Loopy Laces Juicy Strawberry flavour versus Power Pencils Juicy Strawberry Flavour (By Spectre)

Wham Sweets Foodstuff Fight – which one’s juicer?

These Loopy Laces may seem old hat, but I’ve been assured these are a new product to Wham. They certainly made my mouth water to start with, and were immediately moreish. They are like long red spaghetti and took at bit to unravel in the pack. I tried not to make too many sucking noises whilst getting them in my mouth, arousing odd looks for my work colleagues. It is hard to look suave and sophisticated whilst eating these. They taste like artificial strawberries, which aren’t a healthy feeling snack, but they are classed as sweets, rather than an actual strawberry, which kind of makes you forgive them. I was glad there were loads in the pack and once started wanted to keep eating them. The more laces you put in your mouth at the same time, the more juicer, and the less dignified! The first few laces gave me a nice juicy feeling, but WARNING; the whole pack might make you feel a bit sick. They end up tasting like strawberry flavoured rubber bands. Cinabar assures me they should be oversweet, not chemically. Now I know why our esteemed postmen / postwomen / postpeople / postpersons (oh heck… they’ll go on strike if I get that wrong!) discard them on the pavement so frivolously.
The Power Pencils are long pink pencil thin sticks with a white filling. I was a bit disappointed on opening the packet that they didn’t have a pointy end. Maybe Wham should call them sticks instead of pencils? Biting into a stick I felt less foolish eating them in the office, as I did with the messier-to-eat Loopy Laces. They have a mouth watering, fuller strawberry taste to them, unlike the chemical taste of the Laces. I enjoyed polishing off the pack of these, and didn’t feel slightly sick once. Although I thought the Loopy Laces were slightly juicer, the Power Pencils definitely have the edge on strawberry taste and easy eating technique. Although I didn’t run around the block after eating them, I felt the power in the pencils wake me up for the afternoon, which is a good thing when you’re bogged down with paperwork.

By Spectre

‘Pop Choc’ in Kit Kat and Lion Bar Varieties (99p Store)

Earlier in the month I found Kit Kat Pop Choc Yoghurt, and mentioned that the Kit Kat Pop Chocs that its made with are from a sharing bag of Kit Kat pieces available in Europe. I was wondering around the pound shops and sitting on a shelf in front of me was this, the actual Kit Kat Pop Chocs I was referring to, and next to them Lion Bar Pop Chocs too!
Obviously I was excited to find them, and when I got home I ripped the top of the bag open (following the indents showing me where to rip). Sadly this did not open the bag! It was still perfectly sealed, so I had to intervene with scissors. I hate packets that don’t work, but I’ll forgive them if the chocolate is good!





Kit Kat Pop Choc

These consist of a small ball of Kit Kat flavour chocolate with a lovely crisp light wafer crunch. They are sweet and easy to eat, and I felt a better flavour than those in the yoghurt, but this may be due to the fact I was eating these ones straight. They certainly are easy to munch on, and get my thumbs up! A good Kit Kat sharing experience.


Lion Bar Pop Choc

These confused me for a moment when I first saw them, because these chocolate have spots, which is not something you see every day! Full size Lion Bars are bobbly, so I guess when you mimic that in miniature the easiest thing is spots! Should these be leopard pop chocs though because of it?
Each chocolate has similar flavour to proper Lion Bar chocolate and this time the crunch is provided by crispies which is rather nice. What was missing from the Lion Bar experience was that lovely caramel to add a little chew, but all in all these are very nice chocolates.


I really don’t know why these aren’t on standard release in the UK. The sharing bags are really popular at the minute, and so are Kit Kats so it strikes me they would sell like hot cakes, even at a premium price in expensive newsagents. They are lovely chocs and well worth hunting down in the import / discount shops.

Muller Greek Style Summer Fruits Corner Yoghurt (Sainsbury’s)

I do like Muller corner yoghurts, I always think that the yoghurt is particularly rich and creamy, and the selection of flavours is enough to satisfy anyone!
A new flavour in the range is always exciting, and this is actually a change in yoghurt rather than the fruit part. The new Muller range now has Greek Yoghurt in one corner, instead of the usual vanilla based yoghurt. I have to say when I tasted it separately it didn’t strike me as being that ‘Greek’. It was creamy, and it was fresh, and it was a seriously nice yoghurt, but I thought it was lacking that complex Greek flavour.
Having said that, it's a tasty pot of yoghurt, and the summer fruits added a wonderful raspberry and blackcurrant rich flavour that contrasted perfectly. I really enjoyed the pot, and it was definitely a different flavour to the usual vanilla, even if it didn’t quite meet my ‘Greek’ flavour expectations. Still yummy though, and I look forward to trying others in the range.

Fruit Lifesavers [by Nli10] (CyberCandy, Birmingham)

Growing up I ate A LOT of fruit polos. Many people have told me that they are OK, but that LifeSavers were the original and superior version. As both are essentially just boiled sweets in a packet then neither is especially original, but as both have a hole they must be linked somehow. i don't see this as a USA vs England thing (that football match has already been and gone) but an exercise in understanding each others cultural flavour differences.

