30 April 2020

I’ve never had the curry Pot Noodle before (@NLi10)

Ok - so for a snack based person there are some really common things I’ve just never tried before. When I saw the Curry Pot Noodle in the hospital shop I bought one as an emergency back-up. And due to lockdown I finally ate it (about 6 months later).


I know why I’ve never had this, quite simply I love the brown beef flavour Pot Noodle. It’s perfect festival food, great for a guilty lunch, and it comes in its own pot. The sauce is good too - red sauce comes with that one. The bigger size ones exist in that flavour too so why would I stray?

Some of the other flavours contain mushrooms, and as a child I’d heard curry was spicy so I never ate it - or this version. I’ve had a lot of special editions which were fine I guess, but the brown beef one is king.


This comes with mango sauce - not chutney - which is both reassuring and disturbing at the same time. It’s kind of right, but also - you don’t put the chutney in the curry. Am I supposed to eat the sauce with crisps as a starter? It smells like a fairly standard curry.


And it’s really not much to look at when done, but it tastes fine, it’s filling, and it has lots of salty goodness to keep you going. Sauce was decent, but again, it’s for popadoms not noodles.

I feel you’ve been short changed on the picture front today so here is a picture of Luna investigating the odd noises that come from the PS4 controller in some games. 


Stay safe!

29 April 2020

Horny Bull Stout (@hillstownbeer) By @SpectreUK

Horny Bull Stout

Although we try to keep track of where the products are from that we blog about, every now and then I find something that I have no idea where it came from. This Horny Bull Stout is one of those mystery products. I can only think that someone may have bought it me for a joke at some point. So for a bit of a titter I thought I'd write about it mid-week or 'hump' day, as some people like to put it. I know there are many people across the globe that are stuck indoors during a fairly sunny Spring with nothing much to do at the moment, so reading this blog may alleviate some of your frustration or add to it, depending on how full or empty your glass is at the time of reading!

This 7% volume Horny Bull Stout is from the Hillstown Brewery in County Antrim, in Northern Ireland. Hence why I think it might have been a present from someone on holiday there. This strong and full bodied Imperial Stout should yield flavours of coffee, chocolate, fruity hops and roasted malts. Apparently the brewery is situated on a farm and started brewing beer for a 'beer-fed' cattle project. I'm not sure what that says about their beer, but I'd wouldn't like to meet a drunk bull in the middle of a field!

On opening this almost jet black Horny Bull Stout it was like a big black bull at a gate. The aromas of coffee and roasted malts burst out of the bottle, followed by those fruity bitter hops and the smell of dark chocolate. On taste this Horny Bull Stout is smooth and yet crisp at the same time, with it's roasted malts giving initial dominance, sporting coffee and smooth dark chocolate. There is a bitter bite from the fruity hops following those luscious malts and then the coffee and dark chocolate return creamily smoothing out the bitter flavours into the aftertaste. Don't let the funny name put you off, this is a quality craft stout and no mistake. Drink it with caution, because I'm certain you'll want another and then another… and then…

28 April 2020

Galaxy Buttons – Caramel Crunch (Tesco) By @Cinabar


This is a product that Spectre somewhat reluctantly said I could write about, even though he had ear marked the chocolate for himself. He loves caramel, and anything I buy with caramel or salted caramel I have to remember to buy one for him too, otherwise mine goes missing. So these Galaxy Buttons Caramel Crunch were at the back of the Foodstuff Finds cupboard but originally purchased at Tesco. Buttons seem to be quite in at the minute with quite a few varieties coming out, they are easy to eat and good for portion control and sharing (when we are allowed to).
These Galaxy Buttons Caramel Crunch are a reasonable size and do have bits of caramel pressed into them, but it didn’t show particularly well on the photo. The chocolate is the usual sweet silky chocolate, but the caramel bits add a bit of texture and a little sweetness to the flavour, but not that much. I don’t buy Galaxy that often but whenever I do I remember how much I like the creaminess of the chocolate, and I had that feeling again eating these. I’m not sure the Caramel Crunch added that much to the buttons, but I certainly enjoyed them anyway. In other news, I need to buy myself a Galaxy Ripple.

27 April 2020

Oykos Yoghurt - Date Sauce, Sticky Toffee and Cake (Asda) By @Cinabar


Strangely enough I didn’t eat that much yoghurt before lockdown, I’d have the occasional one if I saw a new flavour or something interesting but it wasn’t really a regular occurrence for me. Since the lockdown began I have been having one with my lunch almost every day, it has sort of become a new routine. This has also meant I’ve been on the search (via online shopping) to find interesting flavours and new varieties. This is the first I’ve seen of the brand Oykos, and if I’m completely honest the brand is so new to me I’m not even sure how to pronounce it. Naturally I chose the flavour that sounded the best; Date Sauce, Sticky Toffee and Cake.


