Review: The Most Unexpected Calbee Chips Flavours in Singapore

Supermarkets are a secret haven, they’re home to some of the most wondrous potato chips flavours. Among the most recognisable brands is CALBEE, a popular Japanese snack company, which is in part largely to thank for those quirky tastes. We love smuggling their classic Hot and Spicy and Sour Cream and Onion flavoured chips into the cinema, but in fact, there’re many other cool (dubious) options that we’ve found while trolling online grocery shops and discount stores like Amazon Prime and HonestBee, down to the most obscure petrol station convenience stories in our neighbourhood districts. We bought all the MOST UNEXPECTED CALBEE CHIPS FLAVOURS IN SINGAPORE, shared them around the office. Here’s what everyone had to say about them:

TO BUY: Click the chips to shop them online.

 Nori Shio (Seaweed Salt) Potato Chips

Calbee Nori Shio (Seaweed Salt) Potato Chips

Nori Shio (Seaweed Salt) Potato Chips, $2.50 from IROHA MART at Plaza Singapura

Rating: ★★★

Seaweed and salt are not the most inventive flavours of snacks, but they certainly make a great combination, especially if you like to lick your fingers after finishing a bag of savoury goodness. This reminds us a little bit of McDonald’s shaker fries, except a little less salty and lighter, perhaps because it’s chips and not fries. It’s certainly a fresh shake-up from the conventional flavours our moms are used to stocking up in the kitchen cupboard, but not too weird that we need to be in some special mood to crave it.


 Gunma Sukiyaki (Japanese Beef Hot Pot) Potato Chips


Calbee Gunma Sukiyaki (Japanese Beef Hot Pot) Potato Chips Front

 Gunma Sukiyaki (Japanese Beef Hot Pot) Potato Chips

Rating: ★★

Beef hot pot sounds like a great dinner option on a stormy night, but that as a flavour sounds highly bizarre, almost uneatable. No, the chips are not soup-soggy, there’re actually quite a few layers of flavours which may intrigue those with acquired taste buds. Everyone quite liked the deep smoky flavour that resembled most the taste of hot pot. Not everyone will appreciate the slightly bitter aftertaste, however, which some described reminded them of the vegetables even the most well-behaved kids won’t even dare to touch.


Kataage Dashi and Soysauce Flavour Cracker


Calbee Kataage Dashi and Soysauce Flavour Cracker Front

Kataage Dashi and Soysauce Flavour Cracker

Rating: ★★★★★

Our editor-in-chief, Adele Chan, highly recommended us to try this flavour, which became the inception of this article. It really did live up to its hype, we were pleasantly surprised at how obvious yet light the soy sauce flavour tasted. The texture of the chips were also impressive, similar to how “healthier options” snacks feel — a little dryer and harder, which means we won’t start guilt tripping over snacking on this junk only after hours after the fact. This bag of chips cleared the fastest.


Ibaraki Stamina Ramen (hot, thick, shoyu based sauce) Potato Chips

Calbee Ibaraki Stamina Ramen (hot, thick, shoyu based sauce) Potato Chips Front

Ibaraki Stamina Ramen (hot, thick, shoyu based sauce) Potato Chips

Rating: ★★

“Stamina” Ramen sounds either like something a Sumo wrestler would wolf down in an eating competition or a viral YouTube trend. It wasn’t as spicy as we’d imagined, but there was certainly a pungent chilli oil flavour that subsided pretty quickly, marrying our innate passion for hot food that doesn’t burn our tongues or swell our lips. Otherwise, there wasn’t anything special in flavour or opinions on it.


Kanagawa Shumai (Traditional Chinese Dumplings Siumai) Potato Chips


Calbee Kanagawa Shumai (Traditional Chinese Dumplings Siumai) Potato Chips Front

Kanagawa Shumai (Traditional Chinese Dumplings Siumai) Potato Chips

Rating: ★★★

Does it matter that these chips don’t taste anything like Siew Mai? Probably not, if it makes up for amazing taste. Think barbecue flavoured chips, except so much more. One bite of these chips and most of us were sold. Unlike the Beef Hot Pot or “Stamina” Ramen chips, there is a familiarity to this flavour that makes us believe it could easily sit with the classic flavours and sell as well. Very appetising.


Spicy Pizza Potato Chips


Calbee Spicy Pizza Potato Chips Front

Spicy Pizza Potato Chips

Rating: ★★

1000% cheese lovers will love this, others better not even try it. While it’s called Spicy Pizza, there was neither spice nor pizza in it. Instead, a deep cheap cheese flavour overcomes the senses even on a first bite. Naturally, some really liked the taste, saying how it reminded them of their childhood. Others were more skeptical of the flavour, calling it overpowering and stinky. It’s a close second to Pizza Pringles, but still didn’t quite hit the mark with the majority of our office.


Saitama Yakitori (Grilled Meat and Vegetables Skewers) Potato Chips


Calbee Saitama Yakitori (Grilled Meat and Vegetables Skewers)Potato Chips Front

Saitama Yakitori (Grilled Meat and Vegetables Skewers) Potato Chips

Rating: ★★★

Finally, this was a quirky flavoured chip done right. Everyone was taken by how different yet delicious the chips were, citing a strong meaty flavour and the “sauce” it was dipped in (okay, one person thought it tasted fake). And unlike our other favourite Dashi and Soy Sauce chips, these were much stronger and powdered with seasoning. Just remember to drink lots of water before eating them.


Tochigi Shimotskare (Japanese Porridge) Potato Chips

Calbee Tochigi Shimotskare Potato Chips Front

Tochigi Shimotskare Potato Chips 

Rating: ★

No.