Walkers Jed's Sizzling Steak Fajita

Product name: Walkers Jed’s Sizzling Steak Fajita
Purchase details: £0.99 for a multipack of six bags (Home Bargains)
Calories: 132 per 25g bag
Country of origin: UK

This bag of Walkers Jed’s Sizzling Steak Fajita was the final flavour I tried from the Do Us A Flavour selection 2 multipack that I got on a Spotted On Star Buys promotion. As one of the varieties I’d really wanted to try prior to purchase, I couldn’t wait to see if I found it to be as good as Emma G's Chip Shop Chicken Curry.

The packet’s colour scheme matched its contents better than some of its competitors, with the brown and green reminding me of steak and peppers. The crisps were visibly tinted brown, too, by the powdered Scottish Aberdeen angus beef that was used in conjunction with smoke flavouring in an attempt to achieve the desired taste.

Bizarrely, the crisps actually smelt like vegetables! There was a tiny hint of meat too but, if I’m honest, I wasn’t really convinced or impressed by the aroma – it just didn’t seem to quite work in this format. However, I love fajitas (although I don’t eat them as often as I’d like!) so I still wanted to see how the taste compared...and they were actually pretty authentic! I could pick up aspects of both steak and peppers in the flavouring, and there was a very slight ‘kick’ in the mix too. It was just a shame that the sour cream and shedloads of cheese – which I think are essential for good fajitas – weren’t flavours that were included in the overall experience. Furthermore, I sometimes felt that the peppers were simply masking the taste of standard roast beef crisps. However, I was impressed by the juicy aspect of the meat which I thought was quite unique in this type of product.

Texturally, there was no change from Walkers’ usual high standards, so I was left feeling that this was a nice enough packet of crisps...just not sensational.

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 5.5/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7/10

Popchips Sour Cream & Onion

Product name: Popchips Sour Cream & Onion
Purchase details: £0.99 for an 85g bag (tesco.com)
Calories: 95 per 23g serving (352 per bag)
Country of origin: Europe

This is the last of my big bags of Popchips (thank goodness their lovely people have sent me some smaller ones to keep me going!) and these Sour Cream & Onion chips were the same concept I described in my review of the Barbeque ones.

The green bag contained at least 3.5 servings of around 18 crisps which were described as ‘creamy onion dip plus crispy chip minus guilt trip’ – a nice way of looking at it! I was also quite surprised that the powerful scent actually had a teeny bit of this creaminess to it, in addition to the stronger oniony and herby elements.

The crisps were the usual shape but were two-tone, with parts of each chip being more golden in colour than others. They were also flecked with green, and had a noticeably powdery texture, which was to be expected since the ingredients contained onion, sour cream and garlic in powder form!

The first Popchip I tried tasted almost identical to the Original so I was a bit alarmed by the lack of additional flavour. This gradually built, though, and I was again surprised to be able to specifically identify an element of cream – something I’ve never noticed in sour cream and onion crisps before. When I reviewed Walkers Pops: Sour cream & onion, I described how I always associate the flavour with Pringles, but these Popchips actually tasted different. Each chip seemed to either focus on a garlicky or slightly sweeter flavour, and there was a fairly zingy onion aftertaste too.

Whilst the texture remained the same, I found the flavour to be more interesting than both the Original and Sea Salt & Vinegar versions, but they weren’t quite as good as the Barbeque.

I have one flavour left to try...I wonder how it will compare!

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.75/10

Walkers Paul's Pulled Pork In A Sticky BBQ Sauce

Product name: Walkers Paul’s Pulled Pork In A Sticky BBQ Sauce
Purchase details: £0.99 for a multipack of six bags (Home Bargains)
Calories: 132 per 25g bag
Country of origin: UK

The deadline for voting for Do Us A Flavour may have passed but I’m still working my way through the selection 2 bag I picked up on a Spotted On Star Buys promotion! These Walkers Paul’s Pulled Pork In A Sticky BBQ Sauce were a bit of a mouthful but it was also the flavour my colleagues had absolutely raved about so I couldn’t wait to try them.

