Gotta Get At This: Lay's Thailand Honey Butter and Popcorn Caramel

DAMN THAILAND, BACK AT IT AGAIN WITH THE CRAZY ASS FLAVORS!
I LOVE Lay's Thailand, they are always doing some wacky stuff, but they make a perfectly cooked chip and authentic seasoning, so they are always pulling it off.
This year they've debuted a sweet collection, starting with "Honey Butter"... which, if you didn't know, is a flavor that SWEPT Korea last year. Literally, bags by Japanese snack maker Calbee of "Honey Butter" Chips were selling at up to $104 USD on ebay. The bags were so coveted in Korea that shopkeepers were bundling the chips with other snacks to cash in on the craze. Even McDonald's in Korea started selling "Honey Butter" French Fries! It's my understanding that they are still nearly impossible to find, but in the span of the craze, many imitators have come out with the "Honey Butter" flavor. Lay's Thailand has tapped into the mania and released their own version, albeit on a Ruffle cut chip. The sweet range also includes a regular cut chip "Popcorn Caramel" flavor that is only available at 7 eleven stores.
As with most Thai Lay's, they are pretty easy to find on ebay or Amazon, and I've already ordered these to try. So, if you don't wanna pack a bag and go to Thailand, order them from the convenience of your home. These are the kinds of fun new chip ideas I like to see, so I'm keen to try them! What do you think? Discuss in the comments section below :)

Lay's Thailand กุ้งมังกรผัดซอสเอ็กซ์โอ Fried Lobster in XO Sauce

Yo. I should not have done this. Ok. I just, I shouldn't have.
This, my friends, is Lay's Thailand's version of "Chinese Fried Lobster in XO Sauce". And you know what? It tastes like "Chinese Fried Lobster in XO Sauce".
Let's start with the smell, the bag smells like Hot Asian Seafood. Like, when you put your face right down into the plate at a Chinese restaurant and your plate is still hot, and you breathe in deep and you smell that plate. Surprisingly though, very authentic.
The chips were fine, I'm not gonna lie and tell you I was focused on the chips, cuz I wasn't. I was paying attention to the seasoning. Thailand's got a good chip though, much better than most other Countries. They looked exactly like the one on the picture of the bag, but with a brown-orange seasoning on it.
Now, the seasoning is SPOT ON. Like no joke, I tasted Lobster, and a myriad of hearty Chinese spices.You get the bold Lobster flavor, definitely shellfish, and it is hugged by a complicated mix of garlic and onion and chili and so many things.

I grew up in a largely Chinese community, went to Chinese school when I was little, and have even toured the Country... so I feel very confident saying that this bag was seasoned very authentically. If I closed my eyes, I would say these were Chinese chips before predicting Thai.

So, was this bag a success or a failure? Well, while I completely regret trying these (the things I do for this blog), I think the bag is a total success! This bag isn't made for a person like me who would sit at home and munch on Cheetos if given a choice; it's made for the Thai consumer, who have MANY more fish flavored snacks than we do in the US. And this bag was really a killer seafood flavor. It was complex with Lobster flavor finished by the variety of aromatic spices. To nail the flavor so perfectly, and to make the potato chip suit that seasoning so well, is a very hard task to achieve.

I think this bag is probably like Chip Report Level: Expert, but if you are a daring soul, you might as well just try it. Or if you are in Thailand and want to have an experience, just do it. But I don't think you need to chase these down, unless you really love your fishy flavored snacks, then by all means this is a great one! I picked these up rather easily on Amazon and just had them delivered to my door. Easy Peezy.

Gotta Get At This: Lay's Thailand กุ้งมังกรผัดซอสเอ็กซ์โอ and อิตาเลี่ยนซูพรีมชีส

