McVitie’s Penguin Bar (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

This McVitie’s Penguin Bar is a penguin-shaped chocolate bar from Penguin, who usually make biscuit bars. I’d say that was confusing, but to be honest, after their sideways offering of Penguin salt and vinegar crisps, this feels a lot more on brand! Arguably, this is what everyone who has ever bought a pack of Penguin biscuit bars hoped they would look like. This, however, was sold as an individual chocolate bar rather than a whole new redesign.

I opened the wrapper and have to say this is a cute-looking bar. The smiling chocolate penguin made me smile too, as it’s a lovely design. Of course, I had to give it a try, and it was unmistakably Penguin biscuit bar flavoured. There’s the milk chocolate, which is nice and thick, with a decent layer of fondant-like filling. Mixed into this are biscuit balls, rather than a solid biscuit, but there are enough of them to add crunch and make the texture fun and interesting.

I really like this! It might not fit in my lunchbox in the same way as the regular bars, but it’s definitely something I’d pick up as an impulse buy for a little treat. I’d probably buy these more often than the regular biscuit bars, and certainly more often than the salt and vinegar crisps!

THIS 100% Plant Fillet Steak with pepper [@NLi10]

 I like vegan food, and I like trying new things so when I spotted this variation on the steaks-but-vegan idea I decided to give it a shot.  It was orphaned on the shelf so it's price was a mystery until I got to the till - £7! But fortunately £5.50 as a 'deal'.  This still seems a bit much, but everything does these days.

It looks luxury - and there are two!

So - what is it? Water! Mostly anyway, just like real meat. Then wheat & soya, unlike most meat. Although cows do eat a lot of grass.

Almost as off-putting as the real thing!

Just a block of red stuff - covered in pepper and sizzling away

It went a bit too crispy on the sides, I'm not sure exactly how they wanted me to ensure that it was cooked without burning it.

I think the idea that the middle looks red so you feel like a carnivore is fun, but my resident vegetarian wouldn't touch this so I get to eat both.

Texture was great, and the flavours were nice - if not mostly pepper and not really 'steak'.  Again - this kind of stuff needs to be less homogenous and have 'marbling' or at least gaps to really feel correct.

Overall - like a luxury soft cut of meat, but with lighter flavours and a slightly odd texture.  A win for me, but way too expensive to eat weekly.

(ignore old test video)

(ignore old test video)

Halloween Wicked Pickled Worms (Marks & Spencer’s) By @SpectreUK

Marks & Spencer’s have brought out a lot of different snacks for Halloween this year. These Halloween Wicked Pickled Worms are potato snacks with pink pickled onion flavour seasoning.

I do like pickled onion crisps with a cheese and cold meats meal, so that’s what I’ll have with these. I will eat my dinner whilst watching Bake Off. It’s not very scary, but a cheese and cold meats dinner is very tasty especially with a glass of port, or rum and lemonade.

On opening the bag it was full of pink dusted wiggly worm shaped potato crisps. Very crunchy to the taste, there was a saltiness begin with, quickly followed by a tangy pickled onion flavour, which was also quite heavy on the vinegar, seemingly to make these Halloween Wicked Pickled Worms more sour. 

I certainly liked these wiggly worms and would have them again, especially with a cheese and cold meats meal. Yum.

No real worms were harmed during the writing of this blog.

Information on the packet; The 125g packet contained 469 calories per 100g, with 21.8g of fat, 2.8g of sugar, and 1.8g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Peak Peppermint Fondant (Gloucester Services) By @Cinabar

Wow, this Peak Peppermint Fondant chocolate was something I spotted at the wonderful farm shop at Gloucester Services. It took me straight back to thoughts of a legendary chocolate bar from my youth, Pyramint. Made by Terry’s, it was a dark chocolate pyramid filled with peppermint fondant, and I loved them!

This particular chocolate is made with dark chocolate too, but it is topped with white chocolate, giving it more of a snow-capped mountain feel. It looked very pretty, and the white chocolate came off easily. It was lovely and creamy, too.

I took a bite and wow, the flavours made me smile! Rich, dark chocolate with a touch of bitterness, followed by a full-on, sweet, minty blast. It is a proper kick of flavour, and the combination works so well together.

My only criticism is that it was super messy to eat, and part of that was down to the dark chocolate. One side was so thin and fragile that it cracked as I bit into it, spilling peppermint fondant everywhere. The other side was so thick that it was difficult to bite through! If the chocolate had been more evenly distributed, it really would have been perfect.

Despite the mess, I'd still pick up another one when passing through Gloucester. Anything that brings back happy memories of Pyramint and tastes this good deserves another go!

