Brew and Brownie, York

Woolly hats, puffer jackets and breath in the air. Mulled wine scents on the breeze. The hustle and bustle with the shuffle of feet in a packed market place. It’s Christmas and the market is in town. Even if you’re not there to shop, to soak in the atmosphere is an enjoyment in itself.

Friends from further North join me to take it all in. We have food and coffee and hot chocolates. Browse the stalls, salivate over fudge and chocolate. Dream of gin filled nights from the various stalls and become mesmerised by the gifts that twist and turn and create patterns in the light. The artists draw the crowds. Pastry makers, light builders and homemade jewellery.

What has slowly become a common practice for myself while in town is to visit Brew and Brownie, as the name would suggest for Brownies. Their varieties range daily from Biscoff to mint, to rocky road and more. Stuffed cookies, flans and cakes also line the window tempting the passer-by’s in too. Their brew’s too are a delight if a little small. I’ve seen their Millionaire Shortbreads there before, but never bought one. Brownie was always the way to go, but change is good. Change is great, actually. Maybe even fanbloodytastic.

Now you’ll have to forgive me for not knowing the price of the slice. I’ll venture around the £3.50 mark but I’m not sure. I bought four cakes while I was there. Not all for me, might I add. As slices go it’s a chunky one at 90mm x 45mm x 30mm deep. 30mm of depth is substantial. For some slices this can be a complaint, but here, no, that was a much welcomed depth.

The layers were suitable even. The thicker chocolate balanced the layers though made for some oozing of caramel when biting in. But this wasn’t a problem when the chocolate tastes divine, and the caramel tastes like it was concocted in heaven, truly. I’ve never tasted better caramel. It was creamy, melts in the mouth, full of all the right caramel flavour. No artificial mix ups or stray ingredients. The chocolate didn’t dominate the flavour it balanced it.

As for the base, that stronghold of importance. Its very being to hold the layers aloft, was buttery and soft, borderline moist, it crumbled as shortbread should, not a mess, just silent, tiny crumbles. Its thickness gave you something to hold onto, even the caramel oozing doesn’t reach your skin.

This is the first caramel slice that I ever remember making me go ‘wow’ after the first bite. It smelt great, tasted fanbloodytastic and accompanied my cuppa to a tee.

10 out of 10. THE Best Caramel Slice. Go stuff your face with one, check out the York Christmas market and just soak in the atmosphere of Winter.

Merry Christmas.

GG’s, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

  

I did promise a long time ago that I would go to Newcastle and absorb all of their caramel slices and produce a wonderous amount of reviews. And then I never did. Shame on me.

However, hopefully, this one will be the start of that gooey, crumbly and sticky onslaught, but hopefully not all of the slices fit that description.

GG’s was not a planned trip, I had no intention of them being the first and merely happened upon the cafe based at the bottom, next to the entrance, of Cuthbert House, which I got to via a subway under the massive road that comes from the Tyne Bridge, I believe. 

It was half 8 in the morrow, the cafe was empty, and frankly it was too early to be eating a caramel slice, needless to say I consumed the slice this evening.

The slice was square measuring 6.5cm x 6.5cm and was 1.6cm thick.  And cost me a simple £1, which is bearable to, but I have had bigger ones for less. To give you a better understanding of the distribution of thickness, the Chocolate was 2mm, the Caramel 4mm and the Base made up the final 10mm.

I asked the woman behind the counter if she had any slices. She said yes and added “they sell quite fast” or something to that effect. Does that mean they are really good? Or does it mean they don’t make enough, or people are tasteless?

I’m not really sure, if I’m honest.

GG’s’ slice threw a mixed bag of flavours at my buds, and I couldn’t quite get to grips with what I was tasting. So much so in fact that the strength and ferocity of some part of the flavour stabbed violently into a taste bud and set a small cascade of liquid fall from my left tear gland. It was like I had just bitten into a chilli or something similar. I did eventually conclude that the taste that so rudely shouted upon the arrival of my gnashers fell somewhere in the regions of ginger. And yet the overall taste was only marginally affected.

Yes, the taste. The caramel flavour was vibrant and came from the most creamy caramel I have ever sucked upon. But the hint of ginger amongst a woody chipboard or MDF flavour was not likable. (No I don’t eat wood, but you know how you smell something and you can taste it too…however that works…). Any other flavour was of a plain/vanilla fudge present in all three layers of the slice. This whirlwind of flavours cast an unhappy eye over an unsettling verdict.

The base is shortcake with a digestive texture and taste that we have seen too often and usually I don’t respond greatly to shortcake. Though I really shouldn’t be too harsh, it is good, I just prefer shortbread.

As for the chocolate, well as I have said it’s thin and sugary and breaks up as fine as it tastes. Fine. 

Due to the consistency of the caramel, fingers became sticky on contact, but I wasn’t too bothered by this.

This slice has a tenacious rich flavour, it is too brash, too pronounced, too confused and too much like it was chopped up by an axe from an old oak tree. Nevertheless it deserves a good solid 6.0 out of 10.

 

It feels good to blog again. People ask,  “are you still blogging?” to which I reply yes, but really, I haven’t posted in quite a while. I’ll try do one a week, I will.