With the festive season fully underway, the Manchester Evening News team rated the UK's supermarkets Christmas dinners available in their respective café's. Amid the cost-of-living crisis, supermarket cafes are not the bargain food options they used to be, so here are the festive foods of Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Asda, Tesco and M&S reviewed.
Sainsbury's
Adam Maidment visited Sainsbury's Cafe, who offer a variety of festive foods, from turkey and vegetarian Christmas dinners for £6.80, a Pigs Under Blanket bap for £4, and treats like mince pies. Adam said his turkey dinner came on a crammed plate with turkey slices, roast potatoes, pigs in blankets, cauliflower cheese, Brusell sprouts, Yorkshire puddings, cranberry sauce, a stuffing ball and gravy.
On the topic of meats, the turkey was a little bland, and the pigs in blankets were basically mini cocktail sausages, with only one of the three wrapped in bacon. However the gravy was herby and thin and plentifully distributed, the potatoes were nice and crispy and the sprouts were surprisingly delicious.
Despite the plate being stacked, it was lacking in the advertised stuffing ball. The cranberry sauce was nice, although maybe too sweet.
A good effort, and it's clear they have tried to give the consumer plenty of trimmings on their plate.
Rating: 3.5/5
Morrisons
Bethan Shufflebotham took a visit to the Morrisons Cafe, whose Christmas menu includes starters such as prawn cocktail and Brussels pâté for £3.99 each and a tomato and basil soup for £3.49. A Christmas turkey roast costs £7.49, while desserts such as a Christmas pudding, Bramley apple crumble or sticky toffee pudding goes for £2.99 each.
The Christmas dinner made for an absolutely packed plate. The turkey was succulent, the carrots were soft and five Brussel sprouts were generous.
While the stuffing ball was overdone, the pigs in blankets were crisp. Morrisons also serve both mashed and roasted potatoes, with the earlier creamy and the latter crunchy. The Yorkshire pudding was a bit soft, but the cranberry sauce and well-distributed gravy were delicious.
The plate included generous portions and scrumptious gravy, so receives a full recommendation from Bethan.
Rating: 5/5
Asda
Asda was visited by Tom Molloy, who checked out their Christmas servings. The Christmas dinner, perhaps expectedly, has risen by 95p to £6.95, with cheaper options such as cranberry toasties (£4.25), pigs under blankets toastie (£4.25) and tomato soup with a roll (£3) all available, and festive treats like a mince pie (£1.75) and a Black Forest gâteau on offer.
Unfortunately the turkey was "limp and uninspiring", while the sprouts were very overcooked. The pigs in blankets were tasty, the stuffing balls had a nice meaty texture the Yorkshire pudding was crispy, and the roast potatoes were vastly improved.
Tom concludes that while the Asda dinner has vastly improved from last year, a carvery is of better value.
Overall rating: 3/5
Marks and Spencer
Dianne Bourne visited Marks and Spencer, noting that despite a bit of a queue, the quality of all on offer is worth the wait. Despite not offering a classic Christmas dinner this year, there is plenty of variety available in a turkey pot pie soup (£5.50) and turkey roast toastie (£6.50) as well as a rather bargainous pot of "festive" mini sausages on a bed of cranberry sauce (£1.50).
Despite costing a pricey £6.50, Dianne insists the turkey roast toastie was worth every penny with generously distributed turkey, buttered toast and melted cheese making for a perfect plate of food. She adds that the turkey pot pie soup was tasty, but the pastry seemed needless.
Overall rating: 4.5/5
Tesco
Tesco Cafe's turkey feast panini was completely outshone by the M&S toastie, according to Dianne. For £4.75 the turkey was dry, and the mixture of mayonnaise and cranberry sauce was odd, and while the "pleasant" panini bread was filling, Tesco's offering remained far from a feast.
The supermarket's redeeming factor was their festive Yorkshire pudding wrap for £6.25, with gravy, sausage, bacon, stuffing and cranberry all packed inside. Despite no turkey featuring, Dianne describes the meal as "delicious".
Thankfully Tesco Café redeemed itself with the festive Yorkshire pudding wrap (£6.25) served with some extra thick gloopy gravy (which is fine by me as that’s just how I like it) and it was delicious. It was packed with sausage, bacon, stuffing and cranberry - but rather oddly no actual turkey in there.
Overall rating: 3/5
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