Lily O’Brien’s Review

Reviewed by Shetho

As a self diagnosed chocoholic being given the chance to review Lily O’Brien’s products couldn’t be a better opportunity. Lily O’Brien has been making chocolates since 1992 and they are based in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland. The Ultimate Chocolate Collection and the Exquisite Edition arrived beautifully packaged.

The Ultimate Chocolate Collection is presented in a white and gold paper with a striking turquoise ribbon. The Exquisite Edition comes in a turquoise and white cardboard box with gold lettering and enticing pictures of what to expect inside. Both look very appealing as potential gifts on the packaging alone and I couldn’t wait to taste them.

The Lily O’Brien website says that the Ultimate Collection is ‘one of our most sought after collections’. The box contained 16 assorted milk, dark and white chocolates in two layers with fillings including Lemon Meringue Pie, Caramel Macchiato, Le Crunch Chocolat, Sticky Toffee, Zesty Orange, Death by Chocolate and Praline Perfection. Also in the box is a small leaflet with pictures of the chocolates and further descriptions.

Of the Exquisite Edition the website says ‘ our most extravagant gift box of chocolates. The Exquisite Edition is a sublime assortment of milk, dark and white chocolates. This box contained 14 recipes including Raspberry & Sicilian Lemon, Ginger & Lemon Confit, Grand Cru Ganache, Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel, Sea Salted Caramel, Almond & Cranberry, Pear & Almond, Passion Fruit & Bergamot, Praline Feuilletine, Hazelnut Cappuccino, Creme Brulee, Spiced Orange Praline, Coconut & Kalamansi Lime, Dulce de Leche.

With all these exciting choices I just had to open them up to see what the hype was about. Inside the box the chocolates were even more attractive than I had hoped for. The chocolates were very glossy and appealing. Just looking at them made my mouth water and the biggest challenge with so many unusual ingredients and flavours was just where to start. I’m always up for a challenge, so I got stuck in. Some of the centres were very authentic, the Lemon Meringue Pie tasted just like the real thing and the Death by Chocolate was believable as a murder weapon (both these are in the Ultimate Collection). Other centres I found harder to define the individual flavours, The Praline Feulletine was quite bland and the Raspberry and Sicilian Lemon did not taste of either of the headline ingredients (Exquisite Edition). These special boxes of chocolate were more exciting to look at and drool over than to taste. For me the chocolate coatings were too heavy, thick and hard and overwhelmed the fillings which were delicate. I would prefer a finer coating and to be able to taste more of the filling.

The Lily O’Brien collections have an amazing array of unusual, yet surprisingly familiar flavours, these chocolates would be good to give as a gift for Valentines or Mother’s Day. Anyone who likes chocolate would be very happy to receive these. If you have been searching for a romantic gift for that special person or a treat to show your mum how much you appreciate her these products might be just what you’ve been looking for.

Rating: 4/5

RRP: Ultimate Collection 190g 16 chocolates £8
Exquisite Edition 138g 14 chocolates £7.00

These products can be purchased from Lily O’Briens here.