I am in Essex. Braintree to be precise. Braintree Village to be what3words about it. I am particularly pleased because for a long time, I’ve been trying to get to a Marks & Spencer to sample two particular bars, and here there is one. I don’t have one where I live, deep in Gainsborough country. The first bar is called The Big Daddy (£5.50, 300g); the second the Whip Off the Old Block (£5/200g).
Both are in cardboard boxes with no inner plastic sleeve. I approve. Very cleverly designed, modern, but with a touch of retro. I don’t suppose either bar is aimed at children. I say bar, but these are actually behemoths. Both are highly dangerous.
The WOTOB is a bar of big bumps. Eight humps of milk chocolate (30% cocoa) covering mallow and caramel innards. I did lose myself for a moment biting into one: so sweet, gooey, comforting. The sugar ratio is high, though, and my teeth started jangling. Not so my testers, who went crazy for this, asking: ‘Can we have more of it?’ after the official evaluation was over.
The Big Daddy is a bar of milk (30%) and dark (50%) chocolate. Flat, rippled top, containing layers of peanut butter, roasted peanut and caramel. I was shocked by how much I liked it – like a restaurant critic who is used to Michelin-starred restaurants suddenly going gaga over a Burger King Bacon Double Cheeseburger (I used to eat no other back in my London clubbing days).
If you go to Braintree Village, look out for the Lindt store where there are what seem like 12m variations on Lindor balls, including flavours I’ve never seen before – such as Matcha or Mango and Cream – available as glorious pick ’n’ mix.
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