Emma Iceland launch new Asian snack food range: Cafe Asia
Launched in November 2015, the Cafe Asia range includes chicken pakora, samosas, lamb wraps and a selection of kebabs and more. Available in 500 Iceland stores nationwide, we were asked to give them a taste and see how we liked them.
We picked Onion Bhajis (20 pieces for £2); Chicken and Lamb Seekh Kebab Selection (20 pieces for £8.50); Chicken Pakora (20 pieces for £1.50) and a couple of wraps Chicken Tikka Wrap (£1.00) and Lamb Seekh Kebab Wrap (£1.75).
Each box contains just the items themselves so make sure you have some salad, dips and condiments on hand. We recommend a squeeze of lemon on the bhajis and we concocted a dip of mayonnaise and sumac for dipping them into it.
The bhajis were small and could be devoured in one mouthful but they were full of flavour and ideal finger food size so perfect for buffets and parties. They held together well considering they had been frozen. We would buy these again.
This kebab selection would not only be perfect for a summer BBQ but they’re als a handy frozen mid-week dinner for the summer months. It hardly took any time to cook them. The spice mix was strong and extremely moreish. The price seems a bit high, however you do get a total of 20 kebabs so again we’d buy these again.
We were disappointed with the chicken pakora. They were extremely small in size and we think they forgot the chicken! We thought it was falafel as they tasted more like balls of gram flour mush! However we do like falafel so all was not lost!
Finally the wraps. These can be cooked in both microwave and oven. We choose to cook them in the oven.
20 mins cook time in foil for a crisp wrap containing lightly spiced meats. They were pretty tasty and a bit like a burrito (wrong continent?!) the fillings were firmly encased in the wrap making these easy to eat street food style. They’d make an ideal snack or lunch alongside a salad.
Do these things ever look like the “serving suggestion”?!
Overall, we thought the Cafe Asia items we bought provided good value for money food for snacking, parties or lunch/dinner. The range is available in Iceland stores nationwide now.
Fred sez his mum and dad got vouchers to buy these to try them at home but all opinions are genuine.
