After exiting the 91-motorway,  you can find yourself in a quaint little courtyard at the Villa del Sol center where a most unusual shop can be found.  Specializing in goods from the land of the Beatles,  Harry Potter, and James Bond, the British Grocer in Downtown Fullerton stocks it’s shelves full of British sweets and necessities.

Upon entering the shop, you’re greeted by shelves of sweets, tea sets, and the owner of the store, an old British lady whose voice made me smile and think of the memories of when I was in England. Seeing all of the different sweets and crisps (candy and chips for you Yanks) instantly brightened my eyes – I could see everything from crackers, curries, assortments of teas, and something  that I’ve always heard of and wanted to try – Marmite.

Jackie and I were instantly intrigued by the variety of items in the store and decided to buy some to try them out.

The first thing the Jackie and I tried were the Aero chocolate bars because they were the most familiar thing to us since they are made by Nestle. We each bought separate flavors: chocolate and mint.

So the thing about Aero bars is that they aren’t just regular chocolate bars. As the “aero” name kinda suggests, there are little air bubbles in the center which provides an interesting texture when bitten into or left to just sit in your mouth to melt. They are also seven pieces inside so you can share it easily with friends or just snap off and save the rest for later.

The mint Aero bar was the first one we tried. After I bit into it, I could taste the mint flavor. I felt  it wasn’t very minty and wished it had more.  Jackie was satisfied with it’s “mintiness” though.

The chocolate Aero bar was the one we both preferred. It felt like biting and chewing a chocolate cake. We both liked the texture as it felt a bit smoother than the mint bar.

The next thing we tried were “Tayto” crisps or chips for us in the US. We only bought one bag, but the lady working there gave us another bag for free! How nice :)

We got the Cheese and Onion flavor which kind of tasted like Lay’s Sour Cream and Onion flavored potato chips. Odd, I know, but that’s what we thought it tasted like. The crisps also had a different crunch to it’s American cousins. I can’t really describe it well, but when we bit into it and chewed it, we could feel a different texture.

Next thing we tried were “Revels,” which are chocolate covered candies. I can say that these little candies were FUN to eat! Since they are chocolate covered, you can’t tell which flavor you got until you bite into it. Flavors range from coffee and orange flavors, chocolate, toffee, or a raisin.

This was probably one of our favorite things that we bought and we really enjoyed eating it. How many other candies still give you a smile and an adventure when you eat them? Jackie and I would definitely get it again the next time we go there.

Next up was just called “Penguin.” We think. On the wrapper, it’s slogan was “Pppick up a Penguin.” And we certainly did pppick one up. It had a penguin themed joke on the wrapper as well, a la Laffy Taffy. OK, so who is a penguin’s favorite aunt? Get it yet? No? AUNTARCTICA! HAHA.

Jokes aside, it was just a chocolate cookie and tasted pretty much just like a regular cookie. Nothing really special about it. Both Jackie and I thought it didn’t have much of a chocolate flavor either.

The next thing we *tried* eating was candy called Sherbet Fountain. I say try because we had absolute no idea what to do with it. All it was was a paper tube with powder and a stick in it. The wrapper had no directions what so ever and after a few minutes we gave up and tried the next thing.

I got home, did some research and found out more about this candy. So it was a powdered candy – sherbet, and the stick was licorice. What you’re supposed to do with it was pull out the licorice stick, lick it, dip it in the sherbet powder, then lick it again – just like Fun Dip. It tasted OK trying to eating it that way as it gave a taste of licorice and the sherbet.

After a while, I got tired of dipping it in I simply just ate the licorice stick (which I didn’t like much because I don’t like licorice…ha!) and started eating the sherbet powder like a Pixie Stick. What really surprised me was that the powder foamed up in my mouth! What a surprise!

The next thing we tried was the Coffee Crisp, which is NOT British! It was pointed out to me on a flickr comment that Coffee Crisp is Canadian, and it sure is. Oh well. That doesn’t stop us from eating and reviewing it! (particularly since we already did. bwahaha)

The Coffee Crisp candy was simply were wafers with chocolate and coffee flavored layers, all covered in chocolate. It didn’t blow my mind, nor impress me much because both Jackie and I wished it had more of a Coffee flavor. We just couldn’t taste enough coffee to satisfy our tastes.

The last thing we tried was the Marmite. It’s the little jar with the yellow top and the label that says MARMITE on the lower right hand side of the picture.

When we were buying it, the lady in the shop asked us if we’ve ever tried Marmite (or Ma-mite as she pronounced it). I said no and she went on to explain how to eat it without throwing up. She said to put it on buttered toast ever so thinly, otherwise we won’t ever try it again.

She was right when she said that. We tried it a little bit and were met with a big savory flavor that definitely was not meant to be eaten alone. Marmite is yeast extract and is high in vitamin-B. It has a very strong and savory flavor (umami) – similar to soy sauce.

When I went home and tried it on toast with butter I loved it! I loved the saltiness and almost meaty flavor that it gives. I would recommend this to people if you like salty or savory food. The jar lasts a very long time, and it’s totally different from other foods we have here. Because it’s different, I can’t guarantee that you’ll like it though haha!

The British Grocer is an Orange County gem since it’s probably one of the few places if not the only where you can get some of these items. I don’t know of any other British importers yet so this would be my one stop for Marmite runs. I had a great experience going to the store, looking around, and then buying some things I was interested in. If you’re looking for things from Britain or just want to try new things, I’d definitely recommend you go and shop at the British Grocer!

I’m going to watch Top Gear and Dr. Who while eating some crisps and McVities. Oh how I love the Brits.

http://thebritishgrocer.com/

Check out the Gallery or click the pics above for full size views!

Villa del Sol Photo credit:Linda Hartman on Flickr

Sherbet Fountain Photo Credit: Atomicshed on Flickr

Up next: FISH AND CHIPS!