All right, so if you’re a chocolate fiend like myself, I know what your first impression might be—Godiva? Is that even “real” gourmet chocolate?

And while Godiva’s Salted Caramel bar will by no means change those perceptions about Godiva, it is important to note that Godiva knows how to get the basics right for a mass producer.

12►

This bar actually has a lot going for it. First, it looks great. While the golden wrapper feels a bit tacky and cheap, the bar comes in very nice packaging, displaying the exact look of the chocolate and its ingredients prominently. The bar itself also holds up well at room temperature. In fact, I noticed no discoloration whatsoever, though some toffee pieces did protrude. That’s saying a lot more than what a lot of artisanal chocolatiers do.

Next, texture-wise, Godiva’s Salted Caramel nails the toffee crunch. The salted toffee bits are  soft enough never to feel abrasive but crisp enough to give you a Crunch Bar-like crackle. The melt, of course, feels cloyingly rich and milky—no surprise, given that it’s Godiva. And while the Salted Caramel bar is packed with lecithin (hence how it holds up so well at room temperature), the melt doesn’t feel too horrible, though it’s waxy. The decadent milkiness and the crunch help cover that waxiness up rather well.

Unfortunately, the Salted Caramel bar is, not surprisingly, far too sweet. The sugar can indeed be abrasive, leaving your mouth writhing and your throat scratching, while the toffee bits can get stuck on the teeth and the chocolate can cling to the mouth. The chocolate is, moreover, one-dimensional, hitting you with an over-the-top milkiness that covers up any overtones of the cocoa. As for the salt, it is almost non-existent, so that this bar never attains the balance that salted caramel would suggest.

At the same time, the chocolate, for something actually tastes quite good for what I’d consider a candy bar-level sugar rush. The problem, of course, is that at $4.20 this isn’t really a candy bar, and it shouldn’t be treated as one. By those standards, even at $4.20, there are far better options.

Scores

Presentation: 4.0/5.0
Taste: 1.5/5.0
Flavor: 2.5/5.0
Melt/Texture: 1.5/5.0
Length: 1.0/5.0
Value: 2.0/5.0
Verdict: 1.8/5.0

Taste: 1.5/5.0

Rich. Wouldn’t be bad if weren’t so bitter. Moreover, it has few overtones. It’s a very simple chocolate, especially for something created with cocoa beans from specific regions—you would expect the beans to have more of a flavor as a result of its origin place (each region should have a very particular flavor).

Melt: 0.0/5.0

This is solid as a rock and melts very poorly. It needs to be chewed to break it down, but the munch isn’t quite so satisfying.

Length: 0.0/5.0

Very short. Almost no length at all.

Value: 2.5/5.0

The price of this bar is rather good for Europe, but not so much in Belgium, where good chocolate can be found for very cheap.

Overall Score: 1.5/5.0

Presentation: 4.5/5.0

Beautiful design. The chocolate itself comes in a rectangular shape, but it is divided into numerous smaller rectangles arranged in a spiraling pattern towards the center of the chocolate, with rectangles closer to the center smaller in size. Thus, to eat the chocolate, you must break off smaller and smaller rectangular pieces off the borders of the bar. It is very aesthetically pleasing and mathematical.

Taste: 3.0/5.0

Good balance. Not too bitter and not too rich, though rather creamy. Has a nice bittersweet finish, but at no point is it either too sweet or too bitter.

Melt: 3.0/5.0

It’s a nicely tempered bar that’s rather smooth in the mouth, though it doesn’t melt on touch. Leaves a good residue. Still, I would like it to melt a bit more easily—seems like I have to wait and wait for it to dissolve in the mouth.

Value: 1.0/5.0

Horrible price for the quality of chocolate. I’d rather stick to the many other brands throughout Europe, most notably Valrhona and Cluizel.

Overall Score: 2.5/5.0

This bar was a mistake, pure and simple. Pierre Marcolini has the reputation of greatest chocolatier in Belgium, but this chocolate was a disappointment in almost every way. There was no sweetness to the bar, even though it’s a milk chocolate. Moreover, the pecans completely overpower the taste of the chocolate. Nor is the bar milky or creamy. The nuts just make it a much harder bar, with less milkiness to it, and they distract from the flavor completely. I could go into detail about each category below, but it really is unnecessary—this bar is horrible.

Taste: 0.0/5.0
Melt: 2.0/5.0
Length: 2.0/5.0
Value: 0.0/5.0
Overall Score: 0.4/5.0. Avoid this bar at all costs. It is shameful that a pro would put out such garbage, especially for 6 euros.

Taste: 3.5/5.0

Extremely good for a cheaper chocolate. Galler really shows why it is a royal mandate holder with this bar. It is slightly, but only very slightly, too sweet, and it does have some bitter overtones that help to balance it out. Moreover, there is a satisfying milkiness to it that makes it extremely satisfying to it even though its melt is not fantastic and its sweetness is just a bit too much.

Length: 1.0/5.0

Rather short, but it’s a milk chocolate so it’s more forgivable.

Melt: 2.5/5.0

It’s another solid, hard bar, but unlike other Galler bars it melts well in the mouth and even melts on touch. Still, it’s not quite as smooth as I’d like.

Value: 4.0/5.0

The price of this bar is rather good for Europe, and although it isn’t as great of a value in Belgium, one would be hard pressed to find a better bar at this price even in Belgium.

Overall Score: 3.5/5.0. Recommended for the price.

Very good, solid bar. The nuts mix perfectly with the chocolate, the flavor is great, and the sweetness isn’t bad. Still, it is massively overpriced, especially in Belgium, where good chocolate can be obtained for far, far less.

Presentation: 4.5/5.0. See the Del Rey “Del Rey” Bar review for more detail.
Taste: 3.0/5.0
Melt: 3.0/5.0
Length: 2.0/5.0
Value: 1.5/5.0
Overall Score: 2.5/5.0. Not bad, but not something I would buy again, if for nothing else than the price.

Presentation: 3.2+/5.0

The great thing about Mary’s is the “grandma’s touch” to everything, including in the boxes, the wrapping, and the look of the chocolates. The white chocolate itself is just a very nice-looking bar. It’s rather thick, and just seems huge because of the thickness. But because it is so finely and so simply articulated, it looks extremely homey. The wrapping is also simple, coming in clear plastic, and that’s it. This is about as minimalist as it gets.

Taste: 3.5/5.0

Very well-balanced for a white. This is one of those bars that is just so perfectly articulated that it is extremely hard not to like. It’s almost perfectly sweetened, only becoming a tad cloying in the finish and after eating a large quantity. I can even eat it in large bites, and I find it to have an overall refreshing aftertaste. The one large downside is that this chocolate does nothing different—it’s just a really solid white chocolate.

Melt: 4.0/5.0

This bar actually does not melt on touch, which is surprising for a white chocolate. But it is incredibly smooth, and, though it takes a bit of time, its melt in the mouth is very satisfying. I, moreover, like the fact that the bar is articulated so well that it isn’t falling apart or melting on you.

Length (not a formal score):

Actually, rather good for a white. Though length isn’t a focus on white chocolates, which tend to be much shorter given how little cocoa they have, it does leave a nice buttery sweetness in your mouth.

Value: 2.0/5.0

This is the other large flaw of the bar. 6 euros is far too much for a simple, well-articulated white chocolate bar, no matter how good it is. For $9, I expect something extraordinary.

Overall Score: 3.0/5.0