Another Japanese chocolate courtesy of my friend Michael, Dars Milk Chocolate wins for coolest packaging. The pink dot on the box is a chocolate temperature gauge. From what I could tell (some Japanese characters are taken from Chinese, so I could puzzle out the meaning), purple is too cold at 19 C or lower, the bright pink was just right at 22 C, and the light, nearly white pink is too hot at 25 C or higher. My dot was bright pink, meaning that I kept the chocolate at just the right temperature.
The chocolate itself comes sealed in foil and arrayed in neat rows on a paper tray, and each chocolate is stamped with the word “DARS” on it. They were perfectly sized for tasting, about the size of my first thumb knuckle.
Like other Asian milk chocolates that I’ve tasted, the Dars had strong caramel notes. The melt was smooth, rich, and creamy, and overall, a nicely elegant treat from Japan and a milk chocolate that I can actually enjoy. An OM from me. It also gets bonus cool points for the temperature gauge, though that wasn’t factored into its taste rating.
Varsha