Mar 7, 2020 Food
Does the Whittaker’s Peanut Slab ice cream bar live up to the hype – i.e. the flurry of news and social media that followed its release? Metro investigates.
Yesterday, news broke that Tip Top has released a Whittaker’s Peanut Slab ice cream bar. Our curiosity was piqued. We love peanut slabs. We love ice cream. What could go wrong?
The product is slowly being released in stores across New Zealand, but Metro hunted some down to give it a taste test. Here’s what we think.
Henry Oliver, Metro editor
Excuse the redundancy, but if you like Peanut Slabs, and you like ice cream, you will like this. It won’t blow your mind – it’s not that good – but you won’t be complaining that they screwed up your favourite chocolate bar. All of which is to say that this is a pretty faithful ice cream interpretation of the original. But there is something slightly off in the brand alignment here. To me, the chocolate equivalent to Tip Top is Cadbury, not Whittaker’s. Whittaker’s has become famous for its collaborations with brands like Lewis Road Creamery and Garage Project so I’d think teaming up with a brand like Kohu Road or Appleby Farms or, if it wanted to go bigger, Kapati would be more ‘on brand’ and would have probably made a better product. Oh well.
Tess Nichol, Metro Digital Editor
When I went to Garnet Dairy to buy these ice creams, I felt less silly for calling ahead to make sure they still had some when the woman in line before me snaffled up EIGHT bars and took them away with her. Eight! Anyway, I got four and ate about half of one and it was…. Fine?
New Zealanders love food that is other food, or food that is itself but in a different form, and so it was entirely predictable that the arrival of these Peanut Slab ice cream bars would create a furore on social and regular media. But, much like Lewis Rd Creamery choccy milk, the product itself is yum (peanutty, chocolately, very creamy) but probably not worth stockpiling (eight bars!). Stick to panic buying toilet paper, IMO.
Jean Teng, Metro writer
First bite – deliciousness. It was deliciousness in the absence of deliciousness, that initial pure burst of sweetness across the tongue. But the more I ate it, the more my initial positivity wavered. Was it just average soft-serve ice cream with some peanuts dropped in, covered in a shell of distinctive Whittaker’s dark chocolate? (Like, yeah, that’s exactly what it is.) I reckon it tastes less peanut-y than a normal slab – fair enough, this is ice cream – but it’s quite rich and sweet and almost sickly (disclaimer: my tastes for chocolate runs towards bitterness). I want better ice-cream!! I want depth!! I want the quality Whittaker’s deserves!!
But, yeah, okay, I would eat it again… although maybe I’d reach for a Peanut Slab first.
Alex Blackwood, Metro writer
The first thing you’ll note is that the chocolate is very taste-ably Whittaker’s chocolate. It has that smooth, creaminess that any Kiwi could taste at first lick. But that isn’t really news, of course it does. The ice cream is the news. It is simple, very-sweet chocolate ice cream with a few peanuts scattered throughout. And though this is a lighter version it really is a peanut slab in ice cream form. It even mimics the original in that it doesn’t have a popsicle stick; I kind of want it to have a popsicle stick so I don’t have to touch it with my grubby little hands. Parents of NZ, have the wet wipes on hand if you’re giving your child one of these and good luck to you.
Alessandra Banal, Metro Art director
Yum chocolate. It was soft-serve style ice cream which means it melts too fast for a slow eater like me. I wasn’t allowed to take the wrapping off ice creams till I was 10 because I made too much of a mess; my mum would make me hold it out the car window. Personally I think I’d rather have a regular peanut slab bar with a glass of milk. Soft serve ice cream makes me too thirsty, is it just me? PS. I’m trying to be dairy free – oops.
Vomle Springford, Noted Digital Editor
I’m indifferent to Whittaker’s Peanut Slab but I like it better in the form of this new ice cream. It’s super creamy and quite rich and not lacking in the peanut department. The shape reminds me of the classic Eskimo Pie, which I enjoy – why aren’t there more stick-less ice creams like this? Maybe because they’re messy but I welcome a bit of hands-on eating. Eat it quickly or live on the edge (of having a chocolate stained t-shirt all day).
Three yums out of five.
Conclusion: Pretty good, but not great. Fine, even. A faithful ice cream-y rendition of Whittaker’s Peanut Slab.
Whittaker’s Peanut Butter slab ice cream bar
$3.50 each.