oh Lay's Thailand. The beautiful nonsense you produce sends my heart a-flutter. Here are two new flavors coming out of Thailand. A China flavor "กุ้งมังกรผัดซอสเอ็กซ์โอ" aka "Fried Lobster in XO Sauce" and an Italian flavor "อิตาเลี่ยนซูพรีมชีส" aka "Italian Cheese Supreme" on a Ruffles style chip. I had to google XO sauce, and the internet informed me it's a spicy seafood sauce from the southern regions of China. Made by mixing different dried seafoods and then cooked with chili peppers, onions, and garlic. Wikipedia says the XO moniker comes from XO Cognac which stands for eXtra Old. Since Cognac is seen as a high-quality item in China, the sauce name carries a certain luxury conotation. So, its no surprise Lay's Thailand chose to pair it with the food that epitomizes luxury; Lobster. It's a hot sauce, so this bag probably has similar qualities to Thailands "Spicy Chili Squid". The other bag, "Italian Cheese Supreme" depicts like 6 different cheeses on the front. So... im guessing... it's Cheesy. It's probably quite different from the Cheddar flavor we are all used to, but similar in a certain way because they are putting it on the thicker cut Ruffles style chip. It's Italian, so they better pack some Parmesan flavor... that's all i'm saying.
I found these on ebay earlier this week and was able to snag them to try. Thailand seems to be one of the easier countries to find chips from. I see them quite often on ebay and Amazon. So, if you want to pick these up, it shouldn't be TOO hard.

Lay's Thailand Hot Chili Squid

This bag had me so scared, I mean, it's called "Hot Chili Squid"; that's pretty intimidating. When I opened this bag the scent was VERY strong; a pungent Thai spiced seafood aroma. But, thankfully, the scent was much stronger than the seasoning. First off, this is a Ruffle-cut chip, you can see it on the front of the bag because Thailand markets both cuts of chips under the Lay's label. The Ruffle cut gave the chip a nice thickness and full potato flavor. The seasoning itself was a very sweet shrimp-like taste, very similar to Prawn Cocktail. That flavor is followed by a really low chili heat. The first chip out of the bag is basically not spicy at all. But as you eat more and more, that spice builds up on the back of your palette. For me, the spice never got too crazy, it was very subtle, even after it built up. The spice cuts through the rich potato and sweet seafood flavor very nicely, making this a complex and exciting taste on the tongue. All in all, I was VERY surprised by how much I enjoyed this bag. My only recommendation is you skip the initial smelling when you open the bag. Go straight to the snacking. This is a great bag for fans of "Prawn Cocktail", "Thai Sweet Chili", and most of the other bags from Thailand. (Actually, now that I think of it, its kind of like "Prawn Cocktail" and "Thai Sweet Chili" had a baby). It's SUPER easy to find on Amazon and Ebay here in the States, so if it sounds like something you'd like to snack on, it shouldn't be too hard to find.

Gotta Get At This: Lay's Thailand รสพริกเผาปรุงรส and รสเมี่ยงคำครบรส

 Lay's Thailand has just released 2 new flavors... "รสพริกเผาปรุงรส" aka "Spicy Chili Paste" and "รสเมี่ยงคำครบรส" aka "Miang". The Chili Paste is pretty straight forward... in Thailand Chili paste is made with Garlic, Shallots, Dried Red Chili flakes, Lime, Tamarind, and a hint of Fish or Shrimp Paste. Thai Chili Paste is used in Thai cuisine to spice up things like soups and noodles. The other new flavor is "Miang"; a little bundle of joy wrapped in a Wild Pepper Leaf. The leaf fillings include Roasted Coconut, Roasted Peanuts, Lime, Ginger, Shallots, Garlic, Thai Chilis, and Shrimp. YUMMO! 
As with most of Thailand's flavors, both of these seem well suited to the region.  So what do you think about these? Are you gonna hunt them down? Let us know in the comments section below :)

Gotta Get At This: New Lay's Thailand Flavors

Lay's Thailand has 2 new flavors out right now. "Salmon & Cream Cheese" and "Larb Tod", which is a traditional Thai meatball made from either chicken or pork with Thai seasonings. There is some sort of vote going along with the release of these flavors, but I am not quite sure what it is, I think the winner will stay on shelves longer than the loser. To see fun photos of Salmon & Cream Cheese fans on Instagram, search for #LaysSalmonCreamCheese... and to see the photos from fans of Larb Tod flavor, search #LaysLarbTod. Hashtagged photos on Instagram will also count as votes. Very clever.
Here is a preview of the photo fun...

I love the idea of incorporating Instagram into the contest, it's by FAR my favorite social media site. The flavors look, so so, but I am sure they are more appealing to the locals. I doubt I'll get to try these, so, I'd love to hear any reviews in the comments section below.

