Nothing new here!!! (Walkers Crispy Duck & Hoisin Crisps)

Member Name: valve90210

Product:	Walkers Crispy Duck & Hoisin Crisps
Date:	24/02/09 (90 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Strong familiar flavour

Disadvantages: Not different enough from exisiting flavours to deserve to win

Having seen the advertisements on television about the six new walkers crisps flavours the general public is being asked to vote on for the new permanent flavour, my girlfriend and I decided to give them all a try as we both enjoy crisps.

Having now tried them all, I have decided to review them. I will use this header for each of the reviews and the same main info but I will look at each flavour individually.

As ever with Walkers crisps, the packaging mentions that they use home grown potatoes as they produce a better crisp. Also as ever, the crisps themselves are of a high standard, well cut, decent sized on the whole and well cooked, better than the often greasy/oily own brand cheaper crisps.

They are, as with most branded crisps, packaged in foil packs to keep the crisps fresher for longer (quite why they bother I don't know as lets face it most people buy crisps to eat them not to stash them away in the cupboard
for special occasions...

Any way, in conclusion they are good quality crisps, now on to the flavours, this review is of the Crispy Duck & Hoisin flavour.

I'm a huge fan of crisp duck, hoisin and those lovely pancakes you get from your local take away, so I was hoping for good things from these crisps.

I opened the bag and once again was greeted with a lovely aroma, the hoisin flavour lends itself to a strong and impressive scent. Mixed in there was the scent of the crispy coating you find on crispy duck, and a hint of something else but to be honest I didn't manage to find any hint of duck which was disappointing.

Just before I took my first mouthful I predicted that they would taste predominantly of hoisin and everything else would disappear beneath this. WIth my very first mouthful I was right. The hoisin, a rich strong flavour was very good and very tasty, just like the hoisin sauce from my local take away but I didn't find any hint of anything more in the taste. Maybe it was there but just lost to the over-powering hoisin, I don't know. As I worked my way through the bag, it became clear that the hoisin was not going to give way to any other flavour, not even the slightest hint.

Not having said this, I feel I must say, these are in fact a nice flavour crisp, and I'm sure a lot of people will like them but I think you need to look at the context of these crisps before you judge them. They are being included in a competition to find a new and original flavour that walkers can then continue to produce. In this context I really feel these crisps are a big let down. I am certain that a lot of people will like them because they are tasty, however at least some part of this will be because they are a comfortable crisp to eat.

What do I mean by that? Well it's quite simple, people are used to eating crisps with flavours which are very similar to these, strong spicy flavours, they are not used to eating crisps like some of the other flavours which have great combinations of flavours which capture the nuances of a combination of different flavours, people are used to and will feel comfortable with a strong flavour which hits you immediately.

My other comment on this flavour is simply....this flavour is nothing new!! I have eaten many a crisp that tastes very similar to these, and in fact Walkers even produce flavours which are very similar, compare if you will the flavour of these to their Sensations Szechuan Spice and Peking Spare Rib and Five Spice, they are very similar indeed! As these are supposed to be part of a competition to find a new flavour, I would say that they are merely a rehash of flavours that have been around in the crisp world for a long time and as such do not deserve to win!!!

The low rating reflects the crisps when judged in the context they are being presented in ie a competition to find a new flavour...as in my opinion they have failed in this task!!!

Summary: Been there eaten that before!!!