Pies, macaroni cheese, scotch eggs - all iconic dishes that can be found on the food menu of any pub worth its salt. Add on a pint and some good company, and you have the perfect, comforting meal on your hands.
We've have all tried to recreate the plates of soul-healing beige food at home at some point, but - let's face it - the best place to be is in the pub.
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However, amid the cost of living crisis, going out for a meal is something many will be doing less often, but fortunately, M&S is on hand with their Gastropub meal deal for two.
Launched just last month, the newly improved best-selling range includes a selection of brand new starters, mains and sides that will get your mouth watering.
From Runny Scotch Eggs and a Steak and Chips Pie, it's clear M&S has outdone itself when it comes to innovation. The £12 offer serves two and includes a main, a side and a starter or dessert. This amazing-value deal carries a maximum saving of £7.50, so it's great for anyone who wants to save money.
The M&S Gastropub brand is Marks and Spencer's best-selling range of freshly-prepared meals so we thought we'd give it a go for ourselves to see if you can really have restaurant-quality grub at home.
When we went along to our local M&S on Princes Street the shelves were well-stocked with options so we settled on runny scotch eggs and mac and cheese 'bombs' for starters; a chicken, leek and smoked bacon pie and the 'best ever' mac and cheese as mains and finally some gastro greens and emperor carrots as sides.
Of course we couldn't not try the new Steak and Chips pie, which was harder to find as it wasn't with the rest of the range, so we grabbed one for a fiver (the dish is only meant to serve one person) in the hope it'd be worth the money.
All that was left to do was fling it all the oven over the next two nights and get to taste-testing.
Mac 'n' cheese balls
These were nothing short of pure cheesy heaven - they cooked super-quickly and as we lifted them out of the oven you could hear the cheese bubbling away inside. The balls came with a smoky chipotle ketchup which paired nicely with the starter and much to our relief, the mac and cheese was far from dry as it was packed with three different cheeses.
Stringy, oozing, golden goodness - we'd give these a 4/5.
Steak and Chips Pie
We couldn't not give the slightly-gimmicky pie a go - and we were torn.
This serves-one dish is made with slowly braised cuts of British beef in a rich ale gravy, layered with smoky tomato chutney and we could've eaten bowls of the filling.
The pastry and chips however... didn't quite do it - the chips (which were smothered in parmesan) didn't really add anything to the overall enjoyment of the dish - we'd rather just a big old flakey pastry pie stuffed with the same filling.
Runny Scotch Egg
On night two of M&S taste-testing (it's a hard gig), we tried out the scotch eggs as a starter which were delicious - albeit you had to watch their cooking time like a hawk. Ours came out just a little bit runny and no more - and that was with them being cooked for under the recommended time.
However, the sausage meat packed around the eggs was herby and packed a flavoursome punch - but after the night before's Mac and Cheese balls there was a clear winner in the battle of the starters.
Our Best Ever Mac n Cheese
This isn't just regular Mac n Cheese, this is Marks and Spencer's Best Ever Mac n Cheese - but just how good is it?
As we watched it bubble in the oven, we hoped for anything but bland, dry, supermarket macaroni. Fortunately, M&S pack this bad boy full of flavour - cheddar for richness, pecorino for bite, emmental for nutty sweetness and mozzarella for that perfect 'stringy' pull.
The top is covered with roasted garlic breadcrumbs, crispy onions and parsley.
Yup, you've guessed it - it was perfect and you could certainly eat this on its own with no side or starter. We added the Greens side, made up of peas, spinach, greens and samphire, which really finished the dish off nicely.
Chicken, Leek and Smoked Bacon pie
Often supermarket pies can go soggy once put in the oven, with the top burnt as the juices seep from the pastry below - resulting in a sorry state.
However, M&S's gastropub option couldn't have been further from the stereotype if it tried - it was creamy and herby with the smokiness of the bacon amplifying it all and made us want to curl up with a pint in the corner of a pub.
We couldn't get enough of this pie, it tasted like it had come straight from a pub's kitchen and we agreed that we would have paid for it in a restaurant it was THAT GOOD.
The final verdict?
Absolute hit. For £12 you'd struggle to get a pub dinner for two at even the cheapest boozer - and for those who can't afford heading to their local all the time, this is an absolute game-changer.
