KettlePop Popcorn

You may have noticed that I kinda adore snack foods, popcorn in particular.  Kettle corn and decent drizzled popcorns or savory spiced popcorn are just ... my weakness.

I've tried nearly every brand popcorn I can get my hands on, including packaged varieties and microwave ones.  I've found some that I have enjoyed, but none live up to the amazing Kettle Corn I found at the farmer's market in my hometown in New Hampshire.  Seriously, best. stuff. ever.  I've been known to stuff my suitcase with it when I return from visiting my family.  Or, um, check an extra suitcase full.  My mom, who might be a bit crazier than me, may or may not be known for sending me bags of it in the mail.  I'm sure the postage costs more than the popcorn itself.  Ridiculous, but ZOMG, I'm not really going to criticize her for it!

"Taste the flavor of our gourmet popcorn that is specially prepared over a fire burning kettle and cooked to perfection. It’s simply delicious."

Anyway, today's popcorn review is a packaged version, but made in small batches by a local Bay Area retailer: KettlePop.  They, like many, got their start at local farmer's markets.  Their popcorn is organic, non-GMO, they take pride in their sourcing, etc, etc if that matters to you.

KettlePop's signature flavor is kettle corn, but they also make a simple sea salt version.  They used to make a few others, including cheese, caramel, and chocolate drizzled, but alas, now it is just the two simple flavors. 

It isn't as good as fresh kettle corn, but it is better than a lot of the pre-popped varieties I've tried.

Individual Bag: Sea salt.

The popcorn is sold in 3 bag sizes, individual ones like this, or medium or larger share bags.

Organic Sea Salt Popcorn: 

I started with the basic sea salt.  It was ... fairly generic salty popcorn.  Not much to say here.  It ... wasn't stale, tasted relatively fresh, and had plenty of salt.  Very salty.  

But bo-ring, at least to me.  Like I said, I want decadent dessert popcorn, or if savory, it needs spices!  Or cheese.  Or something.

Organic Kettle Corn: 

This is not the best kettle corn out there, but it is a good mix of sweet and salty. Their abundant use of salt really helped.  The kernels weren't particularly well coated in sweet stuff though, at least, not quite as much as I'd like.

I give it a solid "not bad, but not great either".  Not worth going out of the way for it, but, it was good enough.

The Great British Ice Cream Company

 Oh ice cream.  How I love ice cream.  I eat it every day.  Literally.  At least once a day.  Rarely as a standalone dessert, more commonly as the topping or side along with my warm baked good, pie, crisp, crumble, cobbler, etc, or at least loaded with toppings as a sundae (exception: soft serve, that is intended to be a standalone dessert, in a cone, with sprinkles or dip!). 

Travel.  Another passion of mine.  Put them together, and I eat a lot of ice cream when I travel too, exploring brands and products not available in the US (Tokyo, by the way, has soft serve nailed.  Some of the best I've ever had, anywhere, in the world, in Tokyo (see my guide)!)

Anyway, during my trip to London, I spent most of my time seeking out sticky toffee pudding, served with clotted cream or custard, so didn't actually have all that much ice cream.  Plus, well, London weather wasn't exactly my kind of "ice cream weather".  That said, I did get my hands on a few mini tubs, from The Great British Ice Cream Company, in the ice cream freezer at my London office.

"This delicious ice cream is produced in the heart of the West Country using either British double cream or West Country clotted cream.   Eleven mouth-watering flavours are available in both impulse 120ml tubs or 5ltr Napoli scooping formats."

Well, it certainly sounded great.  Double cream or clotted cream as a base?  Count me in.  And with a name like "The Great British Ice Cream Company" how could I think otherwise?

Spoiler: not particularly great.  That said, my flavor choices were limited, I would have loved to try the clotted cream version studded with pieces of honeycomb, but alas, not in the freezer.

Strawberry & Clotted Cream.

"Strawberry flavoured dairy ice cream made with strawberries & West Country clotted cream."