The cake layer is a crumb at the bottom mixed with toffee sauce, then there is a layer of Greek style yoghurt and on top of that a date sauce. It looked very luxurious. I liked the mix of flavours too, the date was sweet and tasted naughty, but the rich toffee sauce if where this yoghurt really excelled, it was wonderfully indulgent. The sponge added texture which was nice and made it feel more like a sticky toffee pudding. The yoghurt was creamy and added a nice contrast to the flavours. This was an indulgent treat and not my usual low fat yoghurt, but I will be buying them again.

26 April 2020

PieMinister - but not pies! Chana-rama, Vegan Patties (by @NLi10)

This happens a lot with foods.  A brand you trust comes out with some slightly tangential foods, that while they don't really suit their name - do suit their ethos.

pieMinister make Pies, and pub food taste better.  Now they make Patties.  Not Pasties, which is interesting.


I chose the vegan one so my partner could join me in the eating.  Sounds great.


Full of nutrition and actual lumps of food, which is kind of the PieMinister trademark.  We even get a Pie token for eating the not-pie.


And they look pretty great too - even if I did blatantly add more poppadom crisps after I took the photo.


As predicted, they are chunky beasts!  Although I did wish I'd got us two each - even as a lunch.  The flavours are strong and exciting, and the textures are crispy and crunchy.

Also - because Ocado sell them I can just add them to the order once a fortnight and stay safely locked down away from the bugs (always clean your shopping on delivery!).

I'll try to get the meat versions of these added to the next order and see if they add a different dimension.  as it is, this is basically a hand-held lunch pie and a great addition to the range.


25 April 2020

Half Pipe (Aldi) By @SpectreUK


I'm told by a reliable source (Wikipedia) that a Half Pipe is a "structure used in gravity extreme sports" such as skateboarding. By the look of the image on the front of the can of this Half Pipe Session Pale Ale, you can skateboard at any age! Well, at least he doesn't have to worry about losing any skin if he falls off. As you may be able to tell, I know nothing about skateboarding. I knew another kid on the street who had one when I was a lad. I couldn't stand up on it without falling off, which is much like my one time experience trying to surf!

I may have mentioned in the past that a session ale is a low alcohol beer that was meant for staff to drink at break time during working hours, for when the employees had to go back to work and use heavy machinery without getting squished by it. Much like the heavy machinery, I guess this Half Pipe Session Pale Ale is for when a skateboarder is having a breather, and doesn't break something off after drinking a can of beer.

A plethora of American style hops such as Cascade, Goldings, Admiral, Centennial, and Columbus were used in the brewing process. On opening this 3.9% volume pale ale I first noticed its deep golden colour. A mixture of herbal hops were dominant in the aroma followed by the sweet malted barley. On taste the herbal hops almost exploded with flavour all over my tastebuds. Much like the gravity defying daredevils that ply the half pipes across the globe, the bitter herbal hops washed around and around, and up and down my tastebuds. The sweet malted barley smoothly slides in as if the skateboarder slows down for break time and for another cool refreshing session pale ale. Cheers!

24 April 2020

Mallow and Marsh – Raspberry Marshmallow Whip (Ocado) By @Cinabar


Toast is steadily becoming a staple food at Foodstuff Finds, what is more tricky is trying to find something interesting to put on it. I added this Mallow and Marsh Raspberry Marshmallow Whip spread to my last online order, as it sounded something a bit different. I do like marshmallows, but usually have them with hot chocolate as a treat.
The jar has a tag around it with a number of serving suggestions for this spread, most intriguing was for cakes which sounded rather nice, least exciting was straight from the jar, but we’ve all been there. I bought this with toast in mind so decided to proceed with my plan. I opened up the jar and found a pink coloured spread inside, as it is air whipped it was surprisingly light to scoop and I ended up using quit a bit of the jar just to cover two pieces of toast. While it was spreading it was going very sticky and the knife needed some hot water on it. The spread itself seemed to loose the pinkish colour and looked more white on the toast. I didn’t put any butter first by the way, that would have seemed a bit weird.
The spread wasn’t nearly as exciting as I had hoped it would be. The raspberry flavour was mild and was secondary to the sugar flavour that was dominant. I’ve never had a burning desire to eat icing sugar on toast and this spread reminded me why. Perhaps it is good in cakes, but it wasn’t working on toast for me. Anyone recommend any decent or different spreads for my toast?

