Which Greggs staples are foodie TOM PARKER BOWLES’S favourites…
It’s been a superb week for Greggs. Not solely has the excessive road stalwart posted a 27 per cent enhance in annual income (and shared the love, by way of bonuses, with their workers), nevertheless it’s additionally knocked McDonald’s off the British breakfast high spot, too.
In truth, plainly Britain’s most beloved baker can barely put a foot mistaken.
Cheap and handy, with many shops opening as early as 5am and never closing until 6pm, if you happen to needed you possibly can eat breakfast, lunch AND dinner in a Greggs.
With almost 2,500 shops within the UK (almost 1,000 greater than McDonald’s), you’re by no means too removed from a steak bake, sausage roll or bacon butty.
And if you happen to can’t be bothered to maneuver from the couch, Uber and Just Eat will ship all of it to your door.
Tom Parker Bowles checks out Greggs, ‘purveyors of pure unpretentious pleasure’
They’re innovators too, masters of promoting and PR – introducing pizzas, salads, and flatbreads to the bakery staples.
What you received’t discover is uncommon breed sausage rolls, sourdough pizza or artisan croissants. But that’s a part of its enchantment.
Greggs are purveyors of pure unpretentious pleasure, a spot the place fingers by no means wag, diets are by no means talked about and your straightforward repair of salt, fats, sugar and carb-based delight is handed over with a smile and at a really affordable value.
Here I choose Greggs’ high ten hits. Food snobs, be damned!
Bacon roll £2.90
The Greggs bacon roll – a real excessive road hero
Now it is a correct bacon roll. None of that sourdough nonsense, relatively a comfortable white bun, lavished with butter, and full of a beneficiant mass of oven-cooked bacon. The meat is properly carried out, the fats crisp. And whereas it’s not the highest quality I’ve ever tasted (I doubt it comes from the happiest of pigs), there’s a number of it. Anoint with an amazing splodge of crimson sauce (not brown, you heathens) and you’ve got one of many nation’s nice bacon rolls. A real excessive road hero.
4/5
Sausage roll £1.45
The sausage roll – a Greggs icon that tastes damned good
If you’re on the lookout for some hand-crafted, artisanal magnificence, then transfer swiftly on. The pork is affordable and virtually definitely not free vary, whereas the puff pastry is first rate, relatively than spectacular. But that’s not the purpose, as it is a Greggs icon, and for good purpose too – it tastes damned good. The meat is properly seasoned and the pastry has precisely the appropriate stability between crisp and golden, and a bit of soggy on the within. A traditional Seventies sausage roll, the type we devoured at birthday events, alongside Hula Hoops and heat orange squash. Make certain you get ’em heat.
4/5
Steak bake £2.40
All hail the steak bake, completely engineered fast-food artwork
Now we’re speaking. Because this isn’t simply the crowning glory of the Greggs menu, a gloriously meaty masterpiece, however one of many nice British snacks, full cease. Slow cooked beef, wealthy and deeply flavoured, encased in probably the most winsome of golden, flaky puff pastry parcels. Just just like the McDonald’s cheeseburger, it’s a wonderfully engineered piece of fast-food artwork. In truth, I discover it laborious to cross a Greggs and never cease for a slice. All hail the steak bake. For actually, we’re not worthy.
5/5
Tuna crunch baguette £4.15
The Greggs tuna crunch baguette – recent, clear and never overly cloying
There’s no stinting on the filling, though the tuna (which truly makes up solely 25 per cent of the components) has been mushed right into a barely disagreeable paste. And I may do with out the items of crimson pepper. Really, what’s the level of crimson pepper? But I liked the uncooked crimson onion, sprinkled generously on high, and there’s a good acidity too, from a superb squeeze of lemon. The bread isn’t dangerous both.
In truth, I’d fairly fortunately eat this once more. It feels recent, and clear, and never overly cloying. A extremely respectable baguette.
4/5
Yum yums £1.75 for two
Yums yums – one chunk results in an empty field
Basically, a contemporary model of what we used to name ‘sticky willies’. Better often known as the iced bun. But if you happen to’re after cloyingly candy, sugar-glazed twists of soppy dough that style great on the time, then go away you full of remorse and a pounding sugar headache, yum yums hit the spot. They’re not delicate, however do precisely what they are saying on the packet. Beware although. One chunk leads, in a short time, to an empty field.
4/5
Southern buddy hen goujons £4.10
Greggs hen goujons – if you happen to purchased them at Waitrose, you would not be upset
The hen could also be low-cost, and the coating not the crunchiest, however these are literally fairly good. You get 4 first rate sized goujons, created from breast meat. The coating is properly spiced, and there’s even a good nudge of chilli. If you obtain these at Marks and Spencer or Waitrose, you wouldn’t be too upset. If you discovered them in a service station, you might even give a quiet cheer.
3/5
Mexican hen flatbread £4
The Mexican hen flatbread – nearly as good as something at Pret
Wow, I used to be actually impressed by this flatbread. There’s a good whack of chilli, a smoky chipotle burr, and it’s beneficiant on the filling too. It’s most likely my favorite of all of the Greggs sandwiches I attempted. And nearly as good, if not higher, as something at Pret.
4/5
Sausage and omelette breakfast baguette £4.10
The sausage and omelette breakfast baguette – eminently edible
Well, you definitely get bang in your buck. Three chipolatas and three wodges of omelette, all crammed into a wonderfully first rate baguette.
Admittedly, the sausages style extra of salt than the rest, whereas the omelette slices are so stodgy and strong they may very well be used as constructing insulation. But cowl the entire thing in sufficient tomato ketchup (and Greggs do use Heinz), and it’s eminently edible. As is so typically the case with Greggs, it’s greatest to take the dish at face worth. And not look too deeply into its constituent elements.
3/5
Pepperoni Pizza £2.75
Greggs’ pepperoni pizza – college pizza to its very core
The final time I tasted pizza like this was a couple of many years again, after I was nonetheless in shorts, racing across the playground taking part in kiss chase. It’s college pizza to its very core, however not with out some fundamental enchantment. Especially the crisp, burnt bits of cheese on the edge.
Once once more, you get an amazing wodge of pizza for below £3. OK, so it’s principally very dreary, spongy base. And whereas the cheese is affordable, it’s no worse than Dominos or Pizza Hut. There are 4 slices of pepperoni, which truly style superb. And I think about, this nice wodge of stodge could be excellent with a raging hangover.
3/5
Jam doughnut £1.15
Greggs’ textbook British doughnut, comfortable, squidgy and barely damp with a giant squirt of splendidly synthetic raspberry and apple jam
Once once more, Greggs handle to whisk me again to my youth. Because that is the textbook British doughnut (versus the fresh-fried fairground ring or the flashy Krispy Kreme), comfortable, squidgy and barely damp, sprinkled with crunchy granulated sugar, and full of a giant squirt of splendidly synthetic raspberry and apple jam. The overwhelming sweetness is tempered by nostalgia. One for British doughnut purists in all places.
4/5
