Review | Snack Surprise – Italy

Last month, I gave my thoughts on the previous Snack Surprise box, which came from Bulgaria. But I also gave a couple of clues away as to the count of choice for February’s box. This one was from Italy and I had high hopes. Although I’ve been two mainland Italy three times and Sicily once, I don’t recall ever buying or eating any snacks. So, this was a surprise indeed – but I knew I’d like it. Read on to find out what was in the Original Box and how I rated it…

Sweet

• Bauli Croissant – filled with chocolate, this was more brioche texture than the buttery flaky pastry that was described and that you’d usually associate with a croissant. It was nice, but it did remind me of the kind of croissant you’d get on a flight or find in a foreign vending machine. 
• Mooncake – soft chocolate sponge with a chocolate filling. The sponge was super soft and light, but the filling was rich and indulgent. A chocoholic’s dream. 
• Gardena – light crispy wafers with hazelnut cream filling, coated in milk chocolate. The Italians sure love their praline. The filling was smooth and delicious, but the wafers were a little bit on the dry side for me. A thicker layer of hazelnut cream was needed, or fewer layers of wafer. 
• Ringo – round biscuits (half vanilla, half chocolate) sandwiched together with a vanilla cream. These definitely reminded me of BN biscuits, or Prince biscuits – so delicious. Like any other sandwich biscuit on the market, I had to separate the two biscuits and eat the middle first.

Savoury

• Croccantelle – focaccia bites flavoured with ketchup or bacon. We had the ketchup ones and they were every so moreish. Perfect for a TV/film night snack. The ideal size to just pop in your mouth – and easily eat the whole pack in one sitting. 
• Crostini Dorati – small Italian toasts, flavoured with paprika. The information booklet suggested they’d be great with a glass of wine, but I never found out. The packaging also said ideal as an aperitif, as croutons on soup or a salad – but again I didn’t try that. A great snack though – and so crunchy! 
• Amica Anello – pizza flavoured corn snacks. Not as crunchy as onion rings, although that’s what they looked like. The flavour was nice, and they actually reminded me of Tangy Toms… anyone else remember them? Take me back to a ‘90s tuck shop.

Confectionery

• Chupa Chups Choco – who knew Chupa Chups sold chocolate? And those little balls of colour aren’t lolly, although pips in the chocolate would be immense. The booklet said a white chocolate bar filled with sugared almonds, but to me, they were more like mini Smarties! It was lovely, nonetheless. 
• Goleador Maxi – double gummy sweets, coated in sour sugar. There were two packs of these, each pack containing two sweets. While the colours were brown/red and brown/green, they all tasted the same and like fizzy cherry cola bottles. So nice, but two packs definitely weren’t enough. I’m going to have to track these down… 
• Duplo Chocnut – three whole hazelnuts in hazelnut cream, wafer and covered in chocolate. Consider this Ferrero’s answer to the Kinder Bueno. Not as creamy and much nuttier, but very delicious! 
• Galatine – milk flavoured sweets that are unique, unusual but much-loved in Italy. These were almost like a vanilla milkshake refresher – a crunchy sherbet sweet. The texture was a bit too chalky for my liking – and that’s coming from the girl who used to have to pop Tums for fun. But the flavour was nice enough, and it was unlike anything I’d ever had before.

Drink

• Pepsi Twist – a refreshing drink with a hint of lemon. I don’t usually drink the full sugar Pepsi (or Coke for that matter), but actually I didn’t find this too sweet. I loved it, and the citrussy flavour shone through. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this flavour over here, and while I like the cherry one, I hated the raspberry variety.

And now to the fun part – the ratings. Of the 12 products in the Snack Surprise – Italy box, I rated nine of them 3/3 (meaning I love it) and the remaining three items 2/3. This gives the February box a total score of 33/36. To the leaderboard –

1. Spain – 94% 
2. Italy – 92% 
3. Bulgaria – 69%

I’ve just checked my account and March’s box is still processing, a bit frustrating considering it’s the final day of the month tomorrow. But fingers crossed I’m updated soon, or better still, it arrives. The suspense is killing me, and we’re slowly running out of snacks in the house.

Love, Lucy xx