Mince Pie Survey 3: Lidl Rowan Hill Bakery

I dont like Lidl, I worked with them for a while and dont do my shopping there due to their frequently reported mistreatment of staff. You dont hear the same kind of news about Aldi and as a result if I want cheap stuff Ill go there instead. That said they do a good mince pie (purchased not by me but a friend) and consumed at their lovely Christmas party.


Value(3): €2.49 for 12, at half the price of the Dunnes ones this is seriously impressive and its a large enough number to fill a crowd or one very hungry mince pie eater.

Filling(.5): The filling was a bit disappointing. It was terribly sweet but not very fruity. At the stage of night when I had this mince pie I had consumed quite a few very sweet Caipirinhas and Mojitos so I can imagine these would feel like they were rotting your teeth something terrible if you were eating them on their own. No sign of suet or booze taste. At this price though you probably wouldnt want them to taste of booze.

Pastry(2.5): The pastry worked well on this one, it was nice and buttery and held up to a microwave blasting (which is rare enough in some of the pies I have tasted). I didnt get to examine the box so cant tell you how high butter content it was but it tasted fairly buttery. Downside again here was that the pastry was a tad sweet. Im about as unlikely to complain of something being too sweet as it being too sunny outside (never in this country) so heed these words.

Packaging and design(.5): Bit of a bland box from what I googled but the mince pie had a lovely little sprig of holly design on it (along with the cream and mint from my good friend Hoggie). The mince pies themselves werent massive so it will lose a mark there. Then again they are such good value you could just have 2 (or 12).

Total: 6.5. I didnt get to taste these cold and didnt have a full review of the packaging so my mark may be slightly off but overall a good result for Lidl. Now if they could just be a wee bit nicer to their staff.