On spotting these in CyberCandy on a return trip to pick up more ManaPotions (see http://www.bit.ly/HPreview ) I had to buy them. It's a no loose situation for me - I've either been right all along that Fruit Polos are superior, or I've discovered something that's better than one of my favourite childhood sweets.

Sitting in front of my computer during the World Cup matches on Saturday I've slowly made my way through the 5 flavours. I've been helped along by watching http://www.mariomarathon.com where they are spending 3 days solid playing Mario games as a group for gamer's charity Child's Play. If you are reading this on the Sunday or Monday then they are probably still at it as they were behind schedule during Super Mario World that is playing now so go visit & watch/donate.

First to appear in the packet was Green. This is watermelon which isn't your typical UK sweet flavour but I've had a few nice sweets by the lovely people at Wonka's of a similar flavour so knew what to expect. It's quite smooth and the very opposite of the lovely sharp Lime of the UK fruit polos. As far as flavours go I'd have to call this one a tie with them being too different to compare. Both are highlights of their respective packets though.

Red threw me. Red in English food means Strawberries, it's an intrinsically British thing and I'm sure even the England players red shirts have a feint whiff of the fruit about them before they play. This red is cherry, disappointing to my tongue and brain. At least on the first taste - the second one I found after a few more flavours and when I was expecting it was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It didn't have the sweet hit of the strawberry, but the taste wasn't synthetic and was a pleasure.

Next up was purple, blackcurrant or blackberry in the UK version (depending on who you ask) and easily the best of the packet, with the red berry a close 2nd. In the USA this tasted odd, and I originally wrote down Grape as the flavour as I know that this is something America likes. According to the packet and the picture I'd taken this was Raspberry! On my second attempt I could tell that this was indeed the case, with the woody flavour of the raspberries coming through, but in an odd way it wasn't that nice, or that similar a taste. Raspberries are easily my favourite of the small soft fruit, and superior to strawberries in every way despite what my sister might think, but there is just something odd about this one that I didn't like. Edible, but not something to hope for when opening the packet.

Up next in the UK is the yellow sweet, which was either lemon or pineapple depending on when you bought it. The lemon was too acidic and not enjoyable, and the pineapple just tasted odd in the context of the other fruit. Lifesavers have gone for Pineapple which caused me a small amount of trepidation, but like the watermelon it was a smooth pleasant experience. The sweet however looks almost white, which is a little odd, but this is the first sweet I'd happily swap into the UK polo packet for the existing flavour.

Finally was orange, another of my favourites in the UK pack (all except the yellow ones are my favourites depending on my mood) but the orange Lifesaver was far more like the UK Lemon and too acidic to be enjoyable. I like sour sweets, but this had none of the sharp flavour of the lime and all of the burning dullness of the lemon after-taste. Fruit polo orange all the way for me.

In summary my ideal pack would be UK fruit polo (Blackcurrant, Strawberry, lime, orange) Lifesavers (Watermelon, Pineapple). That'd be 6 flavours instead of the usual 5 but I feel that I could cope with the chance of only getting one of certain flavours in the mix.

by Nli10

Argentinean Flame Grilled Steak versus English Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pudding [By Spectre]

A little talked about war happened between the invading Argentineans and us British over the Falkland Islands in the early 1980s. I was only a wee lad at the time and remember being fascinated by the images being sent back on the news of tough looking British troops and burning ships. The war lasted for 74 days and the Argies came off rather ignominiously. Let’s see if they can do better with their famous Flame Grilled Steak flavour against the stalwart of British traditional food; Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding. It must be a rather imposing battle for the Argentineans, as I play on Xbox Live most nights and have been accosted by the French (who are renowned food lovers) on many occasions hearing “Roast Beef! Roast Beef!” shouted down microphones in accents crossed between Hercule Poirot and Inspector Clouseau. A cry of sheer terror from the French, I’m sure, at the thought of the Great British stiff upper lip and Blitz spirit.
I thought I’d give the Argentineans a fighting chance and let them go first. My initial impression of these crisps was not the hoped for image of a big fat juicy steak sitting on a flaming grill. The flavour was quite subtle, but not unpleasant. Some of Walkers’ other red meaty flavours, such as Steak and Onion and Chargrilled Steak could be considered overpowering compared to this, perhaps submissive, offering from one of the world’s greatest crisp manufacturers. Having said that, I really enjoyed these crisps, the packet didn’t last long at all and I was quite disappointed they’d all gone. Thank the Gods we have a multipack!
Next up was the English Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pudding flavour. I have to admit that I was very sceptical about how Walkers could capture the taste of both Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding in a crisp. Nevertheless on opening the pack a decent meaty whiff slapped my nostrils. On first taste I was surprised at the strong pastry mixed with meat drippings flavour. Not much in the way of Roast Beef here, mainly Yorkshire Pudding. This is nothing like the shy, reserved and somewhat effeminate Argentinean offering, but a rude in your face type flavour that would happily say “boo” to a goose. This flavour makes patriots salute and be proud of our long disappeared empire. It’s the slightly foreboding aftertaste that remains in your mouth that kind of makes you feel like you’ve had a good meal. No wonder the Argies had such a rough time of it in the Eighties. Now, where’s my apple pie and custard?

By Spectre