Purple Potatoes! Lay's Taro Chips - Lime Flavour [@NLi10]

2026 is the year of the root vegetable - with purple Ube drinks being the hotness - and purple Taro crisps close behind.

Legends in Birmingham has loads of Chinese products and is my main source of Pocari Sweat - but I spotted these from the international brand Lays

And they are pretty alien looking.  My Grandmother (98) was very freaked out by it and pulled some amazing faces.  She did try a second one too though.

Ingredients a bit faded, but it's basically just Taro, Palm Oil (boo) and lime flavour

And look at the close up.  I've no idea why it's both brown and purple, I'm sure someone can explain.

The lime flavour is not a British one.  It's both sweet and sour, and not in expected ways.  It's kind of like eating a boiled sweet crisp - and it's great.

I'm not sure you'd sit and eat a bag - but to share it's a great conversation starter and to see some funny faces.

And I have a pepper flavour one to try later!

 

VIBES - Salt & Vinegar Potato Crisp Chip Hybrid - Iceland [@NLi10]

Potato Scallops are great - just circles of potato cooked like chips.  We used to have these all the time as kids - and not just because they took less cutting, but because they are superior to stick chips.

And if you buy them pre-cut they can have ridges too!

VIBES are of course a totally new invention, and not just McCain potato scallops repackaged for Generation AirFryer.

The cleverest part is that the flavour comes separate so you add it and shake the bag up to get your chosen style.  For the (not yet tried) spicy ones this means you could put less in if you didn't want to scare the children too much.  For S&V they could have given me two of the flavour bags and I'd have been fine.

We don't have an Air Fryer so on the tray they go

And they come out pretty well!

Yes - they are just fat, hot crisps - but at the special offer price of £3.50 for two bags in Iceland, UK - and with each bag giving a generous 2 portions or a skimpy 4 (which we did) then they are sure to be a hit.

Especially if you have an AirFryer and a teenager or nearest equivalent.

 

Minecraft Doritos - Creeper Vinegar and BBQ too. [@NLi10]

 I've barely played Minecraft.  I remember all the fuss in the early days when it and other similar voxel games came out - and it wasn't for me.  Fast forward probably 20 years and there's a movie coming.

And the tie-ins are out in force. Here are some simplified Doritos! 

If you like the corn triangles, but don't like all the complicated flavours then they have got you covered - it's vinegar - just vinegar.  Salt is evil so we can't have that, and you don't want exciting things - just eat the vinegar.

They taste a bit like the pickled onion monster-munch, but they are clearly vinegar on chips flavour - but the chips are triangles and corn.  Perfect snack for gaming, or in my case sitting and watching the Rumble.  Not exciting enough for adults, but perfect for picky teens.

Proper Chips - Katsu Curry Chickpea Chips [@NLi10]

Proper chips isn't as classy a name as Proper Corn (best variety here) and the branding change confused me at first and I thought these were linked to Pop Chips - but once I'd figured it all out I had to try these.

The ideas here are twofold - the original plant bit is high quality, and the flavours are adult and interesting.

97 kCal per serve is a bit mean here as the bag supposedly contains 5 20g servings - which means most people will eat 2.5 servings and not really notice.

Approx. 4 servings is also funny as 20g gives the 97 Kcal on the front - no wonder we are all failing our maths GCSEs!

Good ingredients and positive mission though.

And they look the part, smell the part & taste great.

And while they aren't that filling so I easily had half the bag as an afternoon snack, they are really nice and a great alternative to potato crisps or pop-corn.

Bonus points too for a) deciding to do a Katsu Curry (or chip shop curry) version - and b) getting it to taste like it's supposed to.  

I'd happily take a bag of these to the cinema to share and be nicely set up for a meal afterwards to discuss the film.

Mister Free'd - Avocado Tortilla Chips - Guacamole Flavour [@NLi10]

 My partner picked these up with the regular little shop in Asda - a bag of gluten free tortilla chips. 

These ones by Mister Free'd have a little extra flavour on them - which I wasn't quite expecting!

No nasties - hooray!

Made in Ireland apparently which is cool.

Look at that lovely tangy guacamole - and along with the deeply flavoured chips this makes for an excellent snack/side.  I think we might need to make these a regular thing!

Eat Real - Hummus Chips, Salted [@NLi10]

I was given these as part of a snack hamper with other nibbles, and we'd been saving them for the right occasion - but then we got hungry! 

They are vegan & gluten free hummus chips - which was interesting as I'd been thinking of them as a big bag of crisps.

The packaging sounds similar to the cat food - can you tell whose dinner time is near?

Less fat than potato crisps, and well - crispier - they are a more enticing prospect than yet another bag of Walkers.

And they certainly look the part.  Thing is - I think they are right - these are chips designed to be dipped.

The flavours are earthy and basic, but with a lovely richness crying out for avocado or salsa.

So we put the clip back on the rest of the bag and will have the rest as a side with some other bits and bobs another day.  Great product, but disserves a great dip to go with it.

PUKKA Pies - Chip Shop Chicken Curry Pie (@NLi10)

Pukka Pies are usually pretty reliable, filling and with decent flavours and quality ingredients.  I’m always happy to try new ones - so seeing this chip-shop curry variety was a treat

Essentially (at least in Britain) Chip-Shop curry is just spicy gravy - which is essentially the Japanese Curry ‘Katsu’.  This means that it lacks a kick, but does have. A lovely warm flavour to it.

