M&S Apple & Mango High Juice

This apple and mango high juice by M&S is delicious and very refreshing. The sweet mango worked beautifully with the subtle apple flavour. Very good!

Rating: 5/5

M&S Custard Choux Buns

A deliciously light, melt in the mouth choux pastry, filled with creamy vanilla custard and topped with a chocolate fondant.

A lovely alternative to the cream choux buns, these custard choux buns were absolutely divine. I loved the vanilla beans throughout the custard. The Chocolate fondant topping was beautiful - very rich with a silky soft ganache texture. 

I highly recommend these; just make sure you leave some for me!

Rating: 5/5

M&S White Chocolate Milkshake

A very sweet and creamy white chocolate milkshake by M&S. It had a strong vanilla taste, but there wasn't much of a white chocolate flavour. I think the addition of some white chocolate pieces would improve the white chocolate flavour. 

Price: £1.30

Rating: 3/5

M&S Iced Raspberry Soft Buns

A few of my local M&S stores aren't that great with displaying fresh items in the bakery section. I noticed that with a few of their products, they tend to taste stale and dry. Unfortunately, these Raspberry iced buns were very dry. 

The raspberry icing was quite pleasant with a subtle raspberry flavour.  The raspberry jam was nice and fruity, it also inadvertently helped with the dryness of the bun. They just didn't have that nice freshly baked smell that you'd expect. 

I would only buy these again if they seemed fresh, otherwise I wouldn't bother.

Price: £1.30 for five

Rating: 2/5

M&S Bangers & Mash With Onion Gravy

A ready meal for one, consisting of two sausages in a rich onion gravy and mashed potato.

I thought the sausages were nice enough - not amazing but OK. The onion gravy was tasty and full of flavour; not enough of it though.

The mash was awful; really tasteless and bland. It reminded me of instant mash, not the creamy buttery mash I was expecting. Quite disappointing.

Rating: 2/5

M&S Gastropub Ham & Chicken Crumble

Smoked ham and chicken topped with a potato and leek crush, with a cheddar mustard crumb.

The smoked ham and chicken pieces were nice and tender; they went really well with the creamy, rich potato and leek sauce. The cheddar and mustard crumb was a nice addition; I liked the crunchy texture.

However, the smokiness of the ham coupled with the mustard crumb was far too overpowering. Both flavours were too strong to have together. Unsmoked ham, or just chicken would work better for this dish. 

Price: £4.00

Rating: 3/5

M&S Sweet Potato Chips

These sweet potato fries were really tasty. A nice, crunchy texture with a very sweet flavour. I found them a lot more filling than ordinary chips because of the sweetness. There weren't that many in the bag, though.

Rating: 4/5

M&S British Strawberry Milkshake

A lovely thick, creamy milkshake with a nice, fresh strawberry flavour. Not the best I've had but it was still rather nice.

Price: £1.30

Rating: 3/5

M&S Ham & Farmhouse Cheddar Cheese Toastie

A nice comforting toastie with lots of gooey cheese, tangy mustard and thickly sliced ham. It wasn't quite as crisp as I thought it would be; the bread was quite soggy - possibly due to the mustard. It was still nice and comforting though, and I would buy it again.

Rating: 4/5

M&S Honey Barbecue Wholegrain Snacks

I really enjoyed these little snacks. They had a lovely, sweet barbecue flavour and I could really taste the honey. The wholegrain works really well against the sweet/tangy flavour of the barbecue/honey combination. A new favourite of mine that I will buy again and again!

Price: £1.00

Rating: 5/5

M&S Coconut & Raspberry Homebake Style Shortbread Fingers

A generous box of coconut and raspberry shortbread fingers. I like the homebaked touch; they really do look homemade and fresh from the kitchen.

Upon opening the box, I was met with a pleasant raspberry and coconut smell. The fingers of shortbread were thick and generous in size, with a crumbly, crunchy texture. I believe this is because of the longer, more slowly baked method, as it says on the box.

As I tucked into the shortbread, I noticed the sharpness of the raspberry, and the subtle coconut taste. I was expecting these to be rich and buttery, but they lacked any buttery flavour as you'd normally expect from shortbread, so this was rather disappointing.

I felt they were quite bland and lacking in both the rich buttery flavour and sweetness to offset the sharpness of the raspberry. The coconut just didn't sweeten it enough.

Price: £2.00

Rating: 2/5

M&S Blackcurrant Sundaes

A lot of people have commented on my previous post on the older version of blackcurrant sundaes that I reviewed last year. Many of you expressed your disappointed with the newer version, so I decided to review them again to see what I thought.

