Chewits Xtreme Sour Jewels (Morrisons) By @SpectreUK

I haven't had Chewits for years. I remember the adverts with Godzilla in them back in the 80s. Everyone from then knows the only way to appease Godzilla is a packet of Chewits.

These new Chewits Xtreme Sour Jewels promise to be so sour they'd wrinkle even Godzilla's nose. These sour sugared chewy gummies were made with real fruit, and no artificial colours and flavours.

There were five different flavours in the packet, all very chewy, all had lots of sour sugar coating. Apple flavour was definitely very sour apple, face twistingly sour in fact, and tasted of very fruity natural apple. Orange tasted like sour orange juice, not as sour as the apple, but still really good. Pineapple flavour was more sweet than sour, and had a nice flavour. Watermelon was the light pink coloured Jewel, and was a bit more sour than the orange, and was fresh and juicy. I certainly enjoyed eating these with my big bowl of Raspberry Ripple ice cream.

I've never liked cherry sweets. Cherry was the dark pink coloured Jewel. It was very sour indeed and tasted of natural cherries, which I don't like either. It was certainly not my favourite sweet in the packet. I am just not a fan of cherry sweets. There was only one in the packet though. The things I do for blogging.

Information on the packet; The 125g bag contained 304 calories per 100g, with 0g of fat, 33g of sugar, 5.5g of protein, and 0.22g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Mr Kipling Breakfast Bakes Blueberry (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

I admit that I was looking in the cake section of the supermarket for treats rather than the cereal aisle for breakfast goodies. These might sound like cakes, but they are clearly labelled, so when I ate one of these Mr Kipling Breakfast Bakes first thing this morning my conscience was clear.

When I opened the box I found there were four bakes inside, each individually wrapped. They are square in shape rather than the more traditional bar style.

The bake (for that is what it is) has visible blueberries and oats sprinkled on top. The texture is soft, and there are plenty of blueberries mixed in, giving a lovely flavour. They aren’t overly sweet, but just enough to still feel like a bit of a treat. The oats add a little texture, though the bake is mostly soft.

I really enjoyed this with my morning coffee, and I want to go back to see if there are any other flavours, just so I can mix up what I eat when I need a quick breakfast on the go.

Reese’s Dipped Peanuts (Tesco) By @Cinabar

These are a new product from Reese’s, made specifically for the UK market. A lot of Reese’s goodies are usually imports, but these have the price printed with a British pound sign right on the bag. That in itself is nice, it feels good to find a proper new UK Reese’s product. Admittedly, they are just dipped peanuts, which doesn’t sound all that exciting. Half of the bag has peanuts coated in milk chocolate, the other half has peanuts coated in, wait for it, peanut butter. Everyone knows peanuts are already pretty peanutty, but I was happy to roll with the extra flavour and give them a try.

On opening the bag, I found a real mix of sizes, some were just bits of peanut, some were whole, and a few were even doubles. First up, I tried a milk chocolate one. It was exactly as expected: sweet milk chocolate with that lovely nutty crunch, balancing sweet and savoury. A classic combo, but done well. Next, I tried a peanut butter one, and I really liked it, the salty edge boosted the flavour and made the peanuts feel even more indulgent.

These snacks aren’t revolutionary, but they are tasty. More importantly, it’s just nice to see a genuinely new British Reese’s product on the shelves.

Limited Edition Takis Zombie - Spooky Green Tubes [@NLi10]

It's approaching the spooky season, which means the number of branded product crossovers is increasing, and those that prefer to use public domain inspiration will just use suitable themes.

Here we have Takis hot spooky green tubes themed around ZOMBIE - which of course is flavoured with every teenagers favourite green option...

Cucumber?  Bit odd.  Isn't that how people soothe the spiciness usually.

Takis always have a hit of lime too, and that's advertised and very noticeable here too.  The middle spice flavour is still missing, which is a shame as original original imported Takis had that (and the Costa Rica Takis did too)

These are the Made In Spain But For Brits version, which isn't as good (and twice the price) of the ones you buy in Spain - but I'm back there in a month so I can hold off - especially at £2 a 100g bag.

