M&S The Collection Beef Wellington Hand Cooked Crisps

I was in Marks & Spencer buying their fabulous cheese boule (a loaf of bread not a crispy snack) when I came across this packet of improbably flavoured crisps. I made a Beef Wellington once, a long time ago, when I had a boyfriend who was much more impressed by show than the Chef is. It wasn’t bad but to be honest I thought it was a whole lot of work to get a fancy result. All that chopping of mushrooms and wrapping things in Prosciutto and then puff pastry: it’s all a little bit 1970s.

I haven’t gone to all that effort since but I did wonder how the crispy snack boffins at M&S would manage with their self imposed flavour.

At first bite: not a success. Because it’s M&S there’s nothing the matter with the crisps themselves although the colour is considerably darker than usual. But the flavour is definitely weird. If you know to look for it, I think you can detect mushrooms. Not perhaps the ideal flavour for a crispy snack.

I tried these crisps on the Chef, the Graffiti Artist (who is a genuine chef) and Cliffs of Moher Taste Tester and frankly, none of us was impressed. We don’t like to be snarky, but honestly thought them not very nice. Sorry about that.