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The distinguished members of TATTGOC sure do love their curry, as evidenced by their rather outdated title of Curry Lovers Of The Year 2010. But their ongoing quest for spicy satisfaction isn't merely limited to TATTGOC's regular excursions to some of Glasgow's hidden-gem curryhouses. If they happen across almost any curry-related foodstuff, Trampy and The Tramp feel compelled to take it for a spin – and thus was born the irregular feature Tastin' With The Tramps. So what spicy product is in the hot seat this time? Why, it's the Duke Of Delhi range of snack mixes, since the Duke himself was kind enough to send us all three varieties! (With a bit more planning, this particular Tastin' session could have taken place with TATTGOC's own royal founder member The Duke, but alas, it was not to be.) On with the snacks!


The Product: A recent addition to the competitive snack market, the Duke Of Delhi range of mixes puts some oomph into the old-fashioned Bombay mix of 1970s dinner party by revamping the ingredients – this is "Delhi mix", remember – and adding some moreish extras. As you can see from the pic above, there are extra nutty, chocolate chunk and orange variants, although the base mix generally remains the same across the range as far as we can tell. TATTGOC first came across the Duke Of Delhi on Twitter, which led us to the website.

Enter the time tunnel of snacks ...

The Pitch: From the attractive Duke Of Delhi website: "Our Delhi mix is inspired by the indian street snack 'Chevdo', sold in special places such as New Delhi train station, where the incoming Rajdhani express train sees hundreds of commuters run off to buy this tasty snack before their train leaves without them. Our range uses only authentic Indian ingredients and flavours, infused with a zing of the British spirit." It's also worth noting that one of the company's mantras is "ideas from India, made in Surrey".


The Packaging: The DoD range comes in sturdy tins, with colour-coded labels for each flavour. The sans-serif font has something of the Keep Calm And Carry On about it, but there's also a lovely silhouetted illustration of an exotic caravan of travellers, presumably munching on Delhi mix as they continue on their journey. The elephant pulling a carriage isn't just there for decoration – Duke Of Delhi is donating 7% of all profits to the Elephant Family charity, which is safeguarding Asian elephants and their habitat. So what did Trampy and The Tramp (plus guest tasters The Bulldosa and Rabbie Shankar) make of the snacks? Which will be the favourite?

The Bulldosa and Trampy ponder the snacks of life

Trampy says: "I love savoury snacks and while I was surprised that this tasted more like crisps than anything particularly exotic, although they are very tasty indeed, and also very moreish. I've never been into mixing fruit with my snacks so I wasn't mad keen on the orange variety, but the nutty mix was right up my street, while the chocolate chunk variety worked better than I thought it would. I agree with Bulldosa that it would be nice to have some sort of super-spicy edition but maybe that's something they could tackle in future."

The Tramp says: "I think they look good, like the sort of product you'd get it in Waitrose or Wholefoods. People seem to be down on the orange but I'm starting to find it quite moreish. It’s very peely, and actually feels quite Christmassy. It just takes a while to get into it. I’m not sure what business advice I could give, but customers for this sort of premium product love the idea of authenticity, so if there was a way of highlighting authentic ingredients the mixes are based on, that would be good."

Rabbie Shankar says: "I’m a fan of the old-school crispy Bombay mix with fried noodles and hard lentils, and I think I was expecting a bit more of that texture – this is a different kind of thing. I think the biggest surprise for me was the chocolate one, it's obviously been made with really good chocolate. What I’d really like to see is a chocolate version made with chilli chocolate, I think that would work."

The Verdict: Among the judging panel, the chocolate chunk flavour was declared the winner, even if The Tramp mounted a spirit defence of the orange variety. The panel all agreed that the packaging was excellent, and while everyone seemed to crave a little more spice, it should be remembered these are seasoned currynauts always trying to test themselves rather than the genteel dinner party guests who are presumably the target demographic. All in all, it was a thumbs-up from the panel for Duke Of Delhi, bt if you'd like to try them for yourself, head over to the online shop. There you will see they also do an intriguing range of biscuits in some very interesting-sounding flavours ... but that might be a Tastin' for another day.

Do you have a curry-related foodstuff you're launching into the crowded modern marketplace where a recommendation from appropriate enthusiasts might help? If so, drop us an introductory line at trampyandthetramp@trampyandthetramp.com and see YOUR product featured on ... Tastin' With The Tramps!

PREVIOUSLY CONSUMED ON TASTIN' WITH THE TRAMPS 
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Seabrook's Desi Curry Crisps!
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Mongoose, Aboot The Hoose!
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The Pot Noodle GTi! 
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The Pot Noodle Fightback!
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The Nation's Noodle!
Mr Singh's Bangras!