Irish Hamper Paddy's day - ideas

pubpub

Hi family member is in australia and we would like to post over some irish foods/crisps/choc etc. apart from Tayto, king and Lyons any other ideas of what can't be got over there?

Crumble Froo

ok, not knowing what your family member likes, im just gonna make a list of what i wish people would send to me from ireland :pac:

yorkies, double decker, all things bassets, dime bars (i know they're not exclusively irish, but you can't get them easily here), fig rolls and all biscuits jacobs. club milks, ah the taste of childhood. red lemonade. i never really drank southy and red till i got over here, wanted to, and realised i couldnt.

hmm... duno how well it'd travel, but i do miss things like popcorn in a bag, wehre you find all the crisps, popcorn here seems to come in huge multipacks, or in microwave bags. crisps like skips, chipsticks, meanies, ghoulies, you just dont get stuff like that here.

that's all off the top of my head, but im sure there's more.

kmick

Paddy's day - 12 cans of harp and a burdocks. Kiss me I'm Irish t-shirt.

watna

If I was getting a hamper from home I'd want Marks and Spencers products, mainly Percy pigs. I know that's not Irish but that's what I'd like.*

Other than that I'd like Irish chocolate cos it's nicer. Curly Wurly's would be great and perhaps an odd crunchie bar. (you can get crunchie here but I've only seen curly wurlys in British shops). Galaxy chocolate would be nice too... or even better green and blacks hot chocolate!

Crisps are always popular. Cheese and onion is not a popular flavour over this part of the world so could be good.

Also, a company called McDonnells does chip shop curry powder. Apparently this is popular for homsick irish people who want drunken curry chips.


*mum, are you reading this?!

Crumble Froo

watna wrote: »

Other than that I'd like Irish chocolate cos it's nicer. Curly Wurly's would be great and perhaps an odd crunchie bar. (you can get crunchie here but I've only seen curly wurlys in British shops). Galaxy chocolate would be nice too... or even better green and blacks hot chocolate!

ooh, true. seen curly wurlys in non-british shops though. not sure where, but i do actively avoid the british shops (cos once im in there, it's really hard to stick to my principle of not paying $5/6 for a bar of chocolate). yes, good dairy milk and galaxy are sooooooo good. and a moro, just so you can show the kiwis that that's not a moro.

*mum, are you reading this?!

all this time people've been asking me what i want for my birthday, and ive said nothing... godammit. hamper from home! *slaps forehead*

why do i always figure this **** out too late?

myhorse

pubpub wrote: »

Hi family member is in australia and we would like to post over some irish foods/crisps/choc etc. apart from Tayto, king and Lyons any other ideas of what can't be got over there?

chef brown sauce

pubpub

thank you, thank you, thank you, great ideas esp. brown sauce and mcdonnells curry!

The Sweeper

I must've lived in England too long before I got here. I don't miss any of the food (apart from good quality sausages and rashers made the way they're made - well at least the bacon from Ireland, and a decent chipolata from the UK...)

What I *DO* miss is Marks & Spencer.

Sammag

I had a bunch of Irish and English mates over for Christmas dinner this year and decided to buy a load of Irish and English sweeties online for the laugh, stuck them into people's stocking etc.
This arrived one day in December... the gleeful smile that was plastered across my gob when I looked at it all would have lit up Melbourne for a week.



Then I discovered http://www.treatsfromhome.com.au in the CBD and lived in there for a week. They have every foodie item in there you could possibly desire from Ireland and England.

To be honest though, it's one of those things that you harp on about missing certain sweets and crisps etc. from home and then you taste them and you don't really know what the hell you were rabbiting on about in the first place. Double Deckers were a huge let down as was a Starbar - and I'd yearned for one of those for almost 2 years! :P
The only things that did taste as good as I remembered were Bacon Fries and Minstrels. :pac::pac::pac::

I don't miss much from home other than Marks and Spencers, decent sausages and streaky bacon.
I don't get the tea fascination as you can get similar stuff here and Taytos never did anything for me in the first place, they're too greasy.
However, credit where due - chocolate is better from Europe without a doubt but you get used to the stuff here fairly quickly.

crocadile dunde

when i was in oz a lot of people would of cut of there arm 4 a pack of johney blue fags

Crumble Froo

oh, fruit pastilles. i used to live on them and skittles (yes, my teeth hate me), and hobnobs! we dont buy biscuits over here, but i have had fig roll cravings a bit lately... and i had no idea we didnt have minstrels here, but just said the word to my fella as a test, and he said 'what about them?'... do you know what they are? ... 'yeah. the people who dance around for the king.'.

lolwut?

ha, i'd no idea.

but is this thread making anyone else really really hungry?

One Cold Hand

Crumble Froo wrote: »

oh, fruit pastilles. i used to live on them and skittles (yes, my teeth hate me), and hobnobs! we dont buy biscuits over here, but i have had fig roll cravings a bit lately... QUOTE]

You can get Hobnobs here. Awesome biscuits. You can get Jaffa cakes here, they're not quite the same as the ones at home, but they're pretty good. The fig rolls here suck big time.

Xavi6

+1 to Percy Pigs. The ma sends them over all the time.

