Bertinet Bakery breakfast in bed pop up at South Bank

Getting up for breakfast is hard but I was rewarded with my favourite eggs and soldiers by Bertinet Bakery at South Bank.

I was so chuffed to see this offered because you rarely even see this at restaurant these days.

It was fine restaurant quality as the soldiers were topped with bechamel sauce and grated cheese and the egg was sprinkled with some fine herbs and olive oil.

I was bowled over by this sourdough.

Why?

I was won by the texture as it was soft, crispy and squidgy a bit like a toasted crumpet and soreen loaf.

First, I thought it was just the one I tried was perfect but I tried the loaf at home and it was consistently good, even after a few days, the texture was still crispy and squidgy.

These are ideal dipping in egg yolk or having it with soup.

Or topped with smashed avocado. 

The ones I've had at the restaurants were stale and hard.

Also on the menu were:

Savoury Masala French Toast – eggy bread with a twist, using onions, chilli and turmeric served with a zingy green chutney.

Avocado toast and sweetcorn salsa – a bright, fresh dish packed full of flavour. A perfect balance of whipped avocado and a hint of spice.
Ultimate open BLT with a twist – fresh bacon added to crisp lettuce and juicy tomatoes, topped with a classic vinaigrette and beetroot hummus.

The brand has worked alongside Sourdough Specialist, Best-Selling Author and Founder of The Sourdough School, Vanessa Kimble – who put her magic touch on the menu, focusing on dishes that compliment and hero the taste and texture of sourdough.

Bertinet Bakery recently launched into Waitrose, the Potato, Polenta & Onion, Rustic Country White and Seven Seeds & Grains.

#ssgpopup

#bertinetbakery

#sourdough

@bertinetbakery 

@nexuscomms

@vanessakimbell

Lidl Christmas Marzipan Tree ice cream

These were actually nice.
You can think of them like Christmas tree shaped choc ices with a hint of almond with a grainy/chalky texture like marzipan.

Zott Monte Top Cup

Milk Dessert with Chocolate and Nuts and dragees.
Overall a cute dessert with smooth dessert of white chocolate and a layer of chocolate hazelnut at the bottom.

The dragees weren't quite needed but they made it look fun.
#ssgpolish

CIO MARAR dill (herb)

I got this sachet of dill to try out of curiosity as it was cheap.
The colour was dull and oxidized compared to other brands.

I felt that I had to chuck in more to compensate for the flavour and aroma.

Tesco Dill (herbs)

I love dill so got the Tescos dill from the herb library.

The square jar is not nice as nice as the Sainsburys screwcap one which is more functional because you get dill coming from the gaps of the lid.

Anyway, other than that the dill was green and luscious compared to other brands and most importantly aromatic and flavourful.

Lidl Gelbwurst (cooked pork sausage with parsley) Taste of Deutshland

Parsley lovers will definitely love this.
Labelled as sausage I felt it was more like ham in terms of texture and taste.

Bahlsen Hit nuts hazelnut filled biscuits

Bought these Bahlsen Hit nuts hazelnut filled biscuits because they were due to expire and reduced to 1.49 which wasn't really a bargain because they cost 1.49 anyway at other places.

I only got them because the flavour was unique being hazelnut although you can also get HIT watermelon somewhere on earth.

I didn't really have any expectations but they turned out quite nice, the biscuit part had a lovely light crunch without being too hard like petit beurre biscuits.

The hazelnut filling was quite nice as it melts in your mouth and it was light and silky with an aromatic hazelnut flavour but not as strong as nutella.

Basically the filling is the same texture as the filling you get in Ritz cheese sandwich crackers.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by these biscuits as they are not too sweet so I ended up eating more than one which I don't normally do.

Again, these would be great with tea/coffee.

#ssgbiscuits

Other interesting flavours like pina colada, watermelon, salted caramel and banoffee.

Hochland Delicii calde Cascaval Pane (Romanian)

I love cheese so I was instantly drawn to these cheese croquettes (Cascaval Pane).

From the pictures, its obviously they are cheese croquettes.

Again, the beauty with Romanian food is that there are always pictures so you can roughly guess what it is.

Spotted these in the chilled section and strangely not in the frozen section.

HOCHLAND is not the only brand if you look online but this was the only brand stocked.

It was a bit pricy at 4.19 for two but again I haven't seen this at other shops and I don't have to fly to Romania so gave it a try.

I am so glad I tried this because they were how I expected them to taste, it was lovely soft cheese covered in this reasonably thick coating that is not too thick to steal the show from the cheese.

They reminded me of findus pancakes but filled with Cascaval cheese which is much tastier and nicer than boring Mozzarella.

They are bit like coated fried camembert but a little bit more substantial in portion and mouthfeel because the cheese slightly firmer like cheddar that has just melted and cooled down.

Overall, I am glad I tried.

#ssgcheese

#ssgromanian

MANDY Foods Pate de somon (salmon pate)

Another tasty pate from Mandy Foods!
The texture and taste was really good and not too dry or fishy like other brands.
#ssgpreads
#mandyfoods
#ssgromanian

Nissin Cup Noodles Hungary Asian blast and Smack instant noodles

I am so glad I got my hands on these Hungarian Nissin cup noodles and Smack instant noodles.

For the cup noodles I bought the chicken, spicy roasted sesame and five spice beef because these were the only three they had.

After trying all three cup noodles, clearly the chicken and the spicy sesame were good.

The spicy sesame was quite different as I haven't seen this in Asia.

It had lovely chilli notes without being too fiery.

A year later, they have changed the packaging to card and they longer have roasted sesame but instead a hot chilli which I tried and found very similar to taste to the roasted sesame.

The chicken was simple and quite different to the Asian and UK version in fact nicer as it is chicken and not teriyaki.

The beef was not that pleasant because it tasted like overnight beef fat which is so different to the English Nissin version which was so much more nicer.

As for the Smack noodles, I was just interested in the spicy duck.

The spicy duck luckily wasn't that spicy but it wasn't that memorable as it just tasted basic.

Hoping to get my hands on the veggie miso cup noodle.

@nissinfoodskft

#ssgcupnoodle

#nissincupnoodles

https://hu.nissin-foods.eu/cupnoodles/en/
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https://hu.nissin-foods.eu/cupnoodles/en/products/veggie-miso/