Monday, January 11, 2010

Dars Crea Hazelnut Chocolates


I'm going to go on the record and say that Dars is, hands down, the best consumer level chocolate in Japan. People can argue with me about it because tastes vary, but I have never sampled a variety of Dars which wasn't excellent. This particular variety though, is the best of the best. If I were going to let myself run wild, I'd pop in a DVD of a good old pirate movie like Captain Blood and buy two boxes of these and make myself sick.

Also, I'm going to go on record and say that I have no idea why these are called "Crea". If someone has an educated guess, I'd welcome opinions.


The basic concept of Dars is the same for all flavors. It's a smooth chocolate shell with a softer filling. "Smooth" in fact, is the best way to describe all Dars candies. They're exceptionally fine and this is like expensive Gianduja chocolates. I'd say this rivals the Gianduja from Godiva. For those who don't know, that's chocolate made with hazelnut paste.

I found this at a local market for about 120 yen ($1.34) and it was worth every yen. You can probably find these at some places a bit cheaper though. Each little candy is 23 calories and the whole box (44 grams/1.5 oz.), with a dozen pieces, is 280 calories. If you're a fan of hazelnut (or Nutella), find this, buy as much as you can, and save them to comfort you on bad days.

5 comments:

Helen said...

I'm a fan of chocolate, nutella, hazelnut AND Captain Blood, so I will definitely be on the lookout for these!

Sounds amazing :-)

Sharon said...

I just finished the last of the ones you had sent me of these. I loved them.

Anonymous said...

OH my gosh S! Dars and Nuts... well heck, that is a combo I'm willing to try. Dars keeps up with their ever so delish consistency ne?

I have not tried these either, salivating here while I am eating oatmeal with raisins and cinnamon.

I lurv hazelnut.. don't know who Captain Blood is though...

Helen said...

Captain Blood is a pirate movie based on a book by Rafael Sabatini. (Yes I did read it once upon a time!) The star of the movie was Errol Flynn who was one of my heart-throbs when I was younger, despite the fact that he died before I was born.

It's a swashbuckling film and rather fun...Errol is matched with Olivia de Haviland if memory serves, they were a great duo.

A quick check at IMDb tells me I was right. Woot. (Arrrrr?!) More info here!

Orchid64 said...

I think an afternoon of Errol Flynn is always a good time. :-) Toss in Robin Hood along with Captain Blood and you're good for the night.