REVIEW: Doritos – Black Pepper (Japan)

Rating: ©©©-3/4 chips  (notable)

Just for the fun of it we here at Chip Review recently ordered a variety of unique (aka weird) flavored Japanese Doritos and Cheetos from eBay.

First up on the reviewing docket are these Black Pepper flavored Doritos.  And, before you say anything, yes it is fare to say that these “black pepper” were the most unoriginal, or to put it another way the most safe, flavor among the bunch.

Black pepper is not an uncommon potato chip flavor here in the U.S. (we’ve reviewed a handful over the years).  Still, that being said, the flavor is not really widely used to season tortilla chips, plus the flavor is almost always accompanied by its better half – SALT.  Doritos, at least as far as we have read through the translations, has opted to label these chips as strictly ‘black pepper’, and completely forgo the salt portion of the equation.  Which begs the question….what exactly does that mean?  Have Doritos simply made the decision to not include salt in the flavor name because they assume that we know that they will be including everyone’s favorite table condiment atop their tortilla chips?  Or, has Doritos Japan actually excluded the salt from the seasoning altogether (BLASPHEMY!!!)??

Please pause for a moment to recognize the suspense we are trying to build…..

Okay, we are happy to report that Doritos has in fact included salt into the flavor equation – thank goodness!!  Hold on a second, what’s that we taste??  Yep, these chips also include a good sprinkling of sweet sugar.  So, in case black pepper flavored tortilla chips were not quite weird enough for you, we’re hoping that sweet & salty pepper chips will do the trick!  The black pepper is amply coating the chips, and provides a decently aromatic punch, along with a pleasantly spicy bite.  And, believe it or not, but the black pepper mingles quite well with the sweet and salty notes.  Nothing extraordinary, but perfectly crunchable.

The Japanese Doritos themselves are definitely smaller than our U.S. version.  But, other than that, their texture and flavor are pretty much the same.  Stay tuned for reviews of even more unique flavors like Soy Butter Sauce, Tandoori Chicken, and Seafood Stew!!

Well, there you have it.  Anyone else out there tried them yet?  Thoughts?  As always we would love to hear what you think.  Agree or disagree.  Let us know.

Chips purchased from market_tokyo on ebay.

Frito Lay – Doritos Japan Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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