Tropicana Lychee Twirl:You have to read the fine print on the Lychee Twirl carton to see that this is an apple- lychee juice. Which is when you go ‘Ah, ok. Makes sense now.’ Making a fruit drink that contains more than one fruit is a fine art to perfect: not all combinations of fruits gel as well with each other, and when you do put them in the blender together, you have to control the process to make sure that the flavour of one does not overpower the other. So, does the Lychee Twirl manage to pull this off? Mostly, no. This tastes like straightforward apple juice, with only a faint watered-down flavour of lychee running alongside. And when the packaging brings you to expect actual lychee juice, that does translate to a bit of a letdown.
Hafta says: Ho. Hum.
Kwality Walls’ Biki:
With the Biki, Walls has finally done what kids with a little imagination have been doing for a long time: sandwich a dollop of vanilla ice cream between slices of chocolate biscuit. Like most ice-cream ads have instructed us to do, an irresistible picture forms in your head as you’re ripping open the packaging: you imagine biting through the crispy dual-layer of the chocolate biscuit to get through to good ol’ lip-smacking vanilla ice cream. Except for one thing: the biscuit isn’t crisp. The ice cream makes sure that it imparts some amount of sogginess to it. So while what you’re biting through to is a still-lovely dollop of vanilla ice cream, it’s through chocolate biscuit whose texture would indicate that it was mistakenly dipped in a bowl of water before it found itself in your Biki. But then, it’s great as a tiny treat (the entire thing is smaller than a deck of cards) and priced at five bucks, can you really complain?
Hafta says: Give This A Shot.
Tafy Relish - Red Hot Jalapenos:
When a food product seems to have a non-Indian (‘jalapenos’) source or destination, you have to take the indications of spiciness a little skeptically. Thus, when Tafy had peppers-and-chilli based relishes - basically a kind of sauce or chutney — that were either “sweet”, “hot” or “red hot!” (in bold lettering that serves as much as a warning as an indication apparently), the average red-blooded Indian who thinks nothing of spending an afternoon on the beach in 35 degree heat while gobbling down a plate of Chilli Bajjis obviously swoops down on the Red Hot version and smirks. The relish itself is an interesting hodge-podge, with bits of tomato and cucumber that prop up the jalapeno peppers and tiny bits of red chilli to give it a nice balance. It isn’t Red Hot, but it is reasonably spicy, stopping comfortably short of the panting that the aforementioned Chilli Bajjis can sometimes induce. The problem, though, is the sweetness: it screams “preservative”, and rather than being a secondary player that quietly makes its presence felt, it battles overwhelmingly for attention, so much so that I need a drink of water to wash off all the cloy in my mouth. But use this as one among other ingredients in a sandwich, and this is definitely worth a try.
Hafta Says: Give This A Shot.
Ratings:
Where a complex mathematical formula based on variables such as how hungry I was, how much more money I’ve shelled out on foods that are making me fatter, and other more ineffable factors results in me telling you:
You NEED to try this!
Give this a shot.
Ho. Hum.
Isn’t there a money-back guarantee on this one?
Also by ashwin
- World Cup on the tube - March 15th, 2007
- The Drama and Artifice of Twenty-20 Cricket - December 4th, 2006
- Southie Snack Attack - October 30th, 2006