Not terribly good Value! (Tesco Value Seafood Sticks)

Member Name: i_am_joy

Product:	Tesco Value Seafood Sticks
Date:	26/09/09 (38 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: ----------

Disadvantages: They don't taste as fresh or flavoursome as the slightly more expensive seafood sticks

I adore most fish, there actually aren't many types that I won't eat and I'm no snob when it comes to fish as this one food where you can tell from the appearance and smell whether it's suitable for eating so am happy to try the various Value fresh fish products in the supermarket. After being impressed with Tesco Value salmon fillets (wonderful fish if you don't mind the strange shapes), Sainsbury's Basics smoked salmon trimmings (they look awful but taste great) and Asda Smart Price Breaded Pollock (very tasty indeed with tartare sauce) I decided to pick up a packet of Tesco Value Seafood Sticks.

For 68p you get 16 seafood sticks, which are slightly smaller than their more expensive counterparts but look plump, brightly coloured and very pleasing to the eye when piled onto a plate.

Unfortunately however nice they look, the flavour of these is sadly lacking. These seafood sticks are extremely bland and there is very little crab flavour to them; of course despite the fact that seafood sticks are commonly referred to as crab sticks, they actually only contain crab extract and are made with surimi which is a blend of several different types of white fish.

Whereas most other seafood sticks are flavoured to make you believe you are eating crab, these Value ones just tasty generally 'fishy' - and not in a particularly good way! They don't have the fresh, moist flavour of other seafood sticks and even though they don't actually taste stale they have an odd dry flavour that isn't pleasant at all in my opinion. The texture of them isn't dry, the experience of these is a contradiction of terms because the texture of them is wet and juicy but the actual flavour of them is somewhat dry and hollow.

Even sprinkled with a little vinegar (as I sometimes do) this didn't make them taste any better and simply served to completely mask the already very delicate flavour of the seafood sticks.

I wasn't impressed with the texture either as they seem a little slimier than the fresh seafood sticks I usually buy. This isn't the sliminess which usually indicates that the seafood sticks are about to go off, it's just a poor texture which indicated to me instantly that I was eating a very bad quality fish product.

I simply didn't like these seafood sticks at all. I even tried dressing a few in a rich Marie Rose sauce to give them a bit of flavour but even this didn't work and actually just emphasised the poor quality and lack of flavour in the sticks themselves. Considering the smaller size of these I doubt you would be saving a lot of money in reality by buying these instead of the next brand level up (Tesco's own Seafood Sticks priced at £1.01 for 12 larger sticks) and you will certainly notice the difference in flavour and texture.

Summary: I won't buy these again due to the fact that the next brand level up is tastier and not expensive