23 April 2020

Corn, Brown rice, Quinoa - but as Mafalda Corta 'pasta'! (@NLi10)

There are few things I like more than good pasta.  So - when doing online orders I often sneak a bag of a luxury shape into the basket.  This time I went for a new gluten free pasta that looked fun - then I forgot.


Consequently when I used 5 different varieties to make this I didn't even notice and ate gluten free pasta as part of the mix.


You can best see the fins hiding at the top right.

But what about without the really strong sauces? 


Well - it's not quite pasta - but it's pretty good!  I suspect I overcooked it a little here as it's not al dente, but there is still a little bite to it.  It has the courser texture that you expect from gluten free products, but not in a way that it sticks out.

Overall, with our 'stir fry salad' it worked really well - a little bit grainy, a little bit pasta-like.  I don't think it'll replace the normal Garofollo pasta range for me, but I'm happy that my gluten free friends and family have something close to indulge on.

22 April 2020

Gourmet Popcorn Co. Toffee Crunch (Morrison’s) By @SpectreUK

Gourmet Popcorn Co. Toffee Crunch

The evenings on the weekends are usually pretty planned out for us. on Friday nights we game with Cinabar's brother and a friend down in Canterbury. At the moment it's shooting bad guys in Rainbow Six Siege. It's often one of the Halos or Ghost Recon Wild Lands or something else, but we're generally shooting something or other. Saturday nights is movie night. Cinabar and I sit down and watch most likely an action movie. Last Saturday was the last Mission Impossible movie, after we'd worked our way through the first five films on previous Saturdays. I like the guns and explosions and attractive women, but I can't see who attracts Cinabar in them?!

For tradition's sake we usually have popcorn with our Saturday movie. I like toffee coated popcorn and Cinabar likes sweet and salty, so we generally have a fairly small bag each. If there's no popcorn then I find sour gummy sweets are a good alternative. Anyway, I picked these Toffee Crunch popcorn from The Gourmet Popcorn Company up just before the original lockdown. They're in a bigger bag then I usually have, but I do work out at home quite a lot at the moment, so I can probably shoulder the extra calories.

On opening the bag unsurprisingly there was a very sweet honey and popcorn smell from its contents. I was a little disappointed to find that the popcorn inside the bag were not completely coated with honey. My favourite popcorn is completely coated with honey, so my first impressions were that these Gourmet Toffee Crunch would not be as tasty. Having said that these popcorn had a decent crunch, and whilst not completely coated in honey, they were very tasty. Just not as tasty as I was at first hoping!

Information on the packet;
The 50g bag contains 90 calories per 25g serving (if you're not greedy like me), with 1.5g of fat, 0.24g of sugar, and 0.1g of salt. They have no added sugar, are wholegrain, gluten free, wheat free and suitable for vegetarians. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Gourmet Popcorn Co. Toffee Crunch

21 April 2020

Kit Kat Senses - Millionaire’s Shortbread (Asda) By @Cinabar


Restricting myself (mostly) to internet grocery orders doesn’t necessarily mean missing out on some new products. Obviously there is less launching. Asda have been quite good at keeping new products on their site, so long as you can get a slot, there are some interesting things to explore. I found these Kit Kat Senses: Millionaire’s Shortbread edition after searching through the chocolate section.
I have been trying to cut back a bit on calories and I’m pleased to say that these bars are packaged as twin sticks and each bar has 117 calories, so isn’t actually too bad at all for a treat. I must say as well the packaging is lovely, they are in a smart box inside of which are old fashioned style foil and paper wrappers. They looked very smart.
There is quite an intense sweet smell from these bars and mixed with the chocolate they were very appetising. There is no shortbread in these Kit Kat Senses: Millionaire’s Shortbread, which is a bit disappointing but they contain the usual Kit Kat wafer. The flavour is very rich and there is plenty of creamy butter flavour and rich caramel. There is supposed to be a crunch but there is so much else going on with he wafer and the chocolate I couldn’t really pick up on it. My sweet tooth still really enjoyed the bar and all that sweet caramel taste and calorie wise I didn’t feel too guilty either.

