Darker than Black, Week 30: Raaka Virgin Chocolate Bananas Foster
I know we do a lot of chocolate from Raaka, but hear me out. Part of it is just because I have a chocolate subscription from them, so we get a lot of chocolate already, and I do try to mix things up. This week, though, there's a reason why we did this particular bar.
When![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
schoolpsychnerd and I were dating, we would alternate weekends at each other's places. She came to visit me in the Chicago suburbs, and I drove out to Knox College where she was a student. Interesting food options were a bit thin on the ground, but The Landmark was a place we'd go back to over and over again. Early on, I found that they had a bananas foster crepe that I loved, and it was just a bit too big for me to eat by myself--though that didn't stop me from trying!--and so often, schoolpsychnerd and I would split it. We'd end nearly every meal like that together, sitting next to each other and eating a bananas foster crepe together.
I haven't had one of those crepes in nearly a decade, but when I saw this chocolate bar, I knew we had to taste-test it.
width="538" height="717" title="">
This was so close to great. Instead, it was merely good.
When I first took a bite, a swirl of flavors filled my mouth and I couldn't really pin any of them down. It took maybe two or three seconds before I got the taste of banana, and then after that the chocolate won out and overpowered everything. Occasionally, during that chaotic period, I'd get some caramel and cream flavors, but they never lasted more than a moment before they were lost in the storm again. Every bite was like that, which caught me by surprise. Sometimes, there's a flavor storm like that when I first take a bite, but my taste buds get used to it. Not this time. Over the entire half a bar I ate, they never adjusted.
Now, I certainly wasn't expecting this to taste like a crepe-and-banana concoction, but considering that the caramel and banana are the most obvious part of the original, I was hoping for more of a caramel taste. I barely got any--I think once in the entire experience. That was the most disappointing part for me. The banana, and obviously chocolate, tastes came through quite clearly, but everything else only came in fits and starts. I wasn't really much like those memories of dessert that I have withschoolpsychnerd, and so while it tasted good, it was a bit disappointing in the end. 
schoolpsychnerd's Opinion
Though that's the nature of memory, of course. Who knows if the original would do justice to my memories anymore, now that there's a decade of warmth surrounding them? Maybe I'd go order one and it'd be smaller than I remember, with less ice cream and caramel, and I would go away disappointed. I know that my memories affected by tasting of this bar, since I'm sure I'd love it without that Landmark dessert to compare it to.
When
schoolpsychnerd and I were dating, we would alternate weekends at each other's places. She came to visit me in the Chicago suburbs, and I drove out to Knox College where she was a student. Interesting food options were a bit thin on the ground, but The Landmark was a place we'd go back to over and over again. Early on, I found that they had a bananas foster crepe that I loved, and it was just a bit too big for me to eat by myself--though that didn't stop me from trying!--and so often, schoolpsychnerd and I would split it. We'd end nearly every meal like that together, sitting next to each other and eating a bananas foster crepe together. I haven't had one of those crepes in nearly a decade, but when I saw this chocolate bar, I knew we had to taste-test it.
width="538" height="717" title="">68% is a bit low for the title, but I hope the story explains my reasoning.
This was so close to great. Instead, it was merely good.
When I first took a bite, a swirl of flavors filled my mouth and I couldn't really pin any of them down. It took maybe two or three seconds before I got the taste of banana, and then after that the chocolate won out and overpowered everything. Occasionally, during that chaotic period, I'd get some caramel and cream flavors, but they never lasted more than a moment before they were lost in the storm again. Every bite was like that, which caught me by surprise. Sometimes, there's a flavor storm like that when I first take a bite, but my taste buds get used to it. Not this time. Over the entire half a bar I ate, they never adjusted.
Now, I certainly wasn't expecting this to taste like a crepe-and-banana concoction, but considering that the caramel and banana are the most obvious part of the original, I was hoping for more of a caramel taste. I barely got any--I think once in the entire experience. That was the most disappointing part for me. The banana, and obviously chocolate, tastes came through quite clearly, but everything else only came in fits and starts. I wasn't really much like those memories of dessert that I have with
schoolpsychnerd, and so while it tasted good, it was a bit disappointing in the end. It's so hard to get a good photo of featureless, shiny chocolate.
schoolpsychnerd's OpinionI have fond memories of the Banana's Fosters dessert, asIt was delicious, but it did not do justice to my memories.
Though that's the nature of memory, of course. Who knows if the original would do justice to my memories anymore, now that there's a decade of warmth surrounding them? Maybe I'd go order one and it'd be smaller than I remember, with less ice cream and caramel, and I would go away disappointed. I know that my memories affected by tasting of this bar, since I'm sure I'd love it without that Landmark dessert to compare it to.