Ballotins Belgian Chocolate

Taste

There are 2 different chocolates. The dark chocolate cherry was absolutely beautiful. A thin coating of dark, more-ish chocolate, encased a slightly sweet and alcoholic :) centre, that has the fragrant of cherries. The milk chocolate toffee’s chocolate was also first rate. The centre is caramel and not that sweet. These are excellent!

Rating - 8

Look

Each is individually wrapped in red and gold foil, which sits in its own tissue box, which is contained in a gold box – so you can use them as table setting or bonbonnieres.

Rating - 3

C-factor

6 x 29g boxes for $9.99, excellent value really!

Rating - 2

Swiss Points - 13

Ingredients

sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, vegetable fat, hydrogenated vegetable fat, glucose syrup, hazelnuts, skimmed milk powder, cocoa powder, milk fat, alcohol (0.5%), emulsifier, coffee, flavours, concentrated cherry puree, preservative, colour

Available At

Specialty stores and some supermarkets

Ferrero Kusschen

Taste

"Kusschen" means kiss. These are chocolate praline with hazelnut filling. The filling actually tastes just like the Ferrero Rocher inside, except these are surrounded by milk chocolate of course. I prefer Rochers, but these are much much cheaper and tastes pretty good too!

Rating - 7.5

Look

Individually wrapped pieces stored in an easy to get to box. The wrapping follows the white and orange theme of Ferrero products.

Rating - 2

C-factor

267g, which is 30 pieces, for $10.99. It’s pretty good for good quality chocolates.

Rating - 1.5

Swiss Points - 11

Ingredients

milk chocolate (31%) [sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, anhydrous milk fat, emulsifier, soy lecithin, flavouring], hazelnuts (27%), dark chocolate (15%) [sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, emulsifier, flavouring], vegetable fats, sugar, whey powder, fat-reduced cocoa powder, flavouring

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere

Ivyhome Dairy Organic Skim Milk

Taste

We accidentally bought the skim milk instead of the full fat. Normally drinking skim milk is like drinking water, but I was really surprised as this one from Ivyhome, as it really has taste! The consistency is still very funny but at least it didn’t taste like water!

Rating - 6.5

Look

This must be what the rich people stock their fridge with – designer milk! It comes in a 1L clear glass bottle that won’t look out of place on the kitchen bench.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

1L for $4.50. Very exy, but you’ve got to pay for that bottle from somewhere.

Rating - 0

Swiss Points - 9

Ingredients

pasteurised non homogenised

Available At

organic stores

Sonoma Bread

Taste

Well, the last time I had Sonoma, I didn’t enjoy the bread, so I had been reluctant to give it another go. In this case, I am glad I gave it another chance. The Rye Spelt was absolutely beautiful. A strong and golden crust encased some beautifully textured bread.

Rating - 8

Look

Golden outside with a dusting of flour, this was a light creamy brown colour on the inside.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

$6.50 for 600g. It’s on the expensive side in terms of boutique bread.

Rating - 0.5

Swiss Points - 11

Ingredients

40% organic spelt flour ,60% organic rye flour, leaven (fermented organic spelt & rye flour & water), filtered water, sea salt

Available At

organic stores

Luken & May Butterbursts

Taste

I picked up these Luken & May goodies after Christmas. The Basil & Parmesan savoury sticks were absolutely scrumptious. The biscuits were top quality and the parmesan very addictive. There was just enough basil to give it a kick along but not to overpower.

The Orange & Cardamom were on the other end of the scale. Sweet shortbread biscuits fragranced by orange. It’s only after you eat it that you get the hit of cardamom as an aftertaste. It’s very very addictive too…

These are certainly better than the , a par above Mother Meg’s and dare a say it, even better than Byron Bay!

Rating - 8.5

Look

These don’t only taste good, but they look good too! The savoury sticks were long, not too thick and not too thin, and look very sexy in their silver tin. The orange and cardamom were in little yellow star shapes and come in a beautiful red tin that will look great on any kitchen bench or office drawer.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

175g for $13.95, 175g for $15.95

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 13

Ingredients

Basil & Parmesan savoury

wheat flour, butter (28%), cornflour, parmesan cheese (8%)) [milk, starch, cultures, rennet, salt], spices, garlic, salt basil (0.3%)

Orange & Cardamom

wheat flour, butter (28%), sugar, cardamon (1%), orange oil, salt

Available At

Myer
Website
David Jones Foodhall
Website

Woolworths Freefrom Gluten Free Biscuits

Taste

From the range of Gluten Free products, I was expecting these to be not as good as the “real thing”, and by that I mean flour, but I was pleasantly surprised. The Orange and Poppyseed Choc Coated Biscuits were a bit more cakey than biscuity, but it actually suits quite well. The biscuit is dense, making the chocolate a very good foil for the biscuits. I love the poppy seeds, and chocolate and orange is such a classic pairing.

