Chunsi Udon Noodles {via @Nli10} (Yum Yum Worcester)

Decent Udon noodles are another one of those things that only the restaurants seem to have. Wagamamma customers will know them as the big fat white noodles that are reminiscent of a very square-sided worm, but I suspect they make their own. When fried after boiling so they are slightly crispy and taste amazing.
While Tesco used to stock a Yutaka straight to wok variety that fit the bill (which can now only be bought at Selfridges it seems) these days I've only found the flatter dried noodles in even the Asian supermarkets.
This particular variety does fatten up quite nicely when cooked and in conjunction with beef and some of the eastern sauces available in the supermarket, it made an excellent side. Each bunch of noodles is a generous portion for one person and with the increased amount of meat & leafy greens I served was easily enough for two.
I'll certainly buy these again, but the search for a dried fat Udon noodle continues.

Fentimans Rose Lemonade (Waitrose)

I have been a big fan of Fentiman’s Victorian Lemonade and Curiosity Cola for a fair few years, so was pleased to see a new flavour in their range. As a fan of their Lemonade and a fan of rose flavouring (for example Turkish Delight) I was expecting to be in for a treat.
As it happens I felt this drink tasted a little mixed up, and I didn’t feel that the lemon and rose flavour complimented one another. The base lemon flavour is of a good quality, and the floral aftertaste is by no means bad, I just found myself craving regular Fentimans Lemonade while sipping this drink. The slightly sweet rose aspect seems to soften the zingy sharp lemon bite that I usually like so much.
I would be interested to know what other people who have tried this particular offering thought.

Galaxy Probiotic (Waitrose)

It has been a long time since I first tried a probiotic drink, and to be honest it wasn't a great first experience. It was several years ago, and it was a free sample from a promotional stand. It had a very strange taste, acidic but creamy, and with a slightly sharp flavour mixed in, all in all not very nice. I remember thinking that they would have to improve the flavour a great deal before I would consider purchasing them again. Since then I know there have been quite a few improvements and fruity varieties are readily available.
However Galaxy Chocolate have just taken us to the next stage, with a chocolate flavour probiotic drink. I am pleased to report that this probiotic has a really good taste, to all intents and purposes it is like a slightly sweeter version of their chocolate milkshake, and it even has the same creamy texture. It does have a slightly sweet after taste that does give it away, but ultimately it is still a lovely drink too. It should be a welcome change for those people looking for an alternative to the fruit flavour probiotics.

Taste of Turkey – Turkish Delight (Borough Market, London)

So while on my travels through London I made a point of visiting Borough Market, and what a wonderful place it turned out to be. It was full of interesting items from curious ales, to chocolates and this fine Turkish Delight.
The Taste of Turkey stall selling this was heaven, half of the table had olives, the other half Turkish Delight, and I wanted to buy everything! In fact I was having problems choosing which flavours of Turkish Delight to have, so I had a selection box of pieces that covered a fair few! Here is what I purchased:

• Rose – the classic variety and it was floral and rich in flavour, with a sweet syrupy after taste.
• Pistachio with Cocoa – it was coated in coconut and in smaller pieces than all the rest, but with a lovely pistachio flavour, and just a hint from the chocolate and coconut.
• Apple and Cinnamon – strong hints of honey, and apple and a delicate sprinkle of spice from the cinnamon, very autumnal.
• Cherry – this had a sweet natural cherry taste, not over powering, but no mistaking it.
• Mint – with tones of menthol and liquorice as well as the deep mint flavour.
• Honey and Walnut – this had a rich, nutty full walnut flavour, with a lovely honey aftertaste
• Carrot Puree with Hazelnut – The strangest of all the flavours purchased, and it was firmer in texture than the others. It had a good crunch from the nuts, making for a nice mix of textures. It was sweet and reminiscent of carrot cake.
• Cinnamon – Wow! This was rich and Christmassy. It had a wonderful spice and a lovely sweet flavour. How have I not had cinnamon Turkish Delight before? It was my favourite of the bunch!
• Coffee – with a good creamy coffee taste, rather like a luxury latte.
• Melon – refreshing and sweet and juicy tasting, a different flavour for Turkish Delight, but one that worked rather well.
• Fig and walnut – sweet and treacle like with the full flavour of figs, rich and I liked the nutty pieces.

When I was at home I had no menu to work out which Turkish Delight was which flavour, but each piece was wonderfully defined in taste and the job of matching them up was easy. I take this to be sign of good quality. All the Turkish Delight was sumptuous and some of the nicest I have tried, and I loved the range of flavours that were available!

Merryland White Choc Chip Mini Cookies [Maryland Cookies] (Sainsbury’s)

Maryland Cookies have had a seasonal change of name, and become Merryland on a temporary basis, which is quite sweet. The box is (dare I say it) Christmassy too, with one biscuit wearing a Santa hat and the sledge and snow scene.
The cookies are mini ones, a bit bigger than a ten pence piece and fairly thick and, filled with white chocolate chips.
The biscuits have a nice baked buttery taste, and I really liked the texture. They were crunchy, but immediately started to melt once bitten. There was flavouring from the white chocolate chips, but it wasn’t that strong to me. I think these are lovely cookies but that they need a more generous helping of big white chocolate chips to make them my perfect biscuits. Having said that, I can’t imagine anyone being overly disappointed with a purchase and imagine they would go down very well once shared among friends!

