Lets Dunk It Into A Fiery Pit | Spicy Chicken McNuggets Sharebox

Hey everyone! 

Welcome to a brand new blog post! McDonalds released Spicy Chicken McNuggets a couple of weeks ago, and, I thought that today I would talk to you all about them. (Who doesn't love a good McNugget?)

McDonalds have brought out an 'Old Classics' promotional range out to their UK stores for a limited time. The concept of this range, is to bring back, old classics that customers have loved in the past/have demanded for them to come back to the UK menu in some way shape or form. The range asp includes, a Double Quarter Pounder With Cheese, Cheese Bites, and, Twix and Mars McFlurry's.

The Spicy Chicken McNuggets come in a choice of either, 6,9, or 20. I decided to get a 20 Spicy Chicken McNugget Sharebox, because, well I needed to try a fair few for.... 'blog purposes'. The McNuggets come with their own special dip, which I will talk about later within the post.

The McNuggets

The McNuggets come in a sort of fluorescent Red coating, which instantly baffled me. I wondered why they were so Red. I got why, to show that they had Spice compared to the normal McNuggets but I thought that it was, well weird, to be so Red that even Tomatoes aren't that Red. The Coating itself was actually quite crisp, with a light sort of batter feel to it, which was definitely a nice contrast against the Chicken itself. The Chicken was super succulent. You could tell that it was proper Chicken. it felt like the Chicken had been marinated in Buttermilk or something similar.

The Spice is a slightly interesting one for me. These have a more warming than anything Spice to them. It's obvious that there's some Paprika in them. I think that the Spice level in the McNuggets alone would be fabulous on a cold evening. I do think that when eating these one after another, the warmth does build up which I still quite like. It's more the sauce and the nugget combined which makes it ultra spicy and tangy.

Dip

The Dip is where the Spice really kicks in. The first note that I got from the dip was Vinegar. That sort of lip suckering tang which made your mind go, 'this might not end well.' It's a Spicy Tomato Dip. The Tomato is definitely there but once the Tomato has melted away from your taste buds, the inferno kicks in and your tongue is enduring a tangy fiery kick that came from nowhere. I like the Dip, but my main problem with it is that you can't choose any other. This becomes a bit of a problem when you get four tubs of it. I think that maybe a creamy one, like the Sour Cream and Onion one from the Selects would be fabulous, or, maybe something a bit more fruity would be amazing with these too.

Would I Get Them Again? 

I think that I would definitely get them again. They're slightly different but amazing. Would I stop getting normal nuggets for these? Maybe, I'm not sure. If there was a choice for different dips, like the normal McNuggets, then probably yes. I think that these have a time and a place and I think that these are great. Honestly, I wish that both had the sort of succulent Chicken interior, as the normal ones are always a tad dry. I think that these would be great for things such as night ins/parties, as you can all try them and tell each other your opinion of the McNuggets and Dip, especially if you love a good McNugget like myself.

Have you tried the new McNuggets? Let me know down below!

Check Out McDonalds.

Thanks for reading! 
Jamie x

This post is not sponsored or in collaboration with McDonalds. I have spent my own money and reviewed these of my own free will. All views and opinions are my own. 

Pull That Cracker and Eat It's Contents! | Subway Christmas Menu

Hey everyone! 

How are you? 

Welcome to a brand new post! I thought that, today, I would talk to you all about the new Christmas Menu at Subway. Christmas is slowly upon us and this means, all of the food reviews.

The festive season is kicking in, which means that all the lights are twinkling, the festive songs are playing, and all of the restaurants and fast food chains are revealing their Christmas/Festive Menus, to ensure that we're all getting into the spirit. I love this time of year, because it means that I can be greedy and get away with it.

I heard that Subway were releasing their Christmas Cracker Sub, as a part of the Festive Menu, and I knew that I had to try it. I love Subway, but I don't go in all of the time unless I am in the mood. (Mainly because if I do, I end up wanting all the cookies and then my stomach is screaming internally at me...)