Cinnamon Roll Hot Chocolate (Whittard) By @Cinabar

Having tried the fantastic Spiced Pear tea from Whittard, it should come as no surprise that, as a cinnamon lover, I also picked up this tub of Cinnamon Roll hot chocolate. This time of year is perfect for those of us who love the warming spices that make an appearance as the weather gets colder.

Cinnamon is my favourite spice, so I was really looking forward to trying this drink. It has a white chocolate base, and I mixed some of the powder into hot milk. It dissolved easily, with no lumps, which is always a good start!

I took a sip and have to say I was a little underwhelmed. The sweet white chocolate flavour was there, along with something pastry-like and a mild hint of cinnamon. Yes, a mild hint! I was hoping for a big, warming hug of spice, but instead got a sweet, lightly spiced drink.

It wasn't bad by any means, but it didn't quite hit my craving for winter spice. I think I was hoping for something with a little more cinnamon punch!

Knife Shaved Noodles - Taste The Orient, Chinatown, Birmingham [@Nli10]

I'm a big fan of noodles, and the hand cut ones at Brummie Noodle Company in the Han Dynasty food hall are the best ones (even though I think they changed their name on the big sign!).  So - I decided to try and do my own at home.  The newest oriental grocer is mainly Korean, but does have other nations included and it's a younger, fresher selection than Day In (but only they sell my favourite tea) so I got a set of frozen noodles.

There are 5 in a box but only 2 of us so I could have a solo mission to try it out.

Raw they aren't a great treat.  And I needed to have the water hotter before I dropped them in to make it separate faster - but some clumping is part of the joy.

In the end it turned out ok, and unseasoned with no sauce they were still a decent meal.  The texture was good but not as good as fresh.

I added soy sauce 

And shwarma kebab rolls as I had some left.

The plan is to use dried chillies and some kind of gravy to make an approximation of the dry beef noodles I love, but with quorn so that they are suitable for vegetarians.  If I ever get around to it i'll let you know.

It's still a treat to get these as getting frozen noodles back from town on the bus is a chore and I'd rather just go have the real thing.  It's nice to have options though!

 

Sinister Sour Sweets (Marks & Spencer’s) By @SpectreUK

Halloween is fast approaching. We need to stock up on sweets to give out to Trick or Treaters. There are ten mini-bags of these M&S Sinister Sour Sweets in a multipack. If they’re really good, they may not make it to those pesky kid’s sticky fingers.

In each mini-bag of these M&S Sinister Sour Sweets there are sour sugar coated gummies of different spooky shapes. There are ghosts that taste of sour lemon. There are pumpkins that taste of sour orange. There was a bat that tasted of sour blackcurrant. There was a spider that tasted of sour cola.

Not too face-twisty on the sour sugar, these M&S Sinister Sour Sweets were very flavoursome though, and very moreish. They’re certainly a Treat for anyone who likes their scary Halloween snacks. Boo!

Information on the bag; Each 30g bag contained 110 calories, with 0.5g of fat, 17.4g of sugar, and 0.08g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Wonka Oompa Loompa Sweets (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

The Wonka brand has had a bit of a relaunch, and thanks to a new show on Netflix, we now have lots of new goodies to try, all inspired by the magical chocolate and sweets factory. I was very excited to find the new range in the supermarket and couldn’t resist picking up these Wonka Oompa Loompa Sweets, along with a stash of other goodies from the brand. Don’t worry, reviews of those will follow soon!

These Wonka Oompa Loompa Sweets come in two flavours, strawberry and blueberry, and both have a berry cola filling. I opened the bag to find two different colours, and the sweets looked super cute. They are small gummies designed to look like little Oompa Loompas, which makes them rather fun.

I tried the redder one first, and it had a good strawberry flavour with a liquid filling that tasted like cherry cola. It was a fun combination and a lovely surprise when I bit into the sweet. The darker one is blueberry, which is slightly sharper but still sweet, delivering a proper berry blast with a hint of floral flavour, too.

I loved both flavours. The gummies are soft and easy to eat, and the liquid centres make them a little bit different from your usual sweets. They are fun, tasty and definitely worth trying if you spot them in the supermarket. I can’t wait to work my way through the rest of the Wonka goodies!

Thai Pocky - Mango Style! [@NLi10]

 The new Oriental grocers in Birmingham is Korean focussed but has a good mix of Thai and Japanese things for me to eat too.

Here we have authentic Thai Pocky!

I've never seen mango flavour - but it's a big part of the typical Thai tourist breakfast - along with dirtmelon which we didn't enjoy. 