20 April 2020

Philadelphia Snack - Light and Herbs (Sainsburys) By @Cinabar

Philadelphia Snack - Light and Herbs

I think being in lockdown has changed peoples eating habits. I’ve had friends and colleagues tell me different extremes, some are constantly snacking and another friend who is eating less and forgets to have lunch, the thing is our routines have changed and that has meant a change in our diets too. I’m snacking but trying to reduce the amount of calories by looking for something low fat. Being in all the time is not good for the waist line, but it is the safest way to be at the moment,
These new Philadelphia Snack: Light and Herbs sounded like a lower (86) calorie alternative to a bag of crisps and I had them to accompany my lunch, a long with a piece of fruit. There were quite a few breadsticks inside the pack and a decent amount of cream cheese to dip in. I ended up having a heavy dose of cheese on my last breadstick to finish the pot, and none of the other bites had been lacking.
The cream cheese was good too, creamy but with lots of herb flavour. It had an nice Italian taste as there was plenty of basil, and a onion twinge from the chives. I really enjoyed these Philadelphia Snack with Light and Herbs and will order another pack when I’m shopping online next, if I can get a slot. Oh the joys of lockdown.

Philadelphia Snack - Light and Herbs

19 April 2020

Replacement grade cola - Barr (@NLi10)

Before we get started - here is a video a guy I vaguely know made about thanking the NHS with the side of his house!  I enjoyed it - you might too.


Still in lockdown, still making as few trips out of the house as I can (although I'm having to be in the office Monday & Friday next week so potential for more snacks then).  I did however go to the local corner shop (that isn't on a corner) for milk and break so decided to get some cola.

But they were out of Pepsi!  I had to choose a replacement cola quickly as there was a queue outside the shop (due to someone sending a parcel and only 2 in the shop at a time).  I'd reviewed the Jamaican brand before so I risked a big £1 bottle of the Barr cola.


I remember drinking Barr as a young person.  I think that my nan used to buy the Lemonade - and we all know how great Irn bru is (was).  Not even the stylish glass can convince me that this is the real thing.


I mean it's fine - it's not Fentimans (which the shop would never sell) and it's not even Pepsi.  It's cheaper though so if it's an option it might be fine.


To make it cheap though they removed a lot of the sugar to get it under the tax threshold and added artificial nonsense instead.  I understand why this is necessary - not everyone can drink a bottle 250ml at a time (I think I probably get 6 servings out of a bottle) and even when in lockdown pure sugar isn't great for anyone.

Shame really, it's not a bad cola and we drank it without complaint.  I don't think I'd get this instead of the Jamaican cola though.

18 April 2020

Stateside IPA (Aldi) By @SpectreUK

Stateside IPA

I can sometimes be a pretty lazy blogger. Take tonight for instance. It's fairly late on Friday evening. I've worked out like crazy in the kitchen, which has become my new gym every morning. My own gym has been closed for exactly four weeks today. This afternoon I've dozed amongst a little light reading and gaming. Then I find myself looking for a beer in the beer fridge before I have my evening bath after dinner. It can be a hard life being stuck inside all the time. Okay, so we go for a walk around the estate and nearby park area once a day, and I often go for a short jog to burn off more calories afterwards, but I really do miss the outside pool and sauna at my local gym.

So I'm lazy and looking for a helpful label on a beer that will give me more information than I usually need that will make me look like I know what I'm talking about. This Stateside IPA from the Buckhorn Brewery just happened to be staring right back at me from the front of the beer fridge. At 5.5% volume it's packed full of American style hops, such as Cascade, Admiral, Summit, Citra, Nelson Sauvin and Hellertau Blanc. It states on the can that Stateside IPA is brewed in small batches. I guess that's the rarity of the variety of hops involved in producing it. I have to admit that I haven't heard of or let alone probably tasted Nelson Sauvin and Hellertau Blanc hops before.

On popping open the can I was pleased and also relieved that the damn thing didn't explode everywhere. That happens to me way too often and I've probably worked out a little too hard today to be bothered to catch some frothing madness. I'm wishing we could have found a big steak for dinner, although the scampi was rather nice.

There was a mixture of strong herbal hops in the smell on first opening, as well as citrus hops in the background quickly followed by the aroma of sweet malted barley. This shining golden IPA cheerfully and fizzily poured into my waiting beer glass. On taste the biting bitterness from the herbal hops washed around my mouth tantalising my tastebuds. The citrus hops almost daintily followed those fresh crisp herbal hops, politely butting into the dance of flavours flowing around my mouth. The sweeter malts came towards the aftertaste smoothing out the sheer amount of beautiful flavoursome bitterness from those biting herbal hops and complementary citrus hops. Mmm… this is one of those slap-me-around my tastebuds late night waker-uppers that'll tickle my fancy for my gaming night later. Roll on the long hours into the grim dark whilst shooting those bad guys!