The Great British Ice Cream Company is a wholesale company, but one that aims to look very local and unique, and I did think the packaging was cute.

I'd never pick strawberry normally, but again, limited options, so I tried it.

It was very rich and creamy, the cream quality was obvious, which I appreciated, but, strawberry just isn't my flavor of choice.  At all. 

Blackberry Ice Cream.

"Blackberry flavoured dairy ice cream."

Blackberry also isn't the flavor I'd pick, but, it is what the office had that day.

It was decent ice cream, fairly fluffy, if that makes sense, although not particularly rich and creamy. 

The berry flavor was quite strong ...  which just isn't what I wanted necessarily.  Amusingly, I do like black raspberry ice cream ... but only when soft serve, and only when in a cone, and only with sprinkles, and only when consumed in the sun.  So, uh, yeah, I have strong preferences?

I think this was quality ice cream, just not for me.

Heddon Street Kitchen, London

Most trips I take seem to settle on a culinary theme, even if I don't quite intend it to be that way. 

During my more recent trip to Tokyo, that became convenience store dining and milk soft serve (see my guide!).  In London, it was a quest for sticky toffee pudding.

My quest began, totally not intentionally, on my Virgin Atlantic flight, where I actually really enjoyed the sticky toffee pudding served with dinner.  Sticky toffee pudding isn't a dessert that we see much of in the US, so I wasn't particularly seeking it out or noticing it when I was doing research on restaurants, but somehow, it just kept coming back to my mind.

So, the first night I was in London, a dragged a group to Hawksmoor, for cocktails and sticky toffee pudding.  It was highly mediocre, even though the internet had told me it was "the best" in town.  The next night I took a break to seek out "the best" bread pudding (which I certainly did not find at The English Restaurant), but the following two nights were back to sticky toffee pudding at Tibits (vegan versions, which I really liked the first night).  Another quick break from sticky toffee to try out mince pie from Pret a Manger (yeah, not a winner), and I was ready for more.

I did more research.  And my research lead me back to Heddon Street Kitchen, which was already on my list for other reasons.  Like ... being a Gordon Ramsey restaurant.

Heddon Street Kitchen is a casual place, with a menu full of Gordon Ramsey classics.  I really wished I was able to visit with a group so we could get the very famous beef wellington, but, alas, they only serve it for 2 people, it is very pricey, and takes 45 mins to prepare.  The fish & chips is also well known.  As is ... yup, the sticky toffee pudding.  Hence, my visit. 

#adultLife.

I ventured there as a solo diner, mid-week.

I had a really great time.  I had a savory snack, a good cocktail, and of course, the pudding.  Everything was good.  Not great, but certainly good, and certainly better than similar things I had on the trip.  Service was friendly but my server was kinda clueless.  Overall, just, quite enjoyable.

I'd like to return to try more of the "real" food.

Setting

Exterior.

Heddon Street Kitchen is located on ... Heddon Street, a small almost-alley off of Regent Street, right near Piccadilly.  It looks calm and peaceful here, but, the hustle and bustle is not far away.

Like all the restaurants on this street, they have a large outside seating area, which still makes no sense to me given that it was always "freezing" to me outside.  But, then again, the outside areas were usually filled with a least a few patrons, all who seemed to value being able to smoke over being warm.

Interior.

Inside is the main restaurant, a wide open space.  I think that there is an upper floor as well, but I didn't explore.

My Personal Bar.

The bar was a small space that could seat about 4 people, but it wasn't really set up to have diners.  Adjacent to the bar are a few low tables that were occupied, but the host asked if I wanted a bar seat (since I was alone) and I said sure.  So he re-arranged some stuff and suddenly a comfy bar stool emerged.

It was kinda fun to have a personal bar.

Bathroom Shrine?

I only review bathrooms when they are particularly interesting.  I think this one counts?  Sure, the wood paneling, the artwork, the unique oval design were all novel enough on their own, but, uh, there was a framed Gordon Ramsey in the middle of it all.  Which is ... um ... yeah.  No comment.

