Marks & Spencer Celebrate Tastes of the British Isles

£4 for these classic pudding inspired sweets

M&S is one of the truly uber British brands that I would miss terribly if I ever moved to another country. Whilst they do offer worldwide tastes like sushi, Indian foods & Chinese delights, what they do really well is finding the absolute best of British farmers & producers products and bringing them to us at a great price. For example the famous Cornish Cruncher cheese, in its distinctive black packaging. Its an award winning cheese that Marks & Spencer discovered and now sell all over the UK.

This summer M&S launched their Tastes of the British Isles range, which covers almost every section of the Food Hall. They have curated speciality foods from every corner of the UK, including classic puddings, regional bakery items and a whistlestop tour of British cheese varieties. It's a range to be proud of, as it shows the world that Britain has such a wide selection of amazing foods and dishes, with tastes for every palette. 

Every few weeks M&S invite me along to Sprucefield to pick items to feature on here, so it seemed about time I shone a light on some of the Taste of the British Isles products.

First, the sweet treats. I know any time I want to bring a dessert along somewhere I always head to M&S. The quality of their cakes is far superior to other supermarkets. Saying that, I'm not a huge fan of their own brand chocolate. My Scottish pal Michael advised I bought the giant chocolate buttons, but sadly even those didn't do it for me. I do like their fancy little bars, like the lemon mousse or cappuccino flavour bars, and you can't deny that Percy Pig is the King of the Gummies.

I'm a sucker for a scone with cream and jam & in the fridge section I came across a scone pack that came with both jam & clotted cream. I also liked the look of these strawberry & cream infused scones. All I need is a big pot of tea with these and I'm set. 

Scone selection £3 : Pack of two scones £1.35

Whitby buns are doughnut shaped buns with a lemon curd filling. We had tried the berry version last time, so picked the lemon this time around.  

Buns £1.30 : Drink £1.30

I've never seen a blackcurrant Swiss roll before, but if it's from M&S it's bound to be delicious. The little stripe in the cake is very cute and the £2.50 price tag is brilliant value.

£2.50

I'm not a frequent yoghurt eater, but sometimes I just take a wee notion and have a yoghurt week! I love some of the unusual flavours here, treacle & clotted cream, rhubarb & custard, and as for the 'Sussex lemon pond pudding', well I'm not very sure what that is, but I'm sure it will taste great. There are further flavours in this range I haven't featured, and they are all on offer at £3 for five. 

West Country yoghurts 80p each or five for £3

Sometimes you want an after-dinner dessert but not something humongous, so these little tartlets are just the ticket. They are also available in a lemon meringue variety and cost £2.50 or are two for £4 mix and match with lots of other bakery items. 

I chose the Eccles cakes not for my own house, but for my Dad. He's been buying Eccles cakes from Marks and Spencer for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately as a child I was put off them for life by my Dad trying to discourage me from eating his supply, telling me they were called 'Flies' Graveyards'. So I can't eat raisins or sultanas to this day, funnily enough! 

£2.50 each or two for £4

The Tastes of the British Isles range also has a wide variety of savoury offerings. M&S stock more different types of Scotch Egg than I've seen anywhere else! After the success of the Cornish Cruncher cheese, they've expanded the products its a base for. I picked up this delicious Cornish Cruncher terrine, which will blow your socks off. 

Terrine £2.40 : Scotch Egg £2

The Marks & Spencer cheese aisle is a place of wonder for cheese lovers. If there is such a thing as a cheese enthusiast, then they'll love the range of British cheeses M&S currently has on offer. I picked a twist on the classic Cornish Cruncher, a block with balsamic onions though it. My absolute favourite cheese right now is the Blacksticks Blue variety. They also sell it in a soft spreadable cheese, and I've been known to demolish a tub of it within 24 hours, it's just too good! 

