BIJOU-REVIEW: Perri – Thai Rings (Oriental Spice Flavor)

Rating: ©©-3/4 chips  (tolerable)

Yep, that’s right, these unusual Thai Rings are another unusual snack from the box full of different chips, and chip like snacks, that we were sent from our new friends at MunchPak.

And wouldn’t you know it, they of course hail from none other than…..that’s right….

Ireland!?!  Really?

Well, that may just explain why they did not really taste anything reminiscent of actual Thai flavors.

Not that the snack rings were bad necessarily, they just did not taste anything like the best Thai food, or Thai chips, that we have tried over the years.

The rings sort of reminded us of a smaller, and denser, version of Funyuns.  Easy to pop a few in and crunch’em down.

The seasoning though, was just pretty generic.  A lot of sweet, mingling with a bit of indistinguishable chili heat.

Thai Rings provided to Chip Review by MunchPak for review

MunchPak Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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BIJOU-REVIEW: Mr. Krisps Rings – Jalapeño Flavor Potato Crunches

Rating: ©-1/2 chips  (return to sender)

We were pretty excited for these jalapeño flavored rings; well, that is at least until we actually tasted them and realized that the rings were potato based, and not the usual corn based puffed products that we are used to here in the U.S.

Mr. Krisps Rings are another unusual snack brought back from our good friends S&A’s trip to the United Emirates.  In other words, you’re not going to find these on your local grocery store shelves.

We don’t really have much to say about these.

They are obviously puffed rings.  They are light as air.  No body or chew to them at all.  They give you one crispy crunch and then POOF, they are gone.

Where we didn’t really care for them at all was in their seasoning, or should we say, lack there of??  Seriously, these were completely devoid of said jalapeño flavor.  To top it off, they needed a visit from the salt fairy as well.

Not impressed with these at all.

Anyone out there ever tried these?  If so, please let us know.

Chips provided to Chip Review by S&A, acquired in Dubai, United Emirates

Mr. Krisps / NFI Dubai Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

REVIEW: Chip City – Jalapeño Cheese Puffed Rings

Rating: ©©©-1/2 chips  (Notable)

We discovered these “Locally Made” Chip City Jalapeno Cheese Puffed Rings while we were actually in Motor City (which is Detroit, for anyone out there who does not know that). However, this mystical Chip City sounds like just the type of place we would really like to visit!  And, what is with ‘Locally Made’?  This bag has Frito Lay written all over it?!

First things first, when we see ring shaped snacks, especially one that consists of puffed corn, we always expect them to be onion flavored.  In this case, Chip City’s puffed rings are not onion flavored at all….  So, why?  What is the point of these jalapeno cheese corn puffs being of the circular shape?  To be completely honest, we were sort of let down by the fact that these weren’t onion ring flavored.

Chip City’s puffed rings are a lot more puffy or fluffy, light, and airy, than everyone’s favorite onion ring snack – Funyuns.  Definitely more like corn puffs in texture (with a good meltability), than the traditional onion ring snacks.  Their texture made it very easy to take down the entire bag in one five minute sitting.

The jalapeno cheese seasoning wasn’t too shabby.  Decent level of jalapeno heat, even a little harsh in the backs of our throats.  Not much for authentic fresh, vegetal jalapeno flavor, but we weren’t expecting much.  The cheddar cheese seasoning did its salty job.  Some Chip Reviewers were rather pleased by these, while others could take or leave them.  In the end we simply liked that we were supporting the Motor City’s ‘Locally Made’ snack scene….or…..who are we kidding – Frito Lay’s giant bank account (like they don’t already have enough of our money)!

Discovered at BP Gas Station; Detroit, Michigan

Frito Lay’s Official Webite

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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RATING: Chip City – Cheddar Cheese Puffed Rings

Rating: ©©©-1/4 chips  (Notable)

Discovered at BP Gas Station; Detroit, Michigan

Frito Lay’s Official Webite

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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REVIEW: Cheezels

Rating: ©©©© chips  (lip-smacking)

If you are like us then you have no doubt spent countless hours wondering to yourself what would happen if good old Mr. Cheese Puff and dear old Mrs. Funyun ended up sealing the dealing and having a crunchy snack baby.  Well, low and behold, your sleepless nights are over!!  May we introduce to you Cheezels!  The cute, chubby, cheesy, ring puff offspring of the cheese puff and Funyun.