The new Sub for Christmas contains:  tender turkey, streaky bacon, cranberry & orange chutney, succulent pork & sage stuffing and gravy. You have the option of getting this delicious new decadent sandwich in either a Sub, or a Wrap, depending on your mood. (If you're Veggie, then I'm sure that you'd be able to get a Veggie Patty Sub and then add the Sauces to make it festive?)

I always decide to go for a 9 Grain Honey Oat when it comes to bread at Subway. I just think it's more filling and I always love that sort of sweet flavour against the bread. The gravy has to be heated up separately to the Sub. I added Peppers, Onions, Sweetcorn & Gherkins to add a bit of crunch. (The debate of Pickles can be left for another time but personally I love a good thick Pickle.) I added Sweet Onion to my sandwich, grabbed a Chocolate Orange Cookie (yes, just one), and I was on my way. (I did want to try a Gingerbread Latte, but I was in a bit of a rush.) I got a footlong version of this sub, because well you've got to go big at Subway. There's no point going small with sandwiches, wheres the fun in that?

The Turkey was succulent and thick. I love a good thick slice of meat. The Bacon added a slight smoky taste and added more bulk to the sandwich. The Cranberry and Orange Sauce added a bit of fruitiness to the sandwich. When tasting it, you got a hint of Orange but it wasn't overwhelming. The Stuffing was amazing and added a bit of spice to the sandwich. In my opinion, I don't think that stuffing is ever a bad thing to add to anything. I love a good bit of stuffing. (I'm that one person at Christmas that can eat it for days.) The gravy was a weird one. I was expecting the sandwich to be swimming in it, but instead it was just a light spray but it ensured that the sandwich was soft and delicious.

I also got a Chocolate Orange Cookie. The cookie itself was crispy on the edges, but so soft and squidgy in the middle. The best way for a cookie to be! The chocolate was melted so it just meant that every bite was gooey and a bit messy. The Orange flavour wasn't too overppowering, as I could still taste the Dark Chocolate in the sweet treat. I could eat five of these in one go with a nice warm inviting hot drink.

Have you tried the new Subway Menu? Let me know down below! 

(This isn't a sponsored post, but if Subway want to collaborate with me, then, I'd be very fine with that.) I hope that you have enjoyed this post.

Thanks for reading! 
Jamie x

Selezione Wine Tasting At Veeno Wellington Place With Michelle

Hey!

I was invited a good few weeks ago to visit Veeno's new Wellington Place branch with myself, Luke and Michelle to try the Veeno Selezione wine tasting at the bloggers event that they were holding

Veeno, the Italian wine cafe, have a new bar in the new Wellington Place business park in Leeds City Centre. They already have one branch on Greek Street (which myself and Luke call Food District due to the amount of bars and restaurants that are around Greek Stret.) The Selezione experience includes 2 white wines, 1 rose wine, 2 red wines and 1 sweet dessert wine along with the matching authentic spuntini (appetizer platters) to match each wine with which includes a sweet treat with the sweet dessert wine.

The three of us walked from the train station to Veeno which didn't take too long as the Wellington Place bar is a slightly hidden gem but it is still in the city centre so you don't have to travel too far to get to this beautiful bar. You definitely know when you reach the excellent establishment as the building has a glass front but also has terrific twinkling lights in the window.

We arrived inside the vibrant Veeno and was lead to a table with high seated chairs and tables which I was uncomfortable on to start off with but as the night went on I got used to then towards the end my back started to ache due to having no support from the chair. A woman came up and asked us if we wanted anything to drink as none of us really knew what was going on we said no and waited for someone to come across and tell us how the night was going to go which happened a couple of minutes later.

We were told that we were going to be tasting five wines (2 red, 2 white and 1 rose) which would come with matching sputini (canapes to go along with them) and then we would be trying a sweet wine at the end of the night which would be matched with an Italian Tiramisu.

