Carte D'Or Stracciatella - Ice Cream Review

Ice cream review? I know...you're probably wondering :"where did this come from?"  Well, I have recently been testing many ice cream brands and flavors available on the Romanian market (this task rocks, right? This is the type of "homework" I would have loved when I was a school kid). The other day, I was in a stracciatella mood - or, should I say "stracciatella state of mind"? - so I went out on a quest for this flavor. Unfortunately, there isn't much variety to choose from in the supermarkets here and, for the life of me, I don't know why that is, since this ice cream flavor is popular worldwide. Given my limited options, I decided to go for Carte D'Or Stracciatella (owned by Algida, which, in turn, is owned by Unilever).

Many pics you'll find on the internet look like this :

In reality it looks closer to this (if we could only photoshop the real life...)

When I finally got home, I guess I was sort of excited about possessing a stracciatella ice cream pint, but I wasn't really expecting much (I'll explain why at the end). Having ice cream or chocolate is kind of like having sex. If it's good, it's great. Like a "foodgasm". If it's bad....well, you know...no one wants bad sex.

The little "foreplay" with the plastic box was annoying...First, the box is made of cheap plastic. Never a good sign. And it kind of smells...like a bad plastic smell. Don't get me wrong, I am not all about the packaging. Pretty packaging is always a plus, but I don't let it fool me. I don't buy stuff just because it looks good and the same goes for unattractive packaging...it doesn't keep me from buying a product, unless, of course, it is absolutely horrid. Let's just say I appreciate brands that put some effort into efficient, decent looking packaging.

The lid doesn't come off easily. Don't attempt to remove it if you just had your nails done. It will most likely ruin them. Under the lid was plastic sealing foil, which is a good thing....if only it would be easy to peel off. It's not. I guess now I know how men feel when faced with a woman's bra.

This ice cream isn't as flavorful as I would have liked. The chocolate chips on top were disappointing...not exactly top quality chocolate. The consistency was okay, although a bit too "icy" for my taste and it became "watery" once it started to melt. And then there was the crunchiness factor which I wasn't particularly happy about. It was as though I could feel the undissolved sugar in the chocolate sauce.

Overall, this ice cream is all right, but it's nothing special. I think it's clear by now that I didn't have a "foodgasm". I wish it would taste as good as it looks in pictures. I think that it's overpriced for what it is and I'm not going to purchase again. However, if you're dying for a stracciatella quick fix, this could be an option, since you don't really have that many. But if you're like me and you like your ice cream smooth, creamy and full of flavor, this is not going to rock your world, especially if you've been spoiled by a top brand like Haagen-Dasz, or if you're a fan of Italian gelato. I'm going to give this a 3 rating out of a maximum of 5 stars.

Why weren't my expectations for this ice cream very high? That's because I have already found what is probably the best ice cream that you can buy in the Romanian supermarkets (aside from Haagen-Dasz) and honestly, it's one of the very best ice creams I have ever tasted. Click here if you want to read more about it.