They do look very cool - and survived the journey well

And while the corn isn't green this gives them a mouldy look which is absolute perfection

I've been a fan of Takis since before they were officially available over here, and try all the versions they put out (we even have a search tag for them!), but I prefer those with the full rich flavours.

If you are a fan of the UK's muted flavour profile (damn you focus groups) and always wanted your spicy crisps to taste like a supermarket sandwich with the cucumber added (or I guess that cocktail they put it in) then this is for you.  Stock up though as I expect this to vanish and never return.

Now - can we get a blood red vampire version too ?

Penguin Chocolate Milkshake Cake Bars (Texaco) By @Cinabar

I spotted these Penguin Chocolate Milkshake Cake Bars on the counter at the petrol station when we stopped for a refuel. We’d already picked up some treats, but these were an impulsive last-minute addition. They were reduced and close to their best-before date, so I’m guessing they were the tail end of a summer special. Chocolate milkshake also feels more like a summer flavour than an autumn one.

Let’s be honest, chocolate milkshake is a bit of an odd choice for a flavour. I like it as a drink, but it’s not chocolate at its best, it’s milky, low in cocoa, and not something I’d expect to inspire a cake bar. Still, I opened the packet to see what they were like. Inside, there’s a light brown crème filling sandwiched with sponge, all covered in milk chocolate.

The taste is nice enough. They’re essentially just chocolatey cake bars, maybe a touch creamier than usual. I might have missed these over the summer, but I’ll happily enjoy them now before they’re gone. The flavour isn’t groundbreaking, but it’s perfectly pleasant.

McCoy’s Blazin’ Buffalo Chicken Wings Flavour crisps (Morrisons) By @SpectreUK

Not that I watch much sport, but The Real McCoy's have brought this limited edition NFL Blazin' Buffalo Chicken Wings Flavour crisps out for the American Football season. I do like hot chicken wings, so I'm looking forward to what these crisps taste like. However, I picked up a bug the other day, so I'm hoping they'll go easy on my poorly tummy.

On opening the bag there was a sweet, smoky, and spicy smell of barbecue sauce and paprika, with chicken behind it. On taste these reddish coloured McCoy's Blazin' Buffalo Chicken Wings Flavour ridged crisps had a sweet smoky barbecue flavour with a chilli kick, a heavy paprika spiciness, and chicken wings flavour into the aftertaste. These crisps were very flavoursome indeed, and went very well with my barbecue chicken sandwich for lunch.

Information on the packet; The 25g bag contained 132 calories, with 7.8g of fat, less than 0.5g of sugar, and 0.14g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Gold PG Tips Special Blends [@NLi10]

 PG Tips is the best tea in the UK, but people do love Yorkshire Gold - how can we compete?  PG Gold! Wait - everyone has forgotten that exists - bring it out as a special!

What makes this special?

Oddly - it's seemingly them taking out the green tea which makes PG Tips have it's distinctive taste 

Brews fine

Looks like builders tea.

Tastes like tea!  Very hard to pick this one out in a line-up for me, it's very much the tea you get in a cafe when they want to justify the high price of the tea.  Nanna liked it, but didn't really remark on any differences.

A good cup - but really not that revolutionary, and ironically a bit too close to Yorkshire Gold to be that exciting.

I'll stick to the catering size bags of the regular blend thanks lads!

Candy Kitten Treets Crispy (Ocado) By @Cinabar

This new release from Candy Kitten is a little confusing. For starters, the name Treets has a history: Mars first launched a product called Treets in the 1980s, then brought them back in 2009. They were essentially peanut M&Ms, though fans often claimed the chocolate in Treets was superior. I can’t remember them well enough to compare, but it seems Candy Kitten is borrowing the name, possibly because it fits with the grab bag style of similarly named treats. The chocolates are the same colours too.

