Calbee Kataage Potato Chips Black Pepper 65g

Thick-cut potato chips from Japan that come out hard rather than crisp, fried one kettle at a time at a low temperature. Think of a kettle chip, then make it harder. The black pepper gives a peppery kick rather than chilli heat. If you like a chip you can hear, this is the one. If you want something light and easy to eat, or you avoid pork or meat, this is the wrong bag.

If "hard potato chips" sounds like a strange thing to want, give them one bag before you decide.

On the pack: 堅あげポテト ブラックペッパー (kata-age poteto burakku peppaa). That's the name printed across the front of the bag, if you're checking it against the one you had in Japan.

What you're getting

• Which Calbee this is: the kataage line, the thick-cut, slow-fried one. Not the everyday Calbee potato chips, and not Jagarico or Jagabee, Calbee's potato-stick snacks.
• Texture: hard and loud rather than light and snappy; it's the point of the product, not a side effect. The chips themselves are small, which is worth knowing if you're picturing an Australian crisp.
• Taste: sharp salt underneath, and a pepper you can smell when the bag opens and notice in the mouth, but not chilli-hot.
• Is it the good one?: it's the one people argue about. Plenty call it the best in the kataage range; a smaller camp thinks the pepper is overdone. You'll know which camp you're in quickly.
• Allergens: contains wheat and soy, and it is made on shared equipment (see below). Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.

Two things to know before you order. These are genuinely hard: sharp enough to catch your gums, so they aren't a chip to eat in a hurry, and the pack's own guidance puts them at about four years and up. And the seasoning carries two animal-derived ingredients, a pork-containing yeast extract and a seasoned animal fat, so it isn't suitable if you avoid pork or don't eat meat.

It's made on shared equipment. The Japanese pack says the same line also runs products containing egg, milk, prawn and crab. If any of those is a problem for you, treat this as a shared-line product.

On size and price: it's a 65g bag, well under an Australian share bag, and it costs more per gram than a supermarket chip. It's not the hotter black-pepper bag in the same range: Calbee sells that one in Japan as 鬼旨 (oni-uma).