The first wine is the Timpune Sicani Grillo, a dry Sicilian White Wine. This is served with Mozzarella Di Buffala (Buffalo Mozzarella) with Lettuce and bread sticks. The mozzarella was delicious and was the perfect accompaniment to the wine. I do think that pairing it with Lettuce was a great idea to catch any milk that came from the Mozzarella but ours oozed milk out as soon as we bit into it which meant that the Lettuce wasn't really a vehicle after that first bite. This was my second favourite wine of the whole night. If you're not the biggest fan of wine then I think that you will still love this one.

The second Wine is the Corte Ferro Sicani Zibibbo, A White Wine that Cleopatra apparently drank! This is served with Pecorino in Grotta, (Sheeps Milk Cheese.) This was served with baked bread sticks. The food was delicious with a slight bitter edge/ I didn't mind this one but it was very sharp so I could only drink so much of it. Michelle thought this one was nice.

Number three! This one is the Tasari Syrah, the house Rose Wine. This is paired with Speck (Smoked Ham.) The rose wine was delicious and slightly rounded. I only drink Rose from time to time but I could definitely imagine drinking this and chatting away just like myself, Luke and Michelle were at Veeno. The ham was delicious especially with that smoky edge. (Sorry about none of the accents being on the e's.)

The fourth one is the Sachia Sicani Perricone, A Red Wine with Liquorice and Spices. This is served with Bresaola (Beef) with warm slices of Bread. I loved the Bresaola as it was tender yet slightly chewy and sweet but savoury. It sounds so weird but it was amazing because it covered all aspects of what you want in a good piece of cured Meat. I do love a good tender piece of cured Meat. I liked this Wine because it was so different but I couldn't finish the glass as the Liquorice gave it such a rich flavour so I gave the rest to Michelle who loved it! (There's no pictures for this one as we were having too much fun!)

Fifth stop on the Wine train! This stop is the Cutaja Le Selezione Nero d’Avila Riserva. A rich Red Wine served with Gorgonzola cheese on small Crackers. I loved this one. The slight sweet Red Wine paired with the slightly bitter/salty Gorgonzola beautifully and I just loved this one.

Stopping for the last time! This Wine is the Tagos Grillo. This one is a sweet dessert wine. This is served with homemade Tiramisu. This was my first time trying a sweet wine so I wasn't sure what to expect but it was lovely! I was also trying Tiramisu for the first time and I want it all right now whilst I'm writing this please! Tiramisu means pick me up and this Tiramisu can pick me up any day of the week. It was just delicious!

Do you have a favourite wine? Let me know down below! 

There you have it, my opinions on the wine and food that myself and Michelle tried at Veeno Leeds - Wellington Place. Luke is doing his own post about the wine tasting so check it here when it goes up. Thank you to Michelle for taking the photos and joining us for the wine tasting. Thanks to the staff at Veeno Wellington Place for inviting us and putting on an amazing night.

Thanks for reading!
Jamie x

My 6 Favourite Festive Food Items

Hey!

As it is the week before Christmas, I thought that it would be the prime time to talk about my favourite festive food. Festive food only becomes socially acceptable once a year so shout about it whilst you can!

A stock image of a close up of some festive fairy lights, Image was provided free by Pexels. 

Stuffing! 

I love stuffing for many reasons but I love it as it can be served as a side dish or it can be served on its own really if you serve it with some sauce. Anything can be added to it and it makes it more flavourful. This can include anything from herbs and veg to things like meat. Stuffing is just so versatile and very tasty!

Pigs In Blankets.

There's just something about meat upon meat that screams decadence that can only be accepted at Christmas time. I just love how although these two components are from the same animal they offer something different to the palate that I cant really explain. The words that I'd use to describe pigs in blankets is mini magical presents.

Oranges.

