Thailand's Khao Shong Espresso Instant Coffee Review

I was in Phuket about a year back and of course I had to try the instant coffees there too. The only one that I brought back is this Khao Shong brand coffee cos it's got 5 coffees in one!

I tried the Espresso one first.

5 different coffees in one! So many to try!

Much text and colours. All Thai which I do not understand. It could say rat for all I know!

Interestingly the instructions are slightly different. Add 120ml not 180ml of water.

Thailand's Khao Shong Espresso Instant Coffee 

It's quite obvious that there is much less coffee powder in this one

But it still turns out nice and dark. Colour looks darker than usual though

Taste Review

Aroma - 5/10

Quite a normal coffee caramel aroma. It... smells pretty normal.

Taste - 7/10

It actually has a pretty good balance of sweet and bitter. Both sweet and bitter seem to play together nicely. The sweetness seems to be a sort of condensed milk sweetness. Not to coy either. There is a slight bit of acidity lurking in the back too which is not unpleasant and is something I don't taste in the instant coffees back home. It also has a clean after taste.

Cost - NA

Cos I forgot how much I paid for it. LOL

Tasting Notes

Nothing much more to add actually. It's easily found in convenient stores and mini marts in Phuket so I'm guessing it's easily found in Thailand. Just remember to use less water when brewing.

TLDR version
A pretty good cuppa from Thailand!

Calbee Granola Review

Following the last few extremely disappointing Japanese snacks from Calbee+, I did find a gem from Calbee except its not from Calbee+. This is from a Don Quixote store instead. 

Calbee Granola Snack

Calbee Granola! This is a multi fruit one

Multi fruit as the picture says

Oooh lots of different fruits and grains. I'm liking this already

Very nice colours and mix

Stays nice and crunchy even after a short soak in full cream milk

I used some cheap ass UHT milk from Phoon Huat

Taste Review

Taste - 10/10

This is one of the BEST granola mixes I've had! There's a good variety of grains and different dried fruit bits that you can actually get a different taste in each bite as you chomp down on the granola. The taste of the grains dominate, followed by nutty bits of pumpkin seeds and then nice refreshing apple and raisin bits. Full marks!

Texture - 10/10

This is also superb in the texture department. The soft fruit bits add a nice chewiness and pops of flavor while the different grains and seeds add different different distinct crunch and pops with each bite. The granola also stays crunchy after a short soak in full cream milk. The different grains also means you will still be munching on them, abated a bit goat like, after the initial crunchiness has passed. 

Cost - 2/10

Good things are not friendly on the wallet. You can actually get this granola in Singapore at Asanoya in Queen Street except is bloody expensive. It costs SGD$19.80. That's a crazy price to pay for cereal. Unless you bring it back from Japan which then it only cost about... SGD$10 which is comparable to other premium granolas on the market.

This is daylight robbery

Tasting Notes

There's nothing else to add! This is gold!

TLDR version
If you have good friends travelling to Japan, get them to buy this back for you. 

Calbee Roasted Green Tea Shrimp Snack Review

So I was in Japan in December for a holiday and managed to net try out the famous Calbee+ experience where you get to taste freshly fried potato chips and raid their amazingly well stocked and marketed snack store. First up is this roasted green tea potato stick thing that came free with every purchase. That's got my alarm bells ringing but hey, I dug in.

Calbee Roasted Green Tea Shrimp Snack

Got this free for any purchase at Calbee+ in Tokyo

Taste Review

Taste - 0.5/10

First of all, it's supposed to be a shrimp snack. My bad. BUT this did not taste anything like shrimp. In fact, there was no shrimp taste. None. Zilch. The shrimp image they had on the packaging is a lie.
Furthermore, this is sweet, a very unexpected sharp sweet. Then there is an intense green tea taste that just screams artificial! I'm all artificial!

Texture - 6/10

It's a shrimp snack and is supposed to be crunchy and it is competently so. Though it had a hard crusty surface that felt like a sugar glaze. Not exactly what one should find on a shrimp snack.

Cost - 0/10

It's free. But seriously if I had known how it tastes, I would not have wanted it. It's basically dead weight once you know how it tastes.

Tasting Notes

This is an abomination. A pox on whoever made this. This is like a restaurant serving you the best dinner you ever had, then gifting you a dead rat as a parting gift.

TLDR version
It's horrid. Don't eat this. Ever.

Calbee Assorted Potato Snacks Review

Next up is a mix of potato snacks that can be grabbed separately.

