Chocolate in South East Asia is pants. Oh yes. Instead of that cocoa-y, creamy stuff I grew up with in Europe, the same brands here in Singapore are an unsatisfyingly waxy, flavourless affair. (Oh no!)
There are probably some crucial reasons for this: recipes do vary worldwide - for reasons of market preference amongst other things; many regions have their own, more economical, supply chains with local production facilities; and SEA is generally a rotisserie - so transporting and vending British-style chocolate over here would be a sticky mess (remember the London uber-summer of 2003, what did KitKats look like then?) And if a recipe accommodates not-melting in transport, it's probably not-melting in your mouth too.
Here's an example bought excitedly on an Asian trip last weekend: so-called Maltesers. Yes, Maltesers, those light, crisp, meltilicious little baubles of joy! And a different market from Singapore. How hopeful was I! And the messaging still says 'the lighter way to enjoy chocolate'. But no. These were made in Australia for Asia: cue waxy, unmelty, thick-crunchy little cannon balls. *sigh*
I've bought more upmarket brands in Singapore and it still doesn't seem to be that good (with the possible exception of some Japanese brands like Royce, which are also prohibitively expensive to keep as a habit!) The upshot of all this is that while I'd happily look forward to wolfing down a bar a day in London, I've gone off chocolate during the past three years living in Asia. Fruits here are good, and I'll happily have those instead. It's much healthier. And even when I returned to Europe recently, I no longer felt any particular desire for choc. I guess I should really thank APAC manufacturers for this!
So, if by chance happen to find yourself minted, and gagging for chocolate in Singapore - go here - https://www.royce.com/contents/english_singapore/
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