Juice £2 : Blacksticks Blue £2.20 : Cornish Cruncher £2.50

And look! Blacksticks Blue sausages! I'm not really sure how cheese infused sausages work, so if you want to see how they turn out, keep an eye on my Instagram as I'll show you how they turn out on there when I've cooked them.

Tastes of the British Isles sausage are £3.50

M&S are famed for their Lochmuir salmon, and these BBQ glazed fillets are perfect for late summer dinners. Served with a big green salad its a good option for healthy eating folks.

£5 or buy as part of a 3 for £10 deal

If you're feeling more like fish and chip shop style grub, they have a wide variety of different battered or breadcrumbed fish. You can buy family sized packs too.

£4.50 or 3 for £10 mix and match

Finally, also part of the three for £10 deal on meat and fish, how tasty does this gammon look with its ale chutney flavouring? Well done, M&S, always something new and wonderful to try.

£5 or three for £10

The Cloth Ear, Where 'Pub Grub' Meets Fine Dining.

The Cloth Ear is the public bar which is part of Belfast's Landmark luxury hotel, The Merchant.

Photo from The Cloth Ear's Facebook

Being a sibling of The Merchant, The Cloth Ear as you expect is a classy affair, with a comfortable, plush interior design based on 1930-1950s musical theatre. Children are welcome, in fact there is a kids' menu and colouring pens and sheets waiting for them.

Even the bathrooms are luxurious!

So what of the food on offer? Well it isn't the usual pub grub you'd be served in any old bar, it keeps to the high standards of The Merchant Hotel. My son ordered cheesy garlic bread for starter, and literally tore through it.

My husband went for the buffalo wings with blue cheese sauce. I had the meat platter. These were very generous in size, and for someone like me they would probably suffice for a light lunch just by themselves.

Wings

meat platter

Our main courses: I had duck confit on a warm salad. The neat was so well cooked it simply slid off the bone.

My husband chose the Beef & Burger. That's a burger topped with pulled beef, caramelised red onion garnish and monogrammed brioche bun. The photo looks good enough to eat.

Little Michael chose the kids' meal fish & chips option. His meal was a fantastic size, considering it was a children's price, and just look at that batter.

After finishing our main courses, we mourned that our eyes had been bigger than our belly when we had order starters, and our downfall was being too full to get dessert! We couldn't have even fitted in a cup of tea!

It really is a pity as I wanted to try their dessert kebab. Hanging kebabs both sweet & savoury are one of the signature dishes of The Cloth Ear. They look delicious.

Steak and chips. Vertical.

So if you're looking for somewhere to impress you other half with a lunch on a busy Christmas shopping day, The Cloth Ear is for you.

My New Favourite Restaurant in Belfast- Canteen at The MAC.

The World of Kitsch certainly didn't start out as a restaurant review blog, but I've had lots of wonderful opportunities in the past two of my five blogging years to share with you the best spots to get grub all over Northern Ireland. I love places who use lots of local produce, and The Canteen at The MAC, Belfast, structures it's menu especially to show of Northern Ireland's best of the best. 

The good news is because it's Belfast Restuarant Week, The Canteen have two courses for £10 which is a steal. This isn't 'canteen' food, it's melt in the mouth perfection. I have to admit I've always been snobby and thought from the name, Canteen, made me think of plates of floppy, ham sandwiches with a few crisps on the side. Instead here is yet another of my restaurant reviews bulging with praise! It's getting a little embarrassing. Someone should suggest me somewhere poor to eat and review via Twitter so I mix things up a bit, as my review for The MAC food is a ten out of ten!

As you can see the Canteen is big and airy, but it's worth booking a table especially on busy weekends. The MAC is an art gallery, and even the tables were part of an art installation. There is an old fashioned phone at each booth. You can actually ring through to another table anonymously and have a chat and flirt! 

Perhaps more of a night time game when the cocktails are flowing, we had fun being arty which we waited the short while for our main course.

