Halloween - Ghost Drops

On doing a bit of research for this review, I was surprised to find that these lollies have been available in Australia for quite some time.

While not technically a Halloween candy, I figured it was a case of near enough is good enough given the limited choices I have here.

Ghost drops are hard boiled lollies and come individually wrapped in four different flavours: apple (green), blueberry (blue), cherry (red) and tropical punch (black/purple). As an added bonus, the candies stain your tongue the colour of the candy. I will confess straight out that I did not try the cherry flavour, I hate cherry flavour and will never be reviewing anything cherry on this site (unless I get someone else to try it). But all the other flavours were absolutely delicious.

Rating: A great product, would make any trick-or-treater happy, 8/10

Halloween - Liquid Strawberry "Blood Bag"

This is exactly the sort of novelty product I love (I've seen on some American sites that you can get candy urine samples in a sample jar, candy pus filled ears, candy pimples you can pop, those sorts of things speak to my sense of humour!). So, unless this product makes me vomit, it's going to get a pretty high rating.

The verdict??? Yummo! The strawberry liquid is delicious, not too sweet, a nice tang to it. I would struggle to eat the whole thing but I can see kids enjoying this. My only complaint would be that I think a thicker syrup would be more enjoyable.

A special thanks to my friend Alison for finding this for me (my friends know me so well).

Rating: Love it! Keep pushing the boundaries of decency candy makers! 9/10

Halloween - Eyeball Gummy Candy

Another Halloween candy I picked up, also by Amos Sweets, were these Gummy Eyeballs.

As with the gummy skulls, the eyeballs come individually wrapped in four different colours: green (apple), blue (???), orange (mango) and red (watermelon).

I'm a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to gummy flavours: citrus, berries and (rarely) pineapple. Needless to say, the flavours in this pack did not grab me at all, with the exception of the unidentifiable blue flavour.

Rating: Hooray for Halloween products on Australian shelves, but the flavours are perhaps better suited to those of you who like Jelly Joiners ;) 5/10

Halloween - Gummy Skulls

One of the few Halloween candies I managed to pick up in Australian stores were these Gummy Skulls produced by Amos Sweets.

The skulls come individually wrapped, which is great for trick or treaters (not that I see any). The gummies are strawberry flavoured with a cream gummy on top. I like the look, and the taste was actually surprisingly good, a nice sweet strawberry flavour that wasn't overly dulled down by the cream gummy.

Rating: Hurrah for halloween candy that is also edible! 7/10

Tru Blood O Positive Carbonated Drink

While not technically a Halloween product, I thought it fitting to try this Tru Blood "O Positive" Carbonated Drink at this time of year.

This Tru Blood product is a Blood Orange flavoured soft drink presented in a deep red bottle to sell the whole idea of drinking blood.

The drink itself wasn't quite as red you expect a fake blood product to be. The flavour was nice but the drink didn't have a lot of fizz to it, not sure if that's because this is an import or if that's just how the product is. So it was nice, but really I'm drinking it more for the novelty more than anything else.

Rating: A bit more fizz and it would have been worth it, 6/10

Tabasco Spicy Chocolate

There are some foods I just won't review as I know from my tastes, no matter how good the product might be, I just won't enjoy it. For example anything cherry flavoured and anything with a hint of chilli heat. I figured Tasbasco Spicy Chocolate would fall into the latter category so I enlisted a friend, who just happens to but Tabasco sauce on everything, to taste test this for me.

I loved the packaging, the chocolate inside a lovely, round tin and presented in 8 wedge segments. My friend loved the combination of dark chocolate and whatever was used for heat, although noted that she couldn't pick up on any Tabasco flavouring.

Rating: A winner for chocolate/chilli lovers but don't expect to taste Tabasco, 7/10

Halloween: Cadbury Screme Egg

Halloween is hardly a big affair here in Australia, I keep hoping it will catch on (a holiday where you dress up and eat candy, sign me up!!!!). I'm going to try my best to come up with some Halloween candy, but it is quite scarce. The first Halloween candy I stumbled upon Cadbury Screme Egg, a variation on the Creme Egg we get at Easter.

The difference between this version and the Easter version is that the Halloween version has green goo in its center, otherwise it is much the same, that is to say, yummy!

