Lay's "Salted Egg Flavour"

Frito-Lay

If you’re unfamiliar with salted egg, it’s a trend in salty snacks out of South Eastern Asia. I think it was invented in Singapore, or at the very least that’s where it became popular. Salted egg is a way to coat salty snacks and it gives them an interesting texture and flavour. The texture is a little but crunchier, and the flavour seems a bit richer. From what I know, the snack originated as a coating for dried fish skin. I’ve actually reviewed them already right here.

The thing is, this popular flavour/texture has become all the rage, and you can now get all kinds of salted egg treats. Of all the choices out there, potato chips do seem like the most obvious choice (the weirdest one I’ve seen is the salted egg doughnut). Salted egg potato chips were also the first spin off treat that I’d seen as well, after the fish skins. These chips however aren’t the perfect example of this treat that you’ll find out there.

The reason these aren’t the best example is because I don’t think they’re actually coated in salted egg, like many other chips I’ve seen. Based on the flavour (and the use of the word flavour on the package), I’m assuming that these use synthetic flavours to approximate the flavour of salted egg chips. The flavour is richer than a plain potato chip, sort of like a cheese flavoured potato chips without the sharpness. There’s also a bit of spice on these chips, and I mean the hot kind. It’s the kind of spice that gradually builds the more potato chips that you eat. By the end of the bag my mouth was a little uncomfortable.

While these did taste fine, I didn’t really get the full salted egg experience out of them. The texture was pretty far off. The flavour matched in spirit, but the egg flavour could have been a bit stronger. I would say that if you’re afraid of eating real salted eggs, you might want to give these a try. If you’re a fan of salted egg, you might want to skip them.