Pocky still sounds like cat-treats

Even the ingredients are of interest

But the Pocky are still Pocky

Very fruity smelling and fondanty - a surprisingly effective flavour considering these are the basic '30p' Pocky - but I bet even in Thailand these cost double what they did 20 years ago when I was last there.

Worth a pick up (even at £1 a box) but probably not a regular treat.

Golden Wonder Thai Sweet Chilli (Home Bargains) By @SpectreUK

Believe it or not, but this is my breakfast. I have a pub meal out tonight which takes up all of my calories for the day, so I don’t usually eat beforehand. I like a really good pub meal, like a mixed grill with a gammon steak, and sticky toffee pudding with custard to finish it off.

So, these limited edition Golden Wonder Thai Sweet Chilli crisps are to keep me going before I go out tonight. Besides, it’s a bit cold and damp outside, so hopefully these crisps will warm me up a bit.

Thai Sweet Chilli crisps can often come flavoured with chicken, so it’s nice to see Golden Wonder concentrating on the flavour of Thai sweet and chilli spiciness. On opening the bag there was a chilli aroma to the reddish crisps inside.

On first crunchy taste, these Golden Wonder Thai Sweet Chilli crisps had a familiar flavour, but with more of a chilli burn to follow. I have been complaining for some time that I couldn’t find a hot and spicy bag of crisps anymore, and here it is.

They were so moreish, and they warmed the back of my throat with chilli as they went down. Certainly an Autumn and Winter warmer. I hope Golden Wonder decide to make them a permanent flavour. They are so good.

Information on the packet; The 25g bag contains 131 calories, with 7.7g of fat, 1g of sugar, and 0.25g of salt. Suitable for vegans, and made with no artificial flavours, preservatives, or colours. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Moser Roth Smooth Praline Belgian Milk Chocolate (Aldi) By @Cinabar

Sometimes you just need a bit of chocolate and a bit of a treat. Work has been draining, so I thought I’d have a look for one of my favourite chocolate fillings, praline, and spotted this smart-looking Moser Roth Smooth Praline Belgian Milk Chocolate bar in Aldi. Nothing says after-work treat quite like a big bar of chocolate. I love nuts and chocolate, so this had to end up in my basket.

I opened the wrapper and it is a proper hefty bar, definitely not one for a single serving, but you know, I’ll try my best. The chocolate has a lovely wave pattern marking out the chunks to break off, so I broke off a strip.

I gave the chocolate a try and it really did hit the spot. The milk chocolate is thick and generous, while the praline is rich and full of delicious hazelnut flavour. The texture is what really wins me over, though, as it is super silky. The chocolate stays thick as it melts and properly coats the tongue. Bliss.

Although it is nutty, there are no bits, so it stays lovely and smooth. It feels like a substantial chocolate bar and a proper treat, which was exactly what I needed at the end of a long day.

Spiced Pear Instant Tea (Whittard) By @Cinabar

I really do love hot drinks, and Whittard is one of those places I always seem to end up shopping at when I fancy a treat. I love their hot chocolate flavours and their instant fruit teas, so obviously this new autumn Spiced Pear Instant Tea ended up in my basket on my last shop.

I opened up the tub and put three heaped teaspoons into my mug. As usual with Whittard's instant teas, it dissolved very easily with a gentle stir. I gave the drink a taste and, oh my word, this drink made me smile from ear to ear. It was perhaps my perfect drink.

It is blow your mind good. It is like cinnamon mixed with pear drops, which just happens to be two of my favourite things. It starts with a lovely sweet pear flavour, followed by warming spices and plenty of cinnamon, before finishing with a proper juicy pear taste. I was absolutely loving the sweet, warming pear and those lovely autumnal spices.

This may actually be my favourite tea from Whittard ever. This review does come with some serious bias, because pear drops are my favourite sweet and cinnamon is my favourite spice. If I had asked Whittard to make a tea especially for me, this is exactly what I would have wanted. I honestly couldn't have picked a better combination myself.

Powdered Sweat - Pocari @ home style [@NLi10]

 Japan has an amusingly named rehydration drink called Pocari Sweat.  It's basically powdered grape juice and electrolytes but it's fantastically compulsive and really does seem to hydrate better than most drinks.

And I've found it in powder form!

As the bottom says this is 66g of powder to make 1L of drink. This is annoying but logical.

It does come with instructions but as they are pour into bottle and drink we don't need the translation software.

I almost brought home a Cha Dong to try - but there was no price on the section and a queue at the till so no-one to ask

As pocari has lots of extra goodness in it the bottles feel heavy.  I do like them though so the water bottle in my fridge is their brand. Unfortunately it's 1.5L, so I filled it - then measured 500ml out of it into a pint glass.  Easy.