The Choc Coated Biscuits were great too, but I have to rank them below the orange and poppyseed. These have a much more chocolate hit, but otherwise the biscuits are pretty plain.

Rating - 7

Look

Maybe because they are gluten free, but more care seems to have gone into the packaging. Plastic trays separate the biscuits ensuring they don’t all stick together – good in theory but didn’t quite work in practice, my pack of biscuits all rolled to one side.

Appearance wise, they are very pretty, with chocolate decorations and in the case of the orange, beautiful specks of poppyseed.

Rating - 2

C-factor

I got my 200g packs as a sample from the Gluten Free Expo. They normally cost around $3.50 for 12 cookies inside.

Rating - 1.5

Swiss Points - 10.5

Ingredients

Orange and Poppyseed Choc Coated

compound chocolate (35%) [sugar, vegetable fat, cocoa, emulsifiers, salt], sugar, margarine [vegetable oils, water, salt total milk solids non fat, emulsifiers, flavour, acidity regulator, antioxidants, colour],potato flour, rice flour, maize flour, soya flour, hazelnut paste, sweetened condensed milk [sugar, milk solids], invert syrup, poppyseed (1%), golden syrup, whey powder, flavour [orange oil (0.2%)], raising agents, salt

Choc Coated Biscuits

compound chocolate (50%) [sugar, vegetable fat, cocoa, emulsifiers, salt], sugar, potato flour, rice flour, maize flour, margarine [vegetable oils, water, salt total milk solids non fat, emulsifiers, flavour, acidity regulator, antioxidants, colour], soya flour, hazelnut paste, sweetened condensed milk [sugar, milk solids], invert syrup, whey powder, raising agents, salt, flavour

Available At

Woolworths
Website

Chupa Chups

Taste

Ahhh, good old Chupa Chups. They seem to be a staple of childhood, and I’m glad to see them carry on for so long. They haven’t gone on without innovation though, as the rainbow of new flavours attest to. I tried the Apple, which was very nice. It captured that crisp, tarty sweetness of a green apple perfectly.

Rating - 6

Look

It’s always run to eat, recapture your long lost childhood. That pesky covering doesn’t come off any easier with age though.

Rating - 2

C-factor

One 13g stick has now gone up in price to about 50 cents… considering kids these days get about $50 pocket money a week, this is still extremely affordable.

Rating - 2

Swiss Points - 10

Ingredients

sugar, glucose syrup, food acid, concentrated fruit puree, apple

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere

Bavarian Bier Cafe York

Well, well, when I heard about their GET SCHNITFACED challenge:

Every Tuesday, pig-out and finish our Giant Schnitzel and the Schnapps is on us!

I knew I just had to go.

Food

For those unfamiliar, the Bavarian Bier Café is like the other European beer houses around, and serves Bavarian food and beer. In fact, their menu is very similar to The Lowenbrau, including the beer they serve.

We were only here for one thing though, the Löwenschnitzel ($23) - Giant Pork Schnitzel Served with French Fries. We ordered this at The Lowenbrau too, but I have to say, this one is much better! The batter was crisp and not too thick, the meat was tender and cooked well, pounded thinly but not too thin. Surprisingly, on one corner of our plate was a small but perfectly dressed rocket and radish salad! The accompanying tartare sauce was scrumptious, I wish there was more of it though, to dip with the delectable golden and crunchy chips. Regular readers will know that I am not a big fan of schnitzel, so this has really impressed me!

But did I finish my challenge? Let’s just say that there was nothing left on my plate at the end of it. Actually, it needn’t matter, as everybody gets a Schnapps anyway! For the challenge, they had 4 of their flavours available as part of the challenge, so it must be a sign, so we ordered one of each:

• studmeister – we couldn’t figure not the flavour, but Chinese medicine, licorice and aniseed come to mind
• butterscotch – smooth and just like butterscotch pudding, my favourite
• pfirsich (peach) – smells divine, has a strong kick and tastes like peach lollies
• sour apple – a refreshing taste that’s sweet and sour

Rating - 7.5

Atmosphere

Well, it was Tuesday lunch so the place was about half full. It was half full only because of the schnitzel challenge, as the sound of the cow bell was reverberating all around each time the schnapps are bought out on those meter long pallets. This made the atmosphere a bit more relaxed. Otherwise, this place seems very slick and formal, even with their booths, giant wooden benches and plasma TVs… maybe it’s the serious attitude of the staff or those glasses hanging above the bar?

