Lovely sight in Hong Kong to see restaurants & bars all geared up the Halloween Bash and this year, I have decided not to review any restaurants with Halloween menus because of below reasons:
1) All dishes around town look very similar indeed
Instead, I recieved a very warming surprise & special delivery from the PR Team of Godiva Chocolatier on their brand new Halloween Collection and their Fall Winter Collection which I must prioritise as Halloween is 2 days away. The beautiful package consisted of the following:
1) Milk Chocolate Covered Pretzels - Very interesting taste & flavour as the pretzels are salty flavoured but when drenched in dark chocolate, it provides an interesting chemical reaction. Texture was crunchy and not soggy or too dry which is good. However in my honest opinion, nothing was surprising about this new collection and certainly did not provide myself with a WOW factor. If you ask me, I certainly do not understand why Godiva has become so adventurous in selling such types of product because it will not appeal to the local population. The press release also mentioned the word "IRRESISTABLE", I strongly have doubts on usage of such powerful word.
2) Pumpkin Patch Truffle - I am at this moment eating this and blogging it at the same time. Don't get me wrong, the appearance is definitely very kawaii (Japanese word meaning Cute) as it is literally a golden pumpkin with a green leaf on the outside and once you take a bite, it is filled with a creamy pumpkin-spice ganache.
i) Far too sweet for myself and I am sure the entire population except Americans with a sweet tooth will find the same. If you are a diabetic, watch out as this can potentially harm your health by rocketing your sugar level.
ii) The creamy filling does not pair well with the chocolate and the taste of the chocolate is awful. How I managed to finish this truffle is an unknown mystery. Perhaps, rather than spending all this Marketing budget into packaging & advertising, they should hire a few people of whom will & can taste the chocolates properly before releasing the product into the market. Godiva Team, please do not take this personally.
iii) Charged at a steep price per piece ($135 per 100g), you would expect something rather special about the product and unfortunately, the price tag does not justify the end product.
If you are thinking about purchasing this chocolate for Trick or Treat, I am sure this will scare away all the toddlers & kids around your neighbourhood and will never return to knock on your doors.
3) Fall Gold Collection - Alas, we have come to the best part of the package. Why this is called Fall Gold Collection, I am not too sure as all the traditional Godiva boxes are all golden in colour but this had a special touch added as the box was wrapped with an orange satin ribbon & a "vibrant" ("vibrant" is the word used in press release but that got me thinking, how on earth can a leaf be vibrant) autumn leaf with small berries showcasing the theme of autumn where leaves change their colours.
Back to the chocolates, this is the traditional, classic & true heritage chocolates that I know from Godiva. Simple, delicious, hearty flavours including flavours of caramel, pralines, fruits, nuts, milk & dark chocolates ranging in various chocolate % content etc. Enjoyed every single chocolate in this Fall Gold Collection and what a turn-around in my encounter with Godiva's chocolates this time round.
An extremely elegant gift for your loved ones, family, friends over the festive seasons but my doubt is, will anyone pay $435 to purchase a box for themselves.
The Pretzel & Pumpkin Truffle was definitely a MISS for me but the Fall Collection was a DIVINE. My advice to Godiva Team, please stop dicking around with your chocolates and stay classic as they are your core, best selling products.
PS:: One interesting point from the press release which I recieved regarding the Halloween Collection, there were 2 other Halloween products which were Carre Dark Chocolate & Carre Milk Wafer which I was very interested to review about due to the cool packaging & flavour but was disappointed to find out that the PR Team did not carry such product. Major disappointment!
UPCOMING REVIEW: Exotic Flavours of Marouche Grill on Elgin Street
Quality & Taste for Halloween Products (5* the highest): **
Quality & Taste for Fall Gold Collection (5* the highest): 3/1/2*
Price for Chocolates (5$ = very expensive): ****
HMMM, Godiva, it's overated, I am no choc expert but I know enough to tell you what's good, what real Belgium from Hersheys and needless to say, Godiva is the designer version of Hersheys chocolate. Great packaging and the stores look prestige but as always, looks can be deceiving. Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteHi there,
ReplyDeleteAgree with you and looks can be decieving as Godiva is all about packaging & branding. Some of their products are good but I think they are trying too hard to play around with their chocolates. Just stay to your roots!
Happy Eating!
Geoff