Le Keux's Milk Shake Bar & Soda Sop - Custard Factory Birmingham [@NLi10]

While in the custard factory for card tournaments and a games event I got sold some lovely cup-cakes by a group of ladies.  They also handed out leaflets for the below.

This looked interesting, but by the time the cards had finished and I'd found it the 6pm closing time had past. I wandered off into the games expo with my cupcake.

This weekend the cards finished early (well - we had to leave early to get to the wrestling - which ended up starting late...) and I managed to get over and inside the place.

The reason it's a little hard to spot is that it's actually inside a vintage salon - that I would describe as 50s Americana style!  Once you've navigated the mazelike corridors and found the diner at the back it's actually quite nice and spacious!

As we were disappearing off we decided to have two milkshakes - Banana & Custard & Very Berry.  My companion described his milkshake (B&C) as very nice and it certainly had all the right fresh ingredients in it to be both interesting and healthy.

I had the Very Berry which had fresh strawberries hiding at the bottom with an assortment of flavours and sauces inside.  The fruitiness was good, and it was thick enough to be satisfying without being hard to drink.  The finishing touches of the fruit certainly made mine a bit healthy too.

There were loads of other flavours, and home made cakes to eat too.  When we have a bit more time I'm certain we'll go back and have a sit down and try some more of the delights on offer.

Their website is here for those local enough to enjoy - and there is also one in Leeds (without a diner)!

Bateman's Mocha and Mocha Amaretto Beers (@batemansbrewery) [By @SpectreUK]

These two beers may have been on the Foodstufffinds' Shelf of Nervous Apprehension for quite a while, mainly because they sound so weird! Although Bateman's have been craft brewers since 1874, and I've never disliked one of their beers yet. So I ought to have known better really...?

Mocha Beer

First up was Mocha Beer. Using coffee and / or chocolate in beer shouldn't sound so alien to me now, as I've been drinking some crazy sounding beers since Cinabar roped me into writing on this blog. Calling a beer Mocha, which is essentially Arabica coffee beans and Belgian chocolate infused and blended with Bateman's local malts, shouldn't sound so weird in my head. Mocha in any coffee house is coffee and chocolate of course, so this beer is coffee and chocolate and beer! What's weird about that? On pouring this Mocha Beer I noted the black colour and strong dark chocolate smell with a tickle of coffee at the end of the odour. On tasting I immediately revelled in this beer's creaminess mixed with a luxurious dark chocolate flavour. The bitter punch came from the coffee at the end of the flavour taking the tastebuds from a creamy chocolatey experience into a richly deserved coffee bitter bite to finish with. No wonder this beer won silver at Sainsbury's Great World Beer Hunt Awards. I absolutely loved it!

Information on the label;
330ml bottle at 6% volume. Contains oats and barley.

Mocha Amaretto Beer

This is the beer that concerned me the most. It stated on the label that this beer had the "perfect blend of coffee, almond and chocolate with the sweetness of Biscotti". There was quite a strong marzipan smell on opening the bottle. I hate almond and I hate marzipan. No, really hate them both! Many a good iced cake has been ruined in my opinion by the use of too much marzipan. If you like marzipan, coffee, chocolate and beer then this beer is for you. There was a thick marzipan taste to begin with which seemed to intensify mid taste drowning out the chocolate and finishing on a bitterness of coffee. Coffee and marzipan seemed to fight it out slightly in the aftertaste, but the malty beer flavour from the Mocha Beer was unfortunately lost to me. This beer would be perfect for a lover of iced cakes to wash down their desert, but unfortunately way not for me.

Information on the label;
330ml bottle at 6.5% volume. Contains oats and barley.

