Virgin Media TV Diner - Pop Up Restaurant [By @C2L_Eu]

On 14th October we were lucky enough to be invited to the very limited edition Virgin Media Diner situated on Soho's Bateman Street. Set into a small shop front, the team at Pretty Green did a great job of bringing the movies alive creatively with an original 'must tell all my friends' idea.

The aim of the pop up restaurant was to celebrate, and educate consumers about, the huge library of box sets and films available via their cable service. This was done through a stomach-rumblingly awe-inspiring menu which was designed around dishes made famous by our on-screen favourites -  such as Gwen’s Cheese and Mushroom Omelette (Gavin & Stacey), Los Pollos Hermanos Chicken (Breaking Bad), and Dexters Breakfast (Dexter) or even a touch of the IT Crowd in Moss’s Smarties Cereal. Very clever. We couldn’t wait!

We ordered the Big Kahuna Burger and £5 Shake (Pulp Fiction, and also the name of Virgin Medias largest package), and Los Pollos Hermanos Chicken, as we attended the dinner slot. We would have loved to have tried the other items available, but they were only available at the traditional Breakfast and Lunch times which was a pity considering it was a one day event.

We were seriously excited to find that there was so much more to this than quirky names... the food had serious substance. The burger was cooked to perfection, with lashings of cheese fondue, gherkin, burger sauce and a toasted bun accompanied by the most incredible peanut butter shake we had ever tasted. The chicken wings were crispy, juicy and left you literally desperate for more. It's not surprising to learn then that the chef who created this was none other than the very talented Neil Rankin (from the acclaimed The Smokehouse, Islington). Neil was on site in the open kitchen, preparing the food for eagerly awaiting consumers and everything looked, smelled and tasted divine; it was mesmerising.



Sadly the venue was a bit bare with limited ambience, and told us very little about Virgin Media, its offerings and had scant mentions of the actual products or the brand itself. Of course, whilst enjoying our burger, we could happily focus 100% on the eating but we came away wondering quite what it was all about and more desperate to visit Rankins other eateries than sign up to Virgin Media. We didn’t gain any more knowledge than when we crossed the threshold so it’s lucky we are advocates of Virgin Media because it’s genuinely good, but this opinion wasn’t formed as a result of the Diner.

 That said, this was a great experience and the menu alone got us really enthusiastic. Hopefully the Diner will come back as a more immersive experience in the future. If it does, we’ll be first in line and you’ll find us by the milkshake bar.

By C2L

Asda Press Event - Halloween Special [By @C2L_Eu]

Every now and then FoodStuffFinds are lucky enough to have the opportunity to sample products at Press launches and a little while ago we were asked to attend the Asda Halloween event for their forthcoming seasonal range.
Asda held their event in central London and to get us all in the mood it included a tour of the famous London Dungeons. Going around the dungeons at 8pm on a dusky, late summers night was the perfect start to get all the guests in the spirit of the occasion and we made full use of the themed photo opportunities. It was a great addition to the evening before the real treats began and a nice touch for Asda to include.

After the tour, we were taken to a nicely located pub to sample the Asda Halloween range, which this year is vast and exciting. As ever we tried to concentrate on the the food, ignoring the costumes but the offers of face painting and special effects were particulary distracting.

One thing that drew our attention from the huge selection on offer was the sharing platter. A mixture of marshmallows and ginger bread with a saucy chocolate dip to go with. A great way to enjoy something a little different with friends and we could imagine this would go down well at a party or even watching a scary movie on a Saturday night. Taste wise is doesn't explode in your mouth but it was a nice take on the traditional sharing platters which tend to be savoury. As ever, the Asda price makes sure that this would be affordable to all and so for this, we would give it the thumbs up.

Next up were the pumpkin kits; which were by far the best products on show. Rather than the ginger bread kits which we've all seen and loved, we got a pumpkin to decorate instead. Now I know it might seem odd that a late-20's (*cough cough*) reviewer might find this the most engaging of all the treats on offer, however it really did unleash everyone's inner child. There's something very honest and simple about decorating your own cookies - it's just FUN! These would be great for all ages and again, we were really impressed. The biscuits themselves are fairly normal gingerbread, which weren't particularly exciting per se, however this didn't matter at all; we weren't looking for gourmet.

We can only imagine the fun (mess and terror) kids could inflict with these little pumpkins!

After a thoroughly enjoyable evening (with this reviewer even ending up with more than a bit of make up on... we did say we'd TRY to focus on the food...), we made our way home on the tube and looked through our generous goodie bag. Containing freaky jelly lollies, face paints, wigs and costume and two little innocent gingerbread vampires. It was only fitting to keep with the spirit of the night, and so we demanded... OFF WITH HIS HEAD!!

By C2L

Greggsnut [Cronut Style] (Greggs) [By @C2L_Eu]

The Cronut™. A croissant-donut hybrid. A dessert gone viral. If you’ve missed this new craze (and we’d forgive you if you had, official Cronuts™ are only available from the Dominique Ansel bakery in New York), do not fear for our Great British High Street bakers, Greggs, are here to save the day. And we’ve had the chance to try both their new, limited edition flavours.

To gain some perspective, the Cronut™ is somewhat high maintenance. They take up to 3 days to make, with laminated dough (we don’t know what that means either), proofed and then fried in grapeseed oil. You have to cut them with a serrated knife. You can’t refrigerate them. We would imagine the Cronut™ is a little bite of light, layered, sugar coated heaven. Heidi Klum wouldn’t have just anything private jetted to her family, surely.

And so what for Greggs’ attempt? The Greggsnut… not quite as catchy in name, granted. We tried both flavours – Summer Berry &  Crème and Caramel Pecan. The first thing we noticed was they are huge. They are dense. Culminating in 1 ½ inches of layered dough and then a small splodge of crème and jam / caramel respectively. A little disappointing and not quite the New York fantasy moment we’d imagined.

Taste wise, the Greggsnut was an odd combination of (almost) savoury pastry giving way to a super sweet sugar glaze and intense filling. It was much more like a ‘Yum Yum’ – though this is a comparable on their website so shouldn't have been a total surprise and it was quite bland and very heavy. The overall experience was just very dry and tasted a little stale. By the end of the experience, jaw ache was mandatory.

Our verdict? More Fauxnut than Cronut™.

Greggsnut are available until 1st Oct in 13 London Stores for £1 each.

By C2L