Fans of Toby Carvery have been rushing to Iceland to get their hands on the restaurant chain's first ever food collection, with many of the main products selling out across Merseyside. The range includes loaded Yorkshire puddings and other comfort food favourites.
With eight Toby Carvery locations across Liverpool and Wirral alone, the region is one of the biggest markets for the brand in the UK. The restaurants are known for cheap food, flexible portion sizes and a family-friendly environment.
I decided to pick up four of the eleven dishes from my local Iceland Food Warehouse to see if they could capture the experience of eating at a carvery in person. However, I was only able to get a small number of items because the two main products, the chicken and beef filled Yorkshire puddings, were completely sold out.
What I bought and how I cooked it
Instead, I went for the little pigs in yorkies, battered pigs in blankets, hunters pig in blanket mac and cheese and the slow cooked beef in roasties bake. Everything in the range was part of an offer of buy two for £8.50, pricing each product at £4.25, which wouldn't be a bad price compared to a meal deal for lunch.
All of the products can be cooked in the oven, with some being able to use the air fryer or microwave depending on how much time you have or what you prefer.
Little pigs in yorkies – 7/10
This little dish comes with a tiny Yorkshire pudding filled with gravy with a small pig in blanket on the top. I cooked the six little pigs in yorkies in the air fryer at 180C for 15 minutes as instructed on the packaging, but when they came out one thing stood out to me.
The gravy hadn't moved. One of the puds had even fallen over sideways and the gravy was still exactly where it was frozen, which surprised me. Upon biting into the Yorkshire pudding, I realised the thick gravy had a thick layer of skin over the top where it was cooked and not mixed.
The Yorkshire pudding was perfectly crispy, which when paired with the good quality pig in blanket and tasty gravy was a little circle of heaven. But I just struggled to get past the thick film over the top of the gravy which stuck to my teeth as I was eating it. Overall I'd rate the little pigs in yorkies a 7/10.
Battered pigs in blankets – 6/10
We've all heard of battered sausages, but mini battered pigs in blankets? It sounds revolutionary... right? I cooked them in the air fryer at 180C for 15 minutes and they came out golden brown - as expected.
Although they were crispy upon being eaten, and perfectly ok.. they didn't blow me away. The batter didn't really add anything to the flavour of the sausages other than being a different texture? Were they nice? Yes. Was there anything wrong with them? No. Were they anything to write home about? Also no. I think they would be lovely as part of a roast dinner for a change, but wouldn't be rushing back to rebuy them. I give the battered pigs in blankets a 6/10.
Hunters pigs in blankets mac and cheese – 2/10
When I first saw this in the freezer at Iceland, I was very intrigued by the name of the product - mostly because I couldn't even imagine the combination together. I cooked the dish in the microwave for eight minutes in total and it came out steaming hot and was easily mixed together.
It didn't look very appetising, but this is true for most ready meals and frozen dishes. The overpowering smell from the dish was the cheese, as expected, but when I took my first bite I was very confused. It was like there was a party going on inside of my mouth and my tastebuds just couldn't make sense of it.
The overwhelming taste was the sweetness from the barbeque sauce, which was fruity, with the saltiness from the pork, the texture of chicken and then the cheese from the pasta all coming through at the same time. I feel like there was just one too many flavours going on and the hunters chicken element of the dish was just a step too far. I rate the hunters pigs in blankets mac and cheese 2/10.
Slow cooked beef in roasties bake – 7/10
This dish was the first thing I saw from the range that looked right up my street. Although, I did mistake the crumb on the top for being stuffing instead of the cheesy breadcrumb it is advertised as.
This dish took a huge 55 minutes to cook in the oven, and smelt just like my mum's beef casserole after coming out of the oven. My first bite was one of the mini roast potatoes which was only half crunchy, due to the other half being submerged in the beef and gravy.
The potatoes were soft, but not as fluffy as I would have liked them to be personally. However, the rest of the meal had a spectacular flavour from the beef, gravy and carrots in the bottom. I also really enjoyed the cheese crumb over the top of the dish as it added a much deeper taste to the gravy and worked well with everything. I rate the slow cooked beef in roasties bake a 7/10.
Iceland itself posted about the new range last week, announcing that the new Toby Carvery dishes were due to launch on Tuesday (September 1) in Iceland and Food Warehouse stores. They wrote: "Toby Carvery is officially landing in Iceland and Food Warehouse stores from 1st September. Your favourite Toby Carvery restaurant meals are getting an Iceland twist."
