Chocolate Food
Offers
Reviews
 |
Tesco Cheese & Onion Brown Bread Sandwich
by michael o. We don't have cheese and onion sandwiches in the U.S. so I'd always been curious when I heard a reference in a British TV show or novel. I finally had my chance when I made it over the pond recently and popped into the Tesco near the Gloucester Road tube station....yum! I don't know if the Tesco version is a standard take on this ... combination, but it's revelation! It had never crossed my mind that the cheese and onion would be a mashup. It's substantial, naturally tangy, a nice balance of flavors, and, as I recall, not full of awful ingredients. The brown bread is really nice and can give one the illusion of healthy eating, and for the price it cannot be beat! (Any sub-$2.00 store bought sandwich in the USA is going to be, frankly, disgusting.) It was also available in a three piece package which is nice if you're making it dinner. Tesco recently had a disastrous attempt to enter the U.S. market, alas. I guess I'll just have to wait till my next trip over. Read the complete review |
 |
Fray Bentos Just Chicken Pie
by zombieflesh Well what can I say, I'm a sucker for anything that looks like a bargain and I was tempted to try one of these pies after spotting them in my local Poundland. Of course I paid just £1.00, and from what I've seen supermarket prices can vary from between £2.00 and £3.00. This product is essentially just a pie, in a tin. Cooking ... instructions are printed on the underside of the tin, so I made sure to check these first and set my oven to the necessary time and temperature before opening the tin. Unlike others have remarked in previous reviews, I had no problems in removing the lid. It was very easy to prepare this pie, as all I had to do was open the tin and then place it in the oven with a baking tray underneath. The baking tray is a very good idea as I found that while it was cooking some of the gravy had bubbled up over the sides of the tin and spilled out, which would have left a nasty mess at the bottom of my oven if the tray hadn't been there to catch it. I chose this pie as kind of a compromise, as my housemate and I take it in turns to cook dinner for each other. I really dislike gravy, and he really dislikes white sauce, so I decided to brave it and try this pie anyway. The pie has a plain chicken filling with gravy and is covered in a puff pastry top. I was a little disappointed as I LOVE pastry and thought it was a shame that the pie did not have a proper crust all the way round and on the bottom, especially as this made it very difficult to serve. I attempted to first cut the pie in half before dishing it up. As soon as I started cutting into it the pastry completely deflated and lost all of the lovely light and airy texture that it had after I removed it from the oven. After cutting it I then had to basically scoop out the pie and spoon out all of the filling as there was nothing to hold it in place due to the skimpy amount of pastry only covering the top. This looked pretty awful and combined with the smell of gravy I found it to appear most unappetising. There is something about gravy that I just really dislike, I think it's partly the way that it engulfs everything else on your plate and ruins the texture making everything go soggy, and partly because the smell reminds me of cat food. The pie had a real heavy stink to it, which was coming from the gravy as none of the other ingredients have any strong noticeable smell to them. Unwilling to waste food, I soldiered on and served up my meal which consisted of this Just Chicken pie accompanied by mashed potatoes and peas. Upon tasting the pie, my fears were confirmed. This was a complete waste of time! I thought that the pieces of chicken looked decidedly ropey and were not at all tender. The gravy started to soak in to the pastry making it go soggy. Because of the lack of vegetables or other ingredients to bulk out the filling, the serving size looked and felt quite insubstantial and I can expect that some people would not be happy with a half-tin portion unless there were enough extras to go with it and make a more balanced meal. There was practically no flavour at all that I could taste, and it came across as being very bland. The only redeeming feature is that the pie is very convenient being tinned, as you can store it in your kitchen cupboard and have it waiting for when you want to prepare a simple meal. There is barely any effort involved in preparation and cooking, but this comes across in the results and I don't think it's a match for a proper fresh pie in any way. My housemate was equally unimpressed with this offering (although grateful for my "efforts" in cooking!) and didn't even finish eating it so the cats ended up with the leftovers. I can't recommend this and certainly won't be purchasing it again. Read the complete review |
 |
Mr Tom Peanut Bar
by ryeb I love peanuts and anything flavoured with them, especially if it is combined with chocolate. Naturally this isn't the healthiest obsession but as I don't eat sweets a lot I feel O.K to have the occasional treat. I first tried the Mr Toms Peanut Bar when I saw it in an independent sweet shop that specialises in imported chocolates. [It ... is made in Germany.] It cost me more than a £1 for one so I was pleased to see that Poundland offer multi packs of 3 x 40g bars for the same price alongside the chocolate version. I decided as it was such as saving I had better buy a pack of each.. I don't know who Mr Tom is named after but it seems to carry that name in other countries as my boyfriend has bought it with the same packaging elsewhere in Europe. It is something he remembers being around when he was a kid but strangely I don't recall it at all. Another local sweetshop has it in the retro sweets section so my other half must have a better memory than I have. The packaging does look slightly old fashioned but I don't mind as it soon comes off to reveal a very nutty treat underneath. No one could accuse the makers of stinting on the peanuts, that's for sure. If you like the traditional sweet that is usually called nut brittle or crackle, you will like the flavours of Mr Tom even though the texture isn't quite the same. The two sweets look very similar. The original bar is made of whole peanuts closely packed into a firm, glossy golden caramel. It is more chewy than brittles are to me whilst still being very hard, and therefore not as easy to eat as it could be. It gets softer as you chew but this is definitely not a nibble for those with a wobbly tooth! It is also difficult to divide up, so you have the perfect excuse to keep it all to yourself. Thankfully all the chewing is worth it as the sweet has an intense nutty flavour without being tooth rottingly sweet. The caramel doesn't have the lovely toffee taste of some peanut brittles and is quite bland compared to the nuts, but as the latter have so much flavour I don't mind. I think it mainly serves to hold the nuts together and add a bit of sweetness. It does smell of caramel though, mixed with the aroma of a just opened jar of peanut butter. Delicious! The chocolate version is in my opinion even nicer as it is easier to eat whilst still being full of nuts. In this case, Poundland only had this variety in a large bar measuring 150g, which thankfully for your teeth, can be divided up easily. It consists of a milk chocolate with caramelised roasted peanuts dotted throughout. The nuts are in pieces this time but there is so many of them that the bar is still dripping with flavour. The crunchiness is more manageable in these small doses and it contrasts deliciously with the smooth chocolate. I didn't expect to like that chocolate at all because I often find European made milk ones aren't as creamy tasting as what we are used to. No doubt they think our Dairy Milks and Galaxies don't taste nice either! Thankfully, the Mr Tom chocolate has a nice flavour even if it is a bit on the sweet side. I can't see a nutritional breakdown on either packet which is often the case with imported sweets I find. I think it is safe to say considering the ingredients that it won't be a dieters friend but I doubt anyone would buy something like this expecting it to be healthy. Sugar is the largest ingredient after all. They are at least suitable for vegetarians. I would recommend these sweets to anyone that loves peanuts but only go for the original version if you like hard, chewy sweets. The chocolate one is my favourite but it is also nice to have a traditional non chocolate sweet sometimes. Both are good quality and generously filled and feel like a real treat. You can buy Mr Tom bars in many sweet shops and online confectioners but buying them from non specialist sources always seems cheapest. They have now disappeared from my nearest Poundland and 99p store but they do come and go so it may be worth still keeping an eye out there. Read the complete review |
Chocolate Other Food |
||
|---|---|---|
|
94 reviews Other Food / The crumbliest, flakiest milk chocolate in the world. |
|
|
Other Food / |
|
| Chocolate Other Food Recommendations 1 | ||
| dooyoo Results 1 - 2 of 2 | ||
