Bret’s l’Originale

Bret’s, who seem to have become Brets, always produce great crinkle cut crisps. But this packet of Originale (salted) flavour crisps are the traditional flat crisps. 

I didn’t notice the Chef eating the whole of this little 30g packet all by himself. A pity, because we haven’t actually tried this simple flavour before. And those Bret’s flavours we have tried were all crinkled. The packet came free with our hotel room in Reims, although frankly, anything that comes free with a hotel isn’t free at all.

The Chef says they were alright. Nothing to write home about. OK. But I notice they were past their sell-by date before we ever arrived in France so this is not the most advantageous time to review them.

I think we’ll stick with OK.

Kambly ApériSticks Carotte Avec une touche de Chili

We visited Switzerland (thank you very much NHS Covid passport) and I wondered what this little packet of crispy sticks might taste like. 

A crispy snack made with carrots? Well, let’s see. There’s a good crunch, and the little crispy sticks seem much like any similar product… except for the lack of salt. Which is just seen (as fashion editors say) in the photo, but not immediately obvious on the product. The carrots do add an amazing whack of sweetness so not what you might expect in a crispy snack. Never underestimate a TV chef who tells you to add carrots for sweetness: it’s really true.

Quite a tasty snack, but a little too sweet for my taste. I prefer salt over sweet any day of the week. And they do ever so slightly gum themselves to your teeth which isn’t ideal. But perhaps I should have tried them with some hummus? I think that would work nicely.

Chio Oven Jumpys Sea Salt

 

I was quite excited to see another flavour for the fabulous Jumpys. 

Of course the Chef and I first discovered Jumpys in 2013 (so long ago!) and I thought the taste a bit dull. After years of testing: just me and the Chef, or with the Reluctant Taste Testers, I have discovered that the simple flavours work the best. For me anyway, and I think for a lot of other people too.

So what we first tried were a Sunny Paprika flavour (although I have never worked out what makes it sunny), and I think the little kangaroos were fried. Look how picky I was back then! Goodness me. I had no idea at all. Because actually the Sunny Paprika Jumpys are fabulous, not to mention pretty cute (I wonder who ever had the idea for a miniature crunchy kangaroo?), and these oven cooked Sea Salt flavoured Jumpys are much less nice. Oh don’t get me wrong; I did finish the packet but I feel these little kangaroo shaped snacks weren’t as tasty as they might have been.

The crunch is still the same but somehow the sea salt flavour isn’t quite interesting enough. Yes oven cooked with 40% less fat is probably a healthier option, but there’s very little point in healthy if it isn’t tasty. 

Yes. There is little point in a crispy snack if it isn’t tasty. But a healthy crispy kangaroo is more intriguing than fried slices of potatoes. Well m there you are.

Found in Switzerland.

Bret’s La Bretonne Subtiiilement Beurrée

 Purchased, you guessed it, from a motorway service station in France, this interesting crisp is just delicious. There were other flavours on offer in the little shop (where I also bought a packet of extremely good ham for our picnic lunch), but this looked the most intriguing.

So yesterday I put out a bowl of crisps for the Chef which he shoved to the far end of the table for fear of eating too many, and I sat down on the sofa with the packet. And ate far too many all at once.

Just delicious. A gorgeous buttery taste which may sound wrong, but trust me, it’s so right. Lovely crisp bite as always from Bret’s, finely crinkled, irresistible. Buy some to try if you see them, but possibly only available in France.

And they remind me quite strongly of the long lamented M&S Reduced Fat Buttered Baked Potato crisp which was great. It really was.

Woolly Knitted Wotsits

Anyone who knows me is aware that I am a huge fan of Walkers Cheesy Wotsits and other Wotsit-alike crispy snacks. But what about this one?

Spotted on Instagram, this woolly Wotsit snack is by textile artist Kate Jenkins. Isn’t this fun? A packet of knitted Wotsits.

You can find more of her fascinating work here at Kate Jenkins Studio. 

Ficosota Food Maretti Oven Baked Bruschette Chips Pizza

I saw this little 70g packet of crispy snacks when I ran down the road for the weekend newspapers. I thought we had tried this style of snack before, but I was fairly sure we hadn’t tried Pizza. And, no, we hadn’t.

We’ve tried Maretti Bruschette in Italian Ham, Mixed Vegetables, Mixed Cheese, Roasted Garlic, Mushrooms and Cream, and Spinach and Cheese. All back in 2016 and 17. Back then the maker’s name was Ital. And now here we have Pizza. 

It’s a pity the Pizza flavour isn’t as pizza-y as it might be. But it’s a tasty snack with a good crunch.

The Chef agrees. The taste isn’t quite right. But it’s still a very tasty snack. And I can’t help wondering if it might work very well with a dip.

Monster Munch Roast Beef

Isn’t this a great way to use a crisp packet design? I found this work of art on Instagram recently. You can buy Little Fish Designs from Art Republic.

Here’s a review of from Monster Munch Pickled Onion flavour from 2013. I have never been mad keen on these crispy snacks; perhaps because I never came across Monster Munch as a child. But I do know a big fan, in fact it’s (now ex-)Managerial Taste Tester’s wife. She has never quite recovered from the most exciting day of her life (except for giving birth to her two children, but apparently not including her wedding day): the day the Monster Munch taste testing team visited her primary school! She and her friends got to trial a bunch of new flavours! Amazing.

Also now available Monster Munch Giants shown here in Roast Beef flavour.

Walkers Sensations Hickory Smoked Cheddar & Crispy Bacon

Ski Instructor told me that he and Farmer’s Daughter had poured over this blog the whole evening before the Chef and I went round for a drink and to admire their new garden. He claimed they wanted to be sure I had a fresh crisp to try. 

I am quite certain he completely made that up but in fact Farmer’s Daughter did manage to find a crisp we hadn’t seen before.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the actual crisps, and the crunch is just fine, but I am not too sure about the flavour. The cheesiness isn’t tip top; I am not certain that smoked cheese is the way to go with a flavour for crisps. And the crispy bacon? How can you create a crispy flavour? Well obviously you can’t.

Not nasty at all, just not particularly special.

The packet says “new” but we don’t know how long that label has been around.

Ültje Cashews & Erdnüsse Honig und Saltz

 

Cashews and peanuts flavoured with honey and salt. Sounds tasty doesn’t it? But somehow this German nutty snack didn’t quite work for me.

Oh, the Chef snacked them down quite happily but I felt the nuts were a just bit too hard. Which made more of a difference than you might expect. Call me picky.... I know you will.

I’m sure they have many fans in Germany.