Rating - 2

Service

It could certainly be better, especially from a half full restaurant. No one showed us to a table so we plonked ourselves down. We had to wave around for a waiter to take our order – and then we were told that only certain waiters could take order, it seems some are just supposed to be the drinks girl. After ages, one of them finally came around to take our order. We got some sautéed vegetables to go with our schnitzels but that order never came. In hindsight it was probably just as well, but shame to the waiters for forgetting.

Rating - 2

C-factor

This was certainly a fun experience, and for $15 for a schnitzel and schnapp, it’s definitely a fun time out.

Rating - 2

Brownie Points - 13.5

Info

24 York Street
Sydney
NSW 2000
Phone (02) 8297 4111
Website

Coles Caesar Salad

Taste

Well, the bacons were a bit small, the croûtons really hard, but the lettuce and the dressing was nice enough for a salad that comes out of a packet. Of course, making it fresh and with some home-made dressing is much better, but this is a good backup.

Rating - 6

Look

Really easy to do. Everything is contained in its own plastic bag. All you do is find a big bowl, (or fish and chips container in our case), empty, mix and serve. It’s definitely convenient, you don’t even need to wash or cut anything, but the ingredients do look a bit lifeless and limp.

Rating - 2

C-factor

145g for $4.99, again very exy considering you can buy a whole lettuce for much cheaper, but then the cost is in the effort.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 9

Ingredients

cos lettuce (68%), Caesar dressing (14%) [water, soybean oil, vinegar, sugar, egg yolk, salt, flavour, vegetable gum, mustard, lemon juice concentrate, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, black pepper, food acid, parmesan cheese (7%), bacon (6%), croutons (5%)

Available At

Coles
Website

Coles Couscous Salad

Taste

I was surprised at how wonderful this tastes. The couscous was fluffy and had been soaked with the wonderful juices from the variety of roast vegetables. The vegs themselves were actually plump and juicy. They also managed to get the balance between vegetables and couscous right.

Rating - 7.5

Look

Packed in an easy to eat container. The colours were deep and attractive. No matter how you pack it though, couscous is always hard to eat.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

125g for $4.99. It’s quite expensive but I guess you get a lot for your money.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 10

Ingredients

couscous (45%), roasted vegetables (36%) [eggplant, zucchini, capsicum, onion, canola oil, white vinegar, salt, garlic, mixed herbs, brown sugar], basil pesto dressing (11%), semi dried tomato

Available At

Coles
Website

Fosterton Farm Bakery Bread

Taste

Fosterton Farm's bio-dynamic and organic breads only sells at selected stores and markets around Northern NSW, so we felt it was our duty to try it out. There wasn't much bread available, but they were doing a roaring trade. We picked up a Linseed sourdough ($4.80), corn sourdough ($4.80) and farmhouse sourdough ($4.80). They actually taste the same, the only difference being the texture. The linseed is crunchy, the farmhouse traditional, the cornbread was my favourite in terms of texture, being a coarser grain. Certainly not as good as the usual stuff I'm used to, but better than the supermarket variety. A nice sourdough aroma and nice crust. They actually got better and better with age.

Also on offer were some sweet and savory offerings. We picked up the pumpkin, feta and rice parcel ($3) - which I am sure is very good for you. For something very hippy-like, it tasted alright. It's a little bland and the pastry not that great, but it's not altogether bad.

Rating - 7.5

Look

The breads were beautifully presented and the colour was fabulous. The same for their small offerings too. It's a small family run business who do all the baking, packaging and selling, so I was all in for that.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

It's not outrageous but not cheap either. For Newcastle, the price is great as there is no one else selling these, but in Sydney you get so much more choice.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 11

Ingredients

corn

Freshly milled organic maize meal and biodynamic wholewheat flour, rainwater, celtic sea salt and natural yeast ferment.

