U Mini-Choux Saveur Chèvre et Poivre

And here's a review I wrote of a similar product last July but mysteriously forgot to post. What a difference a year makes eh?

Hmnnn, I'm not sure this was the most successful purchase I made in the U supermarket in France. It looked like a good idea but you never can tell until you try. And that's what taste testing is all about.

Part of my problem is that Noble Friend won't even attempt chèvre, and Tall Elegant taste tester isn't mad keen either.  And then when you read choux you rather expect something soft (softish) like an eclair or a choux bun. But what you actually get here is a hard little biscuitty bite.

And while there is nothing wrong with a little cheesy biscuit, there's a lot to be said for a snack tasting how you think it will, and having the texture you were expecting.

U Chips Ondulées Poulet Braisé

Another crisp we picked up from the nice little supermarket we discovered while on holiday in France.

Crinkle cut in the fine French fashion, this crisp has a lovely bite. Not a bad braised chicken flavour. I don't know why the French seem to have have braised chicken and the British have roast chicken but it does seem to be the case much of the time. I have had (actual) roast chicken several times in France (mostly much nicer than in the UK) , but at least one hotel we stay in regularly replaced the roast with a braised chicken. And I didn't like it as much so that was a shame.

This braised chicken flavour is pleasant. It's not the same as a roast chicken flavour (how do they do that? you wouldn't have thought it was possible to differentiate the flavour on a slice of fried potato). But I think I'd still prefer a roast chicken crisp. But see the previous post for a sensational grilled chicken flavour crisp. And once again we ask ourselves: how do they make them different?

U Gaufrettes Fromage & Fines Herbes (footballs)

If you read this blog regularly you might have noticed I really love Cheese Footballs. Which you can only buy in the UK on the run up to Christmas.

So imagine how thrilled I was to find this little packet of gaufrettes in a U Supermarché not far from Reims in North East France. I thought gaufrette meant waffle but in this case it seems to mean the very same crispy crunchy coat you get with a cheese football. Not stuffed with yummy fake cheese but soft cheese and herbs, and onion, garlic, carrot, cabbage, and celery (why celery? luckily not enough to have an adverse effect). Actually, don’t read the list of ingredients. It can have quite an adverse effect on your enjoyment.

Rather tasty. Yum yum.

Interestingly, I learn from Cliffs of Moher taste tester that they don't have crispy snacks like this in Ireland. How do they cope?

Sadly I seem to have failed to photograph this snack. Although, it looked just like every other cheese football snack I've ever tried so...

U Gaufrettes Saveur Croque Monsieur

I thought these little square of wafer and tasty cheesy mush were delicious. Tall elegant taste tester enjoyed them very much too.

But the rest of the reluctant taste testers were uncharacteristically picky. And said no thanks. See also Gaufrettes au Fromage for a similar reaction.

We couldn't imagine what their problem was... until Noble Friend said she was expecting them to have a vanilla taste. And Slightly Red Haired Bristolian admitted she was expecting strawberry. And she thought the cheesy, hammy taste too strong (and obviously not quite right).

Well, we think they're all wrong. And the Chef was quite keen too.

Scrumptious. Delicious. Lovely light crunch. Very tasty. Yes please.

U Tortillas Roll's Goût Fromage

Ah yes, sorry French crisp fans, this is a very good example of weird French punctuation. In English I imagine we would say Tortilla Rolls. Which is what we have here.

The reluctant taste testers have tried similar crispy snacks from Marks & Spencer in Maple Bacon
flavour, and also Cinnamon Sugar. But that was back in 2016.

I think the basic tortilla here is slightly thicker than in the M&S versions which were very brittle. This is more like an actual tortilla chip. And in fact there were several flat chips in the packet that had escaped the rolling procedure.

New Forest taste tester agreed with me that while a perfectly fine snack, this would probably benefit from a dip. She thought salsa or guacamole, I thought sour cream. But either would be tasty.

Managerial taste tester said he couldn’t make up his mind if he liked it or not; and had another just in case he did. And perhaps another.

As so often, I took a few home for the Chef to try and he seems to have been quite taken with these crispy rolls.

The packet says Tex Mex but I can’t vouch for the accuryof that claim.

U Mat & Lou Snacks Diablos Goût Jambon-Fromage

I'm not entirely sure who Mat & Lou are, but they may be the two blue creatures on the packet trying to disguise themselves with these devil masks.

Yes, devil mask shaped crispysnacks aimed (I imagine) at children. It’s a weird idea isn’t it?

Well, yes, but then the devil masks aren’t so different from various ghost and bat shaped (actually if you click on the link you’ll see why that’s a very bad example - not ghost or bat shaped at all!) or even scorpion shaped snacks the reluctant taste testers and I have tried over the past 5 years and I’m not sure I ever questioned whether or not they were suitable for children.

So anyway, here we have another Pom Bear style snack. Light and bubbly and with lovely light crunch.

Cliffs of Moher taste tester and I bumped into each other several times at the bowl of snacks. Very nice, we thought. Tall taste tester was also spotted snacking enthusiastically.

I wouldn’t describe the flavour as ham and cheese (Jambon-Fromage)  but I would say it’s a savoury taste and very moreish. I think we'd recommend this crispy crunchy snack from France.

Quite tasty opined the Chef, and he liked the cheerful devil faces too.