London Street Food Mother Clucker & Tea @Nli10

We went to see the Harry Potter play in London.  No spoilers here - but it is very good.

Seeing it over two days meant we got to eat at lots of lovely places which is the goal of any trip really, isn't it!

The locals had even got in on the act with Potter/Star Wars themed coffee available.  Not interested though.

What I needed was chicken!

I had the Chicken Strips - I only learned afterwards that I should have added the nice fries too.  Oh well.

Mother Clucker is one of those semi-street food things where you have a van that can pop up anywhere.  Here it's down Brick Lane by Rough Trade East.

And it's pretty good.  The chicken is tender and fresh, the coating is thick and almost like an apple crumble topping (thanks Kate!) but in a KFC style with all the usual herbs and spices but a lot more quality.  I'd make a special trip over just to eat this again.

Here in Spittalfields Market I found a Chinese Tea shop (Yi Yang? I forgot to get the name!) and picked up a lovely strong herbal Lemon tea.

I had medium sugar and not heated, which I think was a mistake in the Mini-Beast Arctic winds.  I enjoyed it though.  I got told off by coffee drinkers for drinking it too slowly, but these herbal teas are meant to be sipped and enjoyed.  Everyone else seemed to be going for some kind of milky bubble tea, maybe I missed out.

We had a great time wandering around hipsterville and catching up with old friends. Have to do it again soon!

Heritage Series: Suffolk Pale Ale (sold in Tesco) By @SpectreUK

Last week I blogged about Vintage Fine Ale, the first of two limited edition Greene King beers that have been made with the near extinct Chevallier malt from their secret (or maybe not) seed bank. Chevallier malted barley hasn't been used much in the last century and once the three fields of this rare malt have been all used up, it could be quite sometime before anyone tastes Chevallier in a beer again. This Suffolk Pale Ale is the second beer. Saaz hops and Strisselsplat hops were added in the brewing to create a mixture of floral, citrus, herbal and spicy bitterness to this pale ale.

On opening the 568ml bottle there was a spicy herbal hoppish smell mixed with the sweet malt. On taste this 5% volume ale had the now familiar sweet taste of the Chevallier malt to start with which again complemented the bitter flavours of the hops. There is spicy warmth here from the initial flavours mixed with the herbal and the floral hops and with a touch of citrus into the sweet malt aftertaste. This is a complex pale ale, full of all the flavours of hops and the luxurious sweetness of Chevallier. I can see why Greene King wanted to roll back the years to produce both these beers. It would be grand if they could create more fields of this Chevallier malted barley, as I'm sure these would become very popular beers without being limited editions.

Muller Light – New Limited Edition Raspberry Doughnut Flavour Yoghurt (Lunch Trolley) By @Cinabar

I usually make my own sandwiches for work, but do occasionally have a look at the lunch trolley that comes around, often to just pick up a juice. Today however I spotted a selection of Muller yoghurts, and the inevitable ‘new’ label that drew me in. The flavour of this yoghurt is Raspberry Doughnut which sounded quite fun so I decided to have a this as a sweet treat for the afternoon. I thought I was being a bit naughty choosing a flavour that sounded so sugary, but when I had a further look at the packet I realised it was actually fairly low in calories (less than 100) and was fat free.
Inside the pot was a thickish yoghurt which had a pale pink colour. The flavour was quite strong, and the major element of that was the sugariness in taste. There was some pleasant acidic bite from the raspberry, but it was really quite sweet. If I was asked to describe the flavour I think I would have gone with raspberry icing, rather than doughnut, fruity but over-sweet. I couldn’t pick up on any of the doughnut part, just the tangy raspberry. I was after a sweet treat for the afternoon and this certainly delivered, so I can’t really complain, and technically all that flavour hit was still lower fat. This is perfect for when you want a sweetness hit without too much guilt or the calories.

Marvel Surprise Barrel - Spider-Man Edition

I bought this from the shop opposite my parents house which had a selection of little prize pods, all about £1.

I decided to be rational and to only buy one - reasoning that they were probably all the same and not worth the time or money.

As usual the effort has been all put into the packaging - a staple of the Disappointment Wars series.

But here we have actual moulded Marvel logo, maybe official, maybe not.

And here we have the non edible contents. All surprisingly competent. You get three things - a sticker of most friendly Spider-Man (surely Friendly Neighbourhood is the slogan), a round spider disk and a stand up spider thing.

Here they are in close up - the spider disk is a bookmark too - and it’s number 46 so you’d have to spend £50 to get the set. Hmmmm.

You only get three sweets which is a shock, but they are nice which is a bigger shock! I ate all three. Never in the history of Dissapointment Wars has the food actually been eaten! This didn’t then get included dismissively with other tat - the Spider-Man barrel is the real deal. Sure it’s not worth £1 but if you have a young person who likes Marvel and isn’t too fussed about having useful things that actually relate to the brand then this is ok.

Xtra Ginger Zinger (Waitrose) By @spectreUK

I may have mentioned it a few times, but there are certain aspects of my job that could be considered as boring. My job has tedious meetings where I’m talked at for ages until I zone out and start to doze off. This can happen quite quickly, especially if someone turns down the lights and commits “Death by Powerpoint (other presentation software is available)”. I drink hot drinks like tea and coffee to try and keep me awake. I’ve even got some spicy ginger tea as a pick me up if the other two don’t work. I sometimes appear rude by leaving a meeting half way through to make a cup of tea and to clear my head. So I suspect a one stop remedy could help.
This Xtra Ginger Zinger from James White’s Zinger Shots range is made with real ginger juice to “wake yourself up!” It also states “Intense & Hot” on the front of the bottle. This drink has organic chilli in the ingredients, just in case the ginger juice isn’t enough to wake you up. It seems like this little ‘shot of horrors’ could be considered a kill or cure. If it doesn’t wake me up, it may kill me! This could possibly be one of those moments Cinabar always wants to catch on video when I eat or drink something that could provoke an interesting reaction. It is just after 9am and a prime time for dozing (been as though I couldn’t keep my eyes open for a while yesterday at this time). An open plan office probably isn’t the right place for this, but oh well, here goes…
On opening the little plastic bottle there was a nose hair tingling smell of ginger, but this was then dulled by sweet apple. I looked at the ingredients and then started to doubt how ginger hot this drink could be. I wondered if I should drink this down in two to relish the flavour or down it in one as a precaution to not wanting the rest. I opted for two and whoo… the ginger and chilli hit first and hard, instantly setting the inside of my mouth on fire. There was then a sweet apple cushion for my tastebuds to land on after their freefall, but the burn lingered and I felt it travel down my throat and into my tummy. The trouble was I still had half of the bottle left. This time I held the rest of the liquid in my mouth for a time until it felt like my eyes were bleeding (mere seconds). I downed it and felt the same lingering ginger and chilli burn in my mouth and down into my gut. The sweet apple juice seemed an afterthought this time as I just concentrated on sitting still and not shouting for help. The aftertaste was a mixture of ginger, chilli and a little of the sweet apple cushion, but the burn in my mouth and throat lingered for ages, and my nose began to run a little. This is definitely a hot and tasty wake me upper. No chance of dozing off for a while at least…
Information on the bottle;
The 70ml bottle contains 50 calories per 100ml, with 8.2g of sugar, 0g of fat, and 0g of salt. The ingredients included; apple juice 59.5%, organic ginger juice 40%, organic chilli flavouring 0.5%, and antioxidant ascorbic acid.