I'm a seafood lover, and althought the salted chilli quid appealed, I was fairly hungry so went for the battered coley with beer battered chips and peas for £9. Of course that meant for an extra £1 I got the Restaurant Week deal and a dessert! 

The batter was delish, so perfect, and the chips freshly made.  The peas were mild and a perfect compliment.

My husband had the Morrocan spiced chicken which he describes as one of the tastiest things he's ever eaten in his entire life. Now there's a recommendation!

Our son had a great kids' menu to choose from. Not just the standard anything with chips, he also had mildly spiced chicken skewers with noodles, or sausages with mash to choose from. Surprisingly to us he went for the house special, the MAC and cheese with pinenuts crust. We all had a little dig into this as it is available on the adult main course menu too. It is tasty indeed, and the pinenuts give it an usual sweet, vanilla edge.

Dessert time and the boys went for peanut butter brownies. My husband's brownie was intimidatingly huge, like a brick or the monolith in Space Odyssey 2001. Both boys loved them and the delicious accompaniment of Glastry icecream.

My choice was the cherry bake well tart. It was a little tiny compared to the boys' but it was beautiful.

I strongly encourage you and your family to try out The MAC this week when the Restaurant Week deal is on, and get back to me on Twitter to let me know your thoughts on what you chose to eat. And someone, please, suggest to me somewhere to go and review that I might NOT like, so I stop looking like a rumbly, tumbly sycophant!

Don't miss out on the free galleries to visit while you are in The MAC.

Marks & Spencer's Super Summer of Flavour

Have you been in Marks & Spencer lately? As usual they are pushing the boundaries of unusual culinary delights to be found on a supermarket shelf, with their Summer of Flavour. 

They've put coconut, pineapple, watermelon, chipotle or wasabi on EVERYTHING, and this is the BEST THING EVER. It's like a range invented by me, with all meats pulled, everything fruity & tangy and beautiful.  

You know where I do my big shop, but I'm no stranger to M&S either. Their food can be a little more pricey, but it's actually WORTH IT, so you don't mind. We aren't talking stupid prices either, and their Meal for Two for £10 is still one of the best value meals from any supermarket. 

We visited the Sprucefield Marks & Spencer, Lisburn, just outside Belfast. It's gigantic. It must have everything from the website and more. Stationary, clothing, food hall, then another massive shop of M&S Home.

Here's what I think must have gone down in the M&S kitchen when they invented this product.

"Okay, chocolate covered... we've had coconut before... pineapple? ....watermelon? too messy I suppose... what other flavours have we included in our Summer of Flavour, Jim?" 

"WASABI. WASABI PEAS." 

"Oh, Jim. I don't think so" 

"MAKE IT SO." 

(I'll let you know on Instagram later in the week what I think of them).

They may sound weird, but products like this is exactly why I love M&S. 

So what did we pick up to try through out this week?

I'm giving coconut water a second chance. I've tried it plain and thought it tasted too much like sweat. But this carton has a whole juiced watermelon in there too, so it's bound to taste nice. Plus I picked it up on the 3 for £5 offer, so it's a bargain. 

If you look closely at the yellow carton you can see the pineapple juice has hints of lemongrass and jalepeno chilli in it! Another curious creation.

The fruit snacks are very summery, the Tropical Paradise tray includes little, yellow, coconut & pineapple flavour jelly shells. Tropical Triumph has mango sauce and a shaker of coconut flakes included. 

There's my Wasabi Peas again, and a bound-to-be beautiful, £3 coconut and pineapple cake. If you've never tried M&S's £3 round cakes, you are missing out. They are the moistest, most delicious cakes you can buy from a supermarket. Try the toffee one and it'll change your cake buying habits for life.

If you're a macaron fan there is a special summer version of their mini desserts for £5.50. 

