Crisp Review

Space Raiders - Spicy

I’ve overlooked these due to their ubiquity. But they’re something of a favourite of mine. They’re made by KP Snacks, and have been around for a long time, introduced in the late 1970s. Cheap and cheerful, good corner shop fare!

Well, where do we start? let’s deal with the controversy. They’re no longer 10p. But there appears to have been a format shift. 28g packs are now pretty standard, gone are the small bags that used to be 10p, at least in my neck of the woods. And for 25p, you’re still getting an absolute bargain.

Packaging, next. They’re wonderfully retro. They’ve got a fun description of the aliens on the back. And black’s an unusual colour for a crisp packet. That and the neon colours certainly make hem stand out from the crowd. But I can’t comprehend why the Spicy Space Raider has a melty face… They’re not that hot!

In fact, they’re not spicy at all. But they’re mighty tasty. Sweet and tangy with a good bit of tomato thrown into the mix. Which seems to be pretty standard for ‘spicy’ flavours. They’re not as flavourful as I remember, probably the result of an ill advised shift in recipe in a bold THINK OF THE CHILDREN move. But they’re still delicious.

The crisps themselves are good. They’re supposedly alien shaped, made from puffed maize and wheat. They’re nice and crunchy, even if they do look like The Scream…

Crunch: 8/10 (The Maize and Wheat give a good crunch!)
Flavour
- Intensity: 6/10 (Not as strong as they used to be.)
- Accuracy: -/10 (What is Spicy and why is it so ubiquitous!?)
Quality: 8/10
Packaging: 8/10 (Nice and retro.)

Nothing extraordinary, but very tasty, and good value. I don’t have to advise you to buy them, because you already have.

Sainsbury - Cheddar & Spring Onion

This week I, somewhat reluctantly, return to the practice of reviewing crisps I’ve paid for. They’re ‘premium’ crisps, produced by Sainsburys. They’re evidently a challenge to Kettle Crisps, Red Sky, and their ilk. And they do a pretty good job of it.

The crisps look good. They’re all a bit uneven, and have a perfectly calculated amount of potato skin left around the edge. They’re not completely brown around the edge, rather, they’re somewhat mottled. And there are speckles of green on each crisp, which will be the dried chive in the ingredients.

The texture is good, too. They’re nice and crunchy, and a little bit greasy. Not as coated with flavour as kettle Crisps are, but there’s a fair bit and some of it gets left on your finger. Which is nice, if that’s your kind of thing.

They’re pretty damned tasty, too! After 3 reviews of unknown flavours it was nice to know what to expect. They say “Farmhouse Cheddar & Spring Onion”, but they taste of regular cheese and onion, to me. I’m not sure what ‘Farmhouse’ cheese tastes like…

Maybe I’m being a little harsh, they’re certainly more sophisticated than standard cheese and onion crisps. The onion note is a little crisper than you usually get, and the cheese is a bit more complex. They don’t come across as distinct tastes, like the Tayto I reviewed, but they’re pretty nice nonetheless.

Crunch: 8/10
Flavour
- Intensity: 6/10 (Not very strong, but nice enough)
- Accuracy: 7/10 (What does Farmhouse taste of?)
Quality: 8/10
Packaging: 9/10 (Really nice!)

I’d say they’ve got all of the qualities of a premium crisps. Good taste. Good texture. Good appearance. Worth a shot…

Walkers - Dairy Flavoured Potato Chips

NOTE: I received these crisps free of charge. My review is not biased by this fact. The crisps are (and will) be judged solely on their merits, as always.

This is the final part of a three part series, the first of which is available here, the second here. It deals with the dairy flavour which I was most curious about, because ‘dairy’ is so nondescript. Egg? Cheese? Milk? Omlette?

These are cheese, of some sort. I think it’s cream cheese, but, by the same token, they might be sour cream, because there’s a definite chive note going on underneath the dominant creamy taste. They’re more ambiguous than the ‘spicy’ crisps, but far less confusing than the ‘meaty’ ones. They’re creamy, with a hint of fresh herbs, bolstered by the greasy note that seems to dominate the entire range I’ve tried.

The crisps are pale, and have specks of green on them. They look, to be fair, a little anaemic. But don’t let that put you off!

They’d be a welcome part of the regular Walkers line up, because they taste like a slightly more subtle and refined cheese and onion number. Sure, cheese and onion are great, but they’re a little in your face sometimes. The flavour for these doesn’t linger much, which makes them moreish, but they don’t interfere too much with the flavour of whatever else you might be consuming at the time.

