Taipei eating on the drive

We hired a driver for our short sojourn to Taipei to visit my Grandmother, who was meeting the babe for the first time. We hired a driver for the journey as there were a lot of places we wanted to hit and there were 7 of us. The driver was a really friendly man to whom we chatted a lot about food. However, we knew that there was something special about him when we saw a cart selling my beloved pig's blood glutinous rice cakes on a stick in the lane next to us. He rolled down the window, somehow convinced the lady on the bike pulling the cart to pull over at the next set of lights to sell us 3 sticks.

So despite racing our way to the airport, we managed to cram in one last snack. Fantabulous.

The Battle of the Crisps

Even though the votes are now closed and the winners announced, I thought I'd still post my late, very, very late review... at 5am. Ah, such is the life (or lack thereof) with a newborn.

In a blind taste test with the boy, we put a few crisps from each flavor in identical glass bowls and tried to identify them based on smell/taste. We're happy to say that we were able to identify ALL of them based on taste, which goes some way to show that Walkers did try very hard indeed to get the flavors spot on. Like a geek, I made notes so I can accurately transcribe how the test went (edited to make it more family friendly, I am not the most, um... fine, I have a potty mouth and yes, I kiss my mother with it).

Me: Ur, no question, this is Chili Chocolate. Ick.

Boy: Yup, it's Chili Chocolate alright... (takes a small handful and shoves in mouth barbarically) with a spicy aftertaste.

Me: No more for me, tastes greasy and like a chocolate air freshener with a bad spicy aftertaste... kind of like a burp after eating spicy Korean food.

Boy: No, wouldn't buy this.

Me: This is odd... definitely Fish and Chips, can taste the salt and vinegar... the slight fishiness is very off putting.

Boy: (Munches on a handful rather than the dainty single chip I had) It has a lemony much though. A bit like scampi crisps but with a lemon zestyness. Wouldn't buy it again though.

Me: Definitely not. Ok, I have to stop you for a minute, what's up with the handfuls? It looks so caveman-esque. Eat one chip at a time like a normal person!!

Boy: What are you talking about?? This is normal! This is JUNK food, you're supposed to be indulgent and shove handfuls at a time in your mouth, what do you think this is? Fingers sandwiches and tea? How else are you supposed to get a good MUNCH?

Me: A MUNCH? What the hell? It's a CHIP!!! A single one munches fine and is the way to eat chips, eating a handful just looks greedy and rude!

Boy: Can we get on with it? (shoves an annoying handful of the next flavor into his mouth) Oooh, this is definitely the squirrel one.

Me (sulkily): CAJUN squirrel. It's very woodsy.

Boy: I'd buy this again (shoves ANOTHER handful). Smells like camping.

Me after a dramatic sigh: It has some woody paprika flavors. I'm not sure I'd buy this again. Its very squirrelly.

Boy: Squirrelly?

Me: Yes... a bit gamey like. Develops flavor as you eat.... (I have a few more... ONE at a time). I like the woodyness but it gets a bit much after a while.

Boy: Oh, you won't like this next one.

Me: Is it the Onion Bhaji? I don't like Onion Bhaji as it is....

Boy: I'd buy this one again as well.

Me: This is gross!!! It's like a burp after a bad Onion Bhaji! Ewwww, I need something to wash out my mouth. You CANNOT kiss me after eating this... same rules that applies to when you eat Onion Bhaji or have a lot to drink. Stay away!

Boy: This is so romantic...

Me: Moving on... OH! This is interesting!

Boy: Good hearty munch...smells like those bacon crisps you can buy.

Me: I like this... very interesting and tastes like it sounds. Builder's Breakfast, I get a hit of bacon and then develops into eggyness.

Boy: Could do with more bacon flavor.

Me: You think everything can do with more bacon flavor.

Boy: Your point being?

Me: This is interesting, I quite like this! Couldn't eat much of it though. The eggyness would get to me.

Boy: I'm not sure I'd buy this to eat regularly but would be fun to buy for others to try.

Me: This next one is interesting as well.

Boy: Papery munch. Smells like hoisin. I like it, its pretty good!

Me: I get cucumber and then the duck with an aftertaste of hoisin.

Boy: Well no mistaking the Crispy Duck and Hoisin flavor. Tastes a bit like paper though.

Me: Might be the pancake wrapper for the duck they are trying to emulate? It's interesting but I wouldn't buy it again.

So in conclusion, it was really good fun actually! I am very impressed at Walker's ability and reach to make such odd/interesting flavors and on the whole, I think they did a good job. It might all be a marketing ploy but it's a good one and I'm impressed at the effort they went to. They are priced the same as their regular flavored crisps (which is cheap as chips anyways... har dee har har). The only niggling complaint I have is that you can only buy a pack of six with 2 of three flavors rather than a packet with one of each of the flavors, which I think would be more appealing as you can road test them all.