The likes of Tayto, Lyons etc can all be gotten here so I wouldn't really bother with them. Chef sauce and that are much better ideas.

Sammag

crocadile dunde wrote: »

when i was in oz a lot of people would of cut of there arm 4 a pack of johney blue fags

They're the scumbag cigs aren't they? :P

Sammag

Xavi6 wrote: »

+1 to Percy Pigs. The ma sends them over all the time.

Green with envy.

watna

Sammag wrote: »

Green with envy.

I have an open packet in front of me! Nyom, nyom, nyom,

It's the last packet of the stash my mum brought over though. After this they're all gone. I found a NZ website that sells them though. They'll deliver them right to your door!

Sammag

watna wrote: »

I have an open packet in front of me! Nyom, nyom, nyom,

It's the last packet of the stash my mum brought over though. After this they're all gone. I found a NZ website that sells them though. They'll deliver them right to your door!

Link please!? *flutters eyelids*

Actually I found this site a few months back: http://www.britsuperstore.com/acatalog/Marks_and_Spencer.html
and nearly passed out with excitement. I sat there one Sunday filling up a huge online basket of food for Christmas - they pretty much will send you anything from M&S to Oz... Then I saw the shipping costs and did pass out.

Could be worthwhile if you got a pack of (very desperate and sad) M&S longing ex-pats together and shared the shipping $'s.

watna

http://www.bramptins.co.nz/

Pity the other M + S stuff is only jars of sauce. I want chocolate puddings and their handcooked crisps!

crocadile dunde

Sammag wrote: »

They're the scumbag cigs aren't they? :P

i dont know sweet heart i dont smoke;)

20 Times 20 Times

Minesajackdaniels wrote: »

I must've lived in England too long before I got here. I don't miss any of the food (apart from good quality sausages and rashers made the way they're made - well at least the bacon from Ireland, and a decent chipolata from the UK...)

What I *DO* miss is Marks & Spencer.

There is an amazing butchers in Prahan (*i think) that do irish Sausages.

20 Times 20 Times

Another company that i would recommend is tasteireland.com.au . Very reliable as well guys. check out the website.
http://www.tasteireland.com.au/

Ozeire

Sorry Sarge

hadn't seen your pots

They are a good company

20 Times 20 Times

Ozeire wrote: »

You could check out



See what they have to offer & if the prices are ok or not

did you not read my post at all

Sammag

Sarge wrote: »

There is an amazing butchers in Prahan (*i think) that do irish Sausages.

Do you mean in the Prahran Market? There are a few butchers in there that do decent sausages. Everyone was raving to me about a shop in Kew called 'Paddy's Meats' (or similar) seemingly he's an Irish butcher and does the best Irish Sausages in Oz. I tried them, they were rather naff and really nothing like the ones back home. Problem here is they use plastic casing on so many sausages here that you feel like you're biting into a section of meat filled garden hose.

dSTAR

Sarge wrote: »

There is an amazing butchers in Prahan (*i think) that do irish Sausages.

Do you know the name or where it is close to?

A Maltese friend told me recently that there is a place in outer western suburbs that sells black and white pudding and Irish/English snags. Its a bit of a jaunt though.

As for hamper ideas I would go sick in a sweet store buying all the ADD inducing yum yums I used to stuff my gob with when I was a kid. Put yourself in the head of a five year and think retro sweeties and chippies from your childhood.

dSTAR

Sammag wrote: »

Do you mean in the Prahran Market? There are a few butchers in there that do decent sausages. Everyone was raving to me about a shop in Kew called 'Paddy's Meats' (or similar) seemingly he's an Irish butcher and does the best Irish Sausages in Oz. I tried them, they were rather naff and really nothing like the ones back home. Problem here is they use plastic casing on so many sausages here that you feel like you're biting into a section of meat filled garden hose.

I thought it might be the market alright.

Haven't heard of Paddy's Meats but don't think I will be rushing in there after your description of a chomping into a garden hose like sausage.

Mobooo

Six back of druids and another of bulmers. Real fish and chips from a limerick fish and chipper. clonakilty black puddin. deny sausages. bacon and cabbage cant get baconlike home here. tea bags!!! cheese and onion taytos and salt and vinegar mmmmh i made a list the other day and i just cant find it

OHOHOH like 200,000,000,000 John Player!!!

I just turned this into what i miss, sorry its a little off topic some is relevant do

20 Times 20 Times

Another thing , The quiet man pub out in flemmington(sp) do irish bangers and mash. The also do proper bacon and cabbage even better then we get back home. Highly recommended , the chef told me where he orders the sausages place has slipped my mind though

writetojd

watna wrote: »

Also, a company called McDonnells does chip shop curry powder. Apparently this is popular for homsick irish people who want drunken curry chips.

You'd wanna watch the curry powder. A mate of mine was supposed to get a parcel sent over at christmas but it was returned to sender because of a few packets of curry powder. Sucks but the sniffer dogs must have picked it up or all the additives must have set something off.

Now if you while your sending stuff over I'd kill for a cheesey curry chips from Superscraps Supermacs.

Damn this thread just turned into a huge shopping list