I went dairy-free about a year and the half ago, except I haven’t been completely diary-free. I’ve given up everything except milk chocolate bars. I don’t eat them often but every once in a while I’ll have a bar. I’ve tried a few dark (dairy-free) chocolate bars and I’m slowly weaning myself off those milky delicious bars.

This was an impulse check-out item purchase; I was in line at Bosa Foods waiting to be checked out when the bright red packaging beckoned. I was a little hungry and for $1.99 I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try it.

Kras is a Croatian chocolate manufacturer that’s been in business since 1911 and Dorina is the brand name. Kras has a popular Choco Bar (or Bonbonnière, as it’s also fancily called) that every chocolate lover who happens to be in Zagreb, (Croatia’s capital) should visit.

The bar I got was the 3.5oz milk hazelnut bar, it turned out I wasn’t as hungry and didn’t eat it until days later.

My mom took one look at it and asked “what is that?”

“Chocolate” I responded

“Why can’t I read what’s on here?” she asked turning it over

“It’s Croatian chocolate” I said

She says in a dumbfounded tone “Why would you buy Croatian chocolate?”

I have nothing, and she walks away shaking her head mumbling “Croatian Chocolate…”

It’s pretty basic rectangular bar with sectioned squares, comes wrapped in the standard foil and has bright red packaging on the outside.

The taste is rich, creamy and sweet, reminiscent of a Ritter bar. What surprised me was that the hazelnuts weren’t whole or in chunks. Instead there were tiny pieces of hazelnut speckled heavily throughout. I didn’t enjoy that aspect of the bar, maybe it’s because I’m used to huge chunks of nuts in chocolate bars. I felt there was something lacking with the tiny pieces and it had an annoying way of getting stuck in my teeth.

For $1.99 I probably would have bought it again if I weren’t giving up milk chocolate bars for good. It’s slightly better stuff than your average bar of chocolate and the taste isn’t bad.