Takis Guacamole and Takis Crunchy Fajita

Not too long ago I did an entry on Takis Fuego and mentioned that perhaps their guacamole flavor would taste better. I decided to finally put that up to the test and see if that was true. I also noticed that there were other flavors of Takis I had missed out on, so I decided to pick up Takis Crunchy Fajita as well.

A bag of Takis Guacamole. I like the silver bag, but the chip, or taco as they call it on the bag, is a bit odd colored

A Takis Guacamole chip (taco). It looks more appetizing out of the bag than inside

When I opened the bag the first smell I thought of Salsa Verde Doritos. It had a green pepper and lime scent to it. The flavor, to be quite honest, was disappointing. It seemed to lack flavor and after eating a few, they tasted just like corn chips. I didn't detect any sort of guacamole flavor, which was disappointing. I would call this Salsa Verde Doritos Lite. Maybe I came in expecting too much, but advertising guacamole automatically raises my hopes.

Takis Guacamole: 6/10

Continuing, as I mentioned before, I also purchased Takis Crunchy Fajita.

When I think of fajitas I think of an iron skillet full of meat and vegetables. The bag just doesn't really scream that to me. It's rather generic, but it's the contents of the bag, not the bag itself that makes the snack

Takis Crunchy Fajita resting on the bag

When I opened this bag I thought of Doritos as well. It wasn't necessarily Salsa Verde, but I definitely thought of Doritos. I thought that, after my last misadventure, I would be disappointed again. However, this one was probably the best of the three flavors I tried. It wasn't too sour like Takis Fuego and had much more flavor than Takis Guacamole. After eating a few, there was a bit of a heat coming from the chip, but this wasn't meant to be hot anyway (I don't think). The flavor was a good mix of salty, spicy, and slightly tart. I still have one more flavor to go, but so far Crunchy Fajita is in the lead.

Takis Crunchy Fajita: 7/10

O'Zack Gyutan Shio-Aji

My first encounter with O'Zack brand chips came a few months ago. The flavor that caught my eye was some sort of cheese flavor. What made them interesting was that they had pictures of blue cheese on the bag. Rarely are there blue cheese flavored snacks, so of course I had to get them. The smell was faintly of blue cheese and the texture reminded me of Popchips. I then tried kimchi jigae flavor which tasted pretty much like kimchi. I had a general idea of what the previous flavors would taste like, but I didn't know what the next flavor would taste like.

Looking at the picture, I assumed that it was some sort of beef flavored. I looked on the internet and apparently gyutan means beef tongue. Shio-aji...I'm going to assume is what it's seasoned with. Anyway, beef flavored chips? Count me in!

What the chip looks like

My first impression when I ate these chips were that they had a citrus flavor and aroma. I figured that they were seasoned with some sort of citrus. I also noticed that it had a slight smoky scent to it, which I guess was the grilled part of the chip. The taste and smell were oddly familiar to me. They didn't really remind me of grilled meat.

It took me a while to figure out what it was, but I figured that it reminded me of "Hot Dog on a Stick". It may sound crazy, but the citrus smell and the flavor all reminded me of getting a Hot Dog on a Stick and some lemonade. This, of course, means that I liked this chip. Even though it didn't remind me of grilled meat, it reminded me of something very good. Overall, I liked these chips, and I would buy them again.

O'Zack Gyutan Shio-Aji: 7.5/10

LOOK Baskin Robbins

As the days get warmer, it gets harder and harder to do entries about chocolate candies. They may melt, become deformed, or something along those lines. By the time I'm ready to write about them, they're already destroyed. However, I'm still going to try my best on "good" days, or days when it's not too hot to store chocolate. Luckily, this candy bar made it through in pretty good condition:

Yep, this is apparently a collaboration between Baskin Robbins and LOOK. If you're unfamiliar with LOOK candy bars, generally they're bars that are sectioned into four different flavors. I've had only two varieties before and this one definitely caught my attention. Who knew that Baskin Robbins would join efforts with LOOK? I think this would have interested many people

What LOOK candy bars usually look like

From left to right: Strawberry Cheesecake, Jamoca Coffee, Orange Sherbet, and Vanilla

As soon as I opened the packaging, there was a strong citrus smell coming from it. What I found was that the most powerful flavor was definitely the Orange Sherbet. It had a very strong orange taste and was quite tart. The weakest one was Strawberry Cheesecake; there was no way you could tell it was either strawberry or cheesecake. Jamoca was quite weak as well as it offered only a slight coffee flavor and smell. The vanilla tasted creamy, but lacked any sort of vanilla scent.

I think I liked Vanilla the best as it was sweet and creamy. The next best was Orange Sherbet because it had a nice tangy flavor to it and was very true to the flavor. The other two were very lacking. Overall, I think I expected more of this bar than I should have. The box made it seem like it would be great, but the experience was good at best.

LOOK Baskin Robbins: 6/10

Takis Fuego

For some time I've wanted to do a piece of Takis. Ever since a student brought them in and other students have started liking them, I felt that this was worth investigating. One student named them, "Fake Hot Cheetos". Regardless of whether they would be like Hot Cheetos or not, I love Hot Cheetos. Just putting that out there. Anyway, this product comes in different flavors like guacamole and...well I'm not sure. I'll have to double-check the next time I'm at 7-11.