I know that it sounds weird that I'm saying Oranges are a festive food but in my opinion they are. You stereotypically get Oranges in your stockings. I just think that the citrus hit in your Christmas food elevates it to another level whether thats savoury food or sweet food like chocolate.

Cinnamon Buns.

Cinnamon Buns might not be completely 'festive' but when I eat them I instantly think that I am warm and snug in a baggy jumper so I'm classing it as a festive food staple. I just love the smell of the sweet velvety vanilla pastry and the scent of Cinnamon wafting through the house as its so comforting. I love the creamy filling and the thick white icing against the pastry but I definitely think that these are only a festove treat and can only be eaten when I'm feeling cold yet cosy in the winter period.

Candy Canes (Anything That Has Peppermint In).

I used to have a bit of a candy cane addiction so to this day whenever I enjoy anything that is Peppermint based I instantly think back to those candy cane days. I love the Mint Hot Chocolate from Costa at the minute as its so minty and comes with an adorable little candy cane. I know that some despise Mint and Chocolate together but I love it!

Cranberries.

Cranberry sauce is an essential part of Christmas Dinner but I also love Cranberry juice and Cranberries in general. They add such a piquancy to whatever dish you're adding them to and they're great fresh, frozen or dried. I just love that sweet yet tart combination and the glistening red colour of them makes them irrestible to not devour!

What are your favourite foods to eat during this festive period? Let me know in the comments box below!

I hope that you are having a great festive period and if you aren't celebrating Christmas then I still hope that you have an amazing time from the 24th to the 26th of December. I hope that you come back soon to read another blog post.

Thanks for reading!
Jamie x

A Platter On A Plate | Food Roundup

Hey! I love food and thanks to blogging, I get to review and talk about some amazing places that serve delicious food so I thought that today I would group them all together and tell you about three amazing food establishments. The first one is Friends Of Ham. Friends Of Ham opened up on New Station Street which is inbetween the Train Station and Trinity Leeds in July 2012. FOH started out as a tiny ground floor bar with a 'secret' basement which grew in 2014 as they bought next door and made the establishment bigger to serve more customers. FOH are based on serving you good meat,cheese, beer and wine to the people of Leeds. We were invited to an event that celebrated Leeds International Beer Festival which meant that we got to try some amazing beers that complimented dishes such as Marcella with Paprika Potatoes and a fried Quails Egg and Chocolate and Raspberry Brownie with Chantilly Cream which was delicious! Myself, Luke and Michelle had a blast of time enjoying the different drinks and food and I think that Friends Of Ham is a great place to go when you want somewhere to meet up with friends or for when you want to go on a casual date with someone! Definitely take someone there if they love cheese, meat, beer or wine! Michelle took the pictures for this event. Click on her name to go to her website to check out her other photos.

Chocolate & Raspberry Brownie with Chantilly Cream

 

 

A lot of beer. 

The second place isEpicure. Epicure is a bar near the University Of Huddersfield and serves dishes that contain local things such as Cheeses or Meat and are well known for their selections of Gin. They are also known for their quirky meal names and is definitely worth a visit if you live or visit Huddersfield regularly. I dragged myself and Luke there and sampled some of the food, I had a Grumpy Goat Burger with Sweet Potato Fries and Luke had a different burger with a similar quirky name. I loved the contrast of spice and sweet within the burger and I loved how crispy the Sweet Potato Fries were. We were going to get dessert but we were stuffed and we had to get the taxi to the station and then the train home but I would definitely take a good couple of friends there for a delicious dinner and a good natter.

Last stop on the food train is MOD Pizza. MOD Pizza is an American based company that set up in shop in England earlier this year. They are slowly creating more stores within England such as one within London. They create great tasting pizza's that you can create/customise to your liking. They also create amazing thick creamy milkshakes with mix ins such as Oreo'and Mint Choc Chip. This week, Mod are are celebrating Spreading MOD which is where they will be donating £1 from every pizza sold and giving it to charity which is an amazing concept in my opinion as it's nice to see brands giving back! The Leeds store are donating their funds to Cash For Kids so if you're from near Leeds then I urge you to go to MOD Pizza to try out their food and to help a good cause! Have you checked out these places? Let me know down below! I hope that you have enjoyed this blog post and I hope that you have drooled over some of the food photos in this post. Come back next time for another blog post about some amazing things! Thanks! Jamie x

Buon Appetito! | Gusto Cookridge Menu Tasting

Hey!

