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.

Walkers Grilled Cheese & Chilli Jam flavoured crisps (Ocado) By @SpectreUK

If there’s one thing in life that I have discovered, it’s that I have a lot of favourite sandwiches. One of my favourites is the all time classic; ham and tomato sandwich. Add a bit of salad cream or mayonnaise, a lot of Colman’s English Mustard, and a little pepper and I am well away. Even if it always gets really messy.

I generally have some sort of bacon flavoured crisps to accompany my ham and tomato sandwich. Today, I found these limited edition Walkers Grilled Cheese & Chilli Jam flavoured crisps to review. I like a bit of grilled cheese on an sandwich, and chilli jam can have quite a kick to it. So, I wonder what these taste like.

On opening the bag there was an aroma of sweet chilli and a cheesiness to the red chilli flecked crisps inside. On first taste these Walkers Grilled Cheese & Chilli Jam flavoured crisps had a strong grilled cheese flavour to begin with, and then a mild sweet chilli tang followed. I could feel that sweet chilli heat building the more crisps I ate, and they were very moreish indeed. Yum.

Information on the packet; The 25g bag contained 128 calories, with 7.3g of fat, 0.8g of sugar, 0.16g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Baileys Chocolate Caramel Whirls (Tesco) By @Cinabar

I spotted these at the supermarket and thought they looked nice. There have been a few Baileys-flavoured products come out over the last year or so, but it is always nice to see a new one. Here we have three Baileys Chocolate Caramel Whirls, all individually wrapped and in a box, so they would be perfect as a stocking filler. Apologies for hinting at Christmas this early!

The box is light, so I wasn’t expecting the chocolates to be too big, but they are still surprisingly small, they only weigh 24g each. The individual packaging is useful for keeping them fresh, but it does mean there is more plastic, and unfortunately it isn’t easy to recycle.

I cut one in half because I was curious to see how they looked inside. It isn’t the best photo, but you can see the nice layers inside.

I gave it a try and it reminded me a little of a Walnut Whip (minus the walnut, obviously), with a nice hint of Baileys. The chocolates look pretty too, as they are nicely moulded. The chocolate and Irish cream flavour work well together, and the Baileys isn’t too strong, but gives it just enough extra flavour to make it interesting.

The chocolate is a reasonable thickness and is sweet and tasty. They are a nice little treat, and I think they would make a lovely stocking filler.

Reese’s Strawberry PB&J Big Cup (Home Bargains) By @Cinabar

There has been an increase over the years in products that combine peanut butter and chocolate in the UK, and we’ve even had a mainstream Kit Kat in the flavour. I would say, though, that we haven’t really taken on PB&J over here (for those wondering, that’s peanut butter and jelly). Apparently, it is a popular sandwich filling across the pond. However, I found this Reese’s Strawberry PB&J Big Cup in the shop and couldn’t wait to give it a try.

There are two of the larger cups inside the packet, but they are still in the usual paper cases. They are a decent size, and when I bit into one, I found they packed in a good amount of filling too. The flavour was very sweet, and the strawberry jelly (jam) gave a lovely hit of sweet fruitiness. The chocolate was also lovely and sweet, while the peanut butter added that more savoury, nutty taste with just a touch of salt. It worked really well, and I particularly liked the strawberry addition to the combination.

This may be more in the American taste palette than the UK, but I loved the fruity twist with chocolate and peanut butter. It’s definitely a combination I’d be happy to see more of over here.

Crusties & Bugles - Denmark Snacks [@NLi10]

 We recently went to Denmark for the week - but surprisingly didn't pick up many branded snacks.  I gravitated towards the pastries and cafes - and it wasn't quite hot enough for the icecreams.

I did spot these Crusties

Like a store-brand version of the Knopper this comes as a multi pack.

Very affordable, not quite as creamy or rich as the originals, but still a nice snack.  Really not that filling though

My partner opted for a single bag of Bugles for a similar price.  These have crept into the UK but never seem as good as the Lay's version - guess it's like Takis not being as good as the Spanish ones.

