Value for money chocolate ices

CONOR POPEreviews chocolate ices

Cadbury Choc Ice €2.50 for three

Cadbury make choc ices? Sorry, what? Why were we not told of this rather fantastic development sooner? These are brilliant; the ice cream is rich and sticky without being too fancy and the chocolate is gorgeous, almost as good as if you melted down a bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk and dipped a bar of vanilla ice into it. Not only is this ice cream lovely, it is also the perfect size, and when bought as part of a three-pack as we did last week, it also represents very good value for money. If bought individually in a local shop, you will pay a whole lot more however – more than double what we got them for in our local Tesco.

Verdict: Lovely, cheap (depending)

Star rating: *****

Galaxy Triple Chocolate Ice Cream €2.29

This is incredibly chocolatey – hardly a surprise given its name – and very, very pleasant indeed. The chocolate coating is like an addled member of the British aristocracy – thick and rich – and the ice cream is beautifully creamy. Of course all the chocolate in the mix wont be to everyone’s taste and it is, perhaps, just a little too sweet. It is also pricey and we can’t imagine eating a whole lot of these would be particularly good for the waistline

Verdict: Rather lovely

Star rating: ***

Magnum Classic €2.49

If the Choc Ice is old-school, this is the new kid on the block, or at least it was the new kid on the block when the New Kids on the Block were popular. Despite the passage of time, we were still deeply sceptical of this when we tried it last week. It was lovely and a pretty perfect way to pass a few minutes in a sun-kissed park of a summer’s day. The ice cream is top-notch and flecked with little pieces of vanilla pod, the chocolate is thick and luscious. It is also, sadly, expensive and perhaps a little on the big side. After eating a whole one, we felt ever so slightly piggish.

Verdict: Luscious

Star rating: ***

HB Choc Ice €1.89

This is the old-school option which comes with added nostalgia with its wonderfully familiar taste, texture and appearance. As a child of the 1970s, Pricewatch assumed this would be the clear winner, but Pricewatch was wrong. The ice cream underneath the thin chocolate case is okay but no more than that, and the chocolate is rather disappointing and was very quick to crack and flake when introduced to the sun. It is undoubtedly refreshing and is about the right size to cool you down without filling you up – and it is also widely available. We were a little surprised at the price – it’s not the dearest or anything – but we remembered them costing a lot less in the 1970s.

Verdict: Pleasingly familiar

Star rating: ***

Tesco Everyday Value Chocolate Ices €1.05 for eight €0.13 each

Now, regular readers will know that we are not the biggest fans of the cheapest own-brand products our supermarkets tend to sell because they are frequently rubbish. So we opened this choc ice with something of a heavy heart. The first thing we noticed was the absence of a stick. The second thing we noticed was the size which was small. Our heart sank further. But then we tasted it. It is surprisingly good – by no means a gourmet option but the ice cream is grand, the chocolate is fine and it is the perfect size for a small child. It is also very, very cheap and has to represent very good value for money.

Verdict: A surprising find

Star rating: ****