The other oddity is that Candy Kitten isn’t usually a chocolate brand, they’re one of our favourites for sour sweets, so seeing them venture into chocolate is a bit of a surprise. These new chocolates are vegan, which is a nice touch.

Inside the bag are small wafer balls coated in chocolate and finished with a crispy shell. The pastel colours look appealing, and the crunch is lovely. Taste-wise, though, they didn’t wow me. It could be that there wasn’t enough chocolate or that the crispy wafer filling was too dominant, which is saying something. If Candy Kitten does a peanut version like the original Treets, I’d be keen to try it, you can rarely go wrong with nuts and chocolate. These ones, however, didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

Minecraft Ice Creams (Iceland) By @Cinabar

I’m definitely starting to think I should have tried these ice creams before the change in weather. We seemed to move very quickly from lovely warm days to me digging out jumpers to keep warm.

These new ice creams are blocky, as you’d expect from something Minecraft inspired. They have a green vanilla layer, a cocoa layer, and another vanilla section with blue “crystals” (crispy rice coated in blue). The Minecraft styling is spot on. Even without the packaging, it’s obvious these are based on the Minecraft world. I was actually pleased that the green section was more muted in colour than the box suggested. On the pack it looked like it was going to be a very bright grass green, but in reality it wasn’t garish at all.

The vanilla sections were creamy and sweet, nothing too exciting but pleasant enough. The blue crystals added a light crunch, broke up the texture, and looked fun, though they didn’t really add any flavour. The cocoa section had a stronger chocolate taste that was very nice, still smooth and creamy.

These lollies are clearly aimed at kids, and that’s probably why the flavours are so simple and easy going. The appearance and theming are great, but I do think they could have pushed the flavours further, especially for us big kids who still enjoy playing video games.

Maltesers Mini Reindeers - Gingerbread Flavour (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

Well, today marks the first Christmas-related product review of 2025. It is only just September, and I really think festive items should wait until after Halloween. For the record, there weren’t any Halloween products in our Morrisons, but the Christmas stock is already creeping onto the shelves.

 

This bag of Gingerbread Maltesers Mini Reindeers contains individually wrapped chocolates, which makes them perfect for lunch boxes or as a little treat with an afternoon coffee, without feeling the need to eat the whole bag in one go.

I unwrapped the first one and it looked pretty cute, moulded into a reindeer shape. Inside, the filling is a mix of gingerbread cream and little malt balls for that classic Maltesers crunch. The combination gives a nice texture, with both a soft centre and a subtle crunch. Flavour-wise, these are well balanced. The malt still comes through nicely, while the sweet, gentle ginger spice adds a festive twist without being overpowering. It might feel a bit early for Christmas treats, but these are tasty, and I’ll probably finish the bag well before the week is out.

Thomas Fudge's Viennese Swirls - Raspberry & Almond [@NLi10]

 I fancied some high quality biscuits, and the Christmas boxes have started to appear, so I got a 7 biscuit box of Viennese Swirls.

I've had this range before, but only as part of big boxes and not these hamper size ones.

Lots of hype - but also guaranteed quality.

Look at that amount  of crème! 

Even better in real life.  Modern biscuits always feel a little small, and 7 in a box means you'll never have a satisfying split of portions.

That said - the biscuit is great - a little soft fresh out of the pack compared to the tough jam, but deep flavours for all three sections (although the almond is a little hard to detect under the vanilla).  Worth the little extra money.

Harry Ramsden’s Chip Shop Curry Sauce Pots (Iceland) By @SpectreUK

When I was younger I'd hit the town on Friday and Saturday nights. On the way back full of booze, I'd stop at a regular Chippy and always have a cod and chips, and a pot of curry sauce.

I've carried that tradition forwards to takeaways. Although I haven't had a takeaway from a Chippy for a long while after some illness from either reheating after the lunch trade, and possibly some Chippies changing to cheaper oil that doesn't agree with my stomach. So, it was nice to find an alternative from Harry Ramsden.

