‘Ireland’s most honest food reviewer’ Paul_IsItWorthIt is on the hunt for a good Spice Bag outside of Ireland and his latest attempt saw him visit a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland
Paul dipping a chip in curry sauce (Image: Paul_IsItWorthIt/Youtube)
A Dublin food reviewer tried what he called “Ireland’s national dish” in Scotland – but it wasn’t the food itself he was floored by.
Setting out his mission, the content creator, known as Paul_IsItWorthIt, told viewers: “Boom, can you get a good Spice Bag outside of Ireland? We haven’t found one yet but today we are at North Palace – we are in Scotland.”
While our national dish may be stew, the Irish fast-food favourite known as the Spice Bag has become hugely popular and is a staple in Chinese restaurants up and down the country. Last year, Deliveroo revealed the Spice Bag Meal Deal from Xian Street Food in Dublin was the top trending dish in the land.
The average Spice Bag from a takeaway contains between 1,200 and 1,400 calories and it is made up of chips, chicken, fried onions and peppers and a “spice mix” of ingredients like salt, chilli, garlic, paprika, five-spice, sugar and MSG.
It is often served with chilli sauce or curry sauce on the side, and it is the latter that stunned Paul during his visit to North Palace Chinese takeaway in the Scottish town of Bellshill.
The content creator outside North Palace takeaway in Bellshill (Image: Paul_IsItWorthIt/Youtube)
After cameraman John placed the order, Paul told his subscribers: “£11.20 for a Spice Bag and curry sauce. Do I have high hopes? Not really.”
Opening the bag of food, he was impressed by the volume of chicken, noting that chicken balls were included. John meanwhile acknowledged that it looked “very different” to an Irish Spice Bag but it still appeared appetising.
He added: “I was chatting to your one in there and she was like ‘oh you’re from Ireland’ and I asked her why they do Spice Bags and she said she saw it online and she said ‘Why are you trying to compare them?’”
Laughing, Paul replied: “Yeah, I’m the Spice Bag expert. You wouldn’t find a bigger expert.”
The ‘spectacular’ curry sauce (Image: Paul_IsItWorthIt/Youtube)
Trying his food, he declared that the chips lacked enough seasoning for a traditional Spice Bag, before comparing the chicken batter to pancake batter.
However, opening the tub of curry sauce, he said: “Oh my, that curry sauce looks tremendous.”
After testing its thickness with a chip, he added: “It’s a banging curry sauce. Banging. Oh, that’s up there. The chicken you’re getting is a proper breast of chicken just cut up. That is made in house that curry sauce. That curry sauce is unbelievable. Unbelievable.”
Paul, who calls himself “Ireland’s most honest food reviewer”, continued to lavish praise on it, saying: “So peppery, so spicy, delicious. That is one of the best curry sauces I’ve had in my time reviewing curry sauce and it’s an absolutely huge tub, I’ve never seen one that big before.”
The Spice Bag in question (Image: Paul_IsItWorthIt/Youtube)
Finally, he said the Spice Bag itself was “not great” mainly because of the disappointment of the seasoning. He also said he would only recommend it if you got the “spectacular” curry sauce on the side.
But before giving his mark out of ten, where he considers taste, price and experience, John said: “Let me just say, all the videos we have done, that’s the best service we’ve ever got. Nicest person ever. Nicest person ever. Accommodating, everything.”
Factoring that in, Paul concluded: “I’m going to go 6.9 out of ten because the curry sauce is spectacular. The Spice Bag is not great.
“So, have we found a fantastic Spice Bag outside of Ireland? Not yet. But we have found an unbelievable curry sauce.”
A chicken ball coated in curry sauce (Image: Paul_IsItWorthIt/Youtube)
After posting the video, which you can watch here in full, one person took exception to the title, saying: “It’s popular with the 11pm-2am crowd but it’s not our national dish.”
Another said: “They use fresh chicken which is better than most Irish Chineses yet you’ll still probably rate it down.”
A third questioned the term “national dish” before one viewer replied: “It really is though like it or not. My kids eat it every week.”