I mean it doesn’t have that much inside - chicken & potato - but I’m ok with that.  Ordinarily I’d get chips on the side too - that’s the main thing I’m lacking here!

Instead we get crispy potato things, and a few frozen veg - a balanced and healthy meal.

And yeah - there is a lot of ‘growing room’ in the pie here, but in this price category you aren’t usually going to manage to beat Pukka for value.

The pie tastes like a chip-shop chicken curry.  I could have eaten two without much effort - but with the sides it worked well.  Although I really did want chips with it.

PRIME on Paignton Pier (and Chips!) by @NLi10

 Turns out PRIME is a big enough deal to now be a prize in the grabber machines on Paignton Pier! 

At only 10p a play these claws aren't staying shut very often.

4500 tickets gets you a bottle - the other things in that price range are basically £5 prizes. That's a markup!!

Weathered Hulk is not impressed - how about we spend that £5 elsewhere on the Pier?

This is more my speed

Tea while you wait.

Nice big portion of British chips

And all of the view with non of the wind.

Not a huge pier but a lovely break after our day at the zoo.

Morley's Birmingham (feat @Sipshack) by @NLi10

One of the most popular Fish & Chips shops in the area closed, and everyone was sad. Then the familiar white & red signage of the Morley's shop appeared and we all celebrated.

Morley's is a famous enough shop that even though they only really have shops in London we have imitation ones in the Midlands - and now we have a real one! The pre-opening shop wrap suggested it was the first in Birmingham, and as the original was a magnet for artists and general coolness I knew I had to try it out. Took me about 6 weeks though...

Situated on the Dudley Road outside my hospital it's already become a favourite place to go to lunch for the IT guys.  It's known for generous portions & quality ingredients. Cheaper than Nandos (or Peri Fino) but a lot more single-focused. No Haloumi pitta breads here - just chicken.

And the grocery store next door is my hook-up for all things Sip Shack so if I'm going to have to walk past anyway it's rude not to stock up.  You can read all about the best indy fruit drink on the market here.  The grape flavour really tamed the sauces and I could have happily drunk 2.

And what did I choose? 5 bits of BBQ chicken!

It's a little hard to photograph the smell - but it's sweet & sticky and awesome.  More like a restaurant sauce than a chicken shop.

And the chips were good too - wasn't expecting that - decent quality and actual potato flavours.  Not many of them - but that wasn't an issue.  This is only half the bag in the picture, no sense in letting them all get cold while I take pics and defend my dinner from cats.

Luna was excited by the chips and chicken - but due to the sauce couldn't really join in.

And again - hard to capture the quality of the chicken - and the sheer amount to. For £5.50 this covered my evening meal and then lunch the following day.  That's a pretty good deal for a trendy take-away - no wonder that I've already seen two influencers and a full film-crew shooting outside (drama not news).

There are more traditional things on the menu so my plan is to go back and try some other things, and if it's not too obvious maybe I'll take some pics of the store too!

Waitrose Turkey & Stuffing (Christmas Tree) Tortilla Chips by @NLi10

You can tell we are in the first quiet season of the year for snacks.  The Easter stuff is approaching relevance, but at the moment we are just getting to the bottom of the giant box of Christmas presents and bargains.  This came in our Waitrose Christmas hamper.  I'd assumed it was a big bag of crisps...

#

but it's actually tortilla chips!  I opened these one night while watching sports to munch away on  - and they are surprisingly meaty.  Well - I suppose they are Waitrose!

All completely vegan - as you'd expect - it's just easier that way.  Almost like the bits of the meat we crave are the fatty, burnt spices.  Yum!

And while the cave shot as always makes the bag look empty - that 8 servings isn't really that far off.  These aren't a bag-a-day habit chip like lime Doritos or those Pringle things.  This is more of a luxury dip into the bag kind of thing.  In fact I wish I'd remembered I'd got some left to add to last night's fajitas!

And unlike most Christmas Trees in March these still have most of their shape and flavour.  

Ordinarily i'd probably not have bothered talking about these - but I'm fed up of seasonal Crisps.  These festive Chips are a great change - you could even add texture and spice to these depending on the particular season you are aiming for.  Chocolate coated chips for easter? Fruity or boozy summer chips?  Pumpkin spice chips for Halloween because it's always pumpkin spice.

Endless opportunities for robust, adult snacks that I'm happy to receive free samples of if you do make them. :)

Hula Hoops Original Flavour Potato Rings (Iceland) By @Cinabar

These Hula Hoops Original Flavour Potato Rings are not crisps, they look like crisps they are from a brand who makes crisps but they are actually chips. That sentence is confusing, more so if you are American where chips and crisps mean different things. Basically this Hula Hoops Original Flavour Potato Rings is a product you bake in the oven to have hot fluffy potato, for example with a meal. Not something you pour out of the bag and eat with your sandwiches. They are an Iceland exclusive and are stored int he freezer.

So we had these Hula Hoops Original Flavour Potato Rings with a meal like they were chips, and they looked quite smart when they cam out of the oven. Novelty yes but they were nice. I tried one and added a little salt, they are supposed to be ready salted but for my tastes they needed a little more. I should say I use very little salt on the whole, but do sprinkle chips. The flavour was quite plain, the potato fluffy and the coating was a little crispy. They were nice enough but not so much that I’d buy them again, it is all about how they look I guess. I will buy Hula Hoop Ready Salted crisps again though so they are probably better off sticking to what they do best.