By Spectre

The Cookie Catcher (@CookieCatcher_) [By @cinabar]

When I first heard the phrase Cookie Catcher, I thought it was some kind of net for retrieving escaped cookies. In actual fact it is a very clever little invention, designed with biscuit dunkers in mind. Every dunker knows that at the end of their tea or coffee remains biscuit sludge, even if the biscuit hasn’t noticeably broken. If the biscuit does break, it is a horrid feeling as you realise there goes your last sip of drink and the tea is ruined. As a dedicated dunker this new item caught my eye and the lovely folks who invented it sent me a sample to review.
Inside the pack is a net shaped like the inside of a cup, with a tag to pull it out, rather like that found on a teabag. I made myself a Costa Latte using my Tassimo, popped in the Cookie Catcher and opened up the Jammy Dodgers, the perfect afternoon treat. I dunked away happily with a couple of biscuits, and am pleased to announce there were no breakages, even though one biscuit came close!
When I was done munching and dunking I simply pulled the Cookie Catcher out, gave it a quick rinse and it was ready to re-use. I can confirm there was NO biscuit debris in the bottom of the mug, all the soggy biscuits crumbs were caught as promised. Genius! I know it is novel, but it does fix a very British problem.
This would make a fab stocking filler or Secret Santa gift in the office for a known biscuit dunker. If you are putting together hampers at christmas with a selection of teas and biscuits why not pop one of these in too, it will ensure that all items are enjoyed to the maximum.
Want your own Cookie Catcher? Take a look at: http://www.thecookiecatcher.com

By Cinabar

Rhythm - 100% Virgin Coconut Milk [by @NLi10]

When PR samples arrive for basic ingredients it's always fun. No one is going to send out something simple that they believe isn't pretty much the best out there. In this case we have Rhythm Coconut Milk - 100% coconut milk with nothing else added.

As I love making vegetarian Thai food (the sauce jars contain fish so can't be used) this was something I accepted immediately and cooked on the day it arrived.  I used Tesco Thai curry paste and some lovely thin rice noodles to go with it.

Here is the nutritional info for those that request such things. It's important to note that my usual brand is canned and certainly not fresh. This means refrigeration is required and I have to use the second pack within the next week.

Adding the milk to the already curry paste coated fried Quorn (for maximum veggie credentials and only one day late for National Vegetarian day) was fun as it came out like a textured paste. It got me thinking as to what puddings I could do with this. There are bound to be recipes online that I can find later, but typing this on the iPad on the bus makes that hard!

The heat breaks the coconut milk down and blends it nicely into the curry.  It didn't completely loose it's texture though, and there was a lovely creamy version of the curry smell filling the kitchen by this point.

I went a bit overboard with the curry paste to balance out the large packet and ended up making it a little stronger than usual but it was still incredibly flavourful. This way of making it was much closer to the richness of a restaurant meal.  I think with a few more tweaks and additions this could become quite a dish.  I forgot to keep a little of the milk separate to make a white swirl in the finished sauce for effect too.

If I see this in the shops I'd certainty pick one up as I do make Thai curry often enough to justify it. It's probably still keep a tin of the other stuff in the cupboard for emergencies.

Now to try the other pack with red Thai curry!

Mediterranean Style Tuna Salad (John West) [By @SpectreUK]

This John West's Mediterranean Style Tuna Salad had an "improved recipe" label on the front and being a lover of most things fishy I just had to try it out. There was a free plastic fork on top of a metal hexagonal dish underneath the cardboard outer shell. This tuna salad sounded perfect for a quick and healthy lunch that I could eat cold on the go, and so I decided to do just that on my way to uni. I even had a can of John West's Sardines in Tomato Sauce on the side. The tuna salad had an easy peel foil lid to prevent the tomato sauce inside from flicking everywhere. Once open I could see lots of chunky tuna pieces in a juicy tomato sauce with thick wriggly pasta, mixed (red, yellow and green) diced peppers and chopped olives. The lovely sweet herby and spicy tomato sauce had a slight vinegary taste and complemented the succulent tuna pieces perfectly. The squidgy pasta chunks added extra body to the salad, with a spicy bitiness from the peppers and slight oily flavour from the green olives. This Mediterranean Style Tuna Salad certainly made for an easy, quick and healthy packed lunch with no washing up. I would definitely have this again, especially for a healthy boost from my usual sandwich and crisps!

Information on the card label;
Produced in Portugal for John West Foods, in Liverpool, established in 1857. 220g salad with 211 calories, 4.2g of fat and 9.5g of sugar. No artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. For ingredients see photograph. Allergy advice contains; fish, wheat, egg, and may contain traces of mustard.

By Spectre

Find out more about the range on their website: http://www.john-west.co.uk