17 April 2020

Baileys Chocolate Mini Delights - Salted Caramel (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

Baileys Chocolate Mini Delights - Salted Caramel

Before all of the current problems kicked off I had one last shop in Morrisons and deliberately looked for a few items to blog about that I could stash in the Foodstuff Finds cupboard. These Baileys Chocolate Mini Delights Salted Caramel were one of those items, I’m not much of a fan of liqueur chocolates which is why I hadn’t picked them up before. As it happened I was on the hunt for chocolate today and these caught my eye so I decided to open up the bag.
I would like to start by saying I failed the intelligence test and couldn’t work out how to open it properly. It looked like it should tear somewhere but mine wouldn’t. It had a re-sealable rim, so I got the scissor and cut into above that.
I poured out the contents and there were quite a few chocs in the bag. They were round, but with one depressed side which thankfully stopped them rolling everywhere.
The chocolates have a fairly soft but thick milk chocolate shell and a liquid caramel filling, this is runny if you bite in and a little dangerous. The flavour of these Baileys Chocolate Mini Delights was very impressive and I immediately wish I had tried them before. They are not strong like a liqueur chocolate they are flavoursome, there are lovely tones of caramel, sweetness from the chocolate and the flavour of Baileys is balanced just right adding a lovely creaminess to the flavour. There is only the vaguest hint of slat from he salted caramel but it really didn’t matter, every chocolate was indulgent and delicious.

Baileys Chocolate Mini Delights - Salted Caramel

16 April 2020

Loma Linda - Tikka Masala with Meat Free Chicken & Rice (@NLi10) @holland_barrett

Well - I've had this sitting on my desk at work since the last review.  It's like space food - it's not going anywhere and it's still going to be great.

The last Loma Linda was great, and affordable (and filling!) so lets see what Holland & Barrett have for us this time.


This one is Tikka Masala - only without the chicken and with some nice soy stuff.


It's healthy and takes 2 mins to prepare so is a great lunch.  Its maybe not as aesthetic as the pack shot - but it's still pretty great to look at and smell.


Not died up like some microwave food, and it has a lot of flavour still.  The textures of all the different bits are noticeable - especially the not-chicken.  They've not really managed to get the flavour on the meat to contrast with the flavour of the sauce (the secret to a good Tikka Masala) but for the price and convenience this is superb.  The Thai one slightly edges this for me, but both are well above the quality I'd anticipated.

H&B are still delivering (and some stores still open) during the lockdown so I'm quite tempted to pop an order in.  Up to two weeks delivery.

It's good to have something in reserve, but now I'm down to the emergency Pot Noodle...

15 April 2020

Matchmakers Salted Caramel (Poundland) By @SpectreUK


I haven't had Matchmakers for years and years… in fact I just can't remember when I had some last. I think it was either the mint or orange flavour that I last ate. It's not that I don't like them or anything, as they are both very tasty flavours, it's just that I always used to have them for a stocking filler at Christmas or on Birthdays and now I usually have fudge or a box of soft centred milk chocolates.

I noticed Cinabar had these new Matchmakers Salted Caramel squirrelled away. She knows it doesn't usually work if she tries to hide caramel flavoured chocolates away from me. As usual these Matchmakers were produced by the Nestle brand of Quality Streets. It's rare that I don't like salted caramel flavoured chocolate treats. I do usually like anything flavoured with salted caramel, but one brand that I recently tried hadn't mixed the salt in with the caramel, and I was left with tiny bits of salt in between my old teeth for ages afterwards.

On unwrapping the box there was a strong smell of caramel from these Matchmakers Salted Caramel. On sliding back the outer cover of the box the Matchmakers looked just like they always have done to me. Long skinny sticks of milk chocolate, but instead of smelling of mint or orange, these Matchmakers had that sweet mouthwatering caramel aroma that never fails to draw my attention.

The sticks had a crunchiness I wasn't expecting. The caramel was the predominant flavour which mixed in well with the milk chocolate. The salt then seemed to intermingle with the sweet caramel and the milk chocolate, but wasn't overpowering and if the slight crunchiness was salt pieces then these didn't get stuck in between my teeth for long enough to become bothersome. I'd give these Matchmakers Salted Caramel a thumbs up, and would have them again… possibly even for a Christmas stocking filler or a Birthday treat!