I was invited to try out Gusto's new menu a while ago and I thought that I would finally talk to you guys about it.

Before visiting Gusto Cookridge, I had never visited a Gusto before which meant that I wasn't fully sure on what to expect when entering the establishment. Myself and Luke finally got to the building after an entertaining Uber ride and entered Gusto Cookridge in a rushed haze to find out that we were the first ones there... (Ah well!)

We were offered a drink and I went yes straight away as I drink like a fish. The wonderful staff at Gusto Cookridge served myself and Luke a Peach and Passion Fruit Daiquiri which contained Bacardi, Peach Liqueur, Fresh Passion Fruit, Lime Juice and Gomme. I loved it. I love Passion Fruit and things like that and it just screamed Summer on a Winter's night!

Peach & Passion Fruit Daiquiri

The starters then arrived. There were things like a meat and cheeseboard and other things but the favourite starter for myself was the Roasted Butternut Squash and Chickpea Salad. It was different but so delicious. I know that people think that salads are either just a side dish or are meant for Summer but they can be so versatile and can be carried on into the Winter months using seasonal produce.

The next round of food was all about Pizza and Pasta as Gusto's main influence is Italian food. I loved all of the dishes but if I had to choose a favourite Pasta and Pizza then I would choose the Seafood Linguine and the Florentina Pizza. I love anything that has seafood in and I love pasta so a Seafood Tagliatelie is an amazing dish in my eyes. The Florentina Pizza tasted delicious. It had an egg baked into the middle of it which sounds weird but it was so good and I will have to devour a Florentina Pizza again within the future.

Florentina Pizza

Mains time! I loved all of them! The fish dish which was a Fillet of Cod was lovely. It has so much texture going on just from the fish. I loved it but I think my favourite main would have to be the Fillet of Pork Saltimbocca. It was served with Sage and Tuscan Ham with some marvellous mash and Marsala sauce. I loved the soft texture of the Pork against the slightly thicker texture of the Tuscan Ham. The mash was smooth and delicious.

I then ordered another drink. This time it was a Raspberry and Rosemary Sling. This contained Monkey Shoulder Whisky, Disaronno, Chambord, Rosemary, Apple Juice and Lemon Juice, It was so refreshing but the Rosemary gave it a bit of depth.

Last but not least, it was time for desserts. Basil and Mint Pannacotta with a Plum Compote & Vanilla Cheesecake with Cherries. I'm not the biggest fan of pannacottas due to the texture of them but the Plum compote was so Autumnal and warm. The cheesecake was delicious and the Cherries cut through the richness of it.

That was everything. It was time to go so we said our goodbyes and ordered an Uber back to the train station.

Have you ever been to Gusto? Let me know down below.

Did you enjoy this post about Gusto Cookridge? I hope that you come back next time for another post.

Thanks!
Jamie x

Creating The Ultimate Pizza | MOD Pizza Cardigan Fields Review

Hey,

So like every other restaurant tasting, this one started with myself and Luke getting the train into Leeds. We decided to then get a train to Burley Park and then an Uber to MOD Pizza as I sometimes have a bit of difficulty locating where things are if I have never been there before so it just seemed easier to finally use Uber and get there quickly and safely.

Once we got to our destination, we were greeted by a great guy outside, we had a little discussion about things such as Disney and then we made our way inside. We were greeted by a host and the great guys behind the guys behind the counter which is an amazing feature in my opinion. It just makes the whole place feel more welcoming compared to any sort of Pizza place where you feel a bit uncomfortable because they write the food down, bring the food and thats it.

