Calbee Potato Chips Tom Yum Goong

Tom Yum Goong is one of the three great soups of the world, as the Japanese framing has it, and the reason is that it does several things at once — sour, hot, sweet and savoury all arriving together rather than in sequence.

Calbee has gone after that complexity rather than simplifying