KFC Summer - New Upgrades to Meals, Dirty Chips & Kwench Krush [@NLi10]

 We had a late lunch this week - and a movie at 4pm so dinner would be late - so I went larger than large and had a full box meal.  What have I let myself in for!

It doesn't look so bad here.

But - I upgraded the fries to 'dirty loaded' and the drink to 'Krush' which is essentially a bubble tea pop thing

The important detail here is that it's 1566 Kcal, which is generally considered a large lunch.

And nearly £15 which is officially too much for fast food lunch.

I'm a fan of the 'Supercharger' dip which I usually get donated by my friend too, but here I had my own - and the chips had three colours of sauce - but also oddly popcorn chicken too.

I added in my own popcorn chicken from the meal to use all the sauce and dipped in the one solo fillet you get too.  I even had a little tub of beans to eat with them. This part of the meal was a hit - even the sadness of popcorn chicken couldn't ruin these wonderfully saucy fries.  This was the highlight - get this £2 upgrade and ignore all previous instructions.  They are £4 solo, the charger dip is 60p and small beans is a mad £2.

The cherry refresh Krush has a lovely flavour with the lemonade base, and the popping bits were decent quality - and then - it was gone!

You can't tell that well here, but the cup was 60% ice.  And not crushed ice like a slush puppy, but hard solid useless ice.  Your large drink is actually a small cup.  And with a saucy salty meal - that's not enough.  Luckily I had some water with me but for £1.50 extra on top of a normal drink this is a mugging in fruit form.  Stick to the Lipton tea options and hold the ice.  Actually - I wonder if you can hold the ice on a solo order of this and actually get a drink?  Just checked on the app - sadly no.  

Oddly these are only 10p more than the large drinks in the solo app, so the upgrade prices of 1.50 must be vs the regular size one.  It's still a £1 upgrade on the large which is evil.

After finishing all the sides I eventually made it to the sad burger, who hadn't had any innovations so was merely fine.  Honestly - I didn't need it but ate it anyway as it was there.

Overall then - I think you could build your own meal quite successfully without it costing £15.  You'd want some kind of wrap or fillet & dip, and the Dirty Fries and a drink that isn't a solid.  Even that version of the Twister Wrap box meal comes out at £12 though!  Without the beans and bonus fillet it's £10 and a more reasonable 1000 Kcal...  

Outland West Coast IPA (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

Pizza night tonight. I hadn’t been all that keen on pizza for sometime, after they took Carne Amanti off the menu at Pizza Hut. However, we now have something meaty, sharing half a pizza each, with a fried egg on each quarter and a jacket potato with beans and cheese on top.

I like a beer with my tasty pizza meal. So, I thought I’d try this Outland West Coast IPA from Hall & Woodhouse, in Dorset. This 5% in volume India Pale Ale has Amarillo, Cascade and Mosaic hops for a citrus bitterness with all those Pale malts.

There was a citrus hop aroma on opening the can, followed by sweet malted barley. This deep bronze, almost brown IPA had a flavoursome sweet biscuit Pale malty goodness throughout its taste, with an initial citrus bite, followed by warming spice and hints of pine, and a little earthiness into the aftertaste. Yum. Perfect with my pizza dinner.

Walkers Max Portuguese Chorizo & Onion (Ocado) By @Cinabar

Here we have another flavour from Walkers' FIFA range celebrating tastes from around the world. This one is inspired by Portugal, specifically chorizo and onion.

As soon as I opened the bag, I was greeted by a lovely meaty aroma that reminded me of salami. We poured some into a bowl to share while watching Netflix, as we're still a little early for the World Cup itself. The crisps are ridged, which means they hold plenty of flavour in all those grooves.

I gave one a try and was impressed. You can really pick up the meaty chorizo flavour, complete with a nice smoky taste and a gentle hint of spice. The onion adds a slight sharpness that works well alongside the richness of the chorizo. Overall, these are very tasty, easy-to-eat crisps.

My first experience of the Walkers World Cup inspired flavours was the Walkers Wavy Spanish Queso Crisps, and those absolutely blew my mind. They were the cheesiest crisps I have ever eaten, packed with flavour and then some. So when I opened these Walkers Max Portuguese Chorizo & Onion crisps, I assumed the seasoning levels would be just as intense and that they too would deliver a full-on flavour overload. They don't quite reach those heights. The flavour is well done and they are certainly tasty, but I was hoping for a little more punch. To be honest, I could happily have handled double the seasoning.

Twinings Refresh Juicy Raspberry Lemonade with Hibiscus (Ocado) By @Cinabar

I have had quite a day, mainly trawling around two different cities completing, or attempting to complete, a lengthy list of chores. We hit traffic and had a couple of failures along the way, but thankfully managed to get most of what needed doing done.

Once home, I was looking forward to a refreshing drink and a sit down when I remembered this can of Twinings Refresh Juicy Raspberry Lemonade with Hibiscus waiting in the fridge. Fizzy iced tea sounded perfect.

The can is on the smaller side, but it states that it contains added vitamins and minerals to support mind and spirit. I'm not sure vitamins and minerals work quite that quickly, but I'm more than willing to give them a try.

There is a gentle fizz when you open the can, but this isn't strongly carbonated like a can of pop. It's more of a lightly sparkling drink, which works well with the iced tea style. The flavour is very refreshing. It isn't overly sweet, but the fruity raspberry gives it a lovely boost, while the tea and lemon add a sophisticated, grown-up feel. There is also a subtle floral note from the hibiscus.

Overall, this is a well-balanced and mature-tasting drink that was exactly what I needed after a long day.

Cheltenham is a lovely place to eat! Kibou & Huffkins [@NLi10]

 We had a day out in Cheltenham yesterday for the Science festival - but you don't care about that part - what did we eat?!

First up before talk one we had a coffee and a cake at the lovely Huffkins on what I think of as the main road - it leads from the festival to the high-street and has two huge bookshops on it.

It also looks very English - especially if there is drizzle.

Partner had a carrot cake, but I had a double raspberry éclair.  Decadance.

Cut open, not piped while hot so the bake-off judges would be knocking off points, but the flavours and textures would win them back around.  Not too sweet, and not too fruity.

Between talks 2 & 3 we had a two hour slot for a proper look in the bookshops (and dinner) and I chose a Japanese place we've not spotted in other years called Kibou, purely on the wonderful aromas and lovely atmosphere.

Turns out they had the beer I like most

The perfect pairing of brewed liquids. Hitachino and Kikkoman!

I had the pork mazeudon and it was awesome.  Everything was exactly how you'd want it - melting pork, firm fresh udon noodles and a good mix of veggies and seeds/flakes to add texture.  I could eat here every day and not get bored.

We didn't have space for desert but the green tea crème Brule sounded amazing so plans are already in place to return.

We sat at the bar seating which added to our salary man vibes as we ate and ran to the final talk about genetics.  Despite the lovely beer I managed to not fall asleep too.

And there are so many other little independent eateries around I think we could have done all three days of the festival only eating in 5/5 places with no repeats.