14 April 2020

Aero Chocolate Caramel (Asda) By @Cinabar



This Aero Chocolate Caramel bar is a new product in the Aero range. I do really like caramel as a flavour but I do also see it as being a bit lazy. Everyone likes caramel, you can’t really go wrong with caramel, but it isn’t ground baking. As for those companies adding a bit of salt to the mix, you are still lacking adventure.
A new flavour of Aero is still a new flavour, and I was still keen to try it, the irony being that I too like caramel. The first thing that hit me was the amazing aroma once the wrapper was opened. There was the most sweet rich scent of caramel and burnt sugar, it practically filled the room and I couldn’t wait to try a piece. I broke a strip off the bar and the scent was intoxicatingly good. The inside of the bar was all milk chocolate in colour, so there wasn’t a caramel layer as such, just the chocolate is flavoured with caramel. I guess it would have been difficult to make aerated chocolate with a caramel layer.
The chocolate does taste amazing, it has lovely tones of milk chocolate and loads of sweet caramel, I was rather impressed. I do have to say I do have a sweet tooth so that might well be why this worked so well for me, I loved every bite. Caramel might not been the most daring combination, but I guess the point is you can’t go wrong with it.

13 April 2020

Pod Coffee But No Machine Required: Kenco Duo Latte (Sainsbury's) By @Cinabar

Kenco Duo Latte


I’m sure I can’t be the only person in lockdown who is desperately missing a drink at their local coffee chain. The simple pleasure of buying a latte and a cake on a trip out seems so far away at the minute. The next best thing is to make a decent cup of coffee at home. We have a pod machine, well two different ones if I’m completely honest, I may have a ‘coffee problem’ but I like it. :-D For those that don’t have a coffee pod machine Kenco have decided these new Kenco Duo Latte coffee pods which don’t need a machine, I couldn’t resist trying them out.

Kenco Duo Latte

There is one pod per drink, which manages to make both the milk and coffee element of the latte separately.

Kenco Duo Latte

Firstly you peel off the first lid and pour the milk powder into a mug, oh yes and importantly boil the kettle.

Kenco Duo Latte

Underneath the milk powder is a second lid, this needs to be peeled off.

Kenco Duo Latte

Inside is espresso powder.

Kenco Duo Latte

Now the kettle has boiled we add the water to the coffee element, inside the pod. I did not stir this at all.

Kenco Duo Latte

It bubbled though and looked ready to go.

Kenco Duo Latte

I also added water to the milk powder in the mug.

Kenco Duo Latte

I stirred the mug a lot, it was lumpy and as I stirred some of the air bubble disappeared meaning there was less in the mug than I thought there would be.

Kenco Duo Latte

I added the espresso to the milk and it looked quite proper, next time I do it I’ll add a little more water to the milk powder, but it created a decent looking cup, complete with an espresso trail.

Kenco Duo Latte

My first sip I ended up getting a milk powder lump, and there were a few more in the drink, I did stir it a lot so I’m not sure how to avoid this. The taste was good though, the coffee was rich and smooth and the milk section did taste good. It was a nice tasting coffee but it was a little faffy to make but I enjoyed it, I just wish I could get the milk section a bit smoother. I’m curious enough to try the cappuccino version though.

12 April 2020

Our Free NHS Uber Eats & a cheap Lidl beer (@NLi10)

We managed to snag one of the 2nd batch of NHS uber eats codes and ordered from a local place (Red Oven, Bearwood) that we don't tend to visit (one of our favourite places is about 100m away). I had a Chicken Tikka Chilli Pudhina Masala - it was far too hot (but I'd have it again). 


To cool down the spice I decided to go with a beer that my Mom donated to me - one of the cheap but stylish ones that Lidl have put out - Galereux.


I'm not sure what makes a Larger Premium, but its won awards online so it can't be that bad - right?!


You can practically feel the heat of this dinner!  Essentially using the NHS code got one of the two dinners free.  As I paid I can pretend I bought my partners and got mine free.  Pretty generous - thanks!!

The flavours were a mix of indian spice and chilli on top, giving it a very 'English' Curry feel, but with the fresh ingredients the flavour was wonderfully deep.  The beer didn't quite do the magic trick (if you manage to pair them up perfectly both curry and beer are transformed magically), I don't think this larger was designed for that.  But - it did reduce the heat enough to make it to the end (but not enough to eat all the sauce).

It's not a beer I'd want solo - it's far too much of a football larger - all aftertaste and no body - but it did the job here.

I'm virtually out of things to review in the house now so I might have to venture out on my government appointed exercise walk...