Rating: Bonus points to Cadbury for acknowledging Halloween, 8/10

Cadbury Raspberry Chocolate Mousse

Cadbury has recently released a range of "Mousse" blocks of chocolate. As well as a plain mousse in chocolate, caramel or hazelnut, there is also raspberry chocolate and double chocolate which have a layer of raspberry or chocolate coulis. I couldn't quite face trying them all, so I opted for the raspberry chocolate as this sounded the most intriguing to me.

I loved it! The raspberry coulis tasted like that fake jam you get in hot jam donuts and although it overpowered the taste of the chocolate, that was fine by me. The coulis wasn't overly sweet and had a nice tang to it, which always wins my vote. Oh yeah, the mousse was nice too :)

Rating: Well done Cadbury, well done. 9/10

Strawberry Mentos

I've been a bit slack keeping up with all the recent limited edition Mentos flavours such as watermelon and blackcurrant, but I'm back in the zone and picked up the latest offering of strawberry mentos.

Aside from cola, I've never been a big mentos eater so I can't compare the strawberry flavour with what you might get in the Mentos Rainbow package, but I really enjoyed the strawberry flavour and happily chomped through the entire package.

Rating: Exactly what you would expect from strawberry flavoured Mentos, 8/10

Pepsi Max Kick

Another new Pepsi product to hit the shelves is Pepsi Max Kick. Pepsi's take on an energy drink boasts twice the caffeine (85mg).

I was never a fan of Pepsi Max, despite my sweet tooth I find Pepsi Max too sweet and found the same problem with Pepsi Max Kick.

Rating: If you like Pepsi Max and are looking for more caffeine, this is for you. Not my cup of tea, 5/10

Pepsi Next

Pepsi Next is a new product from Pepsi, not quite regular Pepsi, not quite Diet Pepsi, it uses the natural sweetener Stevia to reduce the sugar levels by 30% compared to regular Pepsi.

I haven't drank Pepsi in a while, I prefer Coke products personally, but I wasn't disappointed with this product. I think it's a smart move use a natural sweetener as some people are averse to artificial sweeteners, and the end product, to me, is indistinguishable from regular Pepsi.

Rating: A well done reduced calorie product, great for those who like Pepsi, 7/10

Chocolatier Once Upon a Plate

Chocolatier Once Upon a Plate Chocolates are a collection of five distinctly Australian based flavoured chocolates.

The flavours include Apple Crumble, Lemon Tart, Vanilla Slice, Coconut Ice and Lamington.

 Apple Crumble

 

 Lemon Tart

 

 Vanilla Slice

 

 Coconut Ice

 

Lamington

While intrigued by the flavours, I was a little bit wary trying these as I am a devoted Cadburys girl and find that gourmet chocolates don't always agree with my tastebuds. I shouldn't have worried, each of these was delicious. The only mild disappointment was the apple crumble, while still delicious, I didn't pick up the apple flavour at all. I think these chocolates will be part of my regular junkfood rotation from now on.

Rating: Wow. Just wow. Not a bad flavour in the bunch. 10/10

Mentos 3D Mystery Sugarfree Gum

Another mystery-flavoured product has hit the shelves here in Australia, following on the heels of their Mystery Mentos, Mentos has released a mystery-flavoured version of their 3D Sugarfree Gums.

As soon as I took the plastic wrapping off, I smelt a strong, peach-like scent. Unwrapping a stick, the gum has two pink-speckled outer layers, with a deep pink central layer. Popping it in my mouth I immediately got the peach flavour, with what seemed like a faint strawberry hint (the central layer???). So that's my guess, peach/strawberry.

Rating: I'm loving the fun of mystery flavours, but find the peach flavour a little off putting, 7/10

Soda Rock Diner (South Yarra, Vic)

Soda Rock Diner is an American style diner, complete with a lifesize statue of Elvis. Soda Rock serves your typical American fare, burgers, hot dogs, fries, sodas (you can check out the menu on their website). For drinks I went for a coke float (or spider as we call them here in Oz), my absolute, A-1 favourite drink of all time. My brother went for a blue heaven milkshake. Apparently blue heaven is unique to Australia, and after some research on our smart phones and a taste test, I can confidently say that blue heaven flavour is raspberry.

For my meal I went for the Hound dog which came with cheese, relish, mustard, onions and cheese (you can have the cheese toasted which I think I will try next time as the grated cheese fell off as I was trying to eat). I ended up pulling out some of the onion, a bit much for my taste, but otherwise a great hot dog. For my side I got chilli cheese fries, something I can never pass up when I see it on the menu. The chilli fries could have been the best I've had in Australia but unfortunately I was served hot rather than mild and the heat ruined the fun for me. I can't wait to get back and try the mild version.