The Grenada Chocolate Company – Organic Dark Chocolate (Liberty’s)

A few months back I was watching Trevor McDonald’s The Secret Caribbean, and I noticed he visited an award winning business called The Grenada Chocolate Company. Naturally I had a quick Google to see how available the chocolate was here in the UK, but I couldn’t find a stockist at that time. Last week though I was in London, doing the tourist things and I couldn’t resist a look at the chocolates in Liberty’s. In there the bar I had been searching for caught my eye. This one is a 60% dark chocolate, I’m not sure if they make milk chocolate, but it certainly couldn’t see any in the shop on that occasion.
I was so excited to find this bar though, I was just so hoping it would live up to expectations. Opening the wrapper and there is a lovely strong cocoa smell, which is sweet, woody, but rich and sumptuous. The snap when I broke a piece off was clear and sharp, and chocolate is obviously of a very fine quality. In fact the texture of the chocolate is firm, but silky smooth when it melts. In taste the chocolate has a good balance of sweetness and strong cocoa; there is a fruity edge in the tone that almost reminded me of fruits of the forest. Finally as the chocolate melts away on the tongue there is a gentle note of mixed spice. A full flavoured chocolate, clearly worth the hype and very definitely worth hunting down. Yum!

Lotus Galette Bretonne Biscuit (London Bridge Hotel)

Whenever I think of Lotus biscuits I think of their spice biscuits (including the wonderful chocolate and spice) which I absolutely love. I found this offering in a hotel room as a complimentary biscuit with the tea and coffee, I'm afraid I haven’t found them for sale anywhere yet.
Opening the pack and it is impossible to miss the rich sweet smell of butter and shortbread which is wonderfully appetising! The biscuit itself is quite thin and the top has a medium brown glaze, the back of the biscuit on the other hand is a pale cream.
The biscuit is very much like shortbread, with a slightly egg and caramel taste mixed in but surprisingly no spices that I could pick up on. It is a very rich biscuit, but a nice accompaniment with coffee. I wonder if it will get a wider release, I do hope so.

Nissin Demae Ramen - Miso Flavour (Orange bag) {via Nli10}

This was picked up in Yum Yum Worcester, but is fairly common now in even the more mainstream western supermarkets.

Essentially Ramen is Batchelors Super Noodles, but in more exotic flavours (and I'm guessing was the original). Miso soup has long been my favourite 'go to' lunch dish when visiting the Japan Cultural centre in London, especially with the tempura flakes (or 'fish food') added, but as this is London and a little upmarket this can get expensive.

This little make at home pack is ready in 3 mins and produces very little washing up and is perfect for lunch. Boil the water, add the noodles, wait 3 mins, serve the noodles without draining and add both sachets.

The flavour is essentially that of brewed Soy Sauce, but with maybe a meatier flavour too. The packet does state that it may contain 'traces of crustacean' which is an unusual claim but for eastern foods I’d have thought this to be standard.

The noodles were soft and could easily be eaten on their own having a nice flavour, but with the two sachets added become a taste explosion, if not a little hard to describe. With the fish roll and other added herbs of the restaurant variants this was more of a snack than a full lunch, but I'm sure that the MSG (E621 on the pack) I’ll have enough energy to see me through the Sunday afternoon.

Cadbury’s Halloween Mallows (Tesco Express)

Happy Halloween!!

This is the last of this year’s Halloween products which I have found, and today seems an appropriate day to write about it. These Halloween mallows have blackcurrant as their spooky blood red ingredient. On a side note I am always surprised by the lack of blackcurrant products available in the States, blackcurrant is such a good flavour and I feel for those missing out on it.
Back to the mallows, they have a tasty but soft biscuit base, a huge splodge of rich sweet and sharp blackcurrant jam. The blackcurrant adds a lovely taste, which adds the main flavour for the product. The mallow stacked on top is fluffy and light, and the chocolate coating cracks nicely when you bite in. A lovely product and with a bit of luck may well be reduced in price sometime soon! Have a great Halloween everyone! ;-)

Halloween Ring Cakes (Greggs)

Just thought I’d show these lovely cakes I just purchased from Greggs, as they are so Halloweeny!! The cakes are yummy too... vanilla sponge, sweet icing, chocolate sprinkles and a free plastic ring, what more could you want!

Lucozade Cherry (SuperDrug)

I don't often buy energy drinks, as I usually choose diet/low sugar products to compensate for the other stuff I eat! ;-)
Having said that I have been having a long day, was weary and will be going swimming so I thought this would be the perfect time to try the new cherry flavour Lucozade.
Firstly I realise this is an energy drink, but it took me a minute to come to terms with the calorie content, in 380ml there were 262 calories, probably perfectly normal for such drinks, but a little higher than my usual practically 0 calorie diet cola.
The drink is wonderfully fizzy, it didn't fizz over when opened, but the drink had lots of bubbles which I really like. The flavour is good to and reminded me of really nice cherryade, it is very sweet and very fruity, with a nice slightly sharp cherry taste. Well worth trying if you fancy a change from your regular energy drink. The caffeine kick helped me through the last hour or so at work, will have to let you know how I get on at the swimming pool later!