Pushing past the pink packaging that reminded me of dreaded prawn cocktail flavoured crisps, I was interested to see that that this variety contained pork from Norfolk, just like Extra Crunchy: Sticky BBQ rib. I’d already suspected that these flavours would be similar, and they certainly smelt alike too.

I’ve only had pulled pork a couple of times but these crisps did do a good job of capturing the slightly sweetened aspect of the sauce. They seemed to taste smokier than the Extra Crunchy: Sticky BBQ rib (they specifically contained ‘smoke flavour’) but they had the standard crisp texture rather than the thicker, crunchier one I’d love with the Extra Crunchy variety.

I definitely really enjoyed these pulled pork-inspired crisps but I did find it a bit odd that Walkers shortlisted a flavour that was so similar to an existing product. Still, when they tasted this good, it was hard to care!

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.5/10

Walkers Emma G's Chip Shop Chicken Curry

Product name: Walkers Emma G’s Chip Shop Chicken Curry
Purchase details: £0.99 for a multipack of six bags (Home Bargains)
Calories: 132 per 25g bag
Country of origin: UK

I’ve now moved on to selection 2 from the Walkers Do Us A Flavour contest and I was pleased to find this multipack on a Spotted On Star Buys promotion.

I really couldn’t anticipate how I’d feel about Emma G’s Chip Shop Chicken Curry crisps. I’ve never liked chicken flavoured crisps, but the curry sounded nice, although I never get curry sauce from the chippy so I wasn’t even sure if the real thing was good!

The crisps came in an orange bag but I was more interested in the colour of the crisps which were noticeably yellower than most. Amongst the ingredients were curry powder, cumin and red pepper powder, and there was a definite curry powder aroma mixed with a more standard salty crisp smell.

Despite containing free range chicken from Devon, the emphasis was definitely on the curry in terms of taste, too. The crisps were flavourful but the curry itself was mild, and I actually thought they tasted a lot like coronation chicken, with an added lightly salted element. Despite this, I couldn’t specifically taste poultry as a separate feature, but I was more than happy about that as it meant I had finally found a chicken flavoured crisp that I liked!

Texturally, the crisps were as normal, so these were a great all-rounder. I don’t know how the flavour would compare to real chicken curry from a chip shop but, as far as I’m concerned, these were a surprise hit which I’d be sad to see taken off the market.

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.75/10

Walkers Robert's Ranch Raccoon

Product name: Walkers Robert’s Ranch Raccoon
Purchase details: £1.00 for a multipack of six bags (Poundland)
Calories: 132 per 25g bag
Country of origin: UK

I’ve always thought that honesty is the best policy so I won’t be beating around the bush with these Walkers Robert’s Ranch Raccoon crisps from the Do Us A Flavour selection 1 multipack. I have no idea what raccoon is meant to taste like and I didn’t really want to know...I would never have opted to buy these but it just worked out cheaper to have them included with the other flavours in the selection than to have bought the flavours I wanted separately!

My colleague had warned me that these were ‘foul’ and, with a mustard yellow wrapper that reminded me of roast chicken crisps (another flavour I don’t like!), I wasn’t at all hopeful. However, the inclusion of powdered sour cream from Dorset seemed like a positive, and they were vegetarian so I knew there was no actual raccoon included!

The crisps seemed thinner and more fragile than Emma C's Cheesy Beans On Toast, for example, and there were certainly a lot more broken ones in the packet. They were paler in colour, too, but had visible speckles of dried parsley. They certainly looked inoffensive, and the aroma was also reassuring – they barely smelt any different to standard ready salted crisps.

Oh how I was lulled into a false sense of security...these were disgusting! They had a horribly strong and weird flavour which made me feel like I was eating turkey ham in crisp form. I don’t like ham anyway, but I particularly dislike ones made out of white meat, so this was by no means a good thing. I really didn’t want to try another but decided to persevere with the packet. Somehow, I managed to get through them, and eating them quickly did help me focus on the herby aspect, but I couldn’t help but feel queasy for the rest of the evening. 

I’ve tried to give my second packet away but people are very reluctant to try them! The one person who’s braved a taste, so far, grimaced and didn’t want to try another. It wasn’t all bad, though...the texture was nice! But I know which variety I won’t be voting for – urgh.

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 3/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 6.25/10