M&S Fire Roasted Chilli Tortillas

Gasp! Cliffs of Moher taste tester has been eating crisps unknown to the rest of the taste testers without telling anyone.

Not even giving me the opportunity to taste a crumb or photograph the packet. And I only found out because I chanced to take a photocopy while she was eating her lunch.

Fire Roasted Chilli Tortillas with baked in pieces of red bell pepper and jalapeño chillis. Sounds a bit complicated. Tastes fabulous. I bet these tortilla chips would be tasty with a dip too.

M&S Spirit of Summer Roasted Red Pepper Corn Couscous Chips

I found this half packet of crisps at work on a Monday: abandoned since the previous Friday I suppose. I suspect they may belong to Senior taste tester but he's not in until Wednesday and the packet hadn't been clipped shut so there's an element of staleness here. And it's just possible I may have stolen half a packet of crisps. Oh dear. Please don't follow my example.

Roasted red pepper corn couscous chips with parsley, mint and lemon. Wow! This is Marks & Spencer at it's complicated crispy snack best. Just how many flavours can you ram into one hexagonal crispy snack?

The list of ingredients is quite long and features dried chickpeas, chickpea flour, maize flour and 14% cooked corn couscous. Plus of course, the red peppers. And for flavouring caraway seeds, onions,  parsley, garlic, black pepper, mint, turmeric, coriander and lemon oil. Sounds complicated.

Not bad. Surprisingly lemony with a minty aftertaste. I'm not sure about the texture; but as I said the poor things had been left open all weekend so were not at their best.

Amaizin Organic Natural Corn Chips

Tall elegant taste tester visited the health food shop at lunchtime and came back bearing this packet of simply flavoured corn chips in triumph.

And the girl done good (which is something I don't think I have ever uttered before) because this is a stunning, simple (three ingredients only), yet delicious crispy snack. You really cannot go wrong if you get simple right, and Amaizin have certainly got it right.

Gluten free, wheat free, GMO free, palm oil free, organic and suitable for vegans these corn chips are made to an original Mexican recipe. The reluctant taste testers were rather impressed. Even new Bookkeeper taste tester was pleased to approve. And I think he thinks we're a bunch of nutters.

Very nice indeed. And probably wonderful with a good dip.

Caffè la Terrazza, la Rinascente in Florence

In Florence the department store la Rinascente is a lot smaller than Harrods or Selfridges but it has something I don't think either of the London stores has: a rooftop terrace. Take the escalator up to the top floor, cross over to the back of the room to the tiny wee food department and look for the stairs which take you up to a minute cafe. And then there's another little flight of stairs up to the terrace. Do beware. The terrace is not very big so I imagine it's tough (or impossible) to find a table at busy times. When we were there in March there was only one empty table.

This little cafe is written up all over the place as having great views over the rooftops of Florence. And I suppose that's true. But you should prepare also for great views of air con units, TV dishes, rainwater goods and broken roof tiles. I reckon you get a better, and much closer, view of the famous dome if you go to the top floor of the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo. And that has the merit of being wheelchair accessible.

Why, you ask, am I boring on about a rooftop cafe? This hasn't suddenly morphed into a travel blog has it? Well, no. But although I haven't been testing many crisp snacks recently, here's something I did try.

Yes, when you order a drink here you get a crispy snack. Corn chips (in the traditional triangular shape) and plain salted potato crisps. Pretty tasty too.

So, (and have you noticed that every second sentence begins with "so" these days? I noticed it particularly when I was in hospital. Every single person began every single sentence with "so". Particularly the doctors. It was a little bit disconcerting and I began to feel I was missing out on an important language trend. Oh dear!) so, if you go to a nice cafe in Florence and only fancy a snack, do check out the other tables for signs of crispy snacks because you might not need to order anything other than a drink.

Caffè Gilli in Florence

After my brush with hospital the Chef and I went on holiday in the hope that I would be able to completely relax and feel a lot better. Although I have to admit that Florence is not the most relaxing place in the world, it was nice to get away.

One day we fancied a snack at lunchtime so we went to Caffè Gilli in the Piazza della Repubblica. I read that it was opened by a Swiss family in 1733, which is nice, and I also read that it's difficult to get served and the waiters may ignore you. We didn't have that experience here at all; far from it. In fact we were ushered in by a senior-looking waiter and served quite promptly.

What you need to know is that if you order a cup of coffee and a glass of wine at Caffè Gilli you get a  selection of tasty snacks. You get nuts, little square chunks of something a bit like quiche, and a dish of  corn chips.

Now I don't know who manufactures these corn chips but I can tell you they are  pretty tasty. It's interesting trying round corn chips instead of the usual triangles.

