Meiji Milk Chocolate

I wish I could say that I personally purchased this bar from a little corner shop in Tokyo. But, that would be telling an untruth so, I have to admit that one of my more well traveled acquaintances actually picked this up for me on a recent business trip to the mysterious land of Japan.  

From what I can gather from the Company Website, thank goodness for Google Translate, they produce anything from powdered milk and baby food to chocolate bars and mouthwash!  As a group the company employs just over 15,000 people and has sales revenues of one hundred million trillion Yen. My calculator just broke....Click here for more behemoth facts!

Unfortunately, this bar was damaged in transit so apologies to Meiji. I like the packaging and for a moment its dark colour makes me think I'm going to be eating a dark bar of chocolate.  

Once out of its packaging the bar smells strongly of condensed milk mixed with cocoa. The bar is split up into 15 little squares each bearing the mark of Meiji.  Weighing in at a mighty 55 grams this bar looks like it should weigh twice as much.  However, the chocolate is extremely thin similar to Easter Egg chocolate or perhaps a bar of Lindt.  You can feel the chocolate melting in your fingers as the first chunk is broken off.  

The not overly sweet tasting chocolate melts quickly with a slight cloying mouth feel with a hint of bitterness at the end.  In comparison to a European milk chocolate that I've just tasted it is certainly nowhere near as sweet and you don't get that overpowering 'milk powder' taste. According to the company website this product is ideal for chocolate ganache and chocolate cake. 

Overall not a bad bar of chocolate but the a slightly cloying mouth feel makes you wish you'd purchased a bottle of Meiji mouthwash at the same time! 5/10. To save money on air travel you can buy direct for Amazon UK at £2.05 per bar.