Four Viral Kitchen Gadgets Put to the Test: Pancake Maker, Olive Stuffer, Monchi and a Foam Generator

Introduction

Every so often a batch of kitchen gadgets takes over social feeds, and this round covers four of the most requested: the Bodum BISTRO Pancake Maker, the Barconic Olive Stuffer, the Monchi lunchbox utensil, and the Duebel Molecular Gastronomy Foam Generator. We tested each one against its own marketing claims to see which are genuine gems and which are shockers.

The short version: one gadget dramatically overpromises, one is charmingly niche, one is sillier than it looks but oddly effective, and one quietly does exactly what it says. Here is how each of them performed.

How We Test Kitchen Gadgets

For every gadget, the same three questions apply: is it easy to use, does it reduce the washing up it claims to replace, and does it actually do the core job? Each product was tested with real recipes and real ingredients, weighed out properly, rather than with a demo-perfect setup.

That matters, because most gadgets look flawless in short-form social content where someone has already dialed in the perfect ratio and recipe. Straight out of the box, most of them need a bit of getting used to.

Bodum BISTRO Pancake Maker: Big Promise, Loose Delivery

The Bodum BISTRO Pancake Maker looks like a cafetiere had a baby with a hand mixer. It is an all-in-one batter mixer and dispenser with volume measurements on the side, an internal whisk assembly, and a hand crank to mix and dispense in one motion. Bodum, a Danish company, promises you can forget the pile of tools and the pile of washing up that usually comes with pancake morning.

In testing with an American fluffy pancake batter, the concept showed cracks immediately. The whisk does not reach the sides of the jug the way a whisk in a bowl does, leaving large pockets of dry flour around the edge and, crucially, in the bottom. The batter dispensed slowly and unevenly, producing pancakes that were irregular in both shape and size with unincorporated flour pockets inside. On thick batters, it genuinely struggles.

The picture improves with thinner batters. Crepe batter would flow far more freely through the dispenser, and the contained, mess-free approach starts to make sense there. The marketing itself hints at the gap: Bodum’s material shows a loose batter dispensing smoothly, while the pack shots show thick American-style pancakes. The two do not match.

The verdict on the claims: combining mixer and dispenser in one compact tool, technically yes but not well; a smooth batter, no; ideal for kitchens with limited space, no, it is just another bulky single-purpose item. At an RRP of around £30, roughly twice what most people would guess, it sells a promise and creates more hassle and mess after pancake making than the traditional bowl and whisk. A whisk and bowl also make mayonnaise and a hundred other things; this only makes batters.

Barconic Olive Stuffer: Brilliant at One Very Specific Job

The Barconic Olive Stuffer is a small, medical-looking tool with a sharp-edged tip and a plunger. It is not a pitter, it is the opposite: you load your filling, insert the tool into a pitted olive, and press the plunger to pop the filling inside. Barconic, a brand focused on cocktails, positions it as a way to elevate martinis with stuffed olives filled with onions, blue cheese, and garlic.

In practice, results depend heavily on the filling. Blue cheese worked beautifully, producing a clean, well-stuffed olive with clean hands. Firmer fillings cut into slivers, like quartered almonds or slices of cured sausage, should also work. Soft or oversized fillings like onions and garlic failed in testing, and wet ingredients are best ruled out entirely. Olive size matters too.

It is more hygienic-looking than hand stuffing, though a clean hand or a piping bag is equally clean, and cleaning the tool between fillings adds its own overhead. It makes the fiddly process easier but not seamless. For a bar doing volume with a bit of theatre, or a home cook who regularly stuffs olives for guests, it earns its keep. For everyone else, it is a very niche tool. At £4.43, though, the price is far more forgiving than most testers guessed, landing well under the £15 to £17 estimates.

Monchi Lunchbox Utensil: Silly, Surprisingly Practical

Monchi is a lunchbox with a soft silicone lid shaped like a hand puppet. You wear the lid like a glove, pop your fingers through, and pick up snacks without getting them greasy or sticky. It launched in a calm powder blue, and it has been storming social feeds, largely because it looks gloriously absurd in motion.

The core build is better than expected. As a bowl, it is a good quality sturdy plastic that looks almost like glass, the lid seals very well, and everything is dishwasher safe and likely microwave safe, so hot food like gnocchi is on the table without burnt fingers. The grip through the silicone is genuinely good and takes only a minute to get used to. Picking up small snacks is trickier than using bare fingers, but the barrier is real: greasy crisps, salted nuts, and dusted snacks stop coating your hands, keyboard, and desk.

The origin story explains a lot. Monchi began as a student project by three industrial design students who wanted to make plates more playful and puppet-like. That playfulness turns out to be the best use case: parents can gamify snack time, so children focus on how food gets into their mouths rather than what is going in, which can help with picky eaters. Picnics, desk snacking, and melty chocolate treats in hot weather all work as genuine scenarios. At £18, it sits between a budget guess and a novelty-Tupperware premium, which feels about right for what it is.

Duebel Molecular Gastronomy Foam Generator: The Quiet Overachiever

The Duebel Molecular Gastronomy Foam Generator looks like it came from a different era, chunky, cream and grey, running on large D batteries, with a small stainless steel airstone on a tube. It is unapologetically function over form, and it has been quietly doing its job for decades without a redesign. The concept: liquids containing an emulsifier or stabiliser such as lecithin can be foamed by immersing the airstone and pushing air through its tiny holes, forming fine, stable bubbles very quickly.

Testing used the included lemon foam recipe: three grammes of lecithin blended into 200 grammes of water, with two grammes of honey and 30 grammes of lemon juice. Once blended, the generator built a thick, delicate, remarkably stable foam that held its shape on a prawn cocktail style dish without deflating. You could whisk foam by hand, but it would never be this stable, and this lets you simply leave it running on the side rather than whisking furiously to order.

That stability is the professional appeal. In a service setting, you can keep re-foaming dish after dish across a three-hour service, and even a foam left standing for 20 minutes barely deflates. The battery operation also makes it genuinely mobile, useful for events, catering, festivals, or anywhere without mains power at hand. At £57.99 it is not cheap, but for the price a venue can charge for an impressive foam-topped cocktail, testers agreed it is worth it. The main caveat: it does one thing, and you need the lecithin and recipe knowledge to use it well.

Which of These Gadgets Is Actually Worth Buying?

If you take one lesson from this batch, it is that the flashiest marketing often hides the weakest product. The Bodum Pancake Maker promises to replace your bowl, whisk, and ladle, and fails at the mixing half of that job, especially with thick batters. At its price point, a bowl and whisk remain the better buy.

The other three are more honest. The Barconic Olive Stuffer is unreasonably good at one narrow task and priced low enough that bar owners and garnish enthusiasts can experiment without risk. The Monchi is a novelty, but a well-built one with real uses for parents, picnics, and desk snackers. The Duebel Foam Generator is the standout for anyone who takes cocktails or creative plating seriously: unglamorous, single-minded, and genuinely excellent at producing stable foam on demand.

Conclusion

Of the four, the Duebel Molecular Gastronomy Foam Generator is the clear gem, doing exactly what it claims with professional-grade results. The Monchi is a fun, capable oddball, and the Barconic Olive Stuffer is a cheap niche win for the right buyer. The Bodum BISTRO Pancake Maker is the shocker of the batch, selling a promise that traditional tools still handle better.