Calbee Assorted Potato Snacks

I think this is mentaiko

Very erm straight stick

I think this is some vegetable. Maybe seaweed? Someone help me out here

I think that definitely looks like seaweed

Taste Review

Taste - 5/10

The mentaiko one tasted like Maggi's curry noodles except in stick form. Not great to be honest. The vegetable version was a tad nicer.It was a bit saltier (yeah how can something be saltier than mentaiko) and has a slight sour kick too which was great.

Texture - 4/10

Very dry and crispy but in a tough hard way. Not in a good potato stick way. It feels like you're biting into rabbit food. 

Cost - 2/10

It was expensive. I think it came up to about ~SGD1 a packet or something.

Tasting Notes

Calbee+ bring home merchandise is a con job. The marketing looks superb and it all looked pretty appetizing. All promised interesting tastes and all disappointed!

TLDR version
Eat the freshly fried chips in the Calbee+ store. Don't buy any of its packaged merchandise out to bring home.

Emerald Scallops Review

Another CNY favorite, scallops. You can pop this into soups or if you're feeling laborious enough, you can melt some duck fat or butter and sear this in a pan. Clean up's a bitch though.

Emerald Scallops

Very simple packaging. Very nice white too. 

10/20 is the size and these are quite big. They're around the size of those old large 50cent coins.

Taste Review

Taste - 8/10

It's a decent scallop. The colour's is good and when done well, as in slightly undercooked, it's nice and buttery with a nice whiff of the sea. 

Texture - 8/10
Pretty good texture. Nice oily feel and firm to touch after thawing.

Cost - 5/10

I got it on offer at NTUC at $28.80 for 1Kg. It's a pretty good price for scallops of this size.  

Tasting Notes

The best way to cook these big boys is... to sear them on a hot pan. But clean up... oh the clean up... The alternative is to batter them up and deep fry them which I have not tried because I've not mastered the deep fry yet.

TLDR version
Luxurious scallops at a decent price when on offer. The key is in the prep.

Singapore Blond Ale Calamansi & Pandan Leaves Review

So I was at the Pick Junction Open House where there was a bazaar with free courses, food and drinks. I got this free beer. FREE BEER!!!!

Singapore Blond Ale Calamansi & Pandan Leaves

Quite a nice design. Calamansi & Pandan sounds like a good pairing too!

Pairing options

Taste Review

Taste - 4/10

 I wanted to like this so bad but the beer turned out to be a pretty standard ale. It tasted just ok, kinda like a Heinkein which is to say slightly weak and semi-flat. Ok yes I know, it's from a bottle and not on tap, can't fault it there. The flavors! The label promised so much! Calamansi! Pandan! ALL MISSING!

Cost - 2/10

I got mine free :D
A quick search finds this selling at $20 for 4 bottles on Redmart while on offer. That's $5 per bottle. Errr.... I might as well buy a Heinkein or even better, a Tiger. Cheaper too.

Tasting Notes

I can't understand why they would push this brew out. There is neither calamansi nor pandan in it at all or if it's there, I can't taste even a hint or smell a whiff of it.

TLDR version
A craft beer that does not deliver what it promises. 

Happy Family Fish Maw Review

Chinese New Year (CNY) is upon us and I've picked up some CNY specials. 

Happy Family Fish Maw

Nice whole pieces

Aye just product of Thailand. No mention of the type of fish

Taste Review

Taste - 6/10

The taste was surprisingly mild. The fish maw did not stink too much even though it stank horribly during prep. Aye you know you gotta prep this first right? Soak it in hot water for an hour or two to wash off the oil that was used to fry the fish maw... Well that oil stank but thankfully the fish maw did not stink and had a mild pretty pleasant fishy taste

Texture - 5/10

After soaking for 2 hours (1 hour on each side) the fish maw became quite soft and was close to coming apart. The texture is pretty ok. You can feel the springiness but it's only just slightly there. It's not exactly chewy either like those premium types.

Cost - 8/10

And this is why. Cos this is cheappppp like real cheap ass. It cost $10 for 3. You can't beat this price.

Tasting Notes

To be honest, the taste is so-so but to be fair, you do get a decent fish maw that you can toss into instant noodles, noodles, anything at all and not feel guilty about breaking the bank to enjoy a piece of luxurious fish maw.

TLDR version
Cheap guilt-free fish maw to toss into just about any soup based dish