Asian snacks have grown extremely popular over the last few years, as well as their accessibility. In my quest to find the best snacks available at an Asian supermarket nearby, I purchased a variety of snacks in Osaka. I tried most of the classic snacks I often ate, such as Pocky and Hello Panda, and also tried a few new ones, such as the garlic shrimp chips and YanYans.
Starting off the list with Calbee Shrimp Chips, I had always thought they were Japanese, but it turns out that shrimp chips actually originated from Southeast Asia, before Calbee made them popular in America. I thought that these chips were very crisp and conveniently sized, unlike some chips such as Doritos. However, like Doritos, the bag was disappointingly only halfway filled. I chose to purchase the Hot Garlic flavour, and I think that the little bit of kick from the garlic made it a lot more enjoyable to eat. Overall, they were worth the money spent, so I would rate it a 4.5/10
Next up was Pocky. Pocky sticks are Japanese biscuit sticks that became really popular around 2014. The price wasn’t horrible, and I chose to buy the Cookies and Cream flavour. I haven’t had Pocky in a long time, but as soon as I bit off a piece, the taste struck me as a little off. It felt a little more plasticky and not as sweet as I remembered, and almost (but not quite) resembled the taste of an artificial sweetener such as Stevia or monk fruit. After doing a little bit of research, Pocky did indeed change the ingredients used in the Pocky distributed in America a while back, around 2016. Still, they weren’t horrible, so I gave them a 3.5/5.
Hello Panda was always a treat I had enjoyed as a kid, especially the chocolate ones that came in little baggies. I almost forgot about them, but when I walked past a box of them, I knew I had to try them again. Unlike the Pocky, the flavour was just as I had remembered, with the little cartoonish panda faces etched onto the biscuit. The biscuits were also full of chocolate filling, and the texture was good. There isn’t anything negative to say about the Hello Panda biscuits, so I rated it a 5/5.
Another item I chose to review was pineapple cakes. While pineapple cakes are on the fringe side of popular Asian desserts, I thought that these Taiwanese pastries needed to be given a little more limelight. While they do vary from brand to brand, the texture and flavour of the one I bought from 85C Bakery were pretty solid. The texture of the pastry was on point, and the pastry-to-filling ratio was also good, not like some pineapple cakes that would be predominantly pastry. 4/5
Finally, the last snack that I tried was YanYan biscuit sticks. Yet another Japanese snack, these were like Pocky but DIY, making you dip them in coating yourself. They were absolutely horrible, because the strawberry sauce that came with it tasted plasticky and like chemicals, not to mention there wasn’t enough of it. My biscuit sticks broke several times when I tried to scoop, and overall it was not a pleasant experience. 2/5.
Overall, there were a lot of good snacks offered at the popular Asian supermarkets, but a few ones that were disappointing. Some of the more popular snacks turned out to be not as good as expected, but some brands have remained consistent and kept their snacks tasting delicious.