Doritos Hot Honey

 Yellow Doritos bag?
Could it be cheddar flavor?

The Attraction

As part of my plunder on my last trip to H-Mart, I scored these "exotic" flavored Doritos. I wasn't quite sure what flavor they were when I bought them, but I just knew it said Doritos on it and it was different....that was good enough for me.

The Review:
After doing some digging on the interwebs, I discovered that this yellow bag of Doritos is actually "Hot Honey" flavored. I can't be certain, but I'm willing to bet this may have something to do with the recent influx of honey-flavored snack items into the market following the honey-butter craze in Korea. (See here and here). I'm just thankful these chips aren't honey-butter flavored as well.

I also do observe that in the upper-left hand corner, it's noted that Lotte, the fine makers of classic Asian snacks like Choco-Pie and Toppo Coffee and Vanilla Ice Cream Flavor produced this Doritos product. This will be interesting.

I tear open the bag of chips and take a deep inhale. There isn't an obvious scent, maybe one of fried corn chips, if you inhaled deep enough. That could be a good sign as it wasn't too sweet or too spicy to the point where it was obvious even without taking a bite.

I pickup a well formed chip and take a bite. It's every bit what you would expect from a Doritos-branded chip; nicely formed corn chip with a great crunch, but in terms of taste, it reminded me of something that I haven't had in awhile. Something that wasn't even a snack, per se. More on that in a minute.

Looks like a pale Dorito

The initial flavor of the sweetness strikes first and as slowly as that flavor begins to fade, there is a slow burn towards the back of my throat. I'm beginning to like this type of spicy. It's a much more laid back spicy. I've been so accustomed to the forward-vinegary heat of things like buffalo wings and certain kinds of beef jerky that when you have something that attacks your spicy zones in a different way, it's really interesting. Most of the spicy items I've had seems to impact the front-to-center part of your tongue. This sweeter heat seems to hit from the back and then the sides of your tongue. Don't get me wrong, you have enough of these and your mouth won't care where the heat is coming from, it just knows it's on fire..but in the most pleasant kind of way.

In terms of the sweetness, I was surprised to discover that the initial sweet hit reminds me of McDonald's Sweet and Sour sauce. Yes, that's right. The very sauce you use to dip your McNuggets into. Shocking, but true! There's even a slight hint of smokiness in there which gives it almost gives it a bbq twist. Turn up the dial a few more notches and you could possible mistake this for a sweet bbq-flavored product.

Pale does not mean no flavor

The Sweet:
Great Doritos crunch with a tasty sweet and spicy flavor dusting.

The Bitter:
If you aren't used to sweet-flavored chips, this may take some time to adjust to.

Conclusion:
I was never totally won over with the honey-butter craze from a little while back. All those products were fine, but it never got me to the point of going from store to store trying to locate my next "hit". These Doritos Hot Honey chips won't quite get me to that point either, but if anything, it made me wonder why this product couldn't be as big.

I prefer the thicker corn chip with the associated crunch that this snack offers. The heat also provides a "cleansing" affect from the first sweet flavor wave and clears the deck for another chip to follow...and believe me...another chip will follow.

Video of the Week

What could possibly go wrong? (hehe)

Ah...what can be more beautiful than a couple's wedding day? A day to celebrate all the love and joy that will culminate out of the union of two people. Sometimes when you see two people, you aren't totally sure if they belong together. In this case, I'm sure they do because the only thing better than her reaction is his equally intellectual reaction. Blessings to you both...you will need it.

Crown Caramel Corns and Peanuts Snack

The Corn Cowboy is back!

The Attraction

Like all great love stories, it all started rather unexpectedly when I picked up a bag of these scary looking corn puffs. Then after that, I tried Crown's new offering, Caramel Maple Corn. Then last week I stepped into different Korean grocery store and saw these on the shelf. Can Crown possible complete the trifecta?

The Review:
As much as I love Crown's Big Caramel Corn Choco (does that sound dirty?), I think I had my fill(that last bit didn't help). When I saw this flavor, which I believe may be the original flavor, I had to give it a shot.

I open the red bag and detect no obvious scent. Perhaps slightly oily, but what can you expect from a fried snack. I take a peek inside and see that these curls have a slight glaze on them. I suppose its from the sugar or caramel. I can't help but wonder will these just taste ordinary after trying the two other flavors? I also don't see any peanuts in the bag. Are these really peanut flavored as well as caramel flavored? (there are actually about 10 peanuts at the bottom of the bag)

These look harmless enough...