Lay's Thailand Nori Seaweed

Check it out! Here is a very cool looking bag, Nori Seaweed from Lay's Thailand. I was really excited about these, but unfortunately I couldn't get passed 4 or 5 chips. The potato is cooked perfectly and when you pop open this bag you see beautiful colored chips staring up at you screaming "eat me!". The chips are all perfect size and light golden toned with little flecks of real Nori. I eat a lot of Nori here in Southern California, so I was ready to compare this to a roll of delicious sushi. And at first, the chip kind of takes the substitute place of rice, and the nori comes through and the whole thing comes together... but then there is an aftertaste I find hard to describe. Maybe it is the stand in for the fishy taste, but that's not how it came across to me. It tasted VERY MUCH like Lay's Arabia French Cheese (albeit not as potent in strength). The more chips I had, the stronger the aftertaste got. And if you read my review of French Cheese... I really did NOT like that aftertaste. It's like if sweaty foot smell was turned into a taste. But again, in this bag it isn't overwhelming, it just comes in at the end and sits around on your palate. I wish it didn't have this taste because Nori does have such a nice flavor and it does come through purely at the beginning, but if you ask me, this was more of an attempt at a Nori wrapped roll than Nori by itself. To cut to the chase, I wouldn't dismiss this bag if you have never tried it... it's fun just to say you've tried it. But for me this isn't a favorite, and I don't see myself going out of my way to get it again. For those of you looking for it, I know they have it on Amazon and on ebay right now; so if you're still willing to try these, Happy Hunting!

Lay's Thailand Hot and Spicy Crab

How cool is this bag??!
My cousin regularly visits Thailand for work and I finally realized I should ask him to bring me back some chips! DUH!
Here is Hot and Spicy Crab! This bag clearly is meant to appeal to local tastes. Not only is it a seafood flavor, which is common in Asian snack foods, but it also features a hot and spicy seasoning that is very typically Thai. This bag is made for daring foodies. The bag opens up with a very rich aroma of crab and spice. The first taste you get is a sweet chili taste, but that fades quickly to a strong aromatic spice... a HOT, strong, aromatic spice. You get some chili, spring onion, garlic, and maybe a bit of ginger. This is where the pure Thai flavor comes through. Finally near the end there is a vaguely crab flavor. It is subtle and plays second fiddle to the chili mix. The potato chip is a nice thickness. It's thinner than Walkers but not as flakey thin as Lay's USA. They look EXACTLY like the chip depicted on the bag but are covered in red orange seasoning. The potato taste is light next to the strong seasoning. This bag is like the stronger, older brother of Walker's Thai Sweet Chili... and although it packs a HUGE punch, I still think fans of Thai Sweet Chili might enjoy it. Now, I'm a weakling when it comes to spicy food, so I could only eat a couple of these... but if you can handle the heat, these are worth hunting down. I've seen them multiple times on ebay and Amazon... so they can't be too hard to track down here in the states. I have a lot of respect for the complexity of flavor in this bag and highly recommend them. I'm really grateful I got the chance to try these. They are another amazing example that Lay's can be a crash course to a Nation's food culture. Very cool!

Gotta Get At This: Lay's Thailand International Flavors

Hey all! Here are some new flavors recently showing up on Lay's Thailand's website. Looks like 3 new international flavors. They appear to actually be releases, although you can vote on your favorite so I'm not entirely sure. The one on the left is an American flavor that they are calling Spicy Cheese Paprika. I could only translate the first word อเมริกัน to mean "American". The middle bag looks like Japanese Fish Balls although I couldn't translate any of what the label says, and the final bag on the right side is "Italian Spaghetti" อิตาเลียน รปาเกตตี้. 
I'm not sure that I'm really desperate to try any of them, the flavors sound a little boring... I think they may all already exist elsewhere, but it is always exciting to try new stuff; so if I can find them I'll be all over that! 

UPDATE, Oct 18, 2012: Looks like American Spicy Cheese Paprika is the winner of this contest. I still don't know what that means, but it seems to me like the flavor will just remain on store shelves while the other 2 hit the Lay's Graveyard. Honestly, this sounded like the best flavor to me too. Enjoy it Thailand!