M&S Christmas food - hit and miss

[lulujuju]

I always order at least £100 worth of Christmas food from M&S but this is the first year I've found things to be hit and miss.
The hits were:
Cauliflower cheese
Chocolate pine cones
Brie en croute
Vegan nut roast
Black Forest gateaux

The misses were:
Pigs in blankets - full of gristle
Brandy cream, salted caramel cream and chocolate cream (all bought in store) - all just tasted of nothing!
Sausage wreath - really greasy

I was also really disappointed by all of their party food.

We really liked the chicken doughnuts!
DS2 went through the food brochure like other kids go through the Argos catalogue and insisted we get the chocolate pine cones - they were incredibly rich.

The M&S triple chocolate panettone was the best I’ve ever had! It was delicious!

Salted caramel profiteroles, ‘Golden Balls’ lovely but v expensive

Plant range ‘Festive Wreath’ good

Plant range Mushroom Pate - not nice. Far too acidy, not rich enough, and very expensive.

Brie and cranberry tartlets in filo: Meh. Melted cheese, jam, I don’t really see the attraction anyway.

Turkey crown and ham were fabulous, the ham joint particularly.

The Brie and cranberry parcels were grim.

Was annoyed to find a lot of the meat products contained chickpea flour which DH can't have due to a pea / legumes allergy. I think it give the products a really strange taste too.

The brie and cranberry tartlets were a weird texture, like the cheese couldn't melt. The sticky toffee trifle sloppy with random horrible crunchy bits. The hot dips were a good idea but didn't quite come together. The cheese in blankets were disgusting.

The triple chocolate panettone was delicious. Their mince pies are still the best.

Overall though, a really poor show. Wish I had gone to Sainsbury's.

I was disappointed with the party food. Next year I'm just going to get from Aldi I think.

We had the chocolate cake which all enjoyed plus the Rodney cheesecake & the profiteroles which were also good

Xxx

@PinkTonic we also had some of the salted chocolate pecans and they were absolutely amazing!!!! Thankfully I bought 2 and still have one left

Oh ours was all good inc the pigs in blankets.

We had canapés which were fab, then turkey, sprouts, pigs in blankets, stuffing all from them, then the cheeses for the cheese board. Also pastries and salmon, and their fresh thick cream and their large eggs. Gorgeous orange yolks.

So all good here.

Loved the Black Forest cake/ dessert

Oh and the fresh beef gravy was fantastic

[quote AFingerofFudge]@PinkTonic we also had some of the salted chocolate pecans and they were absolutely amazing!!!! Thankfully I bought 2 and still have one left [/quote]
I ate them all. Every single one. 🐷

I only bought a tin of shortbread ...it was bloody lush

I had the vegetarian ricotta stacks which were good, and the gluten free Christmas pudding and mince pies were surprisingly not only edible, but tasty! Being ceoliac is such a pain, and I miss carbs, so it was nice to be able to join in the festive foods with the plus of them actually tasting nice!

I'm sure I read that they do GF pork pies which are apparently good. Might try Christmas 21 for ceoliac daughter

Fillet of beef, brie en croute and chocolate log (looked like a tree stump) were all amazing. Really disappointed with the triple choc pannatone and the chocolate cream. Have frozen the beef marrow bone pie as this was originally for Boxing Day with family so cannot comment but it looked yummy.

We didn’t get much but the turkey crown was really good, I specifically remember not thinking much to the carrot crush. Loved the parsnips though. We quite liked the sausage wreath too this was our first year and I think we’d do it again.

Got our party food from the local supermarket but sounds like we didn’t miss much!

Rockpool seafood dish was 'off' -the plastic had bloated so didn't even consider it- got a refund though

The seafood platter was overpriced- the crab and lobster were ok but the prawns were tasteless

The 3 fish roast was ok but half of it fell apart so looked like hash when served

Party food was boring

Cheese bake was ruined by chorizo

The trufflesdmash was nice but not as good as homemade.

Golden balls were delicious
As was the Chocolate Log Cake
Not tried the cheese fondue things yet
Sausage wreath dry
The dippy lasagne and pepperoni things were nice but too tasty if that can be such as thing
Chicken doughnuts were different
Loved the Picard frozen range which I bought each week on the run up to christmas - brioche toast with caramel sauce was to die for and the party food - minature croque monsieurs were lovely

The smores fudge was addictive and we loved the salted caramel chocolate pine cones.
The truffle and porcini mushroom stuffing was good, as was the leek one.
We liked the chicken yakitori kebabs, the toads in holes were unremarkable but fine and the hot smoked salmon was lovely as usual.

The lasagna dip was amazing, hope they bring it back as part of their normal range. Though I suppose buying their lasagne is virtually the same.

Hit: goosefat roast potatoes
Duck pate
Mini Kiev's
Pork belly bites
Turkey gravy
Bread sauce
Trifle
Cranberry sauce was excellent

Miss: I've learned in the past what to avoid. Made no mistakes this year.

Also the Milk Chocolate Cinnamon Sugar Tortilla Rolls and Vegetable & Pesto Focaccia were highlights!

I've still got 2 bags of those chocolate sugar tortilla rolls in the cupboard never opened them.

I loved the mini crumpets with pulled ham/cheese rarebit sauce, delicious. Also the lasagne dip, Cornish cruncher cheese and the prawns in blankets.