I'm lucky to have a Fenwicks store nearby, they do some pretty interesting and unique chocolate bars you'd never see anywhere else...such as this Compartes Chocolatier Let Them Eat Cake Bar (reviewed by Lot-O-Choc), Donuts & Coffee, The Chocolate Smiths range, plus many other artisan bars. Trouble is, they all cost a small fortune! Sometimes though they reduce the price when they're close to the sell by date...and it was just by chance that I popped in one day when these Nelleulla Rhubarb Strawberry bars were reduced to £1.50 (they're usually around £5!) I snapped one up immediately!
The bar is quite elaborately packaged...it comes in triangular cardboard sleeves as well as plastic wrap and a cardboard tray. The tag line is "Chocolate from the forest" and the bar comprises of white chocolate with dried rhubarb and strawberry, topped with rhubarb and strawberry pieces. Apparently "The Northern maidens harvest them and set them in white and soft chocolate"...very magical!
I snapped the bar in half and took a bite, it's not sectioned into blocks so I ended up with an uneven shard with a big chunk of dried rhubarb poking out. It tasted very pleasant, the chocolate is smooth and creamy, but the rhubarb and strawberry really overpower the creaminess, bringing a tart, fruity edge, which is nice and definitely a bit different.
This is a nice bar of chocolate, but to be honest I wouldn't pay full price for it. I enjoyed the Waitrose Matcha & Pistachio bar I reviewed yesterday a lot more and that's cheaper; I'm not quite sure why these Nelleulla bars are so expensive...maybe it's due to being imported, or the fact they have such a mystical allure to them...who knows.
Overall, this is nice chocolate but not something I'd buy at full price. I'll try their other stuff if I see it reduced at some point...
7.5 out of 10.