MOD Pizza is a pizza company that originally started within Seattle just like the very well known Starbucks did... MOD actually stands for Made On Demand and sums up the company very well because thats the concept of the pizzas. They're made on demand of yourself so you can have your pizza however you like it. At the same time of making the pizzas personalised, MOD wanted to make them affordable so families could come and enjoy a pizza and have a great time therefore all pizzas are £7.77 (I think... I know that they are £7 something.) You can even get them ordered which is amazing in my opinion. They have only just set up shot within UK via coming straight to Leeds but they will soon be setting up Brighton. I'm honestly expecting MOD Pizza to take the UK by storm.

We were then greeted by a woman called Celise who told us all about MOD Pizza and basically told me what I have told you above but in a bit more detail. We then chose a table, the manager of the new Leeds store then came up and said hi to us and then told me that I had somehow chosen the only dirty table in the restaurant and then cleaned it straightaway. I mean I chose there because there was a massive window behind me therefore any pictures would have a good chunk of natural lighting but hey ho I pick good tables!

We then discussed what we wanted because there is quite a lot of choice at MOD. Luke finally decided on a Caspian pizza but wanted one of the things changing (thats the great thing about MOD, you can have one of their already combo'd pizzas and change something if you don't like it or build your own) and I decided that I would build my own! Celise then asked if I wanted any milkshakes as I was browsing the milkshake board. I decided to go for an Oreo one as I love Oreos and I chose a Strawberry one for Luke.

When you go up to order your pizza, you are presented with a Subway sort of counter where you tell the person how many pizza's you want etc and then if you want to build your own etc, they write your name down and you move along to create your own pizzas etc. You're presented with sauce, cheese, meat, vegetables and extras. I went for a tomato sauce base because I wanted to let the toppings do all of the talking. I then went for lactose free cheese because I wanted to see what the cheese was like and because well me and lactose don't get on sometimes to put it politely. I then decided to choose Grilled Chicken, Bacon and Chorizo... I love Chicken, I love the crispiness of Bacon and I love the heat of Chorizo! I then decided to go for Roasted Red Peppers, Roasted Red Onion and Pineapple and then topped it off with Roasted Cauliflower and Asparagus. Yes, you read right! I also got some Garlic Strips with Ranch Sauce because I love garlic bread and Ranch sauce!

Making of pizza

The Garlic Strips came out first. They were amazing. They were topped with Parmesan which made them slightly salty but it was nice in contrast to strong Garlic. The garlic was pretty strong but I love it when Garlic Bread is extra Garlicky. I'm not sure why but I really do so it was amazing. The base was crispy on the edges but soft and served quite well as a starter/side. The Ranch sauce was to die for. It was slightly tart which cut through all of the garlic. The dip was also quite cool which contrasted really well with the hot temperature of the strips and made it quite refreshing to eat. If I was with a lot of friends then I'd order some drinks and a couple of these and just chat away.  These get a 9.5/10. The only problem is that I had to share them!

The drinks then came. They were amazing. If you go onto over to Luke's post (I'll link when its live) then you'll be able to find out more about the Strawberry milkshake! I had a little sip and I loved it and I'm not a fan of Strawberry flavoured milkshakes. The Oreo one was too die for! I love Oreos! Sometimes when you ask for an Oreo Milkshake they just sprinkle some oreo crumbs on top but this one had Oreo running all the way through it and as it had a Vanilla base it literally tasted like the cream and biscuit bit of an Oreo. I mean my stomach doesn't agree that much with dairy but oh my god I would have these again and again and suffer the consequences. 9.7/10. Anything Oreo based could always do with more Oreo added... There's never too much Oreo!