These look and taste fantastic.

They don't photograph well - this is a tiny crisp, not a samosa.

They lasted ages, and worked out as much better value than the tasty wafer squares (I think we still have one of those left!) -  we did a lot of walking so big meals, sugary drinks and bags of bugles should be the way forwards.

Peroni Nastro Azzuro Arancia Rossa (Ocado) By @SpectreUK

I have a comic con on Saturday and Sunday to sell toys at. Whilst I like a beer with my dinner, I rarely feel like drinking on a ‘school night’, so to speak. A non-alcoholic drink is most welcome on those nights. I usually like the taste, and hopefully the flavour will go well with whatever sandwich I choose.

This Peroni Nastro Azzuro Arancia Rossa is flavoured with blood orange. So, I may have a tuna sandwich. It is 0% in volume, which is ideal for a school night. There is the wonder of the taste ratio with this type of flavoured beer. Generally it’s a little fruit and a lot of beer, but I’ll see…

On opening the can there was a strong aroma of blood orange to the murky red beer inside the can. I certainly wasn’t expecting it to be that colour. There was a lot of blood orange added during the brewing. The beer flavour definitely took a second stage here in the tasting. I have to admit, this was a flavoursome drink. I missed the stronger beer element though.

Muller Corner Yoghurt - Jaffa Cakes (Ocado) By @Cinabar

There is a lot of discussion about whether Jaffa Cakes are a cake or a biscuit, as they are found in the biscuit aisle but are technically cakes, apparently. Well, this Muller Corner Jaffa Cakes edition is definitely a yoghurt.

I do like Jaffa Cakes, so I couldn’t resist trying these new yoghurts. On one side we have plain yoghurt with plenty of Jaffa sauce marbled through it, and on the other we have dark chocolate-coated biscuits to add in. Yes, biscuits, as in shortcake. I guess sponge would have gone soggy or not kept its shape.

I added the biscuits to the yoghurt and have to say, the flavours really did come together. The orange was full of flavour, sweet and juicy with plenty of citrus. It worked really well with the crunch of the chocolate biscuits and the yoghurt, and was perfect for chocolate orange fans.

Maggi - Gochujang Beef Flavour Instant Noodles [@NLi10]

I like the Maggi masala noodles for lunch, but they are a little small.  Enter this £1.99 version with TWO sachets and a larger block of noodles.

And the packet looks a lot fancier

The ingredients are the same - but it suggests turning it into a meal with actual food too.  I did not do this.

Into the pot it all goes.  I forgot to take a picture of it all cooked. Why?

Because it was hot.  Like proper hot.  And I didn't even touch the sachet of very spicy.

This was a terrible choice for a nice big lunch - it was impossible to eat at speed.  With veggies and meat to mitigate the heat then I think it might have been ok - I do like hot food, but this was like a Nandos Hot and eating that as soup at lunch while the liquid was hot made it too hard.  I did finish it but had to have an extended lunch to do so.

I'd totally have these again (and have them in mind for a spicy present for a cousin) but for me - I'll stick to Masala which has a kick, but not a kick to the face.

 

McCoy’s Yellow Mustard Flavour (Ocado) By @SpectreUK

Pork is probably my favourite sandwich. I say ‘probably’, because I love so many different sandwiches. I may have a little apple sauce on a pork sandwich, or more likely a little English Mustard, or French’s Classic Yellow mustard.

I don’t want to distract from the taste of the pork in the sandwich, as it is a fairly delicate taste. Too much hot or sweet mustard, and the flavour of pork may quickly be overwhelmed, and the sandwich a bit of a dud.

These new McCoy’s Yellow Mustard Flavour crisps may help with not overwhelming my pork sandwich. On opening the bag there was a sweet mustard aroma to the yellowish orange ridged potato crisps inside.

On first crunchy taste, these McCoy’s Yellow Mustard Flavour crisps had a tangy mustard flavour, followed by sweet fiery horseradish and a little spicy paprika. They certainly were tasty, maybe too flavoursome for my pork sandwich, but definitely very moreish indeed. I’ll have to get some more of these.

