Tempura prawns
Marks & Spencer
Tempura King Prawns
£9.99 for 10, marksandspencer.com
Flavoursome, firm prawns; excellent, light batter; not too oily and seasoned very well. A great buy.
★★★★
Tesco
Finest Tempura Battered Prawns
£4 for 12, tesco.com
Crunchy batter encasing a nice meaty prawn. They're a bit oily.
★★★
Sainsbury's
Jumbo Tempura King Prawns
£2.25 for eight, sainsburys.com
Too much batter, with fake tempura texturing. Prawns split lengthways.
No stars
The Co-operative
Tempura King Prawns
168g, £1.99, co-operative.coop
Bland, oily batter. Another half-a-prawn-only trick – a bit mean considering it's Christmas.
No stars
Sausage rolls
Sainsbury's
Sausage and Apple Pinches
£4 for 12, sainsburys.co.uk
Great mix of puff pastry and nicely caramelised bits of sausage. The apple is very nice, too. I'd have these again.
★★★★★
Harrods
Mini Sausage Rolls
50p each, harrods.com
There's not enough meat in relation to the pastry here. Shame, as the meat is herby and well seasoned.
★★★
Tesco
Finest Cocktail Sausage Rolls
£2.50 for 20, tesco.com
The meat in these rolls is chewy and fatty. Pastry is average. Shame, as they're the prettiest of the lot.
★★
Marks & Spencer
Mini Sausage Rolls
£1.09 for six, marksandspencer.com
Soggy, bland and lacking in salt. The pastry, which claims to be puff, feels nothing like it.
★
Mini tarts
Forman & Field
Individual Quiche Selection
£16.95 for six, formanandfield.com
The salmon and leek one is delicious; the spinach fresh, well balanced; the bacon and onion well seasoned and rich.
★★★★
Waitrose
Cranberry & Cheese Filo Tartlets
220g, £4.99, waitrose.com
Pleasingly rustic and homemade. Filo pastry is nice and light.
★★★
The Co-operative
Mini Canape Selection
£1.99 for 12, co-operative.coop
Pastry is good and the tomato and chilli one has a good kick. The others are unremarkable.
★★
Tesco
Finest Mini Tartlets
£4 for 12, tesco.com
These are visually unappealing and don't taste much better. Pastry is dry like a biscuit.
No stars