Available At

792 Fosterton Road
Dungog
NSW 2420
Phone (02) 4992 3408

Australian Regional Food Store & Cafe Coffee

Taste

I didn’t feel like eating anything heavy after too much wine and taste testing, but I was extremely tired from a restless night, so I really needed a coffee. The latte ($3.80) was terrible, it was very bitter and watery, and not complex at all. The cappuccino ($3.50) was pulled for a shorter time, but was also sweetened with cocoa, so it wasn’t bitter, but alas, it was still watery.

Rating - 5

Look

The shop is quite inviting, looking out to the stream and bush outside. Inside are some comfy chairs and magazines. We needed them too as it took over 10 minutes to make 2 coffees, even though we were the only customers. At least we could also look at the produce and books on display, as well as taste test some offerings.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

I couldn’t believe they were charging $3.80 for a coffee, that’s getting on par with hotel prices! Lucky we had a buy one get one free voucher, but still, that’s nearly $2 for some mediocre coffees.

Rating - 0

Swiss Points - 6.5

Available At

McDonalds Road
Pokolbin
NSW 2131
Phone (02) 4998 6800

Bliss Coffee Roasters Cappuccino

Taste

They are special bean roasters. Our cappuccino ($3.50) was absolutely wonderful. It was pulled just right, has an excellent crema, and was not bitter or overpowering.

Rating - 8

Look

The shop is very inviting. The décor is themed towards coffee, including the coffee clock which I have seen a couple of times at other places. The back wall displays coffee and tea products you can buy, while the front glass counter of cakes and pastries distracts from their gigantic shiny coffee machine. You can also buy the beans whole or grounded at the shop, or order online.

And the coffee itself? They did a lovely coffee art leave :)

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

$3.50 is around average price around the Hunter and the CBD. It’s expensive but it’s good coffee…

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 11.5

Available At

Hunter Valley Garden Village
Broke Rd
Pokolbin
NSW 2131
Phone (02) 4998 6700
Website

Hunter Valley Gold Washed Rind Cheese

Taste

Very much like the smelly washed rinds from France, except less expensive :). This one is a bit less complex in flavour, the texture is very smooth and the flavour very deep. It's an in your face cheese, not to mention, in your smell!

This has won a ASCA Gold Medal for 2005.

Rating - 7.5

Look

All gooey and golden yellow on the inside with a mouldy orange inside. It's called washed rind because the rind has to be wiped continuously throughout the maturing process.

Rating - 3

C-factor

$52.40/kg from the factory shop.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 11.5

Ingredients

100% cow's milk, vegetable rennet, salt & cultures

Available At

McDonalds Road
Pokolbin
NSW 2131
Phone (02) 4998 7744
Website

Twist Cafe & Bar

Since our first choice of Restaurant II, the only reputable restaurant in Newcastle, wasn't available, this was our choice out of those from Honeysuckle Wharf.

Food

Before I start to comment on the food, let me point out that all spelling were taken from their menu, and the spelling mistakes are not my own.

Anyway, after a long wait (which is the norm according to sis), our meals arrived:

• seared blue eye cod fillet in South Indian aubergine and potato curry topped with seared scallops and riata ($26) - is my pick of the bunch. The fish was moist and the vegetable accompaniment was well cooked and the sauce – not too complex but binded it all together.
• pan fried yellow fin tuna served on sauteed kiper potato, asparagus and sundried tomatoes with wild roquette, basil oil and essence of balsamic ($26) - after the waiter promised "sashimi grade" tuna, I asked for it to be cooked medium rare. When my fish arrived and I saw that the thin piece of fillet was on the well-done side of medium well, I already had comprehensions. One taste of the too dried flesh confirmed my suspicions. The delicate sweetness of the flesh and the melt in your mouth creaminess of "sashimi grade" tuna was non existent. Unfortunately, the accompanied essence of balsamic was more like sweetened sugar – missing all of the caramel tones of real, or even medium balsamic. At least the potatoes were cooked correctly … if it wasn’t, well, there wasn’t very much left on the dish.
• roasted whole spatchcock with french lentils, currents, speck and merlot glaze ($24) - I didn’t try the spatchcock, but the French lentils were on the charred side, but it imparted that lovely “burnt” flavour to the lentils.
• chargrilled bangalow pork cutlet with roasted parsnip and thyme mash, sauteed baby spinach and caramelised apple jus ($26) - at least the skin was nice and crispy, and there was a big layer of fat rimmed around the cutlet. The meat was sweet and flavourful. I found the apple sauce a little too sweet for my liking, but the parsnip and thyme mash was heavenly.
• seared atlantics salmon with beurre blanc, asparagus spear and potato rosti ($26) - a only had a taste of the salmon, which was actually cooked medium rare as requested, meaning it’s actually juicy. If only my tuna was the same…sigh…

A bit of an up and down experience. Unfortunately, even the up is only average. I really hope this isn’t the normal standard for Newcastle.

