Senz Milk Chocolate Pearls

Senz is a brand I'm pretty unfamiliar with. Made in China and imported by Big W, the brand is on the cheaper side of things, although they do have very nicely designed packaging. I actually found very little information on the brand. They have an inactive Facebook page, but no main website, and the few sites I found on Google were mostly other reviews. The range carried in Big W is mostly boxed chocolates and truffles of different, and pouches of individually-wrapped pieces. I seem to recall the word 'Belgian' on the other packaging, so perhaps this is Belgian chocolate?

I debated about even bothering to review something from the brand, but then I spotted this adorable little tin, and was fascinated by it and its contents. Although the Pearls themselves aren't anything special (a crunchy centre covered in milk chocolate), it was the delivery method that caught my attention. A tin? How clever! The tin itself is the same design as that used for Eclipse Mints, although about 1cm taller and a few millimetres wider.

The packaging is suspiciously devoid of an ingredients list. The back of the pack contains allergen advice and country of origin, while the side contains typical blather about how awesome the brand's products are. Nothing special.

When I opened the tin, I was surprised to discover just how small the little balls are. They are all fairly uniform in size, measuring 1cm in diameter, but they seem a lot smaller! The Pearls have a nice semi-gloss coating, and are all in perfect condition. The balls have a mild milky shortbread scent, with some sweet chocolate-inspired notes in there too. Unfortunately the chocolate is not interesting, or even good - it's bland, with very little in the way of cocoa flavours or any depth, and tastes a lot like cheap Easter chocolate. It is very much like a watered-down hot chocolate. It tries and fails, miserably.

(That's a Crispy M&M in that comparison picture.)

I'm not sure what kind of centre these have - if they are just a biscuity-type centre, like M&M's Crispy, or if they are malted, like Maltesers, as the package gives no information whatsoever.I tried some of the centres by themselves, and I think the centres might be made from rice, as they taste rather similar to rice cereal. When paired with the chocolate, the result is bland and flavourless. There's no sweetness to catch your attention, either. If there ever was a product that represented empty kilojoules, this would be it.

While eating these, I very much got a sense of, 'Why would you bother?' I paid $2 for the nifty tin, and ended up throwing out its contents. Senz gets a point for creativity, but that's not enough to save this product from a poor score.

Score: 1 out of 5 stars.

Senz Milk Chocolate Pearls  contain gluten, milk and soy beans. Peanuts, tree nuts and sesame seeds may be present. Made in China.