These Harry Ramsden's Chip Shop Curry Sauce Pots could go rather well with my Harry Ramsden's Jumbo Battered Haddock and Harry Ramsden's Chips tonight. The curry Sauce Pots heat up from frozen in 3 minutes and are 107 calories per pot.

On heating up a Harry Ramsden's Chip Shop Curry Sauce Pot there was a familiar chip shop curry sauce aroma from the brown sauce in the pot. Once my fish and chips were ready, and Chip Butty made, I dunked my first Harry Ramsden's chip in the pot.

On taste this Harry Ramsden's Chip Shop Curry Sauce was very authentic. There was a mild curry flavour, with a little kick to each mouthful. It was good to stay on theme by dunking Harry Ramsden's Chips and also the Jumbo Battered Haddock, both of which were very tasty indeed. I even dunked my broccoli in the curry sauce too, and spread it inside my Chip Butty. Yum.

Information on the box: At 107 calories per pot, there was 1.9g of fat, 4.1g of sugar, and 2.2g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

McVitie's Hobnobs Dark Chocolate Flavour Chips Oaty Cookies (Sainsbury’s) By @Cinabar

You can’t beat a mug of hot chocolate and a new biscuit for dunking. That was the plan when I spotted these McVitie's Hobnobs Dark Chocolate Flavour Chips Oaty Cookies on the shelf in Sainsbury’s. The only clue that they were new was the little label on the shelf edge, as the packet itself didn’t shout about it.

Back at home, I put the kettle on and opened the packet. The aroma was instantly inviting, that classic Hobnob oaty smell with a good hit of chocolate. They looked promising, and I dunked one straight into my hot chocolate. Disaster. The biscuit gave up, crumbling into a mess of oat and chocolate specks. I gave it a second chance, this time without dunking, and found the texture still crumbly, but at least intact on its own.

Texture aside, the flavour is spot on. They have that wholesome Hobnob taste with plenty of oat, balanced by little bursts of dark chocolate. Not overly sweet, with the cocoa adding a slightly richer, grown-up edge. I found them very moreish, despite the mess they make. So yes, these are a dunking disaster, but eaten dry they’re absolutely divine.

Nissin Demae Ramen - Sesame [@NLi10]

 For lunch today I had Ramen, it's been a rainy day and so noodles are great.

I picked up these 'authentic' noodles a while back but planned to give them to a visiting teen.  That didn't happen so eventually I've worked my way through them all.

That's a lot of words for a block of noodles and a sachet

Turns out there was a 2nd sachet in the pan under the noodles.  Oops.

I didn't take a bowl picture - but then it would just look like noodles - I make sure I end up with as little sauce as possible.

The sesame flavour and powder are great and the quality of the noodles is bigger than the Maggi ones I usually have with their lovely masala powder.  I'll have to replenish my stocks from the Asian grocery shops.

Shipyard Low Tide Ale (Morrisons) By @SpectreUK

Back in the day I used to have a crafty half and a packet of crisps, whilst on a break at work. I'd sit in a pub somewhere and have a half a pint of beer and a packet of Ready Salted Crisps or pork scratchings. Gone are those days now, but I fancied a pint with my lunch this afternoon.

I had a beef sandwich, and some Walkers Ready Salted Crisps, and I needed something to wash it down with. The amount of rum missing from my latest bottle shows I've probably been drinking too much lately. Not for sorrows, just because I like the taste with my meals. This Shipyard Low Tide is 0.5% in volume, so it should wash my lunch down rather well, without the worry of too much alcohol per week.

Shipyard was established in Portland Maine, USA, and is produced by Carlsberg Breweries, in the UK. At 65 calories, Low Tide, is an American style low alcohol pale ale. Its tropical and citrus hops should go rather well with my lunch.

I haven't had a beer blowup on me for a long while. This Shipyard Low Tide was quite spectacular and surprised me. After opening the bottle and mopping up the kitchen counter surface, I found there was a sweet malted barley aroma with light tropical hops.

