The Sri Lankan Milk Chocolate Taste-off.

National Milk Chocolate Day is just around the corner, and given the importance of the event, we decided that we absolutely had to do something to commemorate this rather important event. Which is essentially why we decided to round up all the bars of local milk chocolate available to the general public and see what's good. 

Thus, after visiting a number of supermarkets, we wound up with 6 worthy contenders.

The Guidelines

The rules of the competition are pretty straight forward.

• Only slabs of pure local milk chocolate are taken into consideration.
• The chocolate will be judged according to taste and presentation.

Note: It's all very subjective. 

1. Ritzbury Choco-La 

Well, personally, I really liked the packaging on this one. It somehow speaks to that inner child in you. I mean, all it needs is a cow on the front et voila! A seller. Kudos to the Ritzbury design team for keeping things simple, it's great.

When Ritzbury said milk chocolate, they really meant the milk part of it because the milk really outshines the chocolate in this particular instance. It's hard to see it when you eat just this alone, but, you tend to realize this a lot more when you've got 5 others to compare it with.

Oh yeah, another thing was the fact that it remained its very solid-state without melting even a little for the longest time. Actually, it didn't melt at all till you started eating it. Strange. 

Ritzbury Milk 

The Ritzbury Milk was actually one of my absolute favourites of the list today. Why, you ask? Because of the chocolate content comrades! The chocolate was, albeit milky, slightly bitter, so you get a solid chocolate kick from it. 

I mean, look how much darker this one is! Thin but neatly stacked up, this unmeltable slab of chocolatey goodness somehow managed to keep us from remembering that chocolate should -more or less- melt when it's outside. 

Nonetheless, pretty as a picture, this spoke directly to those of us who like things a tad more chocolatey instead of just plain old milk. So, if you're one of those people who like dark chocolate but is looking for something a bit darker in the milk chocolate side, this one might be for you. 

Kandos Milk 

The thing about Kandos chocolate is that it's nostalgic. We grew up eating the one with the nuts at every possible event so the taste of Kandos chocolate is -more or less- ingrained in our minds forever. 

That being said, this particular one, too, spoke to our childhood memories from the first bite. But, upon further consumption, we realized that apart from that beautifully nostalgic taste, you can't really taste too much of the chocolate part of this one. 

Melting at the slightest hint of warmth, Kandos succeeded in reassuring us that they're somehow a lot more natural feeling than the others. But, again, the problem with the Kandos was the fact that albeit slightly bitter, it leaned too much towards the things milky instead of chocolate.

Edna Gold 

Unfortunately for us, this was the only Edna chocolate we could find. We apologise. 

Taking things to a whole new level, the milk chocolate bar from Edna was almost like a golden ticket from Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. I mean, look at it! Shiny and golden, this left us with lots of hope we could lie on.  

The chocolate, on the other hand, tasted slightly synthetic. Sure, it was quite creamy -not as creamy as the Kandos, but creamy nonetheless, but the synthetic feel kind of killed it. We're not saying it was bad. But, even though I, personally liked it more than some on this list, a lot of other people in the office tended to disagree with this. So, it's a bit of a gamble, this one. 

Kandos 21 Collection  

We're not entirely sure why this was called the 21 Collection, but, given the guidelines, we decided to go with this as well. In terms of packaging, it's not bad. Not particularly fancy, nor out there, this seemed to stick to its roots with its simplicity. Then again, it's not really the packaging that we're concerned about here. 

Aye, here's the thing. If you've tasted the Elephant House chocolate milk, you already know what this tastes like. 

For those of you who have no idea what an Elephant House chocolate milk tastes like, here's an idea. Slightly cheesy, and strangely fermented tasting, it's not a taste to forget easily. Coming off a little too strong, it takes things away from the taste of the chocolate and leaves this strange aftertaste in your mouth. While we kinda liked it on the chocolate milk, it didn't kick in that well with us here, unfortunately.

Ritzbury Revello 

Ayee, the box of the hour, Revello. If you read the chart, you already know this one was our favourite. Here's why.

Everything from the packaging to the chocolate inside seemed to click. Even if you were to look over the packaging, the chocolate itself, was brilliant. Creamy, chocolatey and with the added bonus of melting like any other chocolate from abroad, Revello is the way to go if you're looking for a decent slab of milk chocolate. 

Conclusion

What more is there to say really? I can barely look at these pictures without gagging and it will take at least another week till we get the smell of chocolate out. But, sacrifices must be made for the greater good of the people, at least that's what we tell ourselves in moments like this to make things better.