Raspberry – sweet dark chocolate with a raspberry jelly and white chocolate ganache filling. It’s OK but it is also huge and enough on its own.

Milk chocolate ganache covered in dark chocolate – the surprise here is that there are crispie bits. Very sweet which typifies this range of chocolates.

Bittersweet Ganache – this bittersweet is slightly harsh, as though they are trying to make up for all the sweetness of the rest of the line by making the bittersweet chocolate excessively bitter.

Bittersweet love – orange jelly with sweet milk chocolate ganache but the ganache is grainy and overly sweet.  It’s a bit much for me.

Green Tea – when taken in small doses, it is OK but more than s tiny bite is so extremely sweet it is a bit too much for me.

Coffee – bitter intense coffee this is probably the best of the lot.  The extreme coffee flavour overwhelms the flavour of the chocolate and isn’t as sweet as the other ones so it makes it the best chocolate of the lot.

A for effort but there is a long way to go.

I visited this shop as one of the few places advertised as having chocolates.  Language is always a difficulty and the gentleman there behind the counter did his best to help.  When asked he said that the chocolates at Icexoc were handmade by the owner.  I suspected otherwise but purchased what I was led to believe was a milk chocolate and a green tea chocolate.

The chocolate are in fact from the renamed Australia company I discovered in Amsterdam.  This chain in Berlin is called Bandy Brooks and these chocolates were from this chain.  If you are in the area and want a lovely ice cream this is for sure the place to go.  If you’d like some Bandy Brooks chocolates surrounded by steel and glass buildings reaching to the sky, this is the place to go.

The chocolates were made with a lower quality chocolate and they are excessively sweet but I’m sure they will appeal to some folk.  Sitting here with a chocolate and a milkshake watching the world move is delicious.

The chocolate is sweet and unsofisticated.  The chocolates themselves are large and with the sweet flavour of the chocolate it is difficult to finish more than one.  This is not because, as with a high quality chocolate, you feel satisfied.  It is because it is too much sugar.

These chocolates still have a way to go but they are better than candy

Dairy Milk Caramel Nibbles spilling out of bag. Whoops - I'll have to eat all of those.

There is nothing wrong with liking the occasional bit of Dairy Milk.  It’s my not-so-secret indulgence. This bag had my name on it – literally – for only a few days before I had it opened and munching.

I always find the oily and high sugar nature of Dairy Milk in general is too much for me to just let the chocolate melt in my mouth so I enjoy it in one munching mouthful at a time.

There is not much caramel in these buttons which is both good and bad.  Good in that it makes them less messy and less sweet. Bad in that sometimes you do want messy, gooey caramel oozing out of your buttons.

The button size is slightly wider than standard button size and, of course, thicker.  This size, bigger than a 20p piece but close to a 10p piece (or a quarter) is perfect.  You can grab a few without feeling like it is too much.

These are great and really moorish so be careful about leaving them somewhere you can access them!  I really enjoy just indulging in this kind of chocolate every once in awhile.  It’s messy, fatty, sweet and awful but good.

Thorntons Milk Chocolate 38% Venezuelan Cocoa Bar

This 38% Venezuelan cocoa blended into a chocolate bar from a chocolate producer more often associated with low quality chocolate is a shock – a pleasant one!

The chocolate is brilliantly balanced with a slight creaminess coming out over the chocolate itself.  The chocolate has been made silky smooth with none of the graininess found in other bars.  While quite sweet, it is not as over sugared as other bars making it an easy to enjoy treat.

The chocolate itself tastes like a blend with the whole mouth being sparked though it claims to be from a single region  It’s just fantastic that a single region could produce a non-flat bar and using the famous Criollo bean – it doesn’t have the same mouth feel as a single region bar.  It doesn’t matter though because this milk chocolate bar is pleasant with a slight hint of vanilla and a hint of honey.

No surprise this is a bronze medal winning bar. A safe bet to buy for someone special – yourself!