Unfortunately, there’s little more to say about these. They’re probably my favourite of the bunch, and I could eat a lot of them, but they’re not complex enough to wax lyrical about

Crunch: 8/10
Flavour
- Intensity: 8/10 
- Accuracy: -/10 (Not sure what they’re meant to be, but they’re tasty!)
Quality: 8/10
Packaging: 0/10 (White with question marks, I’d like to see the final packaging when they’re released.)

Turns out you will be able to get your hands on these, for a short period of time. They’re part of Walkers’ what’s that flavour campaign where a correct answer could win you £50,000.

Walker’s - Spicy Flavour Potato Crisps

NOTE: I received these crisps free of charge. My review is not biased by this fact. The crisps are (and will) be judged solely on their merits, as always.

This is the second part of a three part series, the first of which is available here. It deals with the mysterious ‘spicy’ flavour crisps of which I had high hopes.

As with the last lot, these are your standard Walkers fare, so there’s little to talk about in terms of appearance or texture. Instead, we’ll deal with the taste.

Curry. These things are curry flavoured. They definitely taste of curry. And it’s that none distinct, quintessentially British, curry flavour. But there’s a distinct absence of raisin, which was so pronounced in the Golden Wonder offering. I’m glad they’re so obviously curry, because I don’t have to deal with the mental anguish the mysterious ‘meaty’ ones caused me.

So, sure, they taste like curry, but what do they actually taste like? A strange mix of sweet and bitter, with a smoky note. They don’t have anything by way of heat, but the flavouring is quite strong. And other than paprika the packet has no indication of the spices used; they’ve all blended so wonderfully into CURRY that I won’t bother trying to work them out.

There’s not much of an indication as to what type of curry they’re meant to be… is it some kind of chicken curry? I don’t know. It’s certainly not a Madras. But it is tasty, I’ll say that. For, despite my disparaging tone, I rather enjoyed these. They were somewhat unusual.

And the flavour stayed with me for a long while after I’d consumed the contents of the packet. Just thought you’d like to know.

Having said that there’s little to talk about by way of texture, these are quite oily, like the ‘meaty’ flavoured ones, which was welcome. And the bag was just as full as the ‘meaty’ packet was, which, too, was welcome.

Crunch: 7/10
Flavour
- Intensity: 8/10 
- Accuracy: 10/10 (Definitely curry.)
Quality: 8/10
Packaging: 0/10 (White with question marks, I’d like to see the final packaging when they’re released.)

Probably worth a shot when they’re released. If you like curry.

Walker’s - Meaty Flavour Potato Crisps

NOTE: I received these crisps free of charge. My review is not biased by this fact. The crisps are (and will) be judged solely on their merits, as always.

This is the first in a three part series of reviews, dealing with the mysterious (and as yet, unreleased) crisps sent to me by Walkers. Firstly, let me extend thanks to Walkers, and the one (also) known as Sam who I think decided I should receive these crisps. These reviews are probably going to be a bit longer than my usual reviews, because I’m quite excited by the whole experience, and it seems only fair to give other people who can’t get hold of them yet as much information as possible.

The first of these reviews then, deals with the “Meaty Flavoured” crisps. The second and third will deal with “Spicy Flavour” and “Dairy Flavour”. The vagueness of the names and the blandness of the packaging has provided an interesting challenge, it seems we take a lot of cues from the packaging when we decide what it is we’re actually tasting….

Anyway, enough introductory spiel, let’s get to the review.

Read More

Something arrived today…

Kettle Ridge Crisps - Salt & Malt Vinegar

Well, the first review of the new year isn’t anything unusual, but it is pretty tasty. I’ve given you some background about Kettle Foods before, so I won’t bother rehearsing that again. Here, then, is the review…

The ingredients here are pleasingly simple; Potatoes, Sunflower Oil, Sea Salt, Dried Malt Barley Vinegar, Natural Flavouring, Sugar, and Yeast Extract. With the exception of the obscure and vague ‘natural flavouring’ this is exactly what you would expect to be in a bag of Salt & Malt Vinegar” crisps. Actual vinegar is something of a rarity in the crisp world, so I’m pleased to see it listed here.

And the inclusion of vinegar definitely carries over into the taste. The crisps have a nice strong, acidic, tang, and the balance between salt and vinegar is good. They’re pretty strongly flavoured, and thus, quite moreish. I managed to polish of a large bag in a short period of time, but I’ve got poor self control, so that may or may not be relevant.

Having mentioned ingredients and flavouring, we should turn to the star of the show, the ridges…

These ridges, then, add a nice new dimension to the otherwise standard Kettle Crisps. The crisps are not as thick as McCoys (my bench mark crinkle cut crisp), but create a really nice level of crunch. They’re very well done, and the flavour stick in the gaps nicely. They’re a nice change of pace, and I have to commend kettle Crisps for pulling it off so well.

