Marks & Spencer’s latest Dine In range has launched today for just £10, offering shoppers a choice of 23 mains and 16 sides. To see whether the new dishes are worth the money, journalist Ellen Jenne tried some of them out
M&S has debuted a range of dine-in meals that have gone down a storm with shoppers.
With cash-strapped Brits resisting the urge to buy an expensive takeaway, treating yourself to a posh ready meal is a great way to keep your belly and bank balance satisfied. From today (April 24), Marks & Spencer has launched a whopping 23 new mains and 16 sides as part of its Cook Menu Dine In range.
Customers can choose one main and two sides for just £10 – which is only £4 more than the supermarket’s extortionate egg mayo sandwich. To see what dishes are worth trying, WalesOnline journalist Ellen Jenne had a banquet for two. Here’s what she thought.
Tackling the behemoth task took multiple mouths, all with different preferences and palates. For mains, we tried:
- Scottish Salmon All Butter En Croute, with a creamy white wine and watercress sauce.
- British Outdoor Bred Pork Schnitzel, with a lemon and garlic butter.
- British Duck Breast, with a soy, honey and chilli glaze.
- Hunters British Chicken Breast, with cheddar melt wrapped in British smoked bacon with a BBQ sauce.
- Seabass Fillets, with chilli and lime butter.
- Scottish Salmon, with cajun style sauce.
For the delectable sides, veg takes centre stage and we tried:
- Sweet Rosa Verde Salad, with tomato and cucumber.
- Fresh Potato Wedges.
- Mediterranean Style Roasting Vegetables, with a pesto dressing.
- Caesar Salad.
- Smashed New Potatoes, with a herby salsa verde drizzle.
- Carrot and Red Onion Roasting Tray, with a honey glaze.
While this is only a fraction of the entire range, the options on the table for your standard ‘meat and two veg’ were completely unrecognisable, but nothing felt out of place. Our bellies were ready to tuck in.
Most of the dishes required oven cooking, which saw me take part in a complex game of tetris to try and cook them all for their instructed times and be served together. Meanwhile, the British Outdoor Bred Pork Schnitzel needed just five minutes in a pan.
Cook times ranged from five minutes to 50, so if you’re looking for your dinner to be ready by the time you finish work at the end of the day, it’s certainly possible. Also, the minimal effort it takes to prep the dishes makes multitasking on other priorities even easier.
While we understand the vegetable takeover of Marks and Spencer’s sides, there appeared to be something lacking. With the Mediterranean Style Roasting Veg, the veggies themselves were underwhelming. The pesto dressing got lost in the mix, which was clearly needed to lift the flavour. Swap the sachet for a full packet, as the thicker sauce didn’t have quite the same impact as the runny honey glaze of the Carrot and Red Onion Tray.
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The carrots in the side were a marvel, however. By itself the silver tray visually looked boring, but none of us could deny that the honey glaze took the dish to another level. Sweet and sticky sauces were a triumph for many of the dishes, being able to douse all of the contents in a sea of sauce is how to elevate.
We all preferred the soy, honey and chilli glaze of the British Duck Breast to the duck itself. On its own with two portions of breast, the main was a little meagre. The dish needed another element to upgrade its excitement.
Our interest waned over the pork schnitzel. Pork can be such a polarising meat, so I was determined to cook it right. Although speckled with plenty of breadcrumbs, you don’t quite get the same experience you would in an Austrian tavern.
Schnitzel should be crisp and crunchy on the outside, but here, it was more soggy bread than crust. However, it’s not to say that we didn’t enjoy these dishes, they just weren’t on par with some of the others.
I asked my fellow testers to name their favourite mains, sides and a winning combo. Coming out on top across the board was the Hunters British Chicken Breast with Cheddar Melt wrapped in British smoked bacon with a BBQ sauce. Its sticky sauce complimented the sharp cheese, giving the dish a welcome battle of salty and sweet.
Other favourite mains included the Scottish Salmon with Cajun Style Sauce, a knockout for anyone looking to step outside the realm of bog standard salmon. Although a popular fish choice, sometimes finding a flavour – literally – ‘spice it up’ can render it bland. You won’t find that here.
My personal favourite was the Seabass Fillets with Chilli and Lime Butter. There’s something luxurious about the flavour a seabass emanates, evoking memories of beachside dinners on holiday in the Med. And for £10? Honestly, anyone would be laughing with glee at this deal.
But undoubtedly, our winners overall were the potato options. I don’t know how M&S did it, but it raised the potato game. I can happily report I have morphed into a literal couch potato.
If there could be one minor tweak to the potato wedges, I recommend adding a sauce pot to the side – much like the salsa verde for the new potatoes. A smoky chipotle ketchup or a garlic aioli? A condiment to elevate it one step further.
And let’s not forget the salads. For us there was no competition, the Caesar was the outright winner of the two. The Sweet Rosa Verde Salad was adequate, but once again, it needed a different element; a sauce, a carb component, a punch. Conversely, I understand why it also came without a sauce, leaving it up to the consumer to decide how they want to smother their salad.
The top 3 mains and sides:
- Hunters British Chicken Breast with Cheddar Melt and Fresh Potato Wedges.
- Scottish Salmon with Cajun Style Sauce and Carrot and Red Onion Roasting Tray.
- The Seabass Fillets with Chilli and Lime Butter and Fresh Wedges.
Will you be trying the new M&S deal? Let us know in the comments section below
