Review | Snack Surprise – Austria

To say I’ve fallen behind with these posts is a complete understatement. This was October’s box, which I believe was delivered midway through November, and I don’t even think I opened it straight away (other than to take the photos). Since then, I've had another two boxes arrive and I'm sure it won't be long until January's box comes. We’re remaining in Europe for this month’s box as it came courtesy of Austria. And as always, I'm reviewing the Original Box. So, what was in it and how did I rate it? Read on to find out.

Sweet

• Betthupferl - Hazelnut cream on a crispy filled wafer, covered in chocolate. This was like a Penguin bar with an extra thick layer of chocolate cream. Easy to eat.
• Snack Minis - 10 crispy wafer slices with milk and hazelnut cream. I'm not ashamed to say I ate the whole pack in one sitting. This tasted great alongside my morning coffee… Even if Alfie had a couple of slices too.
• Dragee Keksi - Crunchy biscuits covered in milk chocolate. These were nice enough - just chocolate biscuits in bite-size (or dragee!) form. Easy to scoff in one go.
• Linzer Schnitte - Traditional Austrian shortcrust pastry with a fruity currant filling and a classic dough lattice. Consider this a fruit pie bar. Really fruity and tasty. It would have made a good dessert rather than a snack – and I still wonder if I should have eaten it warm with some custard…

Savoury

• Kelly’s Snips - Austrian grown corn meets the taste of peanuts in this light and fluffy snack. I didn't really know what to expect from this snack, but it was like eating peanut butter flavour Wotsits. These were a lot softer, almost the texture of those polystyrene curls you get in packaging. The flavour was far too dry, and I couldn't eat very many. This was not OK.
• Mini Fritts - Austrian potatoes, lightly roasted and seasoned with salt. AKA potato straw crisps. Crunchy and salty – what's not to love? I could have eaten the bag in one go, they were so moreish, and I don't usually like plain crisps.

Confectionery

• Bobby Caramel - Caramel cream, rice crisps and milk chocolate. This iconic bar was created in 1967. Quite rich, but nice enough. The centre was smooth and thick, almost like a praline. After a couple of bites, it started to get quite sickly though.
• Schoko-Banane - Banana mousse coated in crisp chocolate. For me, with the exception of chocolate-dipped strawberries, fruit and chocolate should not mix, and this is definitely why. I thought it was going to be strange and I was right. Part of me thought it was going to be like a foam banana sweet covered in chocolate, but the mousse really wasn't the right texture. Just, why?
• Mozartkugeln - Chocolate balls, with a nougat cream core, covered in marzipan and dark chocolate. An Austrian favourite. Delicious. I'm not sure what the Mozart connection was, other than him being Austrian. There were two of these balls in the box and they were a tasty treat.
• Sportgummi - Unique fruit gummies. Not like the Sports Mix which we get over here, which I found a little disappointing. These sweets were square in shape and just your standard gummy/jelly sweets. Good fruity flavour – just not what I was expecting.

Drink

• Almdudler - Austria's most popular and national drink. The refreshing taste of Alpine herbs since 1957. I found this very strange – a bit like sparkling water, but with a strange (almost stale) aftertaste. Needless to say, I didn't drink much of it.

While there were five products from this box that scored full marks, there were three I didn't like at all. The Austria Snack Surprise box received a total score of 24/33. So, where does it rank on the leader board?

1. Spain – 94%
2. Italy – 92%
3. Portugal – 89%
4. Australia – 87%
5. New Zealand – 87%
6. Greece – 82%
7. Turkey – 81%
8. USA – 79%
9. Germany – 75%
10. Austria – 73%
11. Bulgaria – 69%

Not a high scorer, but I don’t think any box will ever score as low as the Bulgarian offering. As I mentioned, the next two boxes have arrived, and I need to get my snack on. Spoiler alert – they are both European countries. What do you think will be next?

If you wish to subscribe to Snack Surprise or even fancy gifting a box, you can check out the website.

Love, Lucy xx