The Summer of Flavour range has tonnes of picnic food to choose from, and buy four items and you get a free bottle of wine, or if you're teetotal like me, a non-alcoholic alternative. Rather than use these for a picnic, I chose them for some night when I want to make a 'lazy tea'. A little platter of tasty bits and pieces to share, and with 3 packs for £6 it's a good deal.

The Summer of Flavour has reached the takeaway sandwich aisle too. Marks & Spencer have caught onto the trend of all meat being 'pulled'. It's strange, meat didn't seem to be pulled before 2013, now it's like you can't buy pork without it being yanked first. It's like paninis. Before 2005 they didn't exist in the UK, now they are everywhere. See also pizza pre-1985.

Back to the point though, these soft baps are made from a sweet, brioche type recipe and I love them. The sweet, soft baps are available from the bread & bakery section, called Posh Dog Baps they'll impress the neighbours at your next BBQ.

More from the picnic range, these Firebreads are only £3 each, which seems like a great price to me. These do need cooked before you eat them, so bear that in mind if you are dropping into M&S for something to take to a park to eat 'now'. We are going to try these tonight, so again if you want to know what I think & how they look cooked, see my Instagram later.

We Smyths love a wee multi-pack of dips, and I'm looking forward to testing out this smokey selection. 

Another item I've tried before, but simply had to include because it's out of this world, their Wasabi Potato Salad. It's part of their 2 for £3 salad pots which includes a great Crunchy Mango Salad pot and a lovely version of Waldorf Salad.

Another wasabi fuelled Summer of Flavour item I've noticed in the past few weeks included wasabi popcorn. Annoyingly it slipped my mind to look for it when I was there today. 

The Grill collection is the BBQ type section of the a Summer Flavour menu, and there's lots to choose from. I went for three items from the 3 for £10 range. These sweet potato wedges would make a gorgeous BBQ accompaniment. Also good for making your own at home, pretend Nandos.

The coconut, lemongrass  & lime chicken should be amazing, and again the night we do cook and eat these I'll give my opinion on Instagram.

Finally, way-hey it's the pulled pork! My mouth is watering just looking at the picture on the front of the box. Apple BBQ sauce sounds like the thing dreams are made of.

This shop came in at around £45 and you can really make some good savings by reading up on the offers in store.

Oh, and I tried these cashews earlier in the week, coconut & chilli ones. Don't laugh, but the taste reminded me of sugared Shredded Wheat​ (descriptions like that is probably why I'm not a full time foodie blogger). They are totally yummy.

Check out the M&S website for recipes using their current ranges.​

This post was sponsored by M&S supplying the food for review. Thanks, guys! 

Eating Out Review- The Ruddy Duck, Holywood

I don't do a great deal of restaurant reviews, maybe it's something I should look into. A chronicle of Northern Ireland's quirkiest eateries might be a nice project, not to mention getting a free lunch.  

So I will start with The Ruddy Duck, Holywood, this time paid by from my own pocket! School was closed today, so my son & I with nothing to do, took the train to the nearest town to Bangor, for a wander round the charity shops and some grub.

 The gourmet fish & chip spot is the little sister of Holywood's famous Dirty Duck Ale House, renowned for its delicious food. This shop has been a chippy since forever. I remember grabbing chips there after school when I went to Sullivan Upper School in the town in the 90s. It wasn't quite a 'greasy spoon' as such, but it definitely has had an upgrade with the new owners taking the reins.

The Ruddy Duck is quaintly decorated with seaside postcards & Cath Kidstonesque table clothes & shabby chic-ed chairs.  

There are your straight forward chip shop treasures, all cooked to perfection. My son had the £3.50 kids' meal, sausage & chip option, the latter of which came in a newspaper cone. This tickled him no end, and he even brought the cone home. For that price you also got a drink.

I chose one of the unusual options, the seafood chowder with wheaten bread, £4. It was really filling, and chunky. The was even a crab claw in there!  

So if you're looking for somewhere to grab food in Holywood, try Hibernian Street and The Ruddy Duck.