Food & Drink

Negroni. £10.

To get started, I wanted a cocktail.  I was given a cocktail menu with a slew of interesting sounding drinks.  I asked my server (who wasn't actually a bartender, which I didn't realize at first) for a recommendation, saying I wanted gin or whiskey or tequila, and not sweet.

He started suggesting drinks, which really seemed like he was just throwing a dart at the page.  The first one he suggested was rum based (recall, I said gin or whiskey or tequila ...).  The next one he suggested, leading with, "its very sweet, but ...".  Um ... thanks (again, I said *not* sweet ...).

In the end, I ordered one of the special cocktails, the "Twelve Monkeys", only to find out they were out of an ingredient.

I gave up, and just asked for a negroni.  I thought the orange accents would pair nicely with my upcoming dessert.

The negroni was well made, a classic.  It also seemed to gain me some cred with assorted members of the staff, several of whom stopped by saying, "a negroni? Nice. I like your style.", and similar things.

Triple Cooked Chips. £5.

Because I didn't want to jump *right* into dessert, I went for something savory to start. 

The bar menu had a few interesting sounding nibbles, like salt & pepper squid and 'nduja stuffed gnocchi, but when I tried to ask my server about them, he was fairly clueless.  A theme.

I know people really respect the fish & chips at Heddon Street, and although I wasn't quite up for the full order, I figured just the chips would be a safe bet, available as a side.

The chips arrived very quickly.  They were piping hot.  I had to slow down, and kept almost burning myself on them.

They were very classic, very good chips.

Thick, large chips.  Very crispy exterior, fluffy interior.  Greasy for sure, you can see them glistening, but not gross.  They didn't seem particularly seasoned though, as in, not salted?

Still, far above average, and much, much, much better than the chips we had a Hawksmoor a few nights prior.  I was a bit surprised to find them under-seasoned however, that isn't the Gordon way!

Triple Cooked Chips w/ Ketchup & Tartar Sauce.

The chips don't normally come with it, but I asked if I could order tartar sauce to dunk them in.  It seemed to be no problem, and I wasn't even charged for it.

I was also provided ketchup, a cute personal Heinz.  That is one way to solve the annoying ketchup bottle problem!

It turned out, I liked the ketchup more than the tartar sauce with these particular chips anyway.  The tartar sauce was fine, creamy, herby, probably amazing with the fish, but with the chips it didn't quite compliment it.  Turns out, simple ketchup worked great.

Sticky Toffee Pudding w/ Clotted Cream. £6.50.

But I was really there for one thing really: sticky toffee pudding.

At this point, the assorted staff were pretty amused by me.  "Sticky toffee pudding and a negroni? You are awesome", said one woman as she walked by.  "Sticky toffee and a negroni?  Sounds like my kind of night!", said another.  Hey, I know what I like and what I wanted, ok?  No need to pretend otherwise.

So, that pudding.

It came served warm, a large square of slightly spiced cake, smothered in sauce, in a bowl with plenty more to lap up.  The plating with the clotted cream off to the side was a bit strange, and I wondered if it was supposed to be on top and slid off?

Anyway, it was good.  Not amazing, and I honestly think I liked the version on my flight even more, but much better than the Hawksmoor version, and better than the Tibits versions.  Ok, yes, I consumed a lot of sticky toffee pudding on this trip.

The cake could have used more spicing, could have been more moist, but the toffee sauce basically masked all of that.  The toffee sauce was good, sweet, almost too sweet, but I dunked nearly every bite in more sauce.

Overall, good.  A warm bite, with plenty of toffee sauce and a bit of cream was a nice thing.  But just nice, not ground breaking.

Aftermath.

The sticky toffee pudding was a large serving.  There was sooo much of that toffee sauce.  It was certainly meant for sharing.  But ... I was alone.  I couldn't let dessert go to waste!

And, uh, I didn't.

Dessert @ The English Restaurant, London

On previous trips to London, I really enjoyed some of the food.  On this trip though ... not so much.  Not sure why, but I was really let down, and really dissatisfied.