The Cheezels encompass the basic shape of a Funyun, and the cheese flavor of a puff, and a sort of hybrid textural consistency from both of the classic snacks.  They do melt in your mouth like a cheese puff, but crunch more like a Funyun.  In other words they are easy to devour.  They are also pretty fun to play with on your fingers!

Beyond that we do not have much more to say about these.  They are what they are.  They are Cheezels.  They remind us of Jay’s Nacho Rings a bit.  According to the internet system, Cheezels are a popular Australian snack that has been around since 1971 (hence the moniker of Retro Snacks bestowed by Pepsico).  And they have over 130K likes on Facebook (that’s more than us, so that’s something!).

As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think. Agree or disagree, let us know.

Discovered at Lider; Santiago, Chile

Cheezels Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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REVIEW: Jay’s – Nacho Rings

Rating: ©©©©-1/4 chips  (lip-smacking)

Comments:

What do you call a ring that is not yours?  (Never gets old in our book!)

Jay’s Nacho Rings?!?  Hmm…what do we really have here?  First, can we just ask – what exactly is nacho flavor? Is nacho, different than nacho cheese?  Or, can nacho flavor even exist without the cheese?  It’s a head-scratcher we know, but according to the ingredients list one we don’t even really need to ask, because sure enough there’s cheese among those ingredients.  So, let’s just bank that one for the future.

Can we just point out the simple fact that these Nacho Rings are shaped just like fried calamari rings!  If you are like us than you are friends of the lightly battered, toothsome little sea creatures, and you know exactly what we are talking about.  If you are not like us, than you should know that we are talking about fired squid circles, and you need to dine out more!

After popping one Nacho Ring into our mouths we immediately knew what we were really dealing with there.  You can’t fool us, Jay’s Nacho Rings are the amazing hybrid offspring of a Bugle and a cheese puff!  Instantly, crunchy, light, corn-y, and mouth-meltable!!  Ring-shaped nacho cheese puffs with a crispy outer edge reminiscent of a Bugle!  Yeah, they’re good, and really easy to devour!

The rings are crammed with loads of seasoning.  Tomato, onion, garlic, mixed with cheesy-cheese and deliciousness!  The seasoning combination is nothing outrageous or transcendent, but certainly flavorful, and more than adequate.  Maybe it is just their ring shape, but we’ve also convinced ourselves that these ring-Bugle-puffs sort of remind us of onion ring snacks, a la Funyuns, with a strong onion undertone (which in our books is never a bad thing).

All in all, count us as fans!

As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think.  Agree or disagree, let us know.

Discovered at Shell Gas Station;Westchester, Illinois

Jay’s Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

REVIEW: Gourmet Basics – Hatch Chile Pop Rings

Rating: ©©-1/4 chips  (tolerable)

Comments:

Apparently, you can pretty much pop anything these days.  Soon the money we spend, the homes we live in, and the cars we drive, will somehow magically be popped.  In fact we’ve decided that the saying is no longer “drop it like it’s hot“, instead it has morphed into “POP it like it’s hot!”

Maybe we need to start paying a bit more attention to chips, and other snacks, prior to just popping them into our mouths.  We thought we were trying a new variation of some hatch chile flavored onion ring snacks, but evidently we were tasting a hatch and cheddar flavored, new created addition, to the popped snack family!  And, just like the vast majority of those other popped snacks, Gourmet Basics Pop Rings are really just a healthier, less desirable, imitation of the their originals!

The popped rings were dusted with a nice blend of seasonings, that encompassed both a salty, cheddar cheese flavor, and a quick, bite of spicy hatch chile!  Somehow there were no green chile specs visual anywhere on the rings, but the heat certainly grew with the more rings we popped through.  As we looked closer at the packaging we noticed that no where on the front of the bag did Gourmet Basics refer to their Pop Rings as onion flavored, and we’re not sure if it was due to this, or the simple fact that the rings simply did not encompass very much onion flavor, but we just couldn’t find much onion anywhere in the bag.

Where these rings really rub us wrong is with their popped texture.  The rings are devoid of any crunchy mouth character.  They are too light, too crispy, no depth, no richness, no textural essence.  They do not melt on your tongue, in fact, they do not react to the moisture on your tongue at all.  Your mouth, and teeth, must do all of the crunchy hard work to pop through this bag!

As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think.  Agree or disagree, let us know.

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list