Luke's pizza came out and I had a slice because well it would be rude not to... I did go up and order it and I did make an adjustment to it (removing Blue Cheese and adding Bacon) so I wanted to see if my adjustments were a good move and they were! It was so good! The Chicken, Bacon and Onion together were just amazing and that BBQ swirl made it a tad messy but definitely worth it. I mean you might want to have a few napkins at hand for when eating this. 9.5/10. If you want to read a more in depth post about the Caspian pizza then go and read Luke's post.

My pizza came out! It was delectable! The base was soft in the middle but crunchy on the edges, you couldn't tell the difference in the taste of Cheese from the Mozzarella to the Lacto Free. The succulent Chicken against the crispy Bacon was so good and then the heat from the Chorizo came afterwards. It was a gentle heat which was quite nice! I love Pineapple on a pizza mainly because I love Pineapple. It worked well against the saltiness of the Bacon! The roasted peppers and onions added a bit of softness to the dish which was different. The Roasted Cauliflower was also slightly different. I would never think to put Cauliflower on a pizza but it really worked. It added a slight sweetness and again added that bit of softness to the crunchy Italian dish. The Asparagus added a bit of crunch. All in all a great pizza! 9.8/10. I like to not give anything a bang on 10 because theres always things that can be tweaked with.

I then had one of their homemade drinks. Celise was telling me all about how she had made the Strawberry Lemonade so I decided to go with that whilst Luke went for a Traditional Lemonade. The Strawberry Lemonade tasted like Pink Lemonade Lucozade but more zingy. You could tell that it had been homemade and that it was made with love. It just tasted like Summer within a drink! 9.8/10.

All in all, MOD Pizza serves delicious food and drink at a great price. The restaurant has a great vibe especially with the staff shouting hi and bye when you enter/go. I will definitely be coming back to have more pizza and a good few more drinks. (They also have a Coke shots machine so you can have unlimited drinks which is great for when its really warm or if you've got young ones coming along.)

If you haven't been to MOD Pizza within Cardigan Fields within Leeds then I would urge you to go straight away because it is completely worth it!

I hope that you have enjoyed this post! If you were to make your own ultimate pizza then what would be on it? Let me know down below!

Jamie x

Getting Down & Dirty | Smoke BBQ Leeds Event With Michelle

Meow!

Welcome to another blog post! I thought today I would talk to you guys about an event that I went to last week with Michelle and Luke. Yes, I bring Michelle along to most things when they allow me to bring a plus one because why not? She creates amazing photography, I get to share them on my blog and she gets to experience an ever amazing event with me so its a win win situation really. Anyways back to the blog post...

So, I was invited by the wonderful guys over at Smoke BBQ Leeds and their PR team for a night that would be unmissable where everyone would be getting dirty as the hashtag for the night was #GetDirty... Initially I thought that it was a spam email due to the subject being 'Jamie, would you like to #GetDirty which sounds a bit weird in my opinion but I am glad that I clicked on it and didn't instantly put into my trash folder.

So flash forward to the day of the event, myself and Luke met up with Michelle as she needed to get some photos developed, we then got onto the train,,, We realised the time and decided to tweet and email Smoke BBQ Leeds to ensure them that they knew that we would be a tiny bit late... We got into Leeds and rushed up to the Merrion Centre where Smoke Leeds is situated. We searched all over the centre and then ended up going into Costa to ask where abouts it was... It was next door, Yeah, you can imagine how stupid I felt once I realised that it was next door,

We walked into the lovely restaurant and looked about at its indulgent interior. A superb staff member came up to us and asked if we were there for the bloggers event. We said yes and then she escorted us to a booth where we plonked ourselves down. The same staff member came back and talked to us about the beers that we were going to be drinking. (Don't judge me but you know what I'm like with names... I remember there being one named something to do with Smoke which is quite fitting.) Luke had a Dandelion and Burdock and he said that it was nice and refreshing...

Michelle took many photos and then the food came round. I think that it is the Smoke Sharers Plate. This contains a lot of meat and when it came to the table I was shocked and pleased at the same time as there was so much meat! The chef came over and nearly brought another one over as there was three of us... Thank goodness that didn't happen in the end!