Information on the packet; The 25g bag contained 132 calories, with 7.8g of fat, 0.9g of sugar, and 0.12g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Reese’s Peanut Butter Skeletons (Ocado) By @Cinabar

It is official, we are hitting autumn and the Halloween snacks are in the shops. Naturally, I am using this as an excuse to stock up on all the seasonal sweets, and as someone who loves chocolate and peanut butter, these Reese’s Peanut Butter Skeletons were high on my list of ‘essential’ purchases.

In the pack, we have nicely decorated, foil-covered chocolates with a cute skeleton design. They look great. They are wrapped too, so they are perfect for sharing, but let’s be honest, these are going to be eaten long before anyone knocks on the door wanting to trick or treat.

I gave one a try, and the ratio is different compared to a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. There is more chocolate and a smaller portion of peanut butter. The flavour is therefore more about the sweet chocolate, but there is still enough peanut butter to give plenty of nutty flavour. Purists may prefer the more full-on taste of a peanut butter cup, though.

I still really like these. They are sweet, nutty and easy to eat, and they also look adorable emptied into a bowl. A fun Halloween twist on one of my favourite chocolate and peanut butter combinations.

Harry Specters Luxe Chocolates Box (Gifted) By @Cinabar

We were very kindly gifted this box of Harry Specters Luxe Chocolates for review, and I have to say, I was seriously impressed. Harry Specters has a lovely ethos, using ethical cocoa and natural ingredients, as well as creating employment opportunities for autistic young adults. The founder's son is autistic, and the company is particularly focused on being autism-friendly and creating opportunities and support for autistic people. 

They also make some really interesting chocolate flavours, which was the bit that really caught my attention. I couldn't wait to try them. I opened the box and the first thing that came to mind was wow. These are seriously beautiful chocolates. Each one is individually decorated and they look like little chocolate gems sitting in the box. They are almost too pretty to eat. Almost. I had no idea where to start, so I went with my usual tactic of finding the nutty ones first.

Peanut Butter - The chocolate is sweet and full of flavour, with 40% cocoa, while the peanut butter filling is thick and a little sticky. Peanut butter and chocolate is one of my favourite combinations, and this was absolutely spot on.

Maple and Pecan - Again, we have smooth chocolate, this time with a smooth, sweet and nutty filling. The maple comes from proper Canadian Maple Butter, which gives it a lovely rich sweetness. Pure yum.

Intense Coffee - Here we have strong coffee paired with a 60% cocoa chocolate covering. The flavour is full-on rich coffee and chocolate, and it really is a proper kick of flavour sensation. Seriously, I would eat a whole bar of this.

Apple Cinnamon - I decided to go for a fruity one next, and being a cinnamon lover, this was the natural choice. It uses 40% cocoa chocolate, proper fruity apple purée and just enough cinnamon to give a lovely little hit of warmth. Pure heaven.

These chocolates are next level. I honestly wasn't expecting to be quite so blown away by them, but every one I tried was absolutely delicious. They look beautiful, the flavours are interesting, and the chocolate itself is excellent. These are the sort of chocolates that make you stop after the first bite and think, wow. They deserve to be in every supermarket.

Flipz - Cinnamon Bun - Danish Pastry Flavour Pretzels [@NLi10]

 We've just got back from Denmark/Sweden and I ate a lot of good pastries on the trip.  To remember it my partner picked up these Flipz!

  

We've had a lot of these over the years, but this may be the perfect flavour - it's basically pretzel flavoured pretzels.  Well - with the sugar and cinnamon on the top anyway.

Standard ingredients.  

Standard appearance (although this is quite a bad picture - sorry!) but they have the crunch and sweetness with the lovely spices on top.  Perfect (home) cinema snack and something I'd be tempted to pay full price for!