Finally, as you may or may not know, Builder's Breakfast won and will be a staple on the shelves. I would recommend trying it as it's a fun flavor.

One last question: do you eat your chips by the single or your crisps by the handful??

Marmite products

Its no secret that Umami and I love Marmite.

We love it on toast and we love it in congee.

But what about crisps (chips to us North Americans) and cheese?

Apparently the English are just as passionate about this yeasty, salty spread because they use it to flavor not only rice crackers and breadsticks but also these new finds:

Walkers' Marmite crisps and cheddar.

Of course I couldn't resist buying them.

And how were they? The crisps were very nice although more subtle than I would have liked.

The cheese was very salty and flavorful, a nice savory snack for the middle of the afternoon when the craving for something intensely salty hits.

For me, of course, it is always followed by something intensely chocolatey!

Turkish De-yuck - Part 2

Well, I had to. After all, I did promise.

So of course, I choose a day when the boy was around the house (in case I needed to be resuscitated), and conquered my fears.

Inspired by the Sound of Music Singalong I went to on Friday (which was a LOT of fun), I began by first singing my off-key rendition of "I have Confidence" in order to summon up some courage to tackle the metallic purple horror sitting right next to my computer.


First I unwrapped it.

As you can see, it looked innocuous enough... and was covered in and smelt like chocolate. Not something I normally object to.


I cut it in half.

Ok, the dark red Turkish Delight lurked inside, insidiously daring me.


Not being that brave (nor that stupid), I cut it into tiny pieces and chose a corner piece (i.e. higher chocolate to gelatinous perfume ratio).

And for those of you who doubt that I actually ate it, I present to you exhibit D, which shows the slight gap between my two front teeth.

See? I did eat it.

And it was yuck.

I mean, it wasn't as strongly perfumed as the fancy stuff (and for that I am grateful) but it was still very much like eating some jelly-fied perfume. Ick.

I passed on the rest of the plate to the boy and decided to go in search of some Tolberone to ease my pain. To be fair, he didn't think it was very good either.

So all this to say that Turkish Delight is disgusting, no matter what my friends with taste say.

Fry's Turkish Delight - Part 1

As punishment for my lack of posts and general laziness, I have promised you a review of my food nemesis, Turkish Delight... let's just call this one the starter because...

I'm still not sure I can go through with this.

Umami, whom I hold in very high food regard, has rarely ever steered me wrong when it came to food. The canned Heinz Mulligatawny soup turned out to be very perfect for those cold winter days where you want something tasty and quick but yet not too filling. Herbal tonics for general health and her favorite restaurants. Let me just stop here and say, the woman knows her stuff. Her penchant for cherry flavored things made me pause in the past, but that's not a question of taste, its more a question of preference. Besides, I cannot say I haven't changed regarding the question of cherry.

But this.... a perfumed jelly? She recommended THIS? I'm not sure I can take it.

Besides, it's wrapped in a garish purple foil wrapper with faux Middle-Eastern font exclaiming TURKISH Delight.

Other descriptions include "As Good as Ever" and "Full of EASTERN PROMISE", which, truth be told, is hardly a description. I mean, as good as ever? If it was bad, they haven't improved is what it says to me.

And full of EASTERN PROMISE (their capitalisation, not mine)? What kind of Eastern promise is it making me? To gag?

It is mocking me.

The only thing I can say for it is that it is covered with chocolate. Now if only I can bring myself to open the packet.

I will, I will.... just let me get used to the idea first. *shiver*

In the meantime, here's their cheesy commercial, courtesy of YouTube.

*Did you see the inside? It's a bright pinky red jelly....ewwwwwww.*

Just a bite...

Before I actually begin the trilogy of an El Bulli post, which is coming soon to a blog near you (three blogs actually but I digress...), I thought I'd give you a taster from London.

The boy took me to Portabello Road market to walk around, look at the people, fashions and have a nose around the antique stalls and stores along the way. Besides buying a toaster rack (I couldn't resist, I hate sweaty toast), we searched for sustenance along the way. So we took a little detour to find a shop selling some snacks when we came across a sweet little shop/cafe named Tom's. Inside we found Poilane bread (yipee) as well as a variety of imported snacks from all over Europe. The cafe was full but we only stopped in for a peek as well as to pick up some drinks. However, at the cashier, the boy spotted Scotch Eggs and couldn't resist picking one up.

Two steps outside of Tom's the boy eagerly took a huge bite into the Scotch egg, rolled his eyes, took another bite and ran a little bit away from me. A sign that it was good.

I had a look and eventually wheedled a bite out of him. Yep, it was a good one, with a molten yolk, good quality sausage meat lightly crumbed studded with onions, it was quite delicious.

The boy declared it the best Scotch egg he had ever had. A bold statement which he asked me to challenge you all to beat. I do suspect, however, that he simply wants to know where else to find good Scotch eggs.

Tom's
226 Westbourne Grove
Notting Hill, London W11 2RH
Tel: 020 7221 8818