Vault City - Mini Crunch Chocolate Honeycomb Stout (Morrison’s) By @SpectreUK

I have steak and chips tonight. It's a bit of a treat for a Saturday night. I'm used to a quick sandwich or toastie before a comic con or toy fair the next day. I have tomorrow off, so I fished out a couple of steaks from the freezer. Now all I need is a stout to wash my meal down with.

This Mini Crunch Chocolate Honeycomb Stout was brewed by Vault City. At 6% in volume, it pays homage to Cadbury's Crunchie. As well as malted barley and oats, hops and yeast, this stout was brewed with milk, Cholaca, brown sugar, cinder toffee, and vanilla.

On opening the can, Mini Crunch Chocolate Honeycomb Stout, had a heavy chocolate, as well as sweet toffee and malted barley aroma. On pouring this almost jet black stout had an initial taste of chocolate and malted barley.

I had been concerned that this Mini Crunch Chocolate Honeycomb Stout would be a pudding stout. However, the hops tickled some bitterness, only to be cowed by velvety chocolatey goodness mixed with brown sugar and toffee. It was the ingenious touch of roasted coffee into the aftertaste that gave my steak and chips that special send off down into my tummy. Gosh, what a weekend treat.

Galaxy Croissants (Ocado) By @Cinabar

I started Friday by upgrading my breakfast. I was looking for some croissants and spotted these new Galaxy ones on Ocado, so thought I would give them a try. I would normally have croissants with butter, but these come pre filled with Galaxy chocolate. Well, a Galaxy chocolate cream at least.

There are four croissants in the bag and each is individually wrapped. Good for the lunchbox, not so great for the environment. I opened the wrapper and found a fairly chunky Galaxy croissant inside. It was notably missing the classic crescent shape, but it still looked appealing enough.

I bit in and the pastry was softer than expected. This is not one of those crisp, flaky, buttery pastries. It is almost more cake like in texture, probably because these are fairly long life. The best before date was April 2026. The flavour was still nicely buttery though. The filling was impressive, as they were not at all stingy. Almost every bite had Galaxy cream inside and it was thick, creamy and sweet, adding plenty of chocolate flavour. There was a big dollop in the centre too, so it definitely felt like a proper breakfast treat. I would definitely buy these again.

Abra-Ca-Debora Dutch Style pre-made Pancakes [@NLi10]

 I wasn't that well this year for pancake day so didn't have the required energy to do all the mixing, but spotted this option in the supermarket and thought I'd give it a go.

We've had great success with the Asian savoury pancakes (paratha) that come in a frozen stack so I figured these were worth a shot.

So far so good - just pan fry them to heat them up and add toppings!

Look at them cooking away

I mean they look virtually identical in the pack - lots of lovely holes and fluffiness though

And the lemon and sugar worked really well

Also had one with nutella and a marshmallow!

Not quite as 'fresh' as the real thing, and much less satisfying to present to the family, but it took minutes to make all six (one min per side) and so was much quicker. Definitely a great option for tasty pancakes, and probably what the restaurants do...

Traditional Pork Scratchings (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

I haven't had Traditional Pork Scratchings for many years. I broke a tooth on one a few years back, and have stuck with Pork Puffs ever since. I saw these Midland Snacks - Traditional Pork Scratchings in the local store a few days ago. 

I meant to have these Traditional Pork Scratchings with a beer and a good book, like I used to do in the pub, but I'm just about to go out for my last Gumbo of the season at the Smokehouse, and thought I'd have a quick bite.

 

On opening the packet the little pieces of pork certainly looked and smelt like Traditional Pork Scratchings. On first taste I realised I was going to have to be very careful with these, as they were very crunchy for my poor old teeth.

Oh my, they tasted so good. Salty and crunchy pork. Gosh, it's been too long. I'll have to get another packet and carefully eat them whilst drinking a can of my favourite beer, Banks's Mild, and a good book.

Information on the packet:
The 40g bag contained 261 calories, with 21.1g of fat, <0.1g of sugar, and 1.24g of salt.

Angel Delight Bubble Jelly with Boba (Ocado) By @Cinabar

Angel Delight is one of those properly iconic 1980s cupboard staples. It’s the instant whip that comes in a sachet, you add milk, whisk it up, leave it to set and you’ve got a bowl of mousse. You can still buy it now and it definitely sits in that fun retro category.

This time though they’ve gone in a completely different direction, tapping into the boba trend. Instead of tea, we’ve got jelly. Specifically, Angel Delight Lemonade Bubble Jelly with Bursting Strawberry Boba. It might only be February but this feels like a summer dessert. Now we just need the weather to cooperate.

There are four tubs in a pack. When I picked up the first one I could see the strawberry boba suspended in the jelly and it looked really appealing. I will say the lid was firmly stuck down. This was not a gentle yoghurt style peel, it needed a bit of effort.

Taste wise, it’s actually really good. The jelly has a fresh lemonade flavour that’s bright without being overly sharp. The strawberry boba are properly sweet and packed with rich berry flavour. They pop as you bite into them, which makes the whole thing more fun than your standard pot of jelly.

It’s quite a leap from traditional Angel Delight, but the flavours work and it feels like a smart way to modernise a classic brand.