Love Lane: Black Bird Stout (Ocado) By @SpectreUK

I do love a good stout washing down my steak and chips. I’m not keen on overly creamy stouts. I like a bold flavoursome stout with a touch of creaminess, as well as sweetness from malted chocolate and a little roasted coffee in its flavour.

Inspired by the Beatles song, Black Bird, this Extra Stout was brewed in Liverpool by Love Lane. There are malts of Golden Promise, Crystal, Oats, Wheat, Chocolate, as well as Black malt. So, I’m expecting chocolate creaminess, roasted coffee and sweet dark chocolate. There was Admiral hops added for citrus bitterness to this 6.7% in volume Black Bird.

On opening the can there was a dark chocolate and roasted coffee aroma from this almost jet black stout. Black Bird oozes creamy dark chocolate to begin with. and then that roasted coffee and citrus bitterness combined to pounce on my tastebuds giving them quite a kick. Very flavoursome, full bodied, very nice indeed. Cheers.

Ritter Sport Haribo Balla Bites (Ocado) By @cinabar

Gosh, I was super excited when I heard about this bar and crossover: a Ritter Sport chocolate filled with Haribo Balla Bites. And just look at the packaging, and how wonderfully colourful and fun the chocolate looks. May I never grow up, but more than ten years into doing this blog and I still get super excited about something like this.

Ritter Sport often has fun and quirky flavours, so this is right up my street. I opened up the wrapper and, apart from a few Haribo Balla Bites poking through, it looked much like a regular Ritter Sport. I broke a line off, waiting for the colour explosion, but there was none. So I bit into the top-right piece and discovered that particular cube was pure milk chocolate.

I broke the bar up some more and could see some Haribo sweets, so I deliberately tried a piece with a sweet in it, and that was awesome. It was lime, and the fruity gummy flavour was fab with the chocolate, as was the chewy, fun gummy texture. Another piece shared a Haribo with a neighbouring cube of chocolate, and that was a bright berry taste that worked really well too.

The pieces of chocolate with the sweets in them were fun and brilliant, and everything I hoped for. There just weren’t enough sweets mixed in. I know it would probably be a manufacturing nightmare, but each cube should have had one Haribo Balla Bite in it, just like the packaging suggests, to make every piece that colourful and fun.”

LoveCocoa - Honeycomb Milk Chocolate [@NLi10]

 Another lovely gift here - a tiny tiny slab of chocolate!

But what's this? It's honey comb too - how does that work?

And it's secretly a Cadbury family chocolate? Almost like the family are ashamed by what the factory puts out these days...

This looks rather special.  You can just about see the flecks of the honeycomb from the back.  No wonder I was gifted it.  It's good quality chocolate, but the honey is hard to find in every bite and I want them to stick out more.

It says they are based in London now though - not Birmingham which looses them points too!

Overall - the honeycomb bits are a little too slight - it needs a bit more crunchie and a bit less milky.  I don't know whether it's my tastes shifting over the years but I found it a little sweet too.

Bounty Snowballs (Ocado) By @SpectreUK

I’m not sure why I’ve been tasked with this blog. First off, I’ve been ill for the last day or so due to some sort of bug or food poisoning. Second, I’m not that keen on coconut and chocolate.

Bounty Bars are generally the last bars I go for in a tub of celebrations. I don’t dislike them, but I’m not that fussed either. I did, however, eat and enjoy Snowballs when I was a kid. I sometimes had them in my lunchbox at school or for a lunchtime pudding at home.

These Bounty Snowballs by Mars seem a natural leap into Snowball territory. They seem smaller than regular Snowballs from when I was a kid. Either that, or I was smaller back then.

On opening the packet these chocolate coated mallows covered in desiccated coconut smelt just like regular Snowballs. They tasted as sticky as I remember them.

I know I haven’t had one for years, but these Bounty Snowballs tasted exactly like the Snowballs I had when I was a kid. That definitely wasn’t a bad thing at all.

Information o the packet; Each 13.5g Snowballs has 63 calories, with 2.8g of fat, 7g of sugar, and 0.01g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.