Calbee Potato Chips Kansai Ajiroman Chirimen Sansho

Chirimen sansho — tiny dried baby anchovies simmered in soy sauce, mirin, and sake, finished with the cracked berries of Japanese sansho pepper — is one of the most distinctly Kyoto foods that exists.

It was invented in Kyoto’s Miyagawacho district, where the first person to cook it was a chef improvising a small gift for neighbors using the ingredients at hand: seafood from the sea and sansho from the mountains, simmered together.

It has been a fixture of Kyoto cuisine ever since, and a standard feature of ryokan breakfast tables across the city.

This chip is supervised by Harema, the Kyoto establishment credited with originating chirimen sansho, developed in collaboration with Kyoto Prefectural Government.

The flavor is built around the layered, savory umami of soy-simmered chirimen — clean and slightly sweet from the mirin, with the depth that comes from slow cooking — followed by the distinctive fragrance and gentle numbing heat of sansho that arrives in the finish.

Sansho is not like chili; it produces a different kind of sensation, more citrus-floral at the front, with a brief mouth-tingle that clears quickly.

On a potato chip, it adds an aromatic quality that is immediately recognizable as specifically Japanese and specifically Kyoto.

The packaging reflects the product’s origins: Kyoto purple (kyo-murasaki) and a kara-kami paper pattern drawn from the city’s traditional crafts, with the Harema icon prominently displayed.

A limited-quantity release available only in the Kinki region, outside convenience stores.

About this item
Item Name : Potato Chips Kansai Ajiroman Chirimen Sansho
Brand : Calbee
Item Form : Potato Chips
Number of Items : 55g (Pack of 1)