When I'm food-grumpy, I turn to desserts, er, puddings.  The British are known for some good desserts, like sticky toffee pudding, bread and butter pudding, and mince pies (which, were in season!).  I went one night to Hawksmoor to obtain what I had read about as the best sticky toffee pudding with clotted cream and ... found it highly lackluster.  The one on my Virgin Atlantic flight was better.  I went to Borough Market and had what I had read was the best mince pie from Konditor & Cook.  Again, meh.  My hotel in Sydney had better!

It was also "freezing", at least for me, so all quests for cold desserts were out.  Which left one more item to seek out the "best" of: bread and butter pudding.  This one I could certainly get behind, as I adore a good bread pudding (as we know it in the States).  The internet pointed me at one place that said they no longer carry it (so glad I called ahead!), with The English Restaurant, near Spitalfields Market, in a close second place.  Boring restaurant name aside, I decided to seek it out, even though annoyingly far away.

Interior.

The restaurant is family owned, and is housed in a super old building.  It is cozy and quaint, and seemed like a locals sort of place.

I had no trouble getting a table for one in the white tablecloth restaurant, although I could have chosen to just eat in the bar area as well.

Menu.

I was also still kinda on a quest to find good sticky toffee pudding, but, the bread and butter pudding is why I was there, so, I barely glanced at the menu when it was provided.  The single page menu also had all the sides and mains as well.

When I told the server I was there for the bread and butter pudding because it was supposed to be the best, he told me that they have a table that comes every morning, a group of 10 friends, and they only get the bread pudding.  For breakfast.  This seemed like a great endorsement.  I was in.

Dumbwaiter!

My dessert was prepared quickly, and emerged via a dumbwaiter, which was novel and amusing to me.  This place had character at least.

Bread and butter pudding with custard. £7.50.

And ... here it was.  A hunk, served in a pool of custard.

It was ... ok.

I will back up and say that I like a certain style of bread pudding.  I like it moist and custardy, which, this was.  I like it warm, which again, this was.  But I like a crispy top, and distinct chunks of bread, which this wasn't.  In the UK, if you order "bread pudding" it is often a dense slice, definitely not the style I like, so this was closer to the style I like, but missing a few key elements.

The pudding was pretty bland, just plain bread, with a few juicy raisins.  I kinda liked the raisins, mostly because they were ... something.  But the pudding ... very bo-ring.

That said, the custard was great.  Sweet, creamy but thin, vanilla-y.  I easily polished off all the custard.

I probably could have just gone to the grocery store and bought some custard and called it a day?

I wouldn't return obviously.

McDonald's, 100% Fresh Beef Burgers

Yes, *that* McDonald's.  I've covered McDonald's before on this blog, including the basic burger/fries/nuggets and sundaes, the slew of ridiculously sweet beverages from McCafe, and the decent holiday McFlurry.  I've reviewed the unique offerings in Portugal, like the McBifana, and even in Paris (hey, don't knock the Croque McDo! I really did like it!).

But somehow I failed to publish this review, written when I was invited as a guest of McDonald's at their remodeled San Francisco location, as a special media guest to preview a very massive change they were about to make nationwide.

Yes, flash back to 2018.  It is in 2018 that McDonald's changed everything with the way they did all their burgers, bringing fresh, rather than frozen, beef to their restaurants.  Cooked to order.  It may not sound that interesting, but, I assure you, there is so much more to McDonald's operations than you can ever imagine ...

Special Media Preview - April 2018

The nationwide roll out of the new burgers will be complete by May, but many locations already have them.  I was invited to a media preview, and behinds the scenes kitchen tour with some other bloggers, in mid-April. 

It was a ridiculously educational experience, not just only about the new burgers, but about many other aspects of the business, and really thought provoking in just how much work goes in to making such a large scale change as this (and, all day breakfast before that).

100% Raw.

Since this was a media preview, they had fun touches like balloons.  100% fresh beef!  Got it!

