For our first official taste test (we’ll try to make this into a series), we decided to suss out the best of the best of salted egg potato chips.
We know there are so many brands dedicated to the salted egg chips out there, and that you might already have your favourites. But how do they stack up against the competition?
This week we gathered around the kitchen table to taste our way through some of the most widely available brands in order to determine who makes the crunchiest, saltiest snack in town.
The Contenders
We kept our selection to chips that are available on Redmart so that you can get them too if you trust our judgment.
We also narrowed down our search to just halal-certified chips, obviously. This meant our selection was quite lean, but we rather be safe than sorry. So, in no running order, here are the brands we got:
The Criteria
The salted egg potato chips were tasted blind by our staff who were asked to rate the chips on a scale from 1 to 5 in three different categories:
- Aroma: Do the potato chips give off a fragrant aroma? How intense is the smell when you take a whiff?
- Flavour: Are the chips properly seasoned? Do they completely lack the salted egg yolk seasoning or are they perfectly coated in it?
- Crunch factor: How crisp are the chips when you bite down on them? Do they have that satisfying crunch of chomping on fried food or is it a letdown?
At the end, we tallied the scores to determine the winners. Here’s how everyone stacked up.
The Results
We were secretly hoping to be shocked by the results. It would make for a better headline.
The line-up comprised of two popular brands, and two relatively unheard of ones. Needless to say, this author was supporting the underdogs, however they still fell short.
Salted egginess flavour was also extremely important. Otherwise, we might as well get regular potato chips.
Our winning brand was rated the most flavourful by a good margin—rated nearly 32% salted eggier than its next closest competitor.
As for crunch factor, it turns out that it’s not as important as we initially thought.
It makes sense, really. Traditional potato chips are often lightly coated in grease and salt, so the crispiness aids in making it more desirable.
On the other hand, salted egg chips are meant to be coated heavily in salted egg seasoning/sauce, so they naturally lack crunch. That means a high crunch score is not necessarily a good thing in this taste test.
4th: Yolky Chips (1.9/5)
Bringing up the rear was this brand that claimed to be “100% drool inducing” at the back of its packaging. Unfortunately, the consensus of our panel was that this was by far the brand that bore the least resemblance to salted egg chips, both in terms of aroma and flavour.
One tester even gave this chips zeroes across both categories and said “you wouldn’t think it’s salted egg”. Despite its name, the chips “smell and taste more like regular potato chips”.
It was also not surprising that the chips scored the highest in crunch factor – further cementing our belief that they might just be ordinary potato chips in disguise.
3rd: Tiny Red Dot (2.6/5)
These chips were an outlier in terms of flavour and texture. Significantly thinner and paler than the other chips, Tiny Red Dot tasted way eggier than expected.
Not enough salted egg though. The flavour was more akin to “eating just egg whites by themselves,” said one of our testers.
Though they came in last place in terms of crunch factor, they came in second place in terms of aroma—one of the only two chips to get us excited at first whiff.
2nd: IRVINS (3/5)
This ubiquitous brand came in with a strong showing in second place, despite contradicting opinions about it amongst our testers.
Whilst some thought the chips had “a subtle hint of salted egg” aroma, others thought otherwise.
Similarly , we were divided in terms of flavour. Some found them pleasantly salty while the rest decided they were “not strong enough”.
But we did agree on something; the chips were nicely laden with seasoning and were “crunchy as far as salted egg chips go.”
1. The Golden Duck Co (3.7/5)
This was the only brand that all our tasters finished eating completely.
Straight out of the bag, this one appealed to us visually. The chips had more seasoning on it and the colour was more vibrant.
Unlike the other brands, we could “smell the salted egg aroma in each individual piece”.
The salted egg flavour was “intense, but not overpowering”. The taste also lingered on the tongue for a while, which we all did not mind.
Ultra salty, ultra aromatic, and just the right thickness for downing by the bagful. This was also the only brand to receive all 5s from one of our testers.
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