Happy Turn Soy Sauce Cheese Flavor

Soy sauce... and cheese? It seems totally unlikely, yet at the same time these are both such staple flavors that it's surprising that they aren't usually combined. And I suspect it's not a bad combination, as they both share tanginess and saltiness with each other... though maybe it could come off to strong. If there's any medium to try this on though, a rice cracker is the one to do it.

To my surprise, all of these rice crackers are individually wrapped inside. It was the same for the rice crackers I had yesterday though, so maybe it's a trend. But they know nobody's going to open up this bag and just eat one, so why package only one at a time? Anyways, the actual cracker has a pretty peculiar shape, almost looks like a madeleine from this angle, though I doubt that's the look they'd be going for. The cheese is the most dominant smell here and it's quite strong, hopefully not overpowering. The soy sauce is there too, and for now at least, they don't seem to clash.

The taste of this snack actually reminds me a lot of the umaibos that I've been having. Definitely reminds me more of puffed corn, though I can taste the rice. The cheese, unfortunately, feels a little cheap here, and with the depth it had in some of the other cheese snacks I think it would be an amazing snack. The soy sauce is also a good idea, but altogether these two flavors do come off a bit strong, even with the soy sauce taking more of the supporting role. The crunch also, is just over the edge of too much, it may be personal preferences, but I like my snacks with just a little more give when I bite them so they melt a bit, which of course cheese is known to do. So... it's a nice idea to put these two flavors together, but needs a bit of work.

Rating: 4 - Boof!

Sweet Soy Sauce Cracker

It seems like there are a bunch of these types of crackers around, considering I couldn't find the brand name of this one, but I suppose "cute pictures" may be enough of a brand name this time around. Just their smiles make me want to eat these - but the sound of a soy sauce flavored cracker is quite enticing too. If these are truly a Japanese snack staple, hopefully it holds up well.

Well, the crackers sure give off a pleasant first impression. I was expecting something thin, maybe flavored with powder - but these look practically freshly baked! Lots of interesting variations in the texture with some crispy parts and some lighter parts. And they're plenty thick - hopefully the inside is as flavorful and interesting as the outside looks. Their smell also falls on the more savory side of the spectrum but I definitely get the sweet umami flavor of the soy sauce in my sniffer.

The crunch is very interesting as I anticipated. All the little aberrations make these a joy to munch on, my teeth finding all the little crevices to sink into, and it's a very satisfying crunch too. The soy sauce flavor isn't as prominent as I would think it was - it's flavored like cracker first and foremost, I almost taste a bit of a rice flavor from this, which wouldn't be too out of the ordinary if that's what it was, and the soy sauce is a light accent on top of that. But it never tastes flavorless, there's plenty of interesting things going on. I think the soy sauce flavor could still use improvement though, it lacks the depth that I've had from real soy sauce. But this was a nice pleasant surprise and I'll sure be munching on more of these in the future!

Rating: 7 - Aroof!