Pringles flavours of Singapore: Soft-shell Crab, Seaweed and more

Though snackfood may be global, it has its regional vernacular, as demonstrated by these Singaporean Pringles in Soft-Shell Crab, Seaweed and Grilled Shrimp flavours (not shown, Blueberry/Hazelnut). And here I thought British Lamb-flavoured crisps were odd.

Weird Groceries (Thanks, Crystal!)

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Ilya

I saw the blueberry/hazelnut in a store here in SG, and figured I had to try it, little suspecting that our innocent island is being used as some sort of diabolical test market. The experience plays out in two phases:

1. Hmm, subtler than I expected, but impressive, it kinda does taste like both blueberry and hazelnut. Not *good*, mind you, but impressive qua science.
2. Oh god, it’s been two hours and I still can’t get the taste out of my mouth. Even water tastes like a vinyl blueberry. Somebody please kill me.

I’m guessing the savory flavors might be safer, since they’re presumably just suffused with MSG like most “seaweed flavored” snacks.
Anonymous

I love TWISTYS
shiva7663

I would like to try poutine-flavored Pringles, plz.
- Jerril
  
  They’d probably taste similar to poutine flavored Ruffles or whichever brand it was that made them. For Americans, basically like beef gravy and cheese ;)
  
  I would eat all of the flavors from the original post, although I’d rather steal a few of the blueberry hazelnut from someone else before buying a whole package for myself. It sounds like it has potential, but I’d want to know if it were strictly savory or sweet-and-salty.
  
  Squid chips are great – just dried, puffed squidy bits. Like pork rinds, but made from actual meat instead of skin peels.
penguinchris

Browsing snacks in SE Asia is both fascinating and sickening… perhaps next time I’ll be a little more brave but the thought of fish-flavored snacks disgusts me. Even worse are the ones that are actually dried-up fish.

That said, in Canada they’ve got ketchup chips and dill pickle chips, which to me (I loathe both items) is almost as bad :) I also don’t like most flavored chips in the US, so it’s not like I’m a good person to ask, anyway.

I ate all kinds of weird stuff in Thailand, much of which I’m still not sure about what it was. I think I’m a pretty adventurous eater. But for some reason, snack foods like this really turn me off.

One of the worst things I ate was a bun with some kind of normal (savory) filling, but with “pork floss” attached to the top. I didn’t realize what it was until the flavor and texture hit… I quickly glanced at the package (which I got in the habit of ignoring since many packages of fresh items like that didn’t have english on them) and saw “pork floss” and nearly barfed :)

I’m sure this stuff tastes fine if you’re used to it, it’s probably even really tasty. But man, you definitely need to get used to it.
adamnvillani

I just wonder what the difference in taste would be between a soft-shell-crab-flavored Pringle and a hard-shell-crab-flavored Pringle.
japester

The blueberry/hazelnut ones are awesome, if a little trippy.
Brother Phil

Asian stores have got to be the best for snackage – guanabana juice, coconut drink with lumps of coconut in, and all sorts of stuff you don’t see in everyday places.

Lincoln (the UK one) has a good sized Polish community, so I’m getting the chance to check out Central European nosh – a wide range of fruit flavoured iced teas is a good starter. I also found something like pain au chocolat, but with crispbread instead of pastry.
Scary_UK

If anyone thinks the regular British crisp flavours are odd, have a look at the odd flavours that Walkers (AKA Lays) crisps are currently selling for the World Cup:

American Cheeseburger, Argentinean Flame Grilled Steak, Australian BBQ Kangaroo, Brazilian Salsa,
Dutch Edam Cheese, English Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pudding, French Garlic Baguette, German Bratwurst, Sausage, Irish Stew, Italian Spaghetti Bolognese,
Japanese Teriyaki Chicken, Scottish Haggis, South African Sweet Chutney, Spanish Chicken Paella and
Welsh Rarebit
http://www.walkers.co.uk/flavourcup/

They regularly produce promotional selections of flavours, the Indian restaurant ones being particually nice
Guav

Had my friend bring me back a few cans of the seaweed flavor from the Philippines last month, they were amazing. The cans are smaller than the American cans though, which I guess shouldn’t be surprising. The chips themselves are also smaller, and rounder.
kaffeen

Mmmmm tasty…not.
knoxblox

I think it depends upon taste…

I personally would be willing to try the crab or shrimp flavors, but since one of my favorite things about sushi is the dried seaweed, I’m already pretty sure I’d like it.
Cowicide

… and probably with wholesome MSG like its American counterpart. Nice!
A Nonny Moose

This reminds me of the clam flavored potato chops that were available in New England up until a couple of years ago. I know it sounds kinda gross, but they really were pretty darned good.
- mdh
  
  agreed. Nasty but addictive.
btlfed7

I have the shrimp ones each time I visit Manila, and they aren’t bad.
teufelsdroch

Which is worse, potato chips that taste nothing like soft-shell crab–or potato chips that taste exactly like soft-shell crab?