New Burgers.

And behold, the new burgers!

No, they don't come plated on slabs of wood like this, or with vegetable garnish outside the burger itself.  This was a marketing setup, but, the actual burgers seen here are real and legit.  These are not fake.  The new artisan buns are that shiny!

The two shiny ones are two of the new Signature Crafted series, the sesame seed bun in the back is classic Quarter Pounder, updated with the new patty.  All Quarter Pounders will use the new patties.

New Grills for Raw Beef.

The new burgers are cooked on entirely separate stations from the frozen patties, not only for cross contamination reasons, but also, because they are cooked entirely differently. 

I was able to watch the entire process.

Fresh Beef Cooking!

The fresh beef requires a different temperature grill than the frozen patties, or anything else on the menu.  But to make it fast, it is McDonald's after all, they cook from top and bottom simultaneously rather than a traditional open grill.

Finishing Station.

The topping station also needed to be changed out, with some new additions (like aioli, soooo fancy!).

The part of this tour that was really fascinating was learning about the timing, and the lay out, how it is just uber optimized for ridiculously fast and streamlined burger production.

We were given the opportunity to watch it all unfold, and then try ourselves.  I assure you, none of us came even close to the ridiculous fast times that their amazing workers actually pull off ... consistently.  Or at least, they aim to.

Garlic White Cheddar Burger.

"A medley of crunchy garlic chips and smooth, flavorful garlic aioli, crisp iceberg lettuce, a juicy tomato slice and melty white cheddar cheese. With a 100% fresh beef 1/4 lb. patty that’s cooked when you order, so it’s hotter and juicier every time. Served on an artisan roll."

And then it was time to try the burgers.

I went for one of the three new Signature Crafted burgers, Garlic White Cheddar.

My other options were the Pico Guacamole, which I clearly couldn't have since I'm allergic to avocado, and the Sweet BBQ Bacon, with bacon, grilled onions, crispy onions, sweet onion BBQ sauce, and white cheddar, which sounded like great toppings, I just wasn't convinced I wanted them with my beef patty (they are also available on the crispy chicken, which sounds like a way better match).

Thus, Garlic White Cheddar it was.  And I'll admit, I mostly got it because I was excited about aioli and garlic chips.

Customized Garlic White Cheddar Burger.

I slightly customized my burger, opting to leave off the tomato slice (I know they are fresh, but, high end tomato this is not), and adding on pickles, because, um, I love pickles?

My burger came in a standard McDonald's box, and pretty much looked like, well, a McDonald's burger.  Until I dug into it.

Inside the Top Bun.

First, the bun.

While perhaps not truly an "artisan roll" as advertised, it was significantly more interesting than the standard McDonald's bun.  Fluffy, shiny brioche-like even.  I'm not a bun girl, but, I give them kudos for the improved look, and taste, of the bun.

Perfectly grilled on the inside too.

Toppings.

Next, my toppings.

The iceberg shreds were pretty standard, and the pickles were regular McDonald's sliced pickles (that I really like!), but everything else was quite unique.

The "crunchy garlic chips" likely were crunchy when added originally, but they did get soft from the heat of the burger, and being adjacent to sauces/melted cheese.  You can kinda see them on the very top against the bun here.  They were super flavorful, an a fun new component to be able to add.  I love my crunchy elements!

The cheese was a real shocker, white cheddar, really nicely melted.  Like, perfectly melted.  When do you get actual melted cheese at McDonald's?  And the flavor was a bit more developed than the normal McDonald's yellow cheese slice.  Certainly a keeper.

Next, garlic aioli.  I love creamy sauces, so this was something I was excited for.  It was indeed flavorful, strong garlic flavor, just like the garlic chips.  With those two components together, there was no doubt that this was a garlic burger.  My, uh, breath knew it for hours later too.  My one complaint though, even though I really adore aioli and slather it on generously myself, is that this had too much.  It did dominate the taste, and made it hard to taste anything else.  Look at all that aioli!

The Patty.

