Best posh/fancy foods?

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Got a ‘foodie’ relative staying from US so went to Fortnums and the foodhalls of Knightsbridge at the weekend. Some things (£8 radicchio!) are an absolute rip off but got me thinking, what are the best fancy foods?

My choices so far but feel free to disagree:

Torres Truffle Crisps
Nocellara Olives
Laurent Perrier everything
M&S chocolate Biscuits almost definitely non-U but have to be included off the strength of their own merits

Before the pitchforks appear; I know, COL, and mn ‘naice’ snobbery, and I like Netto 7p beans on white sliced with plastic cheese as much as or probably even more than most people and it is a perfectly good dinner anyone should be grateful for. However, some things really are just worth the indulgence.

@Itisyourturntowashthebath Adnams?! Darling I've done the tour! This was back when they were selling their own Absinthe so of course I was nearly stretchered out the shop. Wellies were akimbo. They do some mighty fine Romanian wine

@HundredMilesAnHour Top tip, thank you. As someone who will crawl over broken glass for baked goods I will seek and hopefully find said cakes. I've been to Woodbridge so can't believe I've missed this. For any other bakery fans in the area 2 Magpies is pretty decent but Pennybun is the best.

@StaunchMomma Fab, I will dust off the mixer. Unfortunately for both butter and DH my wrists aren't what they used to be.

Fancy cordials like Mr Fitzpatrick's Sarsaparilla or Dandelion and Burdock (stuff of my childhood) and Blackcurrant and liquorice (black theme here).

Nice cheeses and breads definitely. Fancy stuffed olives.

Wild caught salmon and organic free range meats & milk.

@newnamethanks Sound right up my street, but are these like Mochi?

I loathe mochi, apparently because I was born before 1998.

Big tip on fortnum, dh gets me huge deliveries of fortnum but I'm from a much poorer background and have found that a lot of their items come from other stores just repackaged "fortnum".
For example goats cheese, neals yard and you can get cheaper via neals yard website.
Sparkling tea is one of my favourite things - can get cheaper Fenwicks or even from some wine stores in bulk. Just you won't have the fancy fortnums label on the items obviously but they're exactly the same.

Idk if you can get to the store but if you see something you like, check the back of packaging and see where its produced and start googling and see if available somewhere cheaper. If you're online, try to get as much info and have a quick Google- but idk if worth for one off items sometimes it's the ease of getting everything in one place.

Their tea is lovely though, you can mostly get in non fancy packs those green resealable type they're usually £3 cheaper or more.

Also I find good quality fruit is lovely. Ripe, sweet and simple.

Noooo, not remotely like those horrible moochi things! They are tennis ball shaped balls of gelato. The middle is a golf ball sized almond, or coffee or hazelnut flavour, that's surrounded by vanilla ice, or chocolate maybe in the hazelnut one, then dipped in ground pistachio, or cocoa powder with biscotti crumb, or ground hazelnut to finish. As you can tell, I'm a tad over-invested. £5 for a box of 2. Worth every penny. Treat yourself.

Candied Jalapeños!?!

I don't think so, sunshine! You're in the UK now!
You'll have a cup of tea, a Yorkshire pudding wrap, a Bakewell tart and you'll bloody well like it. Sit down.

For example, it's fairly common knowledge that some of Fortnum's chocolates are made for them by Audreys.

I will always pay more for simple food that is exceptionally well-made or grown: bread, butter, cheese etc, and seasonal fruit and veg such as English asparagus and berries from Perthshire.

Locally caught sustainable seafood (living in the west of Scotland has its benefits!).

The loose leaf Japanese matcha green tea from Fortnum & Mason's is lovely and it comes in a nice wee purple tin.

(I am also partial to Korean instant ramen with a slice of plastic cheese on top. Swings and roundabouts.)

That's good to know, thank you!
Not a big fan of chocolate, I've not tried these but I'll keep in mind if he's gifting anyone, thank you.
I ate those champagne balls but I can't remember if they were chab walker or some other brand. Honestly I told him to kick the f&m shopping habit it's so unnecessary unless we are gifting.

Their sparkling tea is Copenhagen sparkling tea I think. Its got many compliments as unusual among our friends.

@GlitterSquid Have you gad those Yorkshire pud wraps? My DH was on about having one a while ago maybe at Spitalfields or somewhere similar. Baffling, I know oop north they put the whole dinner in the pud but the last thing I've ever wanted for a roast is to have it swaddled!

@newnamethanks Perfetto! I don't need to be told twice sounds lush.

Not posh, but cannot believe Sasparilla still exists and Lilt is no more...

Fascinated by Sparkling Tea @Anyusernameidc am guessing it's a cut above the Liptons Peach too. I've added to the list.

I've just finished my bottle of Mr Fitzpatrick's Lemon, Cucumber & Mint and I feel quite bereft. I need to stock up next time I'm back up North - Mr Fitzpatrick's cordials plus Lancashire Tea (far superior to Yorkshire Tea, of course!)

I am also a fan of their royal blend tea. I do think it's important to go loose leaf though, to get the benefit.

I think you have to read the labels of the teas quite carefully. If you like Yorkshire you probably like quite an Assam heavy blend, so something with a lot of Ceylon in it won't suit you.

So e.g. we're not a fan of the Queen Anne tea, but we did like the Queen's blend (not sure if that will still be available now).

I like Whin Hill cider, and recently tried Ilford which was very good.

Baron bigod cheese (from Feb farm dairy, linked up thread).

Fortnums unexpectedly had heavily reduced smoked salmon when I was there a while back and it has ruined supermarket smoked salmon for me - it was just perfect. I'll have to see if I can try the trick of finding the supplier.

Have to say, some of the F&M stuff is utter crap. I bought some of their Turkish delight at christmas, and it had tartrazine in it! Yuk.

https://sparklingtea.co/products/

Hope it works, the blue one is my go to. Then just Google and find cheapest.

Sparkling tea company copenhagen, you can get extra % off buying various in Fenwicks. Might find cheaper in other wine shops.

Oooo and when it comes to fancy or unique I like history behind items, fortnums green tea and burnt rice or something - it's history was green tea was so expensive they put burnt rice into it to bulk it out for the poor, and now fortnums selling it at mad prices.

Or cannonau red wine, apparently the wine of youth from the blue zones. Don't get the bougie ones, they're all rough tasting but it's the fact that it's youth wine that counts haha. There's one with a bull on it, I recommend that one.

Mmmmm... another one here for Torres truffle crisps - pure heaven!

And my latest find .. NOT expensive but seriously good: foodies always say how much they love them, and very very English...
Borders Chocolate Ginger Biscuits.

Made me laugh that my local Yummy Mummies cafe sells a square box of them for £15.... rather than the £5.50 or so they'd be as three ordinary boxes from the supermarket...

Oops - can't work out link... just Google name and Sainsbury's and Waitrose sell them...

For the truffle crisps fans here, what you need is Truffle Dust:

https://truffleguysuk.com/products/signature-truffle-dust-65g

It's amazing. And a little goes a long way.

Me too! They are the best and taste so luxurious!

I think they will seen see a peak in their sales, Amazon here I come!!

I am utterly ravenous

For fish and seafood, Forman and Field all the way. I especially love their smoked salmon, cold dressed lobster, mackerel pâté, and black cod in miso sauce. 👌😋

I like good high teas. Take them to one of those

Late to the party but Vacherin mont dor cheese. From a proper cheese shop that has stored it well

And honestly anything from Crosta & Mollica feels like high end treat. Especially their olive crackers..

Perello olives

I came here to recommend this divine butter too. I freeze it in discs to elevate my baked potatoes… it’s SO nice!