I pickup a caramel corn and bite in. These curls are crunchy, but are different from the chocolate and maple variety I had previously. These seem smaller and not as "puffy". Flavor-wise, they initially start off like a mild Cracker Jack, but not nearly as much caramel or sweetness, then as you continue to chew the peanut flavor notes become slightly more pronounced. Oddly enough it reminds me of Capt Crunch. What flavor is Capt Crunch?

Whoa...I'm so shiny!

The Sweet:
Not too sweet, not too caramel, not too much of anything.

The Bitter:
It's seems ordinary at first.

Conclusion:
It's difficult to explain how I feel about these Crown's Caramel Corns and Peanuts. Maybe the best way is like saying these are like Tom Hanks. He's not the planet's hottest man, nor the most buff, nor the flashest dresser, nor the most outspoken. He just quietly does what he does well and lets his acting speak for itself. In many ways these corn snacks are the same way; they don't wow you at first, you can't figure out why this would be so popular, but as you have a few more, you find yourself having another, then another...until there's almost none left in the bag.

Video of the Week 

And you thought the UPS wasn't great

I'm all for efficiency and as little wasted motion as possible when it comes to work...but these guys take it to a whole other level. They would probably call me a wuss and a slacker for only carrying two of those sacks...which is about all one could carry safely. (who needs that?)

Crown Big Caramel Corn Choco

I never thought I'd see the day
I'd meet a real turd wrangler!

The Attraction

I've walked by this snack many times when I've gone to the Korean grocery store and I've often wondered what on earth this was about. I mean, who would approve the look of this product, the packaging, the whole damn thing? Then finally this week, I was just too tickled to not give this thing a try to see if it was as much of a disaster as it looked.

The Review:
Occasionally I buy a snack for the wrong reasons. Usually it's because the packaging is so appealing or interesting, I could not resist. In the case of these Big Caramel Corn Chocos, it was more along the lines of what a trainwreck this product looked like. It's the same impulse that drove me to try Changheyuan Potato DJ Mix and boy did I call that one.

I open  the bag and a strong scent of chocolate quickly overwhelms me. "Wow, that smells great!", I think to myself, but then I take a look into the bag. "Whoa, these things look almost as bad as it does on the outside of the bag!" Talk about a push / pull relationship. It smells amazing, but it looks the way it does. It really put my appetite in limbo.

Boy, could this look any more appetizing?

You know, it's interesting how strong nature is. Everything in my body, including my stomach was screaming, "Put that in your mouth?! Are you crazy!?" Even looking at the photos now make me a bit uneasy, but after staring at the contents of the bag for a while, I knew what I had to do.

I finally reach in to the bag and pull out a Corn Choco. (even the name has a awful neuro-association to what the snack looks like). I take a whiff, which is also very counter intuitive, might I add, but was pleasantly reminded of that wonderful chocolate smell these snacks exude. I quickly just take a bite and, and, and....

...oh my gosh, it's so chocolaty! These Corn Chocos might be one of the most chocolaty tasting snacks I've ever had that doesn't actually contain chocolate. The flavor is like that of your favorite childhood chocolate cereal (think Count Chocula or Coco puffs) but with dry chocolate Nesquik sprinkled over it. The texture is also very similar to that of a puffed cereal, where it's just enough crunch,. They strike just the right balance.

Where have you been my whole life?! Then I take a look in the bag again and want to barf.

Umm...let's rethink this.

The Sweet:
Serious chocolate flavor. Like wow.

The Bitter:
It took some serious internal convincing to put something that looked like this to my mouth. They might have to fire their marketing department.

Conclusion:
I had my doubts. In fact, I'll take it a step further and say I just about wrote this snack off before I even took a bite.....but then when I did...wow. The flavor and texture was out of this world. I'm not even a super fan of chocolate and I enjoyed this snack. I know, it looks awful and the packaging doesn't help it's cause with a corn on the cob (for gosh sakes) lassoing a Big Caramel Corn Choco, but if you ever work up the nerve to taste one, you too will want to "wrangle" more of these.  

Video of the Week 
I really love this week's video because the woman in it is so animated in regards to a fire in her building. Thankfully she and everyone involved seems OK and we get to enjoy her excited retelling of how she learned about the fire.

"The building in on fire! Nahh..what?!"

Haitai Sindangdong Tteokbokki (Dukbokki)

I first thought they might taste like
baked ziti...umm..no

The Attraction:

Recently I've been slightly obsessed with a Korean dish called Tteokbokki. I would walk by some Korean restaurants that would posts photos of the rice cake based dish and I would wonder what the heck this thing would taste like. It looks like Italian ziti with marinara sauce, but it can't possibly taste like that, right? Then finally earlier this year I ordered some and was pleasantly surprised how much I liked it. The chewy rice cake bathed in a sweet-spicy sauce immediately became a favorite of mine. So much so that when I came across this "precious" snack in the local Korean grocery store, I had to try it....it's mine...all mine!