Rating - 5

Atmosphere

Since we had to leave by 8pm, all the people dining there were of the older set and people with young kids. Otherwise, the décor is supposedly to be for the "cool crowd", by that I mean, dim lighting, booths, candles, pink glow and funky lamps. It’s an ok hangout, but what atmosphere there was, was wrecked by mum’s constant complaints about how dark the place is, how loud everything was, and how the plates were so big and the servings so small, and so on and so forth…not a place to bring your parents no doubt.

Rating - 1

Service

They were booked out for the night, but I gave them credit for accommodating us, if we were going to be out by 8pm. With the parents in tow, I’m sure that won’t be a problem at all. Our waiter gave us the menus, and then said each of the specials were "really really good". She then went on to explain what "sashimi grade" was and "bangalow pork" is. I really hate waiters who say everything is really really good.

We didn’t really have a problem with the service, but did watch a table get their mains mistakenly delivered to them, in the middle of their entrees. The waiters weren’t really at a spot where you can see them, so it’s hard to get their attention. For those prices, you still have to do everything yourself.

Also, one of the waiter was my sis’s uni friend, who was apparently very bitchy to her patients. She didn’t serve us so I’ll let her be the judge of that.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

Crap spelling, gushing waiter, long wait, not delivering to my order and having to listen to my mum yak does not an enjoyable dinner make.

Rating - 0

Brownie Points - 8.5

Info

N3 The Boardwalk
Honeysuckle Drive
Newcastle
NSW 2300
Phone (02) 4926 1766
Website

Saigon Pho Vietnamese Restaurant

And so I continue on my quest to try all the restaurants in Flemington. Having stuck on my favourite, Ta Fong, for ages, I recently ventured to Can Thang without much success. Saigon Pho always seem to be quite popular with the diners, so I went in with great expectations.

Food

The first dish is our gauge, used to compare the quality of other restaurants. Beef Noodle Soup (pho) ($7). Well, the soup as certainly very hot because the beef was very very well cooked. There wasn't a lot of bean sprouts, onions or shallots. The only thing that was kinda generous was the noodles. The accompanying plate of basil was small and looked dead, the lemon slice was really dry, and there were no chillies or nuoc chu sauce to be seen. The real test for good pho is of course in the stock. This one was ok, if a bit one-dimensional. They probably skim on the ingredients that's why.

I ordered the special fish with rice hot pot ($8.70) just so I can compare it with Ta Fong, the fish being one of my favourite dishes there. This one was not too bad. The sauce was more complex and flavoured with chilli. I would like it to be slightly hotter, but it went with the broken rice very well. The soup that came with it was pretty tasty.

seafood combination in fried noodles ($9) was typical, nothing to get excited about. The noodles didn't really have the wok's breath (I wonder if they just microwave?), but there was a good amount of seafood (not a lot mind you, but enough to justify it as "seafood" noodles.

All in all, this one is not as good as Ta Fong, but is miles ahead of Can Thang.

Rating - 6

Atmosphere

Certainly on different to any other restaurants there - laminated table, a tray with utensils, condiments and a box of tissues, the pour yourself teapot at the ready, specials stuck on the wall...This place is actually a bit less frantic than the usual, and there were quite a few Westerners there (enjoying spring rolls and crispy skinned chicken no less).

Rating - 1

Service

They came around straight away to take our order, but we'd only just sat down. I can actually understand, most people have a favourite which they order without having to look at the menu. We on the other hand, only had one thing we knew we wanted, so we needed more time. Once we had decided though, they came around quickly to take our order. Again, before we could even settle down, the beef noodle soup arrived.

Service is your typical Asian aloofness. They asked us if we wanted small bowls, and bought out and cleared away our dishes quickly. The only hiccup of the night came when they tried to deliver us another noodle, immediately after the first one was delivered...

Rating - 3.5

C-factor

The prices are about the same as the other restaurants in Flemington. The quality of the products are not as good, but it's not too bad at all for a quick feed.

Rating - 0.5

Brownie Points - 11

Info

8/90 The Crescent
Flemington
NSW 2131
Phone (02) 9746 1692

Can Thang BBQ Restaurant

In my quest to broaden my range around Flemington, I decided to give the favourite, Ta Fong a rest, and try out the rest of the offerings. There have been quite a few new openings lately, but we decided to try an old stayer. Can Thang was recently reviewed by SMH, so we decided we would compare notes.

