My husband and I often say that we will know when we’ve really made it in life, when we can afford to do our weekly food shop at M&S.

It’s said slightly in jest, but it does go to show how much we adore M&S food. (And I know we’re not alone.)

Recently M&S have opened a brand new spanking food hall locally to me, at Cortonwood in Barnsley and to celebrate, the kind team invited me down to have a look around and to try out some of their new dishes from the Autumn / Winter 2017 collection.

The store is really impressive and much needed (and appreciated!) here in South Yorkshire. The choice is incredible and I love the fact there is a cafe too. If you are local like me, please do pay it a visit, you won’t be disappointed! And now onto the food.

THE ITEMS

Here are the items I was kindly gifted to test and try out and here’s what I thought of them all.

From left to right:

• Chocolate Tart – Rich, indulgent and absolutely delicious! This tart will serve up to eight people comfortably and would be a lovely treat for a dessert. I served it with fresh raspberries and cream and it was an absolute hit in our house.
• Deep & Loaded Pizza, The Whole Hog – A really tasty new pizza offering that Jamie and I enjoyed tucking into on a Friday night. Topped with tomato sauce, three cheeses, smokey sausage, spicy pulled pork and ham, you simply drizzle on a BBQ sauce when it’s cooked and then enjoy! Perfect for a weekend treat and one the kids will love too.
• Prosecco – Ah, who doesn’t love a glass of Prosecco. Admittedly this isn’t the first time I’ve enjoyed a bottle of M&S Prosecco and I’m pretty certain it won’t be the last! Why? Because as Prosecco goes, you’ll struggle to find a nicer bottle. Light, crisp and refreshing, it’s a premium bottle that deserves to be enjoyed with pals.
• Spicey Chicken & Rice Bites – Unexpectedly delicious! I’m not really a lover of rice, but these little balls were really yummy and made a perfect starter.

• Tiny Taste Buds Organic Mighty Meaty Pasta – A little treat for Leo which went down, a treat! This is actually a stage 3 dish so aimed at babies of 10 months but even though Leo is a little younger, he found it easy to eat and seemed to love every single mouthful. As baby food goes, you can tell that it’s a high quality item.
• Taste Thailand Chicken Wraps – A Thai take on the legendary Chinese crispy duck and my favourite dish out of the bunch, by a mile! The kit features marinated chicken, spring onions, shredded carrot and pancake wraps with a Thai style sauce and fresh coriander and it is absolutely delicious. If you love oriental food like me, just buy it! This was so, so good.
• Teatime Cupcake Selection – This set of 9 mini cupcakes look beautiful and I love the fact that a percentage of the sale goes to charity (big brownie points for M&S here), however sadly this was the only food item that I didn’t enjoy. I found the three flavours – Coffee & Walnut, Blackcurrant Sundae and Cream Tea – far too sweet and a little sickly for my liking, but my daughter loved them.

Overall Verdict

As you would totally expect from M&S, the new dishes were, in the main, absolutely incredible and simply delicious. I’m sat here practically drooling just thinking about them all again and will be hotfooting it to my local M&S food hall for those incredible tasty Taste Thailand Chicken Wraps very, very soon.