Calbee Kappa Ebisen Lotteria Ebi Burger かっぱえびせん ロッテリア エビバーガー

The males in my household are big fans of ebi senbei and kappa ebisen in particular so I was excited to buy these from napaJapan to try!

This is a collaboration of Calbee with Lotteria and the flavour is based on their Ebi Burger (shrimp pattie burger).

I've never tried it but I assume it would be nice? (Please let me know if you have tried it in the comments!)

Upon opening the bag there is a strong smell of ebi and something that smells like tartare sauce. It makes sense as the picture on the front of the bag shows the burger with cabbage and a white sauce flecked with green.

Each senbei is flecked with red and green bits too, and they smell strongly of shrimp. They are very crunchy and moreish. 

The taste is quite different to the regular ebisen, in that the tartare sauce is strong in flavour as well as scent. It's amazing to me how much it tastes like what I imagine the burger to be like in real life!

Mr 5 who is a diehard ebi senbei freak didn't like these, but my husband and I are currently fighting over the bag. As is so often the case, I bought one to try and end up regretting not buying more of them. 

I definitely recommend these. If you've tried the burger, drop me a line and let me know how these rate against it! :)

Cheetos Salty Prawn チートスえび塩味

These were in a box of snacks that I bought from napaJapan. It was the last bag of snacks and I pulled it out one Saturday afternoon while we were watching Japanese baseball on TV. 

My son heard the rustle of the pack and came running as he loves savory snacks.

We opened it together and when we put our face in the bag to smell we both immediately withdrew because the smell of prawns was so strong and overwhelming. My husband refused to have any at all based on the smell alone but later relented and had one. His first words were "it's too salty!"

My son had a few and then didn't want anymore which is totally unlike him. So I was left with basically the whole bag of these salty prawn Cheetos, which I have to admit were extremely salty, and even though the smell of prawn was strong, the taste wasn't. There was some sweetness in the Cheetos which downplayed the prawn flavour, but combined with such a great amount of salt, I was soon reaching for a glass of water. 

Two out of three people who love prawn flavoured anything rejected these, so this will give you a good indication of what these Cheetos are about. I thought they were ok but the salt content worried me. They conveniently left off the amount of salt in the nutritional table on the back of the packet. 

After I had eaten a few of these my lips started to burn and tingle which is usually a sign that a product contains MSG. I wouldn't eat them again and you should try them at your own risk. 

Calbee Korean Seaweed かっぱえびせん カルビー 韓国のり風味

As I posted previously, my son loves ebi senbei. Today he has been sick with a virus he caught from one of his friends and has been having high temperatures, which means he has been refusing all food.

I was at my wit's end when I realised that I had this bag of Calbee squirreled away in a parcel from a friend...I pulled them out and opened them and my son instantly perked up and began munching away! Saved! :)

The bag is quite pretty and the top and bottom of the bag is decorated in traditional Korean colours. I'm not really sure what difference there is between Korean nori (seaweed) and Japanese Nori, and when I asked my husband he said they just call it Korean nori in Japan...so he doesn't know either. Looking online I couldn't find mention of a particular type that comes from Korea, so I guess this is just seaweed originating from Korea flavour!

Inside, the pack really smelled strongly of seaweed, and each cracker had a rich taste of seaweed plus a small kick of what must be chili powder. These tasted quite salty too which made for a very moorish snack that I couldn't stop eating! I love how these snacks are so crunchy when you bite into them, it's the perfect savoury snack.

The other great thing about this pack is that unlike other savoury snacks where you get a small portion of snacks and the rest is air, the bag was full to the top of crackers. When my husband came home from work he had some too and gave them two thumbs up, so we three are all really happy with this snack from Calbee.

Echigo Seika Bite Size Prawn Crackers 越後製菓 味の追求 ひとくち 海老せん

 

I am a big fan of prawn crackers and usually when we have Chinese Take-away I get a big bag of them.

Ebi Senbei are a lot like prawn crackers except they are usually round, thicker and harder. I got a friend to send some senbei (Japanese rice cracker) over for me and in the box she included this pack of bite size ebi senbei with my 11 month old son in mind.

I wasn't sure if he would like them but they were a massive hit and quickly became "his" senbei, in fact he ate the whole pack by himself except for one or two that we sneaked so we could try.

I know why they were so popular, they are the perfect size for his little hands, they have lots of flavour, and a satisfying crunch.

These are adults senbei, not marketed towards children but they seem perfect for the whole family.

The packet contains 60g worth of senbei which is probably around 30 pieces and a packet contains 474 calories.

I'm definitely going to buy more of these, they are just so worth it!!

The manufacturers website is
http://www.echigoseika.co.jp

Top Valu Soft Ebi Senbei えび味せんべい

I picked up this pack of soft Ebi (prawn) senbei in Japan. They're a pack of 10 individually wrapped packs of 2 senbei each, and cost 98 yen, around $1.

The brand, Top Valu belongs to the Aeon chain. But unlike home brands in Australia, I have found that Top Valu is much better quality across the board.

I'm not much of a fan of seafood myself, especially prawns or crayfish, but I do love the taste of Ebi crackers!

This pack is really good value for a dollar, because they basically have 10 packs, equalling 10 cents per individual pack or 5 cents per cracker. They make great snacks for lunch boxes and I carry them around in my handbag as a snack on the go.

So what are they like? Well the wrapping keeps them very fresh. They are easy to bite into and deliver a loud crunch when you do. They seem to have a fine powdery substance on the outside that delivers a big punch of ebi flavour. They are very much like eating a thicker version of a prawn cracker.

I can't get enough of these. I love the loud crunch noise they make, and the flavouring on the outside. Unlike other senbei I find them to be less oily too, it could be because of the powder on the outside though.

Good value, and good taste, what more could you ask for for $1? :)