Wheat Thins Veggie toasted chips: I was excited to find that my work has a vending machine with high quality snacks, but when I went to purchase a bottle of Boba Guy's jasmine milk tea, I got sticker shock from the $5 price tag. Instead, I turned to the normcore vending machine and purchased a bag of veggie-flavored Wheat Thins. The chips have a satisfying bite and texture, like a cross between a cracker and a potato chip. It tastes more veggie-flavored than like veggies, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing (like how s... (read more) 3.0/5.0
veggie toasted chips 3.0 wheatthins
Whole Foods okra chips: Seemingly deep fried pieces of okra that are thick enough that biting through can be a challenge. Herby, nutty flavor. Intriguing but not particularly delicious. 2.5/5.0
wholefoods okra veggies chips 2.5
Wonky kale and coconut snack: Crispy fried kale that is well seasoned and pretty tasty. Slight sweetness, but I wouldn't guess there was coconut. Each bag has a very small amount. Good garlic flavor that doesn't leave an unpleasant aftertaste. 3.0/5.0
wonky kale chips wholefoods garlic coconut snack 3.0
Yamayoshi Ippudo Ramen Chips: These tonkotsu ramen pork-flavored chips caught my eye at my local Aeon grocery store / konbini before I even knew they were from the popular ramen chain Ippudo. The special flavor is in celebration of Ippudo's 35th birthday. I went to Ippudo about a decade ago in NYC, and a branch opened up in Berkeley right as I move away from the Bay Area. I knew that the restaurant inspired long lines in the US, but the other day, while walking through Ikebukuro in Tokyo, I stumbled upon a queue outsi... (read more) 4.5/5.0
exceptional chips aeon japanese yamayoshi ippudo ramen 4.5
Yamazaki Biscuits Co Nori Chip Star Potato Chips: These chips are like Japanese Pringles, with more Asian flavors than you would normally find for Pringles. They come in a similarly-shaped cardboard tube but the stack of chips inside are further wrapped in sealed packaging. I bought the nori-shio flavor, which had specks of seaweed. They definitely had a distinct nori flavor but otherwise taste just like Pringles, which is to say they are thickly-cut potato crisps whose flavor dries largely from the oil they're fried in. If you like Pri... (read more) 2.5/5.0
chips japanese weica yamazakibiscuitsco nori chip star potato 2.5
YBC Aerial Roe Butter Flavored Chips: It is very rare for me to come across a snack that is fundamentally different than any I've had before, and this fried Japanese corn snack is one of them. I found it at Weica, sort of like a CVS, which has an impressive stock of junk food. These chips consist of multiple crispy layers, each uniquely shaped probably due to the irregularity of the manufacturing process. Each square is about the size of a Wheat Thin in area. The separated layers gives it a light crispy texture unlike any sn... (read more) 4.0/5.0
recommended weica japanese junkfood yamazakibiscuitsco aerial roe butter flavored chips 4.0 ybc