FritoLay – Wasabi Beef Thick Cut Chips

I noticed a while back that wasabi beef was emerging as a popular chip flavour in Japan and it seems that it is finally making its way here in full force. The concept seems pretty interesting to me but makes sense – wasabi flavour on it’s own is mostly just horseradish on it’s own, and doesn’t carry much notable flavour on its own. Add in a meat like beef though, and you can really attack those savoury and umami notes.

The texture is nice and thick true to it’s name and it has a nice snap and crunch to it. The chip eats like a regular Frito corn chip was taken, flattened out and folded in on itself to give it this fan or air filter shape. That gives it way more surface area to help deliver the flavour, but more importantly makes the texture way crunchier. I can see how this may make it harder and less appealing for some people, but as someone who looks for hearty, substantial crunches, I absolutely adore this.

Interestingly, when I look at the ingredient label, the product description claims its a potato chip but I look at the ingredients, potato is nowhere to be found and it’s just corn. Not just any corn, but Murican corn. The naming of thick cut also generally implies that it’s a potato chip, but the texture is absolutely that of a corn chip. Interestingly nowhere on the packaging does it indicate it’s a potato, so maybe it’s just an import labeling fubar.

Flavourwise, these are pretty interesting. The most notable flavour is that nasal clearing wasabi that is refreshing in a different way. The chip itself is also got a decent level of sweetness to it which helps compliment the savoury notes that come from the beef flavouring. The combination of that soy sauce sweetness and savouriness do a lot of work here, and admittedly overpower the beef flavour, but it’s a very moreish taste that makes me want more.

I really enjoyed these, from the interesting and unique flavour, to the wonderful texture. My only regret is not having gotten the bigger bag, or not getting more than one. Suffice to say I will be looking hard to get another bag of these. I only hope this is not so much of a novelty flavour that I never see these again.