Komforte Chockolates, I admit, is one of the food products that has a direct correlation to my wanting to be a food blogger. I think I first noticed them in 2007 and instantly fell in love, but for whatever reason, didn't get around to trying them. I was absolutely fascinated, though, and I know they paved the way for my intensive research (read: obsession) into seeking out more unusual and strange food combinations and eventually writing about them.
Finally being able to try them is special to me- they've had a soft spot in the back of my brain for a while. And at the peak of my college career, where things like tortilla chips, ramen noodles, and dining hall french toast are so quintessential, what better time to try them? I started out with the French Toast bar, made with milk chocolate, bagel chips, sea salt, and other natural flavors. Immediately, the packaging sang out "french toast" to me. With a bold, modernist font on a sunny yellow background, I felt like breakfast.
Unfortunately, the only thing about this resembling french toast was the sickly sweet, sticky mouthfeel I typically associate with artificial maple syrup. I got an immediate rush of fake butter and cinnamon at the start of my square, which faded out to sweet milk chocolate and white chocolate notes, reminiscent of a Kinder Egg. It was occasionally studded, emphasis on occasional, with crumbs of bagel chips, but not enough to register that they actually were bagel chips, and finished with that same overdominating fake butter flavor and a bit of sea salt. There was nothing that suggested bread or starch in here, and no real syrup flavor at all. We both found this to be far too sweet and unbalanced.
The next bar was the one that I was most excited about- the ramen noodle bar. Believe it or not, I'd only consumed my noodles cooked up until trying this, but I'd heard good things about people snacking on ramen like chips, or crumbling them up into salads for an extra crunch. This bar had a red interface and was simple- ramen noodles, soy sauce, and dark chocolate. The dark chocolate started out milky and stayed that way. A rather one dimensional flavor, but I tried to stay positive and assume it was that way to focus all attention on the star of the show: the noodles. If you bite this bar on the vertical edge, the chocolate will peel off and expose the ramen noodles within. Perfection. They are crispy, but toothsome, and dissolve in a pleasant starchy flavor. Pasta, in this case, the poor man's pomodoro, was exactly what the last bar needed, and in this bar, it's not too bad.
As hard as I might have tried, though, I could not detect sea salt nor soy sauce, but it managed to be sufficiently flavorful without any extraneous attention. This was a tasty bar, but it was boring- everyone played too nicely together. I needed something risky. Something strange. A cocaine bar? No. But then...I found it.
Finally, it was time to try the Tortilla, Lime, and Salt bar. As I'd been ambivalent about the overly sweet milk chocolate in the french toast bar, I was excited, but had my guard up. My god, I was so wrong. This is the first bar I've had where I've tasted and had to remind myself that there was chocolate somewhere in the depths of the flavor. It was incredible- from the instant my teeth bit down on the piece, I was filled with an intense, natural, lime flavor and a sea salt tang. As I chewed, I got large pieces of corn tortilla chip in each bite, every piece swirling with grainy corn and even more sea salt, but never overwhelming. And finally, I got the chocolate- the best of the chocolate. All of the sugary sweetness had been tempered down and reduced to a milky texture with the right sugar level to cushion the intensity of the flavors. This, my friends, was umami. And my god, it was good. I want to order more of these. I want to give them to non-believers. I want to crunch and dissect and nom these unabashedly. And I want you to, too.
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