Then cutting as instructed the tiny hole allowed for a super clean pour.

And one shake later it looked identical!

It tasted a bit of the accelerant/mixer though (like the UK versions do) so I left it to settle for an hour or so.

And it was magically just like the real thing!  I mean - it probably is the real thing, they almost certainly just dilute it in the factory.

At £2.50 a sachet it's about half price to buy it in powder form.  More importantly it's a lot lighter to carry.  And as I was feeling under the weather this week it kept me going.  All good from me!

The Traitors - Chews (WHSmith) By @SpectreUK

I do love watching The Traitors. The plots, the twists and turns, the back stabbing. It’s just so much fun to watch how people find it so hard to read each other.

I know I’d likely be rubbish at the game. I’m not a good liar, so if I was a Traitor I’d probably be like Richard E. Grant, and just blurt it out. I’m not good at reading people either.

Nevertheless, having some sweet and sour chews to watch The Traitors series sounds like a good idea. These The Traitors - Chews have some chewy sweets that are sour and some that are sweet. If you find a sour, then you catch a Traitor.

On opening the bag there were a multitude of wrapped chewy sweets. On unwrapping several sweets there seemed different sweet flavours from raspberry to lemon and mango, and then I caught a Traitor. It was a face twisting sour lemon sherbet filled chew, which really caught me. These sweets are great fun, not tough to chew and very tasty, whether they are sweet Faithfuls or deadly sour Traitors.

These sweets could be useful to all the teddy bears in the house that are playing The Traitors game at the same time as the celebrity series. Believe me, it’s been absolute carnage so far.

Information on the packet; The 120g bag contained 401 calories per 100g, with 6.1g of fat, 67g of sugar, and 0.06g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Jaffaween Cake Bars Cherry (Tesco) By @Cinabar

As we are in spooky month, I feel like I can properly start tucking into the Halloween goodies we have lined up to tell you about. First up is these Jaffaween Cake Bars Cherry. The spell check does not like the name, but I don’t mind it!

Jaffaween Cake Bars are available in Orange, but I don’t think I’ve tried the Cherry ones before, so I went with those. Plus, red for Halloween seems a bit more themed than just changing the standard packaging on the orange ones. I opened up the wrapper and have to say, they have done a lovely job with the packaging. Each cake bar is made to look like a monster or mummy wrapped up in orange peel bandages, which is very cool.

Underneath that, we have a nice cake bar with a layer of cherry and dark chocolate. The flavour is sweet and tasty, with enough chocolate and vanilla from the sponge to contrast nicely with the cherry. These are tasty, and they fit perfectly into a lunch box for Halloween, or as a snack for Trick or Treaters.

The best part is the cute wrapper, though. I just loved that!

McDonalds World Heist II - Maple Chicken, Guava Sprite & Paprika Fries [@NLi10]

 Way back we did a World Heist review - it was terrible - and now the economic instability caused by that promotion has directly led to World Heist Two!

Ignore my colleague's sad Cheeseburger with no cheese - I can't remember why that exists.

(ed - I asked - it's the cheapest way to get a double burger with no cheese)

Annoyed by the lack of the German Rosti burger I decided to take a different route. Canadian Maple Burger, Dutch Paprika Fries and Indian Guava Sprite.

With only 3 ice-cubes and 27 calories this is a lovely refreshing summer drink. It's now October so hey-ho, but I enjoyed it anyway.  And it wasn't 60% Ice like the KFC specials.

I didn't try any Canadian McFlurry but it's a normal one with marshmallows and crumble added.

I did go for the Maple Chicken - so called because I had the plastic cheese removed.

It's got a million different things in there.  Hooray!

Except bacon - boo - should have added it in.

Good enough to go back and try that before these vanish at the end of Oct? Nope.  KFC still does this so much better.

I enjoyed the fresh salad and mix of textures, but McDonalds burgers are almost drinkable due to their lack of consistency.  Probably the best chicken burger I've had in modern McDonalds though.  Much better than the beef burger from last time.

And now - fries!

North Europe the McFries go stone cold even faster so having them in a bag is just smart.

Add paprika - get red fries!

The extra salt and pepper on these, combined with the cooling guava meant that this was the main event.  Like the Polish fries I'd have these again, but if we go back I have to have the German burger and the Mulan's Szechwan Sauce with my fries to complete the set.

Overall, reasonable value (about £10) but nothing to tell the grandchildren to hop into the time portal about. Better than the first time though.