Baked Potato and Butter flavored Noodle Snack: Review

 

 

Today I have a quick little snack post I wanted to share. I bought this while I was in Hong Kong since a) I just love Japanese snacks, b) This brand is ridiculously hard to find in the US, and c) Hellooo, can you say kawaii packaging?! (Kawaii = cute)

I don't read Japanese at all, but from the picture and flavor of this noodle snack, it is safe to assume it is a baked potato butter flavored one (if anyone can directly translate this, that would be awesome!) Also, these are the same noodle snacks from the brand Baby Star (that's just what I've always known it as but I'm not sure if that's the real brand or not!)

Back of Package

 

 

 

I found these noodles in a local 7-11 in Mong Kok, and seriously, there are 7-11s everywhereeee in Hong Kong and a lot of the Japanese snacks are fairly inexpensive (compared to the US) so this bag of noodle chips were about $1.50 which is a really good score for me!

 

Baby Star does all sorts of noodle snacks and in different sizes, and as you can see from the pictures above, this one is thicker with 3 strips on noodles together. The powdery stuff you see is for the flavoring, and when Japanese snacks to anything 'butter' flavor, I am all over it! This one tasted extra delicious and I could really get a sense of a baked potato loaded with extra butter. I will say there was also some sweetness to it in a sweet corn/potage sense, but since I can't read the labeling, that might have been the case!

 

If you live in a country where you can buy Baby Star snacks on the regular (lucky for you!), then see if you can find this flavor!

 

Readers, have you ever tried Baby Star noodle snacks? If you haven't, would you want to try it? What are some of you favorite snacks out there? Let me know!



 

 

Nature Box: Sample Box

I wanted to come on here to quickly talk about my first Nature Box purchase (sort of) that has been blowing up recently.

I decided to use YouTuber Hollyannaeree's link to jump on the Nature Box bandwagon.

There were two options: $10 off your first Nature Box purchase or a sample box with 4 samples sizes and one surprise full sized items (you just had to pay for shipping $1.97).

 

I decided to go with the sample box.

 

Nature Box is known for bringing healthier snack options to their customers with their promise show above.

 

Sample size products include: Garden tomato crunchies, coconut cashews, sea salt sun-crunch, and cinnamon swirl kettle kernels.

My surprise full size snack were the Sea salt pop pops

Now a closer look at the snacks.

The garden tomato crunchies are tomato flavored almonds. The almonds are halved and coated in a tomato flavored spice rub. It isn't overly salty and there is a nice, somewhat smoky, tomato flavor. The almonds themselves are, as the name suggests, nice and crunchy.

Next up are the coconut cashews. These were probably my favorite out of all the sample size snacks and remind me of a similar snack Costco had before. The cashews are covered in a sweet vanilla/coconut flavored coating with actual dried coconut bits on them. The cashews inside are nice and creamy and the flavor combination is really nice and I finished these so quick.

The next one is the sea salt sun-crunch, a sunflower and sesame seeded cracker round and probably my least favorite. I found it to be sort of bland flavor wise and a bit too salty. I didn't care for texture in these either. I didn't finish these and just left them on the counter to see if anyone else would snack on it.

My second favorite out of this bunch were the cinnamon swirl kettle kernels. These are basically like corn nuts but way healthier and a sweet version. These weren't greasy or overly coated in sugar. There was a good light coating of cinnamon and sugar over these corn kernels. I definitely finished these up!

Last thing in my box were the full size snack: sea salt pop pops. These were so bomb! Oh em gjeeze. Now, I love half popped popcorn and these were the perfect texture and perfectly half popped. The simple sea salt flavor brought out the natural popcorn flavor and I found myself munching on these all day. 

If you guys want to try out Nature Box, use the code share10off for $10 off your first box!

 

 

Readers, have you tried Nature Box? What are you favorite snacks? Let me know in the comments below!

Fong Ip Cafe in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Today's Malaysia post will be about this local café in the city of Kota Kinablu.

So, I may be a bit biased about this place (my uncle's shop basically), but I really do enjoy the environment and food here!

If Anthony Bourdain ever sees this, he needs to go to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia and my uncle could seriously be his best tour guide, hehe >.<

Fong Ip Café was named for my great-grandfather, Fong Ip, and Fong is their family name (so in Western terms it would be Ip Fong).

My brother and I outside of Fong Ip Cafe

My grandpa eating breakfast at Fong Ip. Look at him rock that Boeing hat though!



If you are ever in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, please go check this place out! And if you just so happen to go there on the day my uncle is working, definitely chat with him! It seems like he knows everybody in the city and he will tell you how to eat all these different foods and what pairs well with what. He's basically a social butterfly and he always chats up tourists that happen to stop by in the shop. His name is Dominic and tell him I sent you! There's a great mix of local flavor and more comforting ones that you may be more familiar with if you are a tourist, and of course, some Durian items for the more adventurous type! My uncle will gladly help you pick out what best foods to try,



A look at the menu featured outside the shop.

Yes, that's right, deep fried durian!

 

A look at the deep fried ice durian

My uncle will definitely teach you how to enjoy this little treat. You take the dried li hing, place them inside the calamansi/kitchai, and as you squeeze the citrus fruit into your mouth, you get a flavor explosion of sweet, salty, and sour and it is so refreshing!