The Review
First things first, this bag is heavy for a snack bag...and a price tag to match. The bag weights almost half a pound (or 7.58 ounces) and cost $4.99. In comparison, a 1 pound bag of Doritos cost about $4. Well, these things are imported, so what can you do? Plus this product promises to deliver tteookbokki flavor at anytime...and can one really put a price tag on that?

I take my first bite into the "chip" and the flavor that is most pronounced is the sweetness of it. It's a bit reminiscent of this snack I reviewed, but sweeter. Almost like the popular American breakfast cereal Cap'n Crunch. Towards the tail-end of the bite, the slight spice comes through, but it's a sweet spice, not the traditional salty spice I've grown accustomed to. Hmm, not bad, let's try another...then another...etc.

It looks like a spicy, mini-churro, now that I look at it

The Sweet:

A great sweet, spicy flavored snack textured nicely to provide a good crunch.

The Bitter:
Can we make these closer to the States so they don't costs so much?

Many of these were "tested" for this review

Conclusion:
In the end, they ultimately don't really taste like Tteokbokki that much to me, both in texture (crunchy instead of chewy) and in flavor, although the sweet and spicy components are there. With that said, I really enjoyed this snack. So much so that I polished off about half the bag as I wrote this review. In lieu of not having the ability to have tteokbokki on hand at a given moment, this will make a pleasant substitute to distract me until I can get the real thing.

Video of the Week
A short video lesson this week from Bryan Cranston teaching us all how to respond to people asking if we enjoyed visiting their home town.

Was Bryan Cranston Walter White or was
Walter White Bryan Cranston?

Cheetos Korean BBQ Flavor

Will they be "Greeeaatt!"? Oh wait, wrong cat

The Attraction:
My pal Grace hooked me up with a bag of these at her last trip down to a Korean grocery store. She knows I'm a fan of international variations of popular American snacks, so this was a natural fit for me!

The Review
I've been eating Cheetos since I was a kid. Who could resist a delicious fried corn snack with a strong cheese flavor? Not this chubby kid. Granted, due to my desire to look more like The Rock and less like Jonah Hill, I've been eating them far less frequently. Still, I have a job to do. Let's see if these cousins of the American Cheetos I've been filling my body with are as tasty as their originators.

When I peeled open the bag of Cheetos, I was expecting a wave of bbq smell to come pouring out of the bag, but it wasn't the case with these Cheetos. They just smelt slightly of corn. In addition, they are also much paler then their US counterparts. I guess there's no reason why they would be orange-colored if they don't have cheese flavor. I go ahead and dig in and like many Asian variations of American snacks, the flavor is subdued. This is usually the case due to the Asians in Asia finding US snacks too "flavorful" or too strong.

The flavor strikes me as familiar, yet unusual. These Cheetos are far less savory than the cheese-flavored ones. They have a slightly sweet finish to them. At first, they bring to mind Wise's Onion Flavored Rings, minus the onion flavor and with far less salt. The more I eat, the more I think they may even have a very distant relation to Kellogg's Corn Pops. It's not nearly as sweet, but that'll give you an idea of how far from overly savory it is. It also doesn't seem as oily, but with that, not quite as crunchy as well. Don't get me wrong, they are crunchy, but if a regular Cheetos in the States has a 10 crunch, these rate about a 8 on the same crunch meter.

"I feel so naked without my cheese flavored coat on!"

The Sweet:

Granted, these don't crunch quite as well as the US ones do, they still do have a great snack texture to them. Their subdued seasoning doesn't send your taste buds into overdrive, but delivers a steady understated flavor that won't tire out your snacking experience in one sitting.

The American "Jersey Shore" version
of Cheetos I'm used to

The Bitter:
These aren't savory! That's not really a bad thing, more like something you should be aware of before you buy them in hopes of scratching that savory snack itch. These won't hit that savory snack spot.

Conclusion:
I'm really not too sure how I feel about these innocuous little snacks. On one hand, I like that they don't hit you over the head with overwhelming flavors, but it's also that lack of "umph" that makes these treats not stand out of the snack crowd in any particular way.

At the end of the day, I think it's like a mediocre date; it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. It was OK....and as in snacks as it is to love, I'm looking for more than just OK.

Video of the Week
I've been thinking about this long and hard; what if this blog business never pans out? No one stops by anymore to read my comments, then what would I do?

Maybe I can be a "boyfriend" in Japan. (Note to self: Learn Japanese)

I wonder if they have any US openings?