This consisted of Pulled Pork which was incredible! Smoky but sweet and I would eat a lot of it! Ribs. I love Ribs! I was a bit confused as these were ones that weren't covered in BBQ sauce but there was a bottle of Smoke BBQ Sauce on the table for pouring over and other things. The Ribs were massive, meaty and succulent! I loved them! Barbecue Turkey Legs. I rarely have Turkey unless it's Christmas so it was a nice different thing to have! They were crispy on the top which is why they were called barbecue but quite succulent. At first I was a bit confused at what they were but they were pretty good! Chicken Thighs. Okay so Smoke BBQ Leeds converted me to Chicken Thighs. Yes, they were that good! They were slightly crispy but succulent which was amazing as sometimes Chicken can end up being dry but this literally started falling off the bone as soon as you bit into it. Hot Link Sausages. I was a bit confused about this as I think they were boiled and I'm normally used to the general sausages that aren't boiled as such but they were pretty amazing. I was quite stuffed at this point so I only had a bit of the sausage but I think they would work really well in something like a Pasta Bake or such. Nigella did a Sausage and Halloumi Bake which I think these would work really well in. We also had Cornbread which was different. It was sweet but also had a bit of a kick to. I think that it was meant to go with the Pulled Pork but instead I just ate it on its own which I probably was meant to do but it was really nice! We also had coleslaw which was pretty good. I'm not a big fan of coleslaw but it was pretty good., It was creamy and decadent but had a bit of a bite to it which is what you look for within coleslaw.

We all chatted for a bit and then Luke asked Michelle to have a look at the desserts because why not?! At that very moment, a waiter came over and told us the trio of desserts. Myself and Michelle stopped him at Peanut Butter Cheesecake and went 'What?! Peanut Butter Cheesecake?!' He chuckled and went I'll get you one each so you can enjoy the Peanut Butter Cheesecake as Luke doesn't eat Peanut Butter and rarely eats Cheesecake... I'm not sure why either as them two things are heavenly! The desserts came over and they all were delicious. We had the PB Cheesecake which was sweet but bitter at the same time. It had the sweet base and top but in the middle was a salty but quite glorious bit of peanut butter which just contrasted amazingly and just made everything sing. I would eat it more than once if it was possible! There was also Smores. So I have to put my hands up and say that I have never had Smores before. I know what they are but I just never had them! The ones at Smoke BBQ Leeds were amazing. Nice doughy but delicious cookie with a slightly fluffy but slightly crispy from being blowtorched/grilled with dark yet decadent chocolate sauce. Just absolutely perfect and I now know why everyone loves it! The last dessert that we had was Chocolate Brownie. Now, I have had a fair few chocolate brownies within my time but this one was pretty perfect! It was rich and decadent but the size meant that you could eat it without being too overwhelmed. It was nice and I enjoyed it. It was pretty nice with the Pistachio Ice Cream that was on the side of it. The Pistachio Ice Cream was nice and cooling after all of the meat that we had. It had a bit of a nubbly texture which was good as it meant that there was a bit of texture to the smooth ice cream. It was a great dish to end an amazing night on!

Please don't forget to check out Michelle's photography as her photography is amazing as you can tell via this blog post but she is also a Peanut Butter Cheesecake as she's a little bit nutty and sweet at the same time! Michelle. Michelle. Michelle 

I hope that you have enjoyed this blog post and I hope that you have enjoyed reading about all of the delicious food that is on offer at Smoke BBQ Leeds. Have you been? Have you tried any of their food? Let me know down below in the comments section below! I can't thank the guys at Smoke BBQ Leeds and Approach PR for inviting me to the event and for providing so much delicious food and drink! I hope that you have enjoyed this blog post and I hope to see you next time for another blog post!

Check out the #GetDirty hashtag on Twitter to see more pictures and Tweets of what happened on the night!

Meow!
Jamie x