Irish Independent food critic Paolo Tullio tries the new Tayto cheese and onion crisp chocolate bar

A NEW snack promises to end the age-old dilemma at the vending machine – crisps or chocolate?

Crisp giant Tayto has managed to set taste buds tingling and tongues wagging with their alternative venture into the chocolate market.

They've managed to create a bar with a distinct cheese-and-onion taste to it.

Ray Coyle, founder of Largo Foods and the man behind the Tayto theme park, admits this might be a "love it or hate it" purchase for snack fans.

But Mr Coyle said the limited-edition Tayto milk chocolate bar, infused with cheese and onion crisps, is only on shop shelves "because people have been asking us for it".

"It's a bit of fun, you will either love it or hate it, but our consumers asked for it and we said why not!" he said.

"There are only 100,000 bars in circulation and it is now on the market because of people power."

The crisp chief said they set chocolatiers to work creating the new bar following an online campaign including thousands of emails, tweets and Facebook posts begging them to make the perfect 'chocolate crisp' combo bar.

This is a first for many snack lovers. But some more adventurous types have long been popping a morsel of chocolate into their mouths along with a fistful of salty crisps.

In this new creation, there are bits of the famous tangy cheese-and-onion crisps to be spotted lurking beneath the smooth chocolate surface.

The new bar was formed after Tayto teamed up with chocolatiers at Butlers Chocolates to make the "truly Irish product".

The limited-edition bar is available in Tayto Park in Ashbourne, Co Meath, and will be stocked in retailers including Londis, Gala, Costcutter, Topaz and Spar.

But whether connoisseurs will chomp down on this new offering remains to be seen.

Irish Independent