The packaging is nice, understated, and some what waxy in texture. As with standard Kettle Crisps, these crisps claim to be hand cooked, but we wont go down that path again. And they use blue to denote that they’re salt and vinegar; hurray!

I terms of numbers…

Crunch: 8/10
Flavour
- Intensity: 7/10 (Strong, but not overly so)
- Accuracy: 9/10 
Quality: 9/10
Packaging: 8/10

A very nice bag of crisps that you should try if you get a chance. They’re not as good as standard Kettle Crisps, but are pretty good none the less.

The Year in Crisps

I’ve nothing to share with you by way of a review this week, but though I should make a post to see the new year in with.

Firstly, happy new year! I’ve been running this blog for a number of months and it appears, by most accounts, to be a minor success. Thank you for reading, interacting with me on twitter, and not spamming me with nonsense. I’ve actually really enjoyed writing these reviews, which might seem odd, but there it is, and the steadily increasing number of page views I’ve been receiving me have persuaded me that it’s worthwhile.

Secondly, I’m in the process of putting together a ‘league table’ style page, where I can place all my crisp reviews in their Crisp-Trumps order. Whilst it’s nothing amazing, I hope it’s of use to people who might want to try something new and aren’t sure where to start. I hope to have that finished and on-line tomorrow evening.

And last but not least, some exciting news. Unless someone is pulling my leg I should have 3 brand new (that is to say, as yet unreleased) flavours to review from Walkers in a couple of weeks. I’ve no idea what they could be as there’s no ‘season’ coming up that they might be drawing inspiration from. Any and all wild suggestions are welcome, and I’ll preserve my favourite on this blog for posterity. So why not tell me what you think / hope they could / will be?

Golden Wonder - Chip Shop Curry

I was looking for something festive to review this week. I could have looked harder, but I didn’t. So we’re stuck with something distinctly un-festive.

PICTURE FORTHCOMING (And I promise to get one on, this time).

I start the review with a question, this week. What is it with British attempts at ‘curry flavor’? Why do they always have a hint of raisin about them? I don’t think I’ve ever had a curry with raisins in… These crisps were no exception to that rule. But that’s not to say they tasted bad. Other than the slight hint of raisin, then, there’s a little bit of undefinable spice and a bit of salt. Tasty enough, but nothing too exciting.

The ingredients are plentiful, and include Onion Powder, Molasses Powder, Turmeric Powder, Liquorice Powder and Chilli Powder, none of which I could really taste.

I feel compelled, at this point, to dispute the packets assertion that these are “full on flavour crisps”

Beyond that, these are very yellow crisps. I wish I had a picture to show you. They’re not luminescent by any stretch of the imagination, but they were slightly startling. Which is good I guess, chip shop curry is always an odd colour, and always requires a second glance.

In terms of texture they’re typical Golden Wonder, quite thin, and crisp, rather than thick and crunchy. Pleasant enough, but not my favourite style.

The packaging is strange, and rather unappealing. Whilst brown and yellow capute the essence of chip shop curry, they’re not a fantastic combination. And the image on the pack is very much ‘old wallpaper’. All in all, very odd.

Crunch: 7/10
Flavour
- Intensity: 6/10
- Accuracy: 6/10
Quality: 7/10
Packaging: 5/10

Very much middle of the road.

Smith’s - Scampi Fries

My oh my, what a treat this week. Another Walkers product, sure, but something a little different, and pretty damn tasty…

Let’s start, as we almost always do, with the ingredients. (I’m may have to come up with a new format for the new year, this approach is starting to get tedious, even by my standards.) They contain Wheatflour, Vegetable Oil, Maize, and all manner of flavourings and sundry ingredients including, but not limited to, MSG, Paprika, Soya Grits, and Salt.

I must say, they’re quite an unusual snack in many respects…

The unusual experience begins upon opening the pack. To put it mildly, a rather pungent aroma escapes and pollutes the immediate environment. They are, by and far, the smelliest snacks I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing. In fact, a word of warning is in order, the pungency of these crisps may not be appreciated by your significant other. The response is not dissimilar to that exhibited by vampires when confronted with garlic. But let that not put you off.

The texture is splendid. Very, very crunchy. The best way to describe these is a small maize parcel. And they’ve got a very strong taste - a little citric, and a little fishy - but they’re most delicious and very moreish. Which brings us to their main downfall… they come in pitifully small packets.

Whilst the size of the pack was the saving grace for Smith’s Cheese Flavoured Moments I enjoy the Scampi Fries far too much for 28g to be enough.

Let’s get to the numbers:

Crunch: 9/10
Flavour
- Intensity: 9/10
- Accuracy: 6/10
Quality: 8/10
Packaging: 8/10

These crisps are, as I have said, unusual. And they are certainly not for people of a weak disposition. But they’re fantastic. And you should certainly buy some.