Simone Marie chocolates promises the best quality Belgian chocolates.  Upon entering you are met with the distinctive scent of imported Belgian chocolates with a longer than high quality shelf life.  It speaks to you of a higher sugar and fat content, with preservatives.  To most people, this aroma is absolute heaven, so unfamiliar are they with high quality chocolates.

I chatted with the lovely owner for awhile about her chocolate selection.  Familiar as I was with Hotel Chocolat and other suppliers, I quickly spotted the fondant mint I enjoy from Hotel Chocolat sitting among her chocolates.  We spoke about European chocolates and quality.  She recommended some chocolates, which I bought and tried at home.

This shop is quite clearly passionate about chocolates.  The person I spoke to was clearly enthusiastic about chocolate and had much to share.  The chocolates were quite typical Belgian chocolates created for export.  In order to prevent spoilage they are not the best, most pure chocolate but they are very good quality.  I’m sure a lover of Belgian chocolate would make this a regular stop for a weekly shop for a chocolate a day.

These are really good quality chocolates but not top notch.  That is by necessity because of the shipping and the manufacturing.  I am also not a huge fan of the Belgian style of chocolate, preferring what I have been told is the French style.

I would say that there is better chocolate in Toronto but it is still worth a visit and worth a shop.

The packaging here is one of the high points for the chocolates, with attention paid to the detail of everything from images on tins to charms on ribbon festooned boxes.

The chocolate itself is slightly oily, with a flavour that speaks of cocoa butter being removed and vegetable oil added.  The amount of sugar in the milk chocolate makes me cringe a bit but overall this is a better quality of chocolate from the norm.

While there are preservatives and this isn’t top notch chocolate, it is mass market and a excellent first step out of the mass-market comfort chocolate in to something else.  By accepting the higher price too, it makes it easier to transition to the truly high quality chocolates.

The staff at this shop are what makes it stand out.  While in the past I have been faced with the worst staff I have ever encountered, within the last 2 or so years the management seems to have changes and there are lovely people working there.

Happy, friendly and understanding a lot more about chocolate than you might expect, the staff really make this shop stand out for me.

When I was looking for chocolate covered pretzels and they didn’t have any, they helped me find some at a different location.  When I needed help choosing chocolates for my sister’s wedding, they helped show me options and costs.  Absolutely brilliant people there now who will help you pick the right chocolate for you.

Give this branch of Godiva a try while they still have this outstanding staff compliment.  Tell them what flavours you like and they’ll find the right chocolates for you.

Holly is a contemporary artist who has a passion for chocolate and was so inspired by the film Chocolat that she went on a quest.  The end of her quest is some of the most interesting sounding chocolates I have come across.  The passion for organic is strong too and so I was hoping for something good.

And so I braved it.  The immediate sweetness coated my mouth and then and chocolate started to fight its way through. 

The chocoholly milk chocolate 46% cocoa bar (part eaten)

 Smooth and slightly fatty, there is a hint of graininess which is not unpleasant.  The chocolate comes through as a smooth, gentle flavour, typical of milk chocolates.  A stronger hint of earthiness than I’m used to comes through in the chocolate but it is hidden by the creaminess and sugary flavour.

It’s a good milk chocolate and a good change from Cadbury’s.  I especially like the resealable plastic sleeve the chocolate is in which means you can enjoy a little and seal the rest for later.  The stronger chocolate flavour means you feel satisfied for longer.

A good way to support a small chocolate maker who is making a difference in the chocolate world with organic offerings.

Inspired by chocolatiers from cities of the world, the dark Dominican Republic and milk Ecuador single origin chocolates are combined with flavours such as salted caramel, orange blossom, quince and cloudberry to create this new selection by chocolate guru Keith Hurdman. He has had extensive training with some of Europe’s finest confectioners and chocolatiers in Belgium, Switzerland and France. He is now widely recognised as one of the UK’s most talented chocolate makers. Keith has won a number of other awards including the International Belgian Chocolate Award and the highly acclaimed ‘Truffe d’ Or’ in 2000 as Champion Confectioner of Switzerland.