This bag is certainly different from a Cheetos bag. It's more along the lines of a Doritos bag if you ask me. Apparently I get some sort of prize for eating these. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe my bag was defective. Anyway, there are 80 cards, and I should collect them all. I'll make sure to take not of that

A Taki resting on the bag. Notice how it looks like a rolled up tortilla

When I ate this, I noticed the lime flavor immediately. I think that's the most dominant flavor with this chip. The heat doesn't really come on unless you eat many of them in succession. The texture of the chip is reminiscent of a rolled up and deep fried tortilla. It's definitely different from a Hot Cheeto. It just tasted and felt different in general; I would not have called these "Fake Hot Cheetos". They were definitely good, but maybe they were just a too heavy on the lime.

I feel compelled to try the guacamole flavored ones because I have a feeling that they might taste better than these. Guacamole makes almost every savory food better in general. Anyway, if you'd like to change up your chip routine, I would recommend trying these as they're pretty darn good.

Takis Fuego: 6.5/10

Milka Strawberry Yogurt

Milka is a brand of chocolate that is made by Kraft. Milka brand chocolate bars can be found in stores such as Target. I highly suggest getting the Milka White Chocolate bar. Anyway, Milka is sold not only in the United States, but it is produced overseas in Europe. One can find only a few different kinds of Milka brand chocolate sold in American stores. However, like Kit Kat and Oreo, there is a larger selection of Milka brand chocolates at ethnic stores and markets. Again, I suppose it's because different flavors wouldn't sell as well in the large chain stores.

This is Milka Strawberry Yogurt. As you can see, one of the main selling points on this wrapper has to to do with it being milk chocolate. I don't understand why they wouldn't sell strawberry flavored chocolate in the United States. People love strawberries and chocolate, so why not combine the two? Maybe they've done test groups and the results were unfavorable. Regardless let's move on

A square of Milka Strawberry Yogurt

Well, as I stated earlier, people love strawberries and chocolate (unless you're allergic, of course), so it's a mystery why big candy makers don't make strawberry and chocolate bars. They'll put raisins, cranberries, and raspberries in chocolate, but they don't have strawberries. Step your game up big candy makers and try selling those products in the United States.

Back to the chocolate bar, I found it to be delightful. I don't want to say that it tasted just like strawberries and chocolate, but it was a good re-enactment of the combination. It had just enough tart to counterbalance the sweet. It was also very creamy. Milka chocolate bars in general, I have found, are typically very creamy. If these were available in big chain markets, I'm pretty sure there would be people who would buy them.

Milka Strawberry Yogurt: 8/10

Japanese Corn Snack and a new scale

I've decided to switch my ratings to a 10 point scale. I switched because after asking a few people, they said that they would prefer things to be rated on a scale of 1 to 10 instead of my original of 1 to 5. I hope that I won't have to resort to using 0, seeing as how that would go below my scale, but if I ever run across a candy that bad, you'll know.

Anyway, I ran across some interesting chips when I went to a Japanese market. I usually don't bother looking in any aisle outside of the candy aisle, but I'll sometimes go see what's interesting in the snack aisles. I saw some foreign Doritos, snacks I didn't know, and then I saw these:

This looked pretty delicious. I don't know what this is supposed to be, but I think that's a fondue pot in the middle with some garlic bread on the side. On top there's a picture of a sommelier or butler smelling a glass of wine. At the bottom right there are pictures of two chips with the number 2 next to them. I assume that this means that there are two types of chips. Also, if you notice, this was made by the Frito Lay corporation.

A picture of the back. There's a website in the lower right corner with a little butler or sommelier holding a glass of wine

One type of chip

The other type of chip. Notice its uncanny resemblance to a Sunchip

Based on the packaging alone I was pretty excited to try this. I was less than amazed when I ate these though. Okay, so as I've said before in past writings, this didn't amaze me. I really was expecting more based on the packaging. I expected garlicky toast and fondue flavored chips. What I got were the bastard children of Sunchips and Doritos. Neither of them had the consistency or texture of Sunchips or Doritos; they had a bit more of a grainy texture. The flavor and aroma was interesting. It was a bit like Sunchips French Onion except just a little different. Overall, these were okay, but you can get a bigger bag of Sunchips or Doritos for a much more affordable price.

Japanese Corn Snack: 6/10

Mixed Juice Kit Kat

Maple Kit Kats are a reasonable flavor. Green Tea Kit Kats seemed reasonable. However, there are some Kit Kat flavors that are available in other countries that really make me think. Ginger ale Kit Kats come to mind. I came across another flavor that really piqued my interest and made me ask, "Why?"

According to the English label, these are Mixed Juice Kit Kats. I don't know why someone would make this. Using the pictures, I assume that it's a strawberry-banana milk shake type of deal. However, as you can see on the upper right corner, there's a peach. This was truly a mystery.

An individually wrapped mini bar

The mystery unwrapped

What this Kit Kat tasted like, as I mentioned before, was a strawberry-banana shake. It was a nice blend of aromas as well, because if it smelled and tasted like Banana Kit Kats, I don't think that I would have liked them at all. Correction, I definitely wouldn't have liked them at all. However, things that are strawberry-banana flavored are generally solid. I suppose that's the best way to describe this bar, solid. I wonder what Peach Kit Kats would taste like, just in case Nestle was reading this.

Mix Juice Kit Kat - 4/5