Although I preferred the appearance of the older version, I have to say I didn't notice ANY difference.

The swirled buttercream is the same as last time, but there is possibly more of it. I didn't really like this buttercream anyway as it was too sickly and artificial tasting. However, the lovely tangy blackcurrant filling and rich, buttery pastry is just how I remember it to be.

Having said that, I think they looked much better before!

Price: £2.00 for four

Rating: 3/5

M&S Smoked Salmon & Cream Cheese Sandwiches

I quite like smoked salmon and these were reduced to half price so I thought I'd try them as they looked really nice.

The salmon was lovely and tender, with a subtle smoked flavour. There was far too much of both the cream cheese and salmon though; the salmon was very thickly cut and there was  too much cream cheese - it was far too rich and overwhelming. 

The salmon needs to be cut much more thinly with a thin layer of cream cheese for this to work. 

Price: £3.30

Rating: 2/5

M&S Lemon & White Chocolate Shortbread Crunch Thins

These looked delicious, so I decided to give them a try to see if they were any good. 

The shortbread was very crunchy, with a noticeable lemon flavour. If my eyes weren't deceiving me, there was real lemon zest in the shortbread, so it had a strong lemon flavour. I couldn't taste any of the rich butter flavour, though as the lemon flavour was a little too overpowering. The white chocolate was delicious and creamy, but I thought the shortbread was too crunchy and dry. Perhaps a thicker shortbread would work better, and a little less lemon to get the rich taste of the butter. 

Overall, not bad, but could do with some improvements. Worth a try if you're a lemon/white chocolate fan.

Price: £2.20 for nine

Rating: 3/5

M&S Cheesy Pizza Fries

I really liked the idea of these, but despite cooking for longer than stated, the chips were so thick they just wouldn't cook through properly. They had been in the oven for 45 minutes but were still raw in the middle. There wasn't much cheese, either.

A great concept but the recipe needs improvement. Perhaps thinner chips and more cheese would work better.

Price: £3.00

Rating: 2/5

M&S Millionaire's Shortbread Dessert

A very indulgent dessert, layered with chocolate ganache, caramel mousse, toffee sauce and a shortbread biscuit base. The ganache was silky and chocolatey- not too rich, just right. The caramel mousse was very light and creamy with a delicate caramel flavour. The toffee sauce was delicious and smooth. The shortbread biscuit base was a bit of a let down, though. It was far too dry and crumbly - I felt it needed more butter to hold it together. Nonetheless, this dessert was still very nice and I would buy it again.

Price: £3.20 for two

Rating: 4/5

M&S Cornish Clotted Cream Lemon Curd Dairy Ice Cream

This ice-cream was simply divine. The best ice-cream I have ever tasted. Deliciously creamy with a silky texture, the clotted cream and lemon zest worked perfectly together. The lemon flavour was just right; not too tangy or sweet. A must try!

Price: £2.60

Rating: 5/5

M&S Roast Beef & Onion Crisps

These crisps had an unpleasant beef flavour and I couldn't taste any of the onion. These are supposed to be from the 'full on flavour' range but I thought they were rather bland. Not recommended.

Price: £2.00

Rating: 1/5

M&S Salted Caramel Teacakes

A new product for M&S, these salted caramel teacakes looked amazing. The milk chocolate was nice and creamy, the mallow was  light and fluffy, the biscuit base was crunchy. However, the salted caramel was almost non-existent. I could barely taste it as there was just a thin layer in the centre. Perhaps due to the sweetness of the chocolate, mallow and biscuit base, it just didn't work, the flavour didn't come together. I felt like it needed to have a more tangy, contrasting filling; like lemon or orange to offset the sweetness of the other flavours.

Although the teacake itself was nice, I was a little disappointed at the lack of salted caramel flavour. Not much difference between these and the original milk chocolate teacakes, in my opinion.

Price: £1.50 for 16

Rating: 3/5

M&S Chicken and Parmesan Fettuccine

This is another firm favourite of mine, along with the fruity chicken curry and Gastropub Moussaka (see previous posts).

This meal is bursting with flavour and so tasty. The marinated garlic chicken was delicious and tender, with a lovely garlicky flavour. The Parmesan cheese sauce was lovely, very creamy. I just wish there was more of the pasta as the portion seemed small compared to their other ready meals. Highly recommended!

Price: £3.00

Rating: 5/5