On taste the sweet barley was dominant, with crispy tropical and citrus hops followed by the creaminess from the milk, added in the brewing, into the aftertaste. A feisty beer to start with, this flavoursome low alcohol beer went perfectly with my sandwich and crisps at lunchtime. Cheers.

Bournville Salted Caramel (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Bournville Hazelnut and mentioned how much of a treat it is when we get a new Bournville product. I even said I wished there were more varieties using Cadbury’s dark chocolate. Well, my chocolate wish must have been granted, because here we are with another new bar. Don’t get me wrong, my wish for a million pounds would have been nice too, but I’ll have to settle for more chocolate.

This new edition pairs Bournville’s classic dark chocolate with a salted caramel filling. On unwrapping the bar, the neat squares each had a smart ‘B’ stamped on them, and when I broke one open I was pleased to see a decent amount of caramel inside.

Bournville is a sweeter dark chocolate, not particularly high in cocoa, but I like that about it. It has just the right balance for my sweet tooth. The chocolate shell was satisfyingly thick, giving a good crack before releasing the gooey caramel onto my palate.

The caramel itself was smooth and tasty, more sweet than salty. If you’re looking for a big salty hit, you might find it a little tame, but I thought it worked really well. The combination of the mellow dark chocolate and soft caramel made it far too easy to keep going back for another piece.

Overall, this was a lovely, moreish treat, and I really do hope it stays around. Yum.

Walkers Sticky Teriyaki (Tesco) By @Cinabar

If the rumours are true, these new crisps from Walkers aren’t just another fun limited edition but could be a permanent addition to the UK crisp range.

The flavour is Sticky Teriyaki, inspired by the Japanese sauce. The thing with sauce-based flavours is that they often miss the meaty element you’d usually expect to go with them. I’ll admit I prefer meaty crisps, so that was already on my mind when opening the bag.

Inside, they looked like regular Walkers crisps: thin cut with a good coating of seasoning. On first taste they were bold and sweet, with a flavour that reminded me of barbecue sauce but with an extra kick of Asian spices. It was more Teriyaki-meets-sweet-barbecue than pure Teriyaki, and yes, there was that lack of meatiness I’d been expecting.

The flavour is okay, but not something I’d rush out to buy again. If Walkers decide to make this a permanent flavour, I won’t complain, but I also wouldn’t miss it if it had stayed as just a limited edition.

Tabule Moseley - Lebanese & Moroccan Food in Birmingham [@NLi10]

 We were in Moseley for a look round the shops and market - and it turned out the folk festival was on so it was busy.  Before we went and hit in the new Double Sixes games cafe we stopped for lunch at Tabule which is a Lebanese/Moroccan restaurant my partner had been to but I'd never tried.

For drink I had the Moroccan green tea, which is a blend of green and mint teas and tastes most traditional with far too much sugar.  I drank this on the roofs of Marrakech when we were there years ago so for me it brings back good memories.

As the main dish we shared Fatayer Bsbanekh which was a baked Lebanese pastry filled with a mixture of spinach, onions, lemon juice, pomegranate seeds, olive oil & sumac.  It's billed as their version of pizza to make it easier for us to understand, but its a lot more similar to other pastry/bread dishes that I've had.  Very deep flavours and would have been perfect with something sweet and fruity to dip it in to.

 For the meat side we had Kibbe Sajieh, which is a bulgur wheat shell filled with minced meat, onion, walnuts, Arabic spices & pomegranate molasses.  I think that as a table portion this would have been great but as a solo dish it was just a bit too rich and I was thinking I should have gone for the Moroccan sausages instead.

My partner's side was Harrak Ispaoo Traditional Damascus lentil cooed with tamarind, coriander, garlic & pomegranate. Topped with Pita chips.  It was quite large so I had to help out and found it to be a great complement to the 'pizza' and added a good crunch to the meat balls!

I think we needed to go as a 4, and have twice as many options (or do what the table next to us did and take the rest home for another day).

A great lunch and at £15 each very reasonable considering how full we were (and that a Subway 6" would have cost half that and not had any of the excitement).