Rating: American diner style done really well, 8/10

McDonalds Ultimate Grand Angus

I hadn't previously tried any of the Angus burgers at McDonalds, although they have been out for a while. When I saw the recent ads advertising the new and improved burger patty I thought, in the interest of research, it was time to try one.

I ended up going for the Ultimate Grand Angus, I figured that the Serious Grand Angus would taste much like the lamb version and on the day I wasn't quite up to the challenge. Also, the Ultimate also came with cheese, and what burger couldn't be improved with cheese?!?!?!?

The Ultimate Grand Angus was as much as a challenge for me as the Serious Lamb Burger. It is BIG! The sauces were nice, the cheese was a plus, I think I'd prefer cooked onions but that's a personal choice. While there are no complaints to be had, it didn't wow me either. I think when I go to Maccas I prefer the real McDonalds taste you get with cheeseburgers, big macs, quarter pounders. I'm not really looking for a "real" burger at McDonalds. Having said that, it is certainly more suited to those with a bigger appetite or looking for a less processed-tasting product.

Rating: Good but will not be my go to burger (hmmmm, double cheeseburger), 7/10

KFC Nacho Cheese Roller

If you read my review on the BBQ Bacon Roller you'll know how much I was looking forward to trying the Nacho Cheese Roller. Oh, how disappointed I was today when I finally tried it. It could have been great but the tomato sauce used completely overpowered the nacho cheese, I may as well have had a bowl of tomato soup.

As an aside, what is with the service at KFC? As long as I can remember, KFC service has been incredibly slow and today was no exception. Even when McDonalds swapped to cooking to order, their service remained impeccable. Today at KFC there was only one person serving the front counter, including taking AND filling the orders, this at 1pm, the prime lunchtime period. Not that this stops me going to KFC or enjoying the food, just an observation (one supported by friends and family).

Rating: Reduce the amount of tomato sauce and it could have been a winner, 5/10

Chunky Funkeez Sour Ears

I just can't walk by a novelty candy product. I'm not sure if I've just never noticed these in stores before or if they are being brought out in time for Halloween (which isn't that big here in Australia).

Upon opening the bag, I took a whiff and couldn't quite place the fruity flavour. The sour powder is the good, fine crystal that I love (as opposed to the chunky sour sugar crystals you can sometimes get) and the flavour was strong, I'm just not sure what that flavour is. After some snooping on the internet I read that it is an orange flavour but that didn't seem quite right.

Rating: I'm not sure if I plain didn't like the flavour, or didn't like that I couldn't pick the flavour, 3/10

Rio Pink Grapefruit Sugarfree Mints

I love these guys, I must go through a pack a week.

The packaging is novel, with a sliding lid that moves to allow access to the mints. Although not so clear in the photo, the mints are soft pink in colour, and the taste is a delightful, sweet, pink grapefruit (one of my favourite candy flavours).

Ratings: It was as if they were designed specifically for my tastebuds, 10/10

KFC Crispy Rods

Sadly I had a camera meltdown on the day I tried the KFC Crispy Rods so I have had to rely on a stock photo instead. Amazingly, it is one of the few times that the stock photo and the product actually look like each other so I don't feel so bad!

There's not much to say about this product, it's chicken on a stick coated with the Colonel's famous herbs and spices. Was it nice? I guess so. Would I order it again? Nah, too many better options on the menu.

Rating: Nothing specifically wrong, just boring 6/10

Aldi's Flying Power Energy Drink

Hot on the heels of trying the blue, silver and red editions of Red Bull, I decided to have a look around at other energy drinks currently on the market. The first one I'm trying is Aldi's version, Flying Power.

I wish I'd also bought a Red Bull to compare this to because the taste is very similar. Not quite as good (Red Bull being my favourite drink and all), but it could stump a few people in a blind taste test.

Rating: Pays respect to the great Red Bull, not as good but good enough 7/10

Green Apple Tic Tacs

The latest offering from Tic Tacs is a limited edition Green Apple flavour.

The tic tacs deliver a strong, refreshing apple taste. I personally struggled to eat more than one, but I have never been a huge apple fan. If you do like your apple flavouring then this is the product for you.

Rating: Great but not my cup of tea, 7/10