and chocolate things, there's no question about who wins. So, carrying forth my streak of shamelessness into the New Year (resolutions be damned), I tucked into one of these with my morning chai. And mmm...

Sunfeast's Dark Fantasy Chocolate have got to be one of the best chocolate cream biscuits in the market. I'd even say they are better than the much-hyped Oreos. ITC has nailed it with this star product among its array of consumables manufactured under the Sunfeast banner. In fact, it inspired a host of similar products by competitive brands*. Before Dark Fantasy, most Sunfeast products I had tried were lame, despite Shah Rukh Khan crying hoarse about their goody-goodness.

These chocolate biscuits sandwiching the chocolate cream are quite divine. The biscuits are beautifully dark, and the cream wonderfully smooth. The degree of sweetness is just right and I'm obviously partial to them. The standard 96 g pack has about 6-7 biscuits and is priced at Rs. 25, which some might find a little steep. But what's 25 rupees to indulge your dark fantasies, I say? :)

Happy 2013, folks!

RATING: 4/5

*Britannia's Pure Magic

Britannia Bourbon Cappuccino

Because chocolate biscuits are the natural fallback for a chocoholic in the absence of the real thang, here comes my first review of the quintessential chocolate biscuit - the bourbon. This variety by Britannia is, however, of the cappuccino flavour. And it is good like all things coffee. 

Priced at Rs. 10, the 50 g pack has four cream sandwich biscuits in it with that fancy-schmancy plastic tray in which the biscuits break anyway. Although it is shaped square, unlike the usual rectangular bourbon biscuits, it has the age old sprinkling of sugar. But broken or not, the biscuits are Britannia perfect with the correct amount of browning and crunch. The chocolate cream is sufficiently coffee-ish, but sweet to a fault. Dunkers will like it only if their chai ki shakkar levels can rival the biscuit's. Go for it, I say.

RATING: 3.5/5 

Warner Hudson Assorted Liqueur Chocolates

Who doesn't like liqueur chocolates? They can raise their hands and never talk to me again, because, oh mama, I can kill for these!

Piggybacking on the festive cheer, I had some of these beauties last night at my MIL's place. Since they're an assortment, I couldn't be sure which ones I had, but if my alcohol buds are right, I probably had one of Teacher's Highland Cream and one of The Finest by Irish Dream. A Cointreau liqueur-filled chocolate would have been impossible to miss with its sharp orange flavour. However, the two other whiskey liqueurs were beautiful without being overpowering.

The German-made chocolates are utterly melt-in-your mouth stuff and of the darker variety. The 150 g pack comes with 15 pieces and are available via online stores or in countries like the US, UK, Canada, Australia or New Zealand. So you know what to ask your relatives abroad to get for you the next time they are visiting!

RATING: 4/5

Nestle Kit Kat Dark

I was wondering yesterday how I would avoid using this blog as an excuse to buy and eat chocolates everyday. Excited as I am about this baby, I would have to restrict myself to one review (hence, one chocolate) every three days, I thought. But the Universe obviously had plans to foil my efforts in the gym in the morning and it shortchanged me...literally. Running out to work I realised I had only 500 rupee notes in my wallet, and I knew I would have better luck with those notes in Timbucktoo than with Mumbai auto wallahs at 10 am.

So I had to go to a nearby grocer's to buy choc...er, get change. And look, mama, what sneaked into my hands when I wasn't looking. A bar of Nestle KitKat Dark chocolate! I am not the one to pick up wafer chocolates because they're only half chocolate, if you know what I mean. But the word DARK called out to me like cream does a cat.

But at only 40% 'darkness', Nestle's KitKat Dark isn't much of a treat to a chocolate lover partial to this kind. It's not exactly smooth either for those who will not be distracted by the wafer part of it. Unfortunately, the wafer part does not impress either because it doesn't crackle with the crackliness the TVCs promise. Moreover, this 27.5 gm pack has only three fingers, which is horridly inadequate, especially if there are colleagues around looking lovingly at your already tiny bar.

The good thing, however, is the pocket-friendliness of this chocolate. Priced at Rs. 20, it is good for dark chocolate aspirants and better still for weight watchers since 'It is only 40 kcal per finger (9.2g)'.

RATING: 2.5/5

Cadbury Bournville Almond

Despite the endless lame TVCs of Bournville, this chocolate warranted a tasting simply because it is dark chocolate, and oh, because it was the first thing that came my way after a 3-day chocolate drought.

Yes, for hardcore dark chocolate lovers, 44% cocoa is beginner level stuff. But most Indian palates, used to Cadbury's other cloyingly sweet offerings, Bournville is dark enough. Fairly smooth and with not too many almonds, this chocolate does well when faced with dark chocolate scarcity emergencies.

The packaging is nice and although priced on the slightly higher side (Rs. 75 for a 80 gm bar) as far as Indian chocolates go, it will serve you well when when you've forgotten to get anything for your Rakhi brother or sister. Otherwise, there's nothing in it that 'you (should) have to earn (it)'.

RATING: 3/5

Giving in

I am giving in. Giving in to my most passionate, enduring love. The love of chocolate. No matter that I'll probably die of diabetes or a waistline no pants will be accommodate, but write about chocolate I must. Chocolate. That which I spend a lot of my waking hours thinking and lusting after. That which my eyes longingly seek at familiar shelves of supermarkets. That, which I buy and eat a lot. That, which, I recently realised, I was addicted to.

In fact, I decided to start this blog last weekend when I was out on a work trip to Kerala. The place was an Ayurvedic resort and the meals served were good, wholesome, regulated and vegetarian. The place was in the middle of nowhere and there were no shops within the resort. In short, no chocolate! For three days, I had had no chocolate and I understood that my system must have been craving for it when my body moved involuntarily towards the first airport kiosk where it spotted some.

Never a fan of Cadbury products, I was overjoyed to behold that bar of Almond Bournville and snatched it with a gusto that would rival my 3-year-old son's enthusiasm. And as I tucked into the dark bar of heaven, I decided to pay my tribute in words and thus Chocolate and other sins was born.

I will be posting short reviews of chocolates of all manner - plain, dark, milk, white, with nuts, and liqueur. I will also review other F&B products with chocolate in them like cakes, pastries, shakes and other confectionery. Heck, you might even find me reviewing cosmetics that claim to have chocolate as their main ingredient. So, you see, this love is an all-encompassing one and likely to outlast my love for all else.