New Yorkshire Pudding Wraps at Toby Carvery - are they worth the hype?

*This is a collaborative post

Toby Carvery has launched a brand new menu to accompany their famous roasts. Options include new Yorkshire Pudding Wraps, tasters and shakes. We were invited along to our local Toby at Shiremoor to put the new menu through its paces. There are good points and bad points in this review so I'm going to split it into sections to make it easier to digest. 

Toby Tasters 

I usually can't resist a starter and at the moment you can order 3 Toby Tasters for £5. We were looking forward to trying the blue cheese fondue which is a new addition to this menu but unfortunately, it was unavailable. A few of the other tasters were also unavailable so we finally settled on pigs in blankets, smoked bacon belly bites in maple syrup and lamb koftas. They arrived in no time. 

You absolutely cannot go wrong with pigs in blankets so no complaints there. However the bacon bites were very overcooked - so dry with no hint of the maple syrup glaze left. I wouldn't order these again. The lamb koftas were really nice and succulent and as lamb isn't normally featured on the carvery, I'd recommend this dish if you fancy a nibble straight away. 3 dishes for £5 isn't going to break the bank and there was enough for us to share between the 5 of us. 

Yorkshire Pudding Wraps

Yorkshire Pudding Wraps are priced at a reasonable £5.99. Our first impressions were that they were huge. Steve went with the full feast - beef, turkey, pork, gammon and mustard mayo. This is Toby's signature Yorkie Wrap. Served with a jug of gravy and a side of potatoes you certainly get a lot of meal for your money. 

It just didn't hit the spot with Steve though. Despite the jug of gravy, it was pretty dry and there was far too much mustard in the mayo that it heavily overpowered this wrap. Steve loves a bit of mustard and if it was too strong for him that's saying something. The yorkshire pudding also went cold pretty quickly. Steve said if we return he thinks he'd order the regular carvery next time as he also missed loading his plate with vegetables. 

Regular carvery

I ordered a regular carvery as I remember I loved it last time. This time was a little disappointing though. The meat was fatty and the roast potatoes were so hard they were inedible. Roast potatoes make or break a carvery for me and this time, they weren't good! The meat was also very fatty and not as nice as I remember from last time. 

Not what I want my Roast Potato to look like

There were some redeeming points though - the yorkshire puddings, mashed potatoes, gravy and vegetables were all lovely. 

Children's menu

First of all, let's get the bad points of the way. There are three starters on the menu and Heinz Tomato Soup was not available. I understand that big brands have ordering systems but it's so annoying when an item you can buy from any supermarket (and there's a large one not too far away) are not available. So the kids skipped starters and headed straight for mains. 

Jack was super happy with his sausage carvery from the carvery counter. As you can help yourself to sides, his dish was very substantial and super value for money. He cleared his plate and enjoyed every last bite. The yorkshire pudding and peas were his favourite.

Harry and Heidi ordered pasta which they also enjoyed - no sign of the accompanying vegetable crudites that are described on the menu though.  At £4.59 I find this dish to be pretty expensive considering it's meat-free and not made from scratch but the kids enjoyed it. Last year the pasta was served with garlic bread as standard but this is no longer an option
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Our bill was £48.50 for the 5 of us. I have to say I find this to be pretty expensive if I'm honest and Toby Carvery isn't the cheap meal out I once remembered. I would make a direct comparison to The Stonehouse (Astley Arms) just along the coast to Toby Carvery and say that when you compare the two, The Stonehouse offers better value plus has a play park. 

I hate writing negative reviews here as I want my blog to be a place of inspiration and recommendations but I'm afraid I can't lie either and this time The Toby Carvery received the thumbs down from us. It certainly wasn't helped by the fact that one of the chefs and waitresses decided to chat about their Friday night conquests over the gravy bowl as we were being served. 

I'd love to hear your recent experiences of visiting a Toby Carvery and if you've tried a Yorkshire Pudding Wrap - what did you think? 

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