Pepsi White Peach and Oolong Tea Flavour Soft Drink [@NLi10]

 Now that all English soft drinks are broken and wrong I am incentivised to purchase expensive imported ones which still contain sugar and flavour.  Here today we have a China made Pepsi - with peach Oolong tea added in!

The oddest part to this is the sparkly-ness - I'd not really make tea with sparkling water - but it adds a tingle to the peach flavour.

The tea flavour is weak and fairly invisible, but the peach and Pepsi does shine quite well.

And it's dark as normal, so no real point in finding a glass!  I chilled mine, but I suspect that over Ice on a hot day this would be at it's best.

It oddly reminded me of this old thing, that I happened to pick up to let someone else to try I used to call this Wo Long Kat when it came in steel cans in the 90s, but here it's called Wang Lao Ji - essentially it's medicinal sugar water - 10 more calories per 100ml than the Pepsi!

And it tastes as I remember - too sweet, too herby, and too morish.  The first sip is always baffling, but you'll finish it and you'll enjoy it too.

The tea here is nicer than the Pepsi, but I think the peach Pepsi just edges ahead in the taste test.  I'd more happily drink a litre of the herbal tea though.

Brummie Noodle House - Han Dynasty Food Court, Birmingham [@NLi10]

 A couple of new places have opened in Birmingham - just in time for Christmas - including a fancy new Han Dynasty Food Court - in a building I was last in for a wedding!

As I'm just a scared white person I decided to go for the place with the friendliest branding

but the whole place is pretty welcoming and as long as you talk to the people at the kiosks you'll find something to suit

And you can all order from different places and your food buzzers mean no one misses out

I had the hand cut noodles and (medium) spicy beef.  Absolutely amazing.  £15 so around £5 more than my usual crispy pork at Peach Garden, but I think worth it for groups... and for pudding...

Upstairs is Birmingham's biggest asian-style claw game arcade!

It's no fun to play alone - and my cats prefer the smaller toys I picked up from the nearby pet-shop due to the catnip infusions, but I look forwards to buying tokens and having a go here on a quieter day.

Oreo mini cocoa puffs - from China - like mini Oreo pockets [@NLi10]

 In the haul from the Korean supermarket last week I picked up some bits for me.  That included these from the 'exotic Oreo' section.

These are made in China, and the translator tells me the are Chinese too - and called Oreo Mini Cocoa Puffs.  I got Strawberry & Peach.

As usual the boxes are designed to keep them safe and make you think there are loads.  This is standard though - no complaints here.

And the things themselves are tiny too - but that just means the little bag is full of them!

And the creme is still creamy which is unusual - often these dry out in the panda shaped chocolate versions.  And boy is the taste/smell strong!

If you want to you can even visit a brightly coloured website about them too - I think there is a link to a free draw for an exquisite gift in a game, but Google didn't really understand that bit.

Peach looks the same

Maybe a little juicier - with the same cocoa wafer outside.

Nice enough as a little flavour burst - like a boiled sweet - but nothing to eat a bag at once of.

I'll stick to the raspberry & blackcurrant Pocky!

Bunny Bao Buns (Marks and Spencer) By @Cinabar

I think this is my first bao bun; I know NLi10 has tried them, and written about them, but I am pretty sure I haven’t bought one before. These were from Marks and Spencer and the Bunny Bao Buns looked so cute that I couldn’t resist. It is, after all, the year of the rabbit, and I think bao buns are Chinese?

 

This particular bun contains a plum sauce with vegetables and is quickly heated in the microwave to cook. I gave it a try and was very impressed with it. Not only was it cute, it was also super tasty. The filling was heavy on the plum sauce, and that worked for me. As I really like texture, the crispy vegetables and soft dough were a winner. It was such a nice combination. The bao buns were just spot on; they had such a nice soft and pillowy texture. The vegetable filling is also well seasoned, adding a nice balance of flavours. The bao buns are also filled with plenty of vegetables, making them satisfying and healthy. I will buy these again, they are perfect for a quick working-from-home casual lunch and perfect to heat up between meetings.

