Calbee’s potato chips and shrimp chips get partway back to normal as war in Iran drags on.
Kappa Ebisen
Japan’s popular shrimp-flavoured snack now comes covered in a coating of dark green matcha chocolate.
Alongside tuna (maguro), shrimp is also another ingredient that we love here in Japan. From fried shrimp, called ebi furai, to Chinese-style stir-fried shrimp cooked in sweet and spicy chilli sauce, affectionately referred to as ebi chilli in Japan, there are a host of shrimp dishes widely loved by the Japanese public. The tasty crustaceans also have a presence in the Japanese fast food scene, and Lotteria’s long-selling fried shrimp burger (Ebi Burger) is just one example. Now, Lotteria has just this week released a special version of their popular shrimp burger, in collaboration with another well-loved Japanese snack that also contains shrimp — the Kappa Ebisen shrimp chips from snack maker Calbee. Well, we certainly had to see how this collaboration turned out, and we had our very own Mr. Sato take on the task!
We’ve seen our fair share of interesting and often downright weird snacks in Japan, from Mountain Dew poofs that actually fizz in your mouth to chocolatey dried squid. Now we’ve got one more for you: Chocolate covered shrimp chips. If you wrinkled your nose at the thought of crunchy shrimp snacks, you’ll double over at the sight of these sweet and savory snacks that smell of the sea.
Have you ever opened a pre-packaged snack and then, before realising it, found you devoured the whole thing?
This was the question put to 906 readers of an online news site in Japan. Out of the 906 people in the survey, 618 said they had unwittingly scoffed the lot. But what are Japan’s most irresistible snacks? And what makes them so impossible to resist? Take a look at some of the comments from respondents as we bring you an inside look at the top five…
MOST POPULAR
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A roadside hair salon stall in China made us Norway’s Haaland for US$1, and warmed out hearts too
Japan’s expensive “phantom” melon is so exquisite it sells out in just 12 hours
Pachinko industry rebounds on convenience and innovation, but smaller parlors struggle to keep up
Japan has a maid hotel you can stay in, and it’s now taking reservation applications
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Family Mart’s new Famima flagship in Tokyo has a hidden gem that most visitors miss
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