Grape Fanta

A big thanks to my brother (B1) a connoisseur of all grape soft drinks for writing the following review for me:

I love 'grape' flavour, hence my excitement when hearing that Fanta was bringing out a 'grape' flavoured drink here in Australia.

First impression is that there is a lot of purple colouring in the drink. It is very dark. Getting down to the flavour of the drink, unfortunately the 'grape' flavour is overpowered by the sugariness that is Fanta. My tastebuds would prefer a drink with a little bit more sourness or tartness. It definitely has that 'grape' flavour but is just a bit too bland. Toddlers and young children would love it.

Note: 'Grape' tastes nothing like grapes at all and is reminiscent of that playground smell of hubba bubba bubblegum.

Rating: A+ for finally bringing grape soft drink to Australia but the flavour needs work, 6/10

Cherry Ripe Double Dipped with 60% Cocoa

Another chocolate bar variation currently on shelves is the Cherry Ripe Double Dipped with 60% Cocoa. For this review I also picked up a regular Cherry Ripe for comparison. The original Cherry Ripe I picked up has a loving message on it, one of the leftovers from Cadbury's Valentine's Day promotion.

First of all, apologies for what could be the worst photo I have taken on this blog! As you can (sort of) see, the double dipped version (top) indeed has a much thicker layer of chocolate than the original (bottom). The chocolate is also darker and richer in colour.

As for my verdict, I much prefer the original. The use of a high quality dark chocolate didn't really add to my experience, and I found that the double dipping altered the filling to chocolate ratio negatively, resulting in the a reduction of the delicious cherry/coconut flavour.


Rating: As with most movies, the original (9/10) is much better than the sequel (5/10)

Mentos Raspberry

One of the many things I love about Mentos is that they are constantly releasing new flavours for me to try, the latest being strawberry (reviewed earlier on this blog) and raspberry.

I don't have much to say about this product other than YOU MUST TRY THEM!!!! These Mentos have one of the best takes on raspberry flavour I've tasted, I will definitely go back for more!

Rating: The strawberry were good, the raspberry are great! 10/10

Cadbury Snow Flake

The chocolate bar variations are coming thick and fast at the moment, including the limited edition Cadbury Snow Flake, a white chocolate flake dipped in good old Cadbury milk chocolate.

Being a fan of white chocolate, I really liked this bar for flavour but was disappointed at the lack of flakiness which is what makes the regular Cadbury Flake so great (and messy) to eat. Instead, the white chocolate was quite thick and well stuck together.

Rating: Good as a chocolate bar, so-so as a Flake, 6/10

Tic Tac Fruit Adventure

The latest flavour offering from Tic Tac is the Fruit Adventure, a mixture of four different flavours: cherry, passionfruit, apple and orange.

Cherry: I really can't judge the cherry flavour fairly, cherry flavouring always leaves a bad taste in my mouth because it reminds me of a disgusting cough medicine I used to have as a kid. This cherry was no different, but if you like cherry I'm sure it would be fine.

Passionfruit: It's not often you see a passionfruit flavoured lolly and after trying this, I wonder why. The flavour is strong and refreshing and worth buying the pack just to try it out.

Apple: I liked the apple, as with the passionfruit the flavour was strong and refreshing, a really nice take on the apple flavour.

Orange: Orange Tic Tacs are one of my favourite candies of all, I can get through a regular packet in about 3 seconds flat. Apart from the orange colour, these are the same (i.e. awesome!) flavour as the regular packet of orange.

Rating: A nice offering from Tic Tac, even with the cherry ;), 7/10

McDonalds Tastes of America Banana Split Shake

Trying to get through the entire Tastes of America range before it finishes up on Wednesday, I decided to go for the Banana Split Milkshake. Sadly I wasn't organised enough to have my camera with me so you'll have to cope with the stock photo instead (the product looked very similar).

I actually really liked this, the flavour wasn't overly fake or overly strong, it was easy enough to get through the whole thing. The only complaint/suggestion I have is that, if Maccas was really going for a Banana Split feel, I would have gone with whipped cream and a maraschino cherry on top rather than brownie bits, but that's just the purest in me!

Rating: Well balanced flavours, nice addition to the range, but needs cream, 7/10

Cherry Bounty

The chocolate countries here in Australia are keeping me nice and busy with all the new limited edition variations. One I spotted on the shelves is the new Cherry Bounty with dark chocolate.

My main concern with this product was that it would basically taste like a cherry ripe only not as good. I was right :( That's not to say that there is anything wrong with that, I love cherry ripes, but when a chocolate bar comes out with a variation I want it to be different to anything else available.

Rating: Good but I'd rather a cherry ripe, 6/10

Hungry Jacks Red Velvet Sundae

Hungry Jacks is currently running a "Hot Hot Cold" promotion, including Peri Peri Chicken Burgers, Shaker Fries (the hot) and Red Lemonade and Red Velvet Sundae (the cold). I insert my standard waiver of not liking chilli-hot foods so the burger and fries were out (if you've tried them please let me know) and a red lemonade didn't seem particularly interesting, however I was intrigued by the Red Velvet Sundae.

I was extremely curious as to what flavour the Red Velvet topping might be, would it be like the cake (a mild chocolate flavour????) or would it be a flavour more in line with the colour of the topping, say a beautiful, rich raspberry flavour????? Sadly, it was the former, after getting through a few bites I was annoyed to find I had got myself excited over a chocolate sundae. That's not to say the topping was bad, it was rich, thick, fudgy and smooth with a nice subtle chocolate flavour, but at the end of the day that still makes it a chocolate sundae.

Rating: A chocolate sundae by any other name is still just a chocolate sundae, yawn, 6/10

KFC Black Edition Kentucky Burger

I am so over fast food using the bacon/BBQ sauce combo as a limited edition that I put off trying the KFC Black Edition Kentucky Burger until recently (and I am yet to try the McDonalds Texas Burger).  On the other hand, I was excited to try a chicken burger with cheese and coleslaw, my favourite chicken burger combo. The verdict...

...once I removed the bacon, great! The crispy onion bits were crunchy and flavoursome, the coleslaw and fried chicken worked together beautifully and the BBQ sauce was not smokey like most of the limited edition burgers have been using lately, but rather a sweet, tasty BBQ sauce. The downsides, the bacon did not improve the burger for my tastes and while two slices of cheese sounded great, it was pretty bland and tasteless.

Rating: Bring on a regular coleslaw/fried chicken burger, hold the bacon, 8/10