Of course the best example of weird Japanese flavors is KitKat bars.
Jexy6

I took a pretty similar photo a few weeks ago: http://awesomeism.tumblr.com/post/562499076/no-thanks

I haven’t tried them yet myself, but I did just see a bottle of Hello Kitty Rose at the deli in my building, so maybe they’d go well together: http://twitpic.com/1qm76g
monkey

at first glance the can on the left looked like it might be lump of lava rock or coal. now that would have been innovative!
freshacconci

When Marks and Spencer used to be in Canada it was great getting a fix on the oddball British “crisp” flavours. Now I have to find cutesy British-themed stores to find over-priced ham & mustard or pickled onion.
jeligula

You should ask Lisa about what Pizza Hut serves in Japan, Cory.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  You should ask Lisa about what Pizza Hut serves in Japan, Cory.
  
  Japan? I had a terrifying pizza with cockles on it in Edinburgh.
  - Marshall
    
    Based on what I’ve seen throughout Asia, Pizza Hut may lead the globe in distributed, region-specific, food weirdness. Even just the crazy “unnaturally stretchy cheese” advertising goes beyond how I want to see food presented. Pizza Hut is followed closely by KFC in terms of “whaa?” takes on western food (their corn & ice cream shake/blizzard gives Pizza Hut a run for their money).
blueelm

I bet the seaweed would be really good. I love those seaweed biscuits.

I’d also try the blueberry/hazelnut just for the experience.

I’m not so sure about the fishy tastes. I don’t like fishy things that aren’t fish very much. FWIW I also hate the BBQ flavor too that is so popular in the US.

That being said I bet the shrimp could be good since dried shrimp can be tasty in a salad.
turn_self_off

there is always this japanese fanta to go along with it:
http://en.akihabaranews.com/35611/misc/japanese-latest-wacky-drink-fanta-moomoo-white
caipirina

me want now … i am tired of the limited flavors I get here …

Calbee’s pizza flavored chips are still my favorite@@@
kyoob

A guy in our office brought back Blueberry & Hazelnut Pringles. Verdict: bloody awful.
Anonymous

How would softshell crab flavor be different from hardshell crab flavor?
- Ted8305
  
  I was thinking the same thing. Soft shell crab flavor probably combines flavors of claw and lump meat. It’s a common Maryland thing to make a sandwich from a battered and fried softshell. They go great with chips and slaw. The picture on the Pringles can shows an un-fried crab, though.
Nadreck

The only time I was in Singapore I wandered into a convenience store looking for a bag of chips. They had all of these weird flavours but I wanted a plain old bag of chip flavoured chips. That they didn’t have. When they saw me start to go back out after having perused the chip rack they asked me what flavour I was looking for and opined that they probably had it in the back room. They were shocked and appalled that I wanted chip-flavoured chips and ushered me back out onto the street as a Philistine.
Anonymous

they all sound like they could be good to me. Shrimp chips are yummy and so are seaweed crackers.
Res Cogitans

You think Lamb flavoured crisps are odd? Let’s not forget that there were once Hedgehog flavoured ones.
efergus3

I miss the prawn flavored crisps I used to eat in the UK.
Tarliman

I tried both the Softshell Crab and Grilled Shrimp flavors while in Singapore back in February, and thought they were okay, but nothing special. The Crab ones were only lightly flavored, not much of a seafood taste to them. Singapore has a lot of crab-flavoured snackage, very popular stuff. What I found I really liked was a soda called Kickapoo Joy Juice (yes, like L’il Abner), that was kind of like Mountain Dew but without the HFCS and other nasty additives. That I would have brought back a case of if my luggage allowance had been sufficient for it.
- hisdevineshadow
  
  You mean to say they got Kickapoo Joy Juice all the way over there in Singapore and I haven’t seen it since I was a teenager in rural South Carolina? It was as common as Pepsi and Coke then as well as Cheerwine, a cherry favor soda, which the last I was there was still available. For some reason, Cheerwine isn’t sold here in Florida!
  
  I sometimes like to go to the oriental groceries and get some of the import snacks, I find them unique and delicious! It is also less expensive than the ones sold through X-treme Geek, which is probably why they no long sell food items!
- Marshall
  
  Tarliman – Not sure where you are, but you can get Kikapoo Joy Juice at various specialty beer & wine/soft drink places in the United States. I’ve seen it at soda mecca Galco’s in Los Angeles, as well as locations of the BevMo chain.
  
  Regardless of brand, my favourite Asian chip/puff/crisp flavour is any of the sweet octopus varieties. It’s like a weird fusion of octopus and light maple syrup. In Thailand, I’ve also seen a large variety of larb flavoured versions of Japanese and American snack foods that are to die for, if only for the amazing amount of salty goodness they’re coated with.
gobo

I had “Extra Salty”, “Crazy Curry” and “Savory Soup” flavored Pringles in Japan. The soup ones tasted like miso. Not bad!

And yes, here in New England you can find clam and “crab seasoning” flavored chips. The latter don’t taste like crab at all; they’re Old Bay flavored, so they taste heavily of celery salt and paprika.