Evil Custard Bunny Bao - Possessed Snacks @NLi10

Is this a Halloween review? 

What are they?!  Why are the eyes like that?  What have they seen??!

Oh - Rabbit shaped Custard Buns.  They look quite happy and innocent on the package.

This suggests 3-4 minutes in the microwave - but that must be for the whole pack.

Ah - specialised steam box - I don't have that - luckily I have the steam bags from the other brand - have to get the timings right.

So menacing, but so cute.

30 sec each isn't too far off - much more and the bottoms burn and go hard.  The custard is hot but still gooey.

This one didn't go right and was over cooked.

Luna likes the little ears, but was not keen on the custard.  

A successful China discovery but maybe they also sell microwave bao boxes? 

Chicken and Bacon Chow Mein (#Amoy) [By @Cinabar]

Im a big fan of quick and easy food, so when Amoy asked if we wanted to try out some of their sauces I couldn't resist. They sent some of their instant noodles too so it was time to get creating.
We decided to go for the Chow Mein to start with, and picked up some diced chicken, bacon lardons and a bag of stir fry veggies. Whats more we thought we'd make it as a quick but tasty dinner on a work night.
We had a recipe to follow, but altered it slightly for our own tastes. We added the chocken as an extra as I like the idea of mixing chicken and bacon, but I think it would work well with a number of meats, or indeed prawns.

We started off by frying the chicken and bacon lardons is a dash of oil until cooked. We added some onions, followed by a tables spoon of dark soy sauce and the rest of the veggies.

We added the Chow Mein sauce next, which smelt wonderful especially when combined with the aroma from the bacon and onions.

The noodles went in next, they started off as a block and soon broken down into fine noodles. The final touch was another tablespoon of soya sauce just to add a little saltiness to the final flavour.
The meal was very quick to prepare, even after a full day at work. I loved adding the noodles straight to the pan, so simple. The flavours were outstanding, far surpassing any ready meal or take-way. The Chow Mein sauce was the good balance of flavours, the soya sauce and ingredients balanced it off so very well, it was the perfect savoury flavour. It was meaty, tasty, slightly salty but fresh and moreish. We all cleared our plates and cant wait to try some of the other goodies we were sent.
By Cinabar

Chinese Oreos (Day Inn Supermarket, Birmingham) [by @NLi10]

This week saw 'Healthy Eating Day' in our work canteen - promoting the value of fruit.

So here are some Fruity Chinese varieties of Oreos that I discovered in our local Chinese Grocers Day Inn!  I realise this isn't in the true spirit of the above, but I did have the real fruit too (remember kids - 5 portions of fruit and veg a day is the minimum, not the target!)

They are:

Mango and Orange

Raspberry and Blueberry

Grape and Peach

As these were actually imported by the store's own import arm the ingredients stickers were clear and well set out so I knew exactly what I was getting into!  Also they were only £1.50 a pack, which for import snacks is frankly ace.

The biscuits are exact Oreo cookies - and you get 9 per pack.  They crumbled a bit when I separated them (I didn't do the Oreo twist as that smudges the lines) and I only photoed one as they were all similarly coloured lines in identical biscuits.

These are much sweeter than regular Oreos and have a very aggressive tang to them.  As with a lot of snack food there really sin't much to tell between them - the Orange based one is the tangiest, the peach one has a warmth to the flavour and the raspberry one is fruitier and perhaps the sweetest.  The Raspberry one is also my favourite, but they really are quite close together in terms of taste.

I'll buy these again, but I do like biscuits that encourage sharing.  As a spectacular thing to have at the hypothetical dinner party these would be good - everyones seen Oreos but no-one has seen these.  With any luck they will show up in a few more stores (and they will still be in stock when I go back!)