Soho Caramel had to be first. Described as “deliciously buttery and oozing caramel enhanced by subtle after-hint of saltiness” it is dark chocolate of a decent quality covering a slightly overly sweet centre. I found it to be a less refined flavour of caramel and as such less pleasant than the higher quality caramels I have tried but as an entry level sea salt caramel it is very nice.

Vanilla Heights was next. An interesting ganache centre which, while far too sweet for my palette, would be perfect for someone who prefers Cadbury chocolates. I am sure that it would be enjoyed as a higher quality given the low price point.

Midnight Melt did not melt much but as a dark chocolate with a similar filling it was surprisingly delightful. The preservatives gave the chocolate an odd flavour with a reluctance to melt in the mouth but it was quite pleasant nonetheless.

Q Couture exuded so much fruitiness that the scent of the chocolate before biting smelt of the centre. The centres of this chocolate had such an extreme quince flavour which came off as quite synthetic and overpowering that I had to stop eating and drink even more tea. I’m sure this will be someone’s favourite – especially someone who enjoys fruity flavours. It is an explosion in the mouth.

Praline Piazza has delightful bits of feuilletine and while I am decidedly not a fan of praline I did enjoy it. The praline is still an overpowering nutty flavour and not my favourite but I found this easy to enjoy.

Manhattan Melt, the milk chocolate version of Midnight Melt, is a creamy, sweet chocolate. While again far too sweet for my taste, and reluctant to melt in the mouth, the chocolate was still palatable and I am sure will be a firm favourite for those venturing in to this box as a step up from Milk Tray.

Cloudberry Hill did not assault the senses with fruit but still comes through as an interesting fruity flavour. Have this one before you have a Q Couture I think so you can taste the flavour.

Orange Garden was to me, not a fan of chocolate orange, a really pleasant chocolate orange flavour. Still over sugared, the orange is synthetic but not overpowering. A change from orange creme, it is sure to be enjoyed.

At the end of the sampling, the one chocolate I was willing to eat more than one of as Soho Caramel. While the filling may not be as delicate, liquid and flavourful as I am used to, out of the box it was my favourite.

When tasting Galler chocolate, they asked us to not pay as much attention to the cocoa content as the flavor. They asked us to not allow our perception of the chocolate to be coloured by our awareness of cocoa content. This proved to be excellent advice as Galler has higher cocoa content, enabling the flavour of the bean to come through.

Tucked away at the back of the chocolate hall – or the front depending on how you enter it – the Galler chocolate counter can too easily be lost in the cacophony of chocolates assaulting your senses. Make sure you find it though because there’s lots to recommend it! With a unique set of flavours divided into themes, this chocolate is delicate and quite pleasant. It’s going to be different from anything you’ll find elsewhere and you’ll be appreciated no matter what you select. The easiest option rather than be overwhelmed by the selection is to go for a themed box.

The Galler Kaori box is going to make you the star of any party with a selection of very different flavours you can eat alone or dip in to another flavour to enjoy. I had the opportunity to sample this at my leisure along with a few chocolates and I can report back that while not all of the box of Kaori was quite to my taste, things that I did not think were to my taste were not as bad as I thought. The balance is well done here and the Kalamansi can be used like glue so dip your stick in there before your choice of Orange and Cocoa Nibs or Matcha Green Tea and Poppy Seeds power to coat the outside. It did take some getting used to but for a gift or at a party, this would be superb.

While we did sample most of the chocolate bars we ran out of time to try much else as Harrods was closing! Of the few chocolates I sampled, the white was predictably sweet but the dark pleasantly mild. There was not as much body to the dark as I have become used to but hey – I did enjoy it nonetheless. The milk was too sweet for me but many people will find this the perfect milk chocolate as it mirrors more closely the oily flavour and sweetness many expect in a milk chocolate.