Konbini Kinyoubi: Wasabi Shoyu Doritos and Sichuan Pringles

Welcome to Konbini Kinyoubi, where every Friday (Kinyoubi) we visit our local convenience store (Konbini) and buy something delicious.

As we’ve discussed before on the blog, Japan is way ahead of the curve when it comes to potato chip flavors. Even brands that are known all over the world offer special unique varieties here, and I’ve always got my eye out for something good. Today we thought we’d taste-test two new kinds of chips from the convenience store: Wasabi Shoyu Doritos and Sichuan Pringles.

The bag describes these Doritos as “pari pari,” or “crunchy,” which is what I want out of a Dorito. These are Wasabi Shoyu flavor, and for our international readers, shoyu is soy sauce. That means they are meant to taste like that delicious mix of wasabi and soy sauce you get with sushi. Let’s dig in.

The color left a bit to be desired. They weren’t entirely green, more of an orange-green that made them look kind of like Doritos that had gone bad.

But the taste… yowzers! There was a strooooooong hit of wasabi right away. If you don’t like wasabi, or you’re one of those people who uses only a tiny bit of it sparingly at sushi restaurants, you will not be able to handle these chips. They are definitely not for wimps. They’re powerful, and only the strong will survive.

But what made them great was the next part.

They tasted like wasabi, but not only of wasabi. The hint of soy sauce really came through, rounding out the experience and softening the blow. There are other wasabi snacks in Japan, and they taste okay, but these brought our tastebuds to life, conjuring up memories of delicious sushi dinners. I couldn’t believe how accurately they brought back the feeling of wasabi and soy sauce together in proper proportion. The balance was incredible. We gobbled these up and would have eaten a bag five times as big.

But then we had to try our second purchase.

It’s certainly red. You have to give it that.

Sichuan Pringles, part of something called the Passport Flavours series using the gross British spelling. I would guess this series features flavors from different countries, and that this is a Chinese version. I fully admit that I do not know the difference between Sichuan and Szechuan, but based on the pictures, it looks like they should taste like meat and peppers, and from the region’s reputation, I assumed they would be quite spicy.

INTERESTING FACT: It is required by law that you take two Pringles and make a duck beak out of them each time you open a tube.

We were disappointed. They were not spicy. In fact, they didn’t really taste like… anything at all. They tasted like Pringles, that same consistency you’re used to, and nondescript flavor dust, which is something you probably also know. But spice? Peppers? Meat? Chinese food? No, they tasted of none of these. Very bland, not spicy, and we couldn’t even put our dust-covered fingers on a specific taste. We gobbled these up too, but weren’t as happy about it.

But oh, those Wasabi Soy Sauce Doritos.

These were fantastic. Japan pride is truly inside. 15/10 all day long. If you get the chance to try Wasabi Shoyu Doritos, do it. We’ll be on the lookout for more of these and any other new flavors in the future. Until next time, keep crunchin’.