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.

CP Shrimp Wonton Whole Shrimp Review

I have never actually tried this but have heard so much about it. Its finally on a super good offer so I grabbed it.

CP Shrimp Wonton Whole Shrimp

Yes it's the CNY edition! The mega 40 pieces box set.

Looking good. Nice, whole unbroken wontons.

It still held together very well after a vigorous boil

Taste Review

Taste - 8/10

As frozen shrimp goes, this is actually pretty good! It's got a good texture that's kinda close to a harkow crunch but more importantly, not as artificial tasting.

Texture - 10/10
I tossed the whole lot of frozen wontons into boiling soup and all came out whole! The skins did not break too much nor did any filling slip and slide out of their skins. This is a masterpiece!

Cost - 8/10

The usual price is $5.20 for 12 pieces. That's $0.433 per wonton. Not exactly cheap but you really do get what you pay for - a whole shrimp wonton in your soup after cooking. Heh I got this pack of 40 pieces for $11.85. That's $0.296 per piece heh heh heh. 

Tasting Notes

The taste isn't like a fresh shrimp but I've tasted frozen and this is the best I've tasted so far. But then again my standards may be a little low. As long as the shrimp has a prawn like taste, I'm happy.

TLDR version
This is premium stuff. No bluff!