I have to be honest. I have never been to a Harvey Nichols store. In fact, I thought Harvey Nichols just sold curtains and blinds! I don't know why I thought this, but for some strange reason, this is what my mind associates with Harvey Nichols. So, I was quite shocked when a colleague brought these into the office to sample. I was even more shocked to find out how much they cost and that Harvey Nichols is quite a posh store! You'll have to read on to find out more.
Presentation - 8
These are tiny. I could give it good try fitting them all in my mouth in one go! Lets start with the box. It is certainly different. Rather than having all 12 mince pies laid out on a tray, they have decided to stack them in layers of 4 and place them in a clear plastic cube-shaped box. While it certainly lacks any sort of Christmas connotation, i'm still drawn to the originality of their presentation.
Okay, so onto the mince pies themselves. They are minuscule. Much smaller than your average mini mine pies. The pictures are deceptive, but I would estimate that each mince pie is about 1 inch in diameter and the same in depth. Each mince pie looks well cooked and some even appear to have the filling oozing out of them. I hope this means they are well filled! The lack of decoration on the mince pie is obvious, but for pies this small, it's not really worth it.
Nutritional Content & Price - 2
These would have probably scored well on the nutritional front due to their size, but the lack of any nutritional information is disappointing. The mince pies themselves are not even on their website! However, I did discover mince pie popcorn and mince pie syrup in the process of searching, which look interesting.
At £5.95 for that box of 12, you may think is reasonable, after all, there is 12 in there. I don't think so. I would estimate that it would take at least 3 of those mince pies to make just one regular mince pie. Not great value for money.
Pastry - 30
It was difficult to get a good bite out of these. I felt like I had to have a nibble in order to get the inside photo below. However, the pastry itself is fantastic. It is a perfectly crumbly shortcrust pastry, oozing with butter. It is not too sweet and not too thick all around. Almost perfect. However, I could have done with more. It's just so small!!!
Mincemeat - 10
This was a major let down. There was barely any inside. The little that was present, was chewy and a little hard in places. They obviously had to use smaller vine fruit, but even then, you get about 4 pieces. There is just not enough mincemeat to get a decent mouthful to taste all the flavours. I could have opened up a few of these mince pies, scooped together the mincemeat from them all and try that. But I shouldn't have to do this. The taste should be in each mince pie, not if I shoved 3 of them in my mouth in one go.
Overall Satisfaction - 5
If I had bought these and they were labelled as shortcrust biscuits, I would have been very pleased, as the pastry is really nice. It is just a shame that these are mince pies, with a lack any mince in the pie. They may have been better with more mincemeat, but we'll never know. At the moment you are eating a sweet shortcrust pastry pie with a slightly chewy center.
Here are the scores from my fellow mincers;
Tester 1
Presentation (8) Nutritional content & Price (6) Pastry (30) Mincemeat (20) Satisfaction Level (7)
Tester 2
Presentation (7) Nutritional content & Price (4) Pastry (25) Mincemeat (20) Satisfaction Level (6)
OVERALL
62.7 / 100
Look at where these fit in on our leader board.
(Don't forget to follow us on twitter @TheMincePieBlog and on Facebook)
Presentation - 8
These are tiny. I could give it good try fitting them all in my mouth in one go! Lets start with the box. It is certainly different. Rather than having all 12 mince pies laid out on a tray, they have decided to stack them in layers of 4 and place them in a clear plastic cube-shaped box. While it certainly lacks any sort of Christmas connotation, i'm still drawn to the originality of their presentation.
Okay, so onto the mince pies themselves. They are minuscule. Much smaller than your average mini mine pies. The pictures are deceptive, but I would estimate that each mince pie is about 1 inch in diameter and the same in depth. Each mince pie looks well cooked and some even appear to have the filling oozing out of them. I hope this means they are well filled! The lack of decoration on the mince pie is obvious, but for pies this small, it's not really worth it.
Nutritional Content & Price - 2
These would have probably scored well on the nutritional front due to their size, but the lack of any nutritional information is disappointing. The mince pies themselves are not even on their website! However, I did discover mince pie popcorn and mince pie syrup in the process of searching, which look interesting.
At £5.95 for that box of 12, you may think is reasonable, after all, there is 12 in there. I don't think so. I would estimate that it would take at least 3 of those mince pies to make just one regular mince pie. Not great value for money.
Pastry - 30
It was difficult to get a good bite out of these. I felt like I had to have a nibble in order to get the inside photo below. However, the pastry itself is fantastic. It is a perfectly crumbly shortcrust pastry, oozing with butter. It is not too sweet and not too thick all around. Almost perfect. However, I could have done with more. It's just so small!!!
Mincemeat - 10
This was a major let down. There was barely any inside. The little that was present, was chewy and a little hard in places. They obviously had to use smaller vine fruit, but even then, you get about 4 pieces. There is just not enough mincemeat to get a decent mouthful to taste all the flavours. I could have opened up a few of these mince pies, scooped together the mincemeat from them all and try that. But I shouldn't have to do this. The taste should be in each mince pie, not if I shoved 3 of them in my mouth in one go.
Overall Satisfaction - 5
If I had bought these and they were labelled as shortcrust biscuits, I would have been very pleased, as the pastry is really nice. It is just a shame that these are mince pies, with a lack any mince in the pie. They may have been better with more mincemeat, but we'll never know. At the moment you are eating a sweet shortcrust pastry pie with a slightly chewy center.
Here are the scores from my fellow mincers;
Tester 1
Presentation (8) Nutritional content & Price (6) Pastry (30) Mincemeat (20) Satisfaction Level (7)
"Disappointed!"
Tester 2
Presentation (7) Nutritional content & Price (4) Pastry (25) Mincemeat (20) Satisfaction Level (6)
"Expensive and not enough mincemeat."
OVERALL
62.7 / 100
Look at where these fit in on our leader board.
(Don't forget to follow us on twitter @TheMincePieBlog and on Facebook)
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