Kettle Chips Thai Sweet Chilli, Lemongrass & Coriander

Maybe I bought these crisps because the packet is such a fabulous colour. Maybe not. But it certainly is a wonderful lime green. Or more of a lime yellow. Brilliant.

The reluctant taste testers and I were stunned at the freshness of taste you get with these crisps. All too often sweet chilli crisps are simply too sweet. But the lemongrass, and particularly the coriander just give such an unusual fresh taste these crisps are really different.

Also in the mix are garlic, tomato, ginger, galangal, star anise, cumin and oregano. The packet says there are absolutely no artificial ingredients so we have to believe that this flavour is created from all these herbs and spices. It looks like a very complicated recipe, and often complicate recipes don't work as well as their creators hoped, but somehow this is a great success. The crisps smell good too.

Lovely big crisps, richly coloured with a good bite and that lovely fresh chilli flavour. Very nice indeed.

I saved a few crisps at the bottom of the packet and took them home. The Chef really liked them too. So an all round success.

M&S Summer of Flavour Hand Cooked Prawn Tom Yum

I don't usually eat seafood (although let's be honest, crisps don't really qualify as seafood do they?) but I wanted to know what these prawn tom yum crisps were like, so I bought a packet for the reluctant taste testers at work.

I put a bowl out at lunchtime and replenished it after lunch. And before I knew it there was nothing left beyond a few crumbs. So it seems everyone thought these were rather delicious.

Good crunchy (very crunchy - great sound effects) golden crisps they taste of lemongrass, ginger and a hint of chilli (or so says the packet). And that would be about right. There's coriander and lemon in the flavour too. It's a lovely spicy flavour. I couldn't detect prawns in the taste but others in the office did. Only the aroma reminds me of prawns in chinese restaurants.

I gather that tom yum is a spicy and sour soup. From Laos or Thailand or Malaysia or Singapore. Or all of them. As with so many recipes there seem to be a great many different versions but the version most popular with tourists is the one with the prawns. Or so Wikipedia tells me. So I guess that's what we have here.

Interestingly there is a bloc of information on the back of the packet explaining what lemongrass is. I would have thought anyone buying a packet of prawn tom yum crisps would probably know already. Probably anyone shopping at M&S.

The bag is actually a much softer, prettier, coral red than the scan shows. I don't know why it has come out quite so bright; the scanner is usually more accurate than this.

Rather good spicy-tasting crisps. With a terrific crunch. Very popular at work.