Ikedaya Mangetsu: Shrimp crackers in disc form, flavored with sesame seeds, cuttlefish, and MSG. Similarly textured to the bright pink shrimp crackers sometimes offered at American-ized Chinese restaurants, those these are a bit more dense. Not as boldly flavored as shrimp crackers, though the nori does add a new salinity to the mix. Purchased from Tokyo Fish Market in Berkeley. 2.5/5.0
japanese shrimp crackers seafood tokyofishmarket ikedaya mangetsu 2.5
Cascadian Farms Oats & Chicolate soft baked squares: What do you get when you get a Chips Ahoy cookie, make it square and 1.5x as thick, use organic ingredients, and soften the texture to make it more crumbly? These Cascadian Farms oats and chocolate soft baked squares. They really do taste like Chips Ahoy. 2.5/5.0
organic cookies cascadianfarms oats chicolate soft baked squares 2.5
iTea Lychee Green Tea: A rare miss at my go-to boba shop, I found the lychee green tea at iTea to have an overly sweet artificial flavor and very little herbal taste. The boba was also too soft, though the lychee jelly that comes with the drink had a nice bite and satisfying fruit flavor. I've generally found that the more traditional tea drinks are better than their fruit teas. 2.5/5.0
drinks itea boba bubbletea lychee green tea 2.5
Forager Lemon Cashewgurt: Lemon (and perhaps citrus more generally) just never seems to work as well as other fruit-flavored yogurt. Its hydrous pulp segments risk watering down the yogurt, and their omission consequently leaves little room for texture. Though zest has the potential to provide a freshness that cuts through a creamy yogurt base, it can, in combination, lead to an overwhelmingly acidic and tart flavor. Rather than seeing lemon standing on its own, I'd like to see more yogurt incorporating lemon as a... (read more) 2.5/5.0
berkeleybowl yogurt forager lemon cashewgurt 2.5
Hapi Snacks Ramen Crunch: Wavy ridged crisps that have an aroma somewhere between the mysterious "oriental" flavored ramen seasoning packet and fish food. Contains a liberal amount of anchovy powder and MSG (in fact, MSG appears twice on the ingredients list for some reason). Texture-wise, it's not as crispy as a potato chip, but its thin profile makes it less hearty than a cracker. It's not as dense as ramen-flavored snacks that actually consist of dried ramen noodles. Flavor-wise, though, Hapi is going for a si... (read more) 2.5/5.0
asian ramen tokyofishmarket hapisnacks crunch 2.5