Like, the patty!  The most innovative part of the burger, after all, right?

The patty really, truly is entirely different from the McDonald's patties you know (and maybe love?).  It was seared on the outside, a slight crust.  It was juicy.  It tasted more like, uh, beef.  The texture was better.   It is still a thin-style patty, and you can't customize the level of cook on it, so it is still clearly fast food, but, everything about it really is greatly improved.  They really are innovating fast food burgers.

My overall burger was enjoyable, but, I didn't get to really enjoy the better beef patty this way - too much aioli, too much garlic, too much bun ... the beef was entirely masked by the other components.  My evaluation was only possible because I deconstructed it to taste each element individually.

So if you really truly want to taste the new patty, you should likely opt for the basic quarter pounder.  Perhaps go for the white cheddar instead, but beyond that, you don't really need to add in the sauces and new toppings.

But you really should try the new patties.  They are different.  I promise.

March 2019

I'm not really sure what inspired me to visit McDonald's a year later, but, I did, and I decided to take my advice and just go for the classic Quarter Pounder, with cheese, with the new, now standard, fresh beef patties.

This was a more traditional McDonald's experience.  The staff were unfriendly, the burger lukewarm and poorly assembled, but at least it was made quickly?  I ... wasn't impressed.

Quarter Pounder with Cheese.

"Each Quarter Pounder with Cheese burger features a ¼ lb. of 100% fresh beef that’s hot, deliciously juicy and cooked when you order. It’s seasoned with just a pinch of salt and pepper, sizzled on a flat iron grill, then topped with slivered onions, tangy pickles and two slices of melty cheese on a sesame seed bun."

The classic.  The Quarter Pounder with Cheese, or QPC if you please.  My burger of choice waaaay back in the day.  But now, with the fresh beef.  When I opened the box, it definitely brought back nostalgia.

As far as I can tell, all other ingredients remain the same - it still uses the classic bun, not the artisan ones introduced with the custom burgers, and the same basic toppings.

Quarter Pounder with Cheese + Extra Pickles + Extra Slivered Onions + Shredded Lettuce.

I did add extra pickles and onions, since I always like them, and choose to add on shredded lettuce too, because I had appreciated that in the fancier burger.

My burger came without lettuce, and when I questioned it, showing the order that said "Add Lettuce" quite clearly, the burger was taken away, and a handful added inside.  Uh, thanks?

The lettuce was fine, classic shredded iceberg, and I liked the slightly crispness and freshness it provided.

Inside Top Bun.

The bun was ... well, a bun.  Not fresh, not fancy, and not nearly as shiny as the artisan buns.  Definitely a step down.  It was nicely grilled on the inside though.

The ketchup and mustard were applied to the top bun, but ketchup as only on half, mustard on the other half, so I had to swirl them to get both flavors in a bite.  Not the best construction.

Toppings.

As I said, the lettuce was unceremoniously added on after the fact, but it is clear the other toppings weren't exactly lovingly applied.  The pickles were all in a pile on one side, about 5 of them.  Not sure how many is normal?  I still liked the pickles, but they did lose some of their past magic. 

The onions added a sharp harsh flavor that I liked against the ketchup, mustard, and cheese.

Patty & Cheese.

And finally, the burger patty, with a slice of cheese on top and on bottom.

The burger was about as I remembered from my first fresh beef encounter.  Definitely better than I remembered from McDonald's of my youth, but not a juicy burger, very thin, and well done (as in, fully cooked).  Again, good char on it.  It was lukewarm however.

The cheese was just American, and it was fine, but it was only melted in some places, lots of unmelted cheese remained.  Not sure if this was construction or the cheese type, but the previous burger with the white cheddar did much better in this regard.

Overall, this was ... well, a McDonald's burger.  I was disappointed by the serving temperature, really barely warm, which was odd for a made to order item.  I was saddened by how poorly put together it was, not that I expect McDonald's workers to take pride in the burger assembly ...  and, well, I didn't really like it much.

Pretty sure I won't be getting another for many years.