Food

As the name says, this is a BBQ restaurant, but they also do Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai and even some Malaysian. We decided not to go with the BBQ because everyone always line up at the BBQ place down the road, and we decided not to try the Vietnamese as they don't seem to specialise in it, so went with the Chinese Beef bisket noodle soup ($8) and Satay chicken fried noodle ($9). I don't know if we ordered right or wrong, but with what we tasted, we won't be back.

The bisket was in the tomato based sauce, the bisket was soft and gluggy, just he way biskets should be, but the tomato sauce was underwhelming, very oily and sour. The satay chicken was in even more oil, and the satay based sauce doesn't even taste like it contained any peanuts at all. I felt pretty sick as I finished my meal...

Rating - 5.5

Atmosphere

We were there for brunch, so really had the place to ourselves, except for one table having a family gathering, and a fat Western couple, who were eating around 4 dishes between the two of them. The antics of these 2 tables kept us occupied, as well as the ladies preparing vegetables and dumplings at another of the tables.

Decor wise, it's the typical restaurant style, except this one is actually quite spacious. There's also the added advantage of their BBQ counter, where you can watch dried animals being slaughtered.

Rating - 1.5

Service

Typical Asian nonchalance. If they want repeat business, they really should learn to smile, as I certainly won't be coming back for the food!

Rating - 2

C-factor

Prices aren't outrageous but I've had much better food elsewhere.

Rating - 1

Brownie Points - 10

Info

97 The Crescent
Homebush West
NSW 2131
Phone(02) 9764 5400

Heaven Ganache Macadamia

Taste

I’m a fan of magnums but I didn’t really like Heaven , but I wanted to give this a try. The results? Better than I thought, but still not as good as magnum. Let me elaborate. The ice-cream is a bit too sweet, but the addition of macadamia is most welcomed. The chocolate is not as thick and morish as magnums, it being a bit soft and sweet too.

Rating - 6

Look

Beautifully packaged, the chocolate is glossy, and the ice-cream is just the right size for an individual indulgence.

Rating - 2

C-factor

385ml for $3.99 on special. It’s about the same price as a magnum so I would have to say it’s worst value then.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 9

Ingredients

cream, water, sugar, cocoa mass, macadamia nut pieces, vegetable fat, milk solids, skim milk concentrate, glucose syrup, invert sugar, mattodextrin, emulsifier, cocoa butter, flavours, vegetable gum, salt

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere

King Island Diary Yoghurt

Taste

Definitely better than the usual supermarket stuff. This was much creamier. I got the "normal"Vanilla. I enjoyed it because we wasn’t too sweet and doesn’t taste like fake vanilla. The yoghurt was creamy (and fatty I'm sure) and very smooth.

Rating - 7

Look

Very classy. White tub with a blue lid, it really feels like you’re eating luxury. And of course the price tag helped too…

Rating - 2

C-factor

300g for $3.79. Very exy indeed for a “supermarket” brand.

Rating - 0.5

Swiss Points - 9.5

Ingredients

whole milk, cream, sugar, milk solids non fat, live cultures

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere

Penguin Market Cakes

Taste

We bought this off this lovely old lady, who’s been baking for years and has lots of awards to show. There were lots of varieties of old style cakes to choose from. Our pack contained:

• jellycake - just like lamington, except without the chocolates.
• lamington - a very soft cake and one of the best I’ve tasted.
• sultana cake - soft and sweet, just like the old fashioned cakes.
• chocolate slice with sprinkles - not very chocolaty, a bit too sweet.
• date slice - has a very gooey filling, the crumble topping is not buttery enough.
• fruit mix slice - pleasant, but I didn’t enjoy the sweet carrot glaze and sweetened fruit in the mix.

Rating - 6

Look

The Penguin Market’s claim to fame is being "The largest undercover Antique, Secondhand & Collectibles market in Tasmania". I don’t know their claim for large, but it’s a pretty way to meander away a morning. We didn’t find the stalls too exciting, but it’s more a country town kinda market than big city markets.

The cakes were lovingly made, with their homemade labels and all.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

$3.50 for our 6 pack of little cakes. Not too bad, especially if you are on holidays and want that country feel.

Rating - 1.5

Swiss Points - 9

Available At

Arnold Street
Penguin
TAS 7316
Phone (03) 6437 2935
Website