Our hotel has a live feed of the Ponte Vecchio projected on to the lobby wall. Because it's black and white it looks weirdly like a silent movie from the 1920s but if you step out into the street you see all the same people.

Walkers Doritos Spicy Salsa

The Dutch taste tester discovered this packet of Spicy Salsa Doritos at her local Tesco and donated them to the cause which was very generous of her.

This is of course the opposing crisp flavour to Doritos Ultimate Cheeseburger flavour which the reluctant taste testers and I tried the other day. You are supposed to vote for one or the other flavour, and one will disappear forever.

And what did we think? Well, it seemed to the reluctant taste testers that Spicy Salsa is a much better flavour for Doritos than Ultimate Cheeseburger flavour. We loved the Ultimate Cheeseburger flavour but felt it would be better used on a crisp. I took the remains of the Cheeseburger Doritos home with me and tried again. And really loved the Cheeseburger flavour. But I cannot deny I think the flavour would work better on a crisp, maybe a crinkle cut crisp, than on a corn chip.

And Spicy Salsa? Rather tomatoey. In fact these corn chips taste rather as though they have already been dipped in a spicy tomatoey.... dip. Built in dip said the Tall taste tester. Yup, we felt that these Doritos definitely tasted as though they were flavoured with a spicy tomatoey dip.

A lovely corn chip crunch, a wonderful deep orange colour and lots of flavour dust.... but.

I had a bit of a row with the Chef about this flavour and the Ultimate Cheeseburger flavour version. He really preferred the Ultimate Cheeseburger flavour and said he didn't care what sort of crisp that flavour came on - it wouldn't effect his view of the flavour. OK. That's his opinion.

And you know what? I agree. The Cheeseburger is a great flavour. The Spicy Salsa is not.

But I suspect the Spicy Salsa flavour will win. Because it works really well on a corn chip. But you can build yourself a Spicy Salsa dip really easily. Why would you want your dip flavour dictated to you by your crisp manufacturer?

Hey! maybe I fancy a banana dip (not really) or a haggis dip (probably not) and I'd far rather dip the regular Dorito into my banana/haggis dip than a Spicy Salsa Dorito.

Come on Doritos. What's this about?

Unfortunately I have to report that Dutch taste tester did not win a trip to either Mexico or New York.

Walkers Doritos Ultimate Cheeseburger

This was the very last packet of Doritos Ultimate Cheeseburger left in my local Tesco. But obviously I had to buy them. I mean, cheeseburger flavour....

And what we have here is a pretty damn good crispy snack. Now normally I'm not crazy for Doritos. They're OK, but I find that the flavour of corn chips can over take the flavour you thought you bought them for.

Not here. Tall taste tester said they tasted heavenly. A bit strong he said, a very strong flavour, and then he said "but you can't get too much of heaven, can you?" which is a pretty good accolade don't you think?

Good crunch, lovely golden colour and lots of tasty flavour dust. Very nice.

Dutch taste tester liked them a lot although she thought she'd like the flavour better in a crinkle cut crisp, I liked them too and I know what she means, as did Noble Friend but she is on a sensible diet as she has a grand wedding to attend next month. Amazingly she confined herself to one. The reluctant taste testers have plans to lay in another packet for after the wedding as a treat for her (if we can find one). I know she would have more than one otherwise.

Now the thing about this packet of Doritos is the competition. You are supposed to try these in opposition to a packet (white, and labelled A) of Spicy Salsa Doritos and then vote to destroy the flavour you like less. One must be destroyed and never seen again. Choose which one you'd destroy and tell us your bold idea of how to do it.... says the packet. And here's how. But hurry because the completion ends on 4th September and there's £20,000.00 to be won.

This packet also has a handsome little guy throwing away his rubbish responsibly. I don't think I have noticed him before. Why is he standing on the bin?

M&S Spirit of Summer Kentucky Bourbon BBQ Corn Chips

M&S are determined to get us all into the spirit of summer and no mistake! Here is another new crispy snack for summer 2016.

Kentucky Bourbon BBQ Corn Chips it says on the packet. BBQ flavoured corn chips with baked in black pepper and coriander. 

Well, the reluctant taste testers found this crispy snack flavour slightly wanting. It's a little bit hot, but not very. It's not very BBQy. I never had bourbon so I can't say of it tastes authentically of bourbon but it is on the list of ingredients; weird!

The crunch was a bit dull and we felt that the taste was very superficial. Once you've eaten the taste (as it were) then the actual corn chip doesn't taste of much. Which is a shame because the chips are a nice rectangular shape with not many breakages. You can see the baked in black pepper but I don't really know what baked in coriander would look like.

Quite nice. But not as nice as Tall Elegant taste tester, who supplied this packet, had hoped. Interesting idea though. 

And... I just tried another. Perhaps I have damned these with faint praise. Maybe you should try them for yourselves.