Going Nuts For Lindt (Lindt Excellence Macadamia Nut)

Member Name: chrisandmark

Product:	Lindt Excellence Macadamia Nut
Date:	26/05/05 (208 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Luxurious chocolate, The scrummy nut pieces

Disadvantages: None - if I were so inclined I could start to panic about the calorie content, but I don't care...

OK, let's set the scene. I've spent all day catering for a house full of under 5's (yuck) for Alice's birthday party. Seven o'clock I'd managed to get rid of most of them, including my own two to Nannys house, and I thought I deserved a treat. A treat in the form of alcohol and chocolate. A bottle of Hooch and a Flake wouldn't suffice tonight, I wanted to feel pampered and sophisticated. So off I toddle to Tesco with the intention of buying a nice bottle of wine and *some* luxury chocolate. I actually scrapped the idea of wine and splashed out on a bottle of Sheridans, and with the alcohol sorted I wandered off to the chocolate aisle.

It jumped out at me. I swear, your honour, the Macadamia Nut Lindt jumped out at me. I was about to pick up a pack of Lindt Lindor when out of the corner of my eye I spotted a Lindt variety that I've never seen before, the added bonus of the pack being flashed with '250 flights to Swizerland to be won' appealed to the comper in me so I grabbed it. I also grabbed the Lindor, but let's not go there!

The wrapper to this newly discovered wonder is typical Lindt. A paper case instead of a foil packet, the trademark gold fancy writing and the merest hint of what joys you're about to indulge in in the form of a picture of what I can only assume to be macadamia nuts. Thing is Lindt know how damned wonderful their chocolate is. They know if you've eaten Lindt before you'll be back. They don't need gimmicky overwhelming packaging for their products because people (like me) would still buy Lindt if it came wrapped in newspaper.

A quick blimp at the ingredient reveals nothing nasty in the bar, I've got no idea on calories or fat for this bar but I think it's safe to say if you're dieting to leave it alone. The rather bizarre statement 'may contain traces of peanut and almond' is printed fairly prominently underneath the ingredients, bizarre because if I had a nut allergy I'd be about as far away as I could be from a bar that markets itself as macadamia NUT.

After breaking through a layer of posh looking foil I can finally see my chocolate. And smell it. If aromas could bring on an orgasm I'd be changing my knickers by now. It smells rich and sweet from a distance but bringing it up to my nose I can definitely smell a nutty undercurrent. The smell of the chocolate is so strong you can taste it before you've taken a bite. Delicious.

The bar itself is split into 10 decent sized squares, each bearing the word Lindt. Breaking a piece off I pop it into my mouth. The first thing you notice is just how much of this bar is actually nut, for some reason I was expecting a few nuts sprinkled through the bar like a Whole Nut - but this is more like a full on nut explosion. I'd say at least 40% of the bar is made up with tiny little caramelised nut pieces. The chocolate is, of course, smooth and velvety but puntuated with the small brittle pieces of macadamia nut it goes to a whole new level. You can suck the rich, creamy milk chocolate and as it melts you get a piece of nut come away in your mouth just begging to be bitten. I can't really taste the nuts as much as I thought I would from the smell but they add an unusual almost bitter flavour to the otherwise creamily sweet bar. The aftertaste is distinctly nutty though, you're left with a vague aftertaste of chocolate but you'll be able to taste the nuttiness long after the chocolate taste has vanished.

An alternative to sucking is chewing. A piece of this chocolate munched is delicious. The nuts stay harder than when you suck and as your teeth sink through the top layer of smooth chocolate they encounter a bed of brittle, sweet tasting nuts. I must admit it, I'm usually a sucker... (steady on, we're still on chocolate here!) but I feel the best way to eat this bar is to chew. As fast as you can because the slower you chew the softer the nuts get. Eating this way also brings out the flavour of the nuts, now and again you'll come across a vague bitter hint to the nuts but this is because Lindt have padded out the macadamia nuts with hazelnuts.

Costing £1.19 for a 100g bar it's not really going to break the bank should you get the taste for Lindt. You're definitely buying quality, from the packaging to the little hard nuts, this bar just oozes class. A 100g bar will last for more than one sitting anyway (for me) because after 4 or 5 pieces it starts to get sickly, not sickly as in makes you queasy but it's definite chocolate overload. For when you need a pick-me-up or treat (like today) this bar is a little luxury, when I have a pamper night next I'm going to get a bar of this for in the bath with the scented candles lit and a glass of wine. It's one of those sorts of chocolate bars, y'know?

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