The café serves up 'economy' food which is basically your every day types of food found in Malaysia such as fried rice, fried noodles, and little dim sum-esque types of items. Along with that, there is a set menu of other items you can order to be made such as an American-styled breakfast, kon loh mee (dried sauce style noodles) and the ever-so-popular Laksa (spicy seafood type of Malaysian noodle soup dish!) and Nasi Lemak (coconut rice with curry and other side pairing).

Dim Sum style food, look at how massive that Okra/Lady Finger is!



Nasi Lemak



Curry Laksa.
You have to try it three separate ways. By itself, with the sweeter chili paste, then all together with the hot sauce!.

Simple economy styled foods: fried egg, fried rice, fried noodles

Kon Loh Mee

Then there are also many varieties of bread pairing choices available, from butter and kaya (a type of coconut jam) to even a durian puree! You can have it served fresh or toasted, but either way, you should really try ALL THE BREADS! they're so good! Then there's also another classic dish that my uncle wanted to serve because my grandpa taught them how to eat it which is the classic two soft boiled eggs served with soy sauce, white pepper powder, biscuits and/or bread.

Fresh bread with Kaya and Anchor butter (from New Zealand)

Toasted bread with durian puree and butter

Toasted bread with condensed milk and butter

Typical breakfast. Hot tea with milk, soft boiled eggs w/ biscuit crackers, and fresh bread with kaya and butter

After the soft boiled eggs are cracked, you add some soy sauce and white pepper powder.

Mix the delicious egg mixture together

Drop in your biscuits so they soak up the egg and soften

Or if you're like my grandpa, he likes eating his soft boiled eggs with the fresh bread =)
I am enjoying a toasted kaya and butter bread with a hot Milo (a type of chocolate drink)

 

There are also a bunch of different drinks that are all good and there's something for everyone. If you are into coffees, you can have them served hot or cold, with milk, with sugar, with tea, whatever you like. Then there are the different milk tea choices to pick from too. I love the Milo with milk and served hot and my other favorite 'susu kawin bing' which roughly translates to married milk over ice. It is a nice sweet mixture of milk and condensed milk I believe that is just so comforting. For something refreshing on those extra hot and humid days (let's be real, it is hot every day there!) I love the lemon kitchai hamoi bing which is lemon, calamansi (a type of Southeast Asian citrus --kind of looks like a key lime but with a more intense flavor) dried preserved plums a.k.a. sour balls a.k.a. li hing mui and a sugar mixture all over ice. It is definitely up there on my favorite drinks of all time. If those don't float your boat, there are regular canned sodas from the popular F&N company located in Malaysia as well as bottled water, yogurt drinks, 100 Plus (like a carbonated Gatorade), etc.

Lemon Hamoi (li hing dried preserved plums) Kitchai (calmansi) bing (iced).

My toasted bread with a warm Milo .

Susu Kawin Bing

This is the place if you need to sit and have a nice meal with friends or by yourself, whether you need it to be quick or take it to-go. It can get pretty busy and crowded, but most people just enjoy a quick meal and seats will open up. Also, there is free Wi-Fi here, so bring your laptop and smart phones and take advantage of it while you can!

  

People eating at Fong Ip and watching some TV.

View from the other side.

Table full of food!

    

Oh, and there's me doing a flag on a street sign right outside ^^

Readers, have any of you been to Malaysia or are from Malaysia? Anybody try Malaysian food? What are your favorites?

Limited Edtion Calbee Meet Ghost-Bat Halloween Snack Borscht Flavor: Review

 

In spirit of it now being October and Halloween coming at the end of the month, I thought I would squeeze in this little product review on a Limited Edition snack I bought while I was in Hong Kong!

 

This snack is from the brand Calbee (one of my favorites for making different varieties of chips and stuff) and I found this while I was in a 7-11 in Hong Kong. Now, the cool thing about these chips is that not only are they a limited edition flavor, BUT, they're also in these cool ghost and bat like shapes!

 

 

 

This one in particular is Borsch flavored. Borsch or Borscht is a type of soup that originates from Ukraine and is popular amongst other Eastern and Central European soups and is typically made from beets (as the main ingredient). However, tomato can also be the main ingredient and beets being the second one. This limited edition chips has more of the tomato side of Borsch.

 

 

 

 

Half a bat ghost and other ghosts!

As you can see, the chips are all shaped differently! I think it adds a unique touch to not only add a new limited flavor to a chip, but to change the whole look of it in general. The texture of the chip is thicker than your typical potato chip (think Pringles instead of Lays) so this allows the shape to hold better and not be so brittle. Each chip then has the flavor coating sprinkled over it.

 

Flavor wise, I can't say it is like the Borscht soups I had before (which are more Russian style and made with just beets). There is a slight "borscht" flavor to it but a bit more tangy. That is where I think the tomatoes come in. Overall, I really did enjoy it and thought it was just a really cool snack. Plus, in Hong Kong, the chip were equivalent to $1.50 USD which is a really good deal for these chips since in the US, something like this would be easily over $2.

 

Readers, do you like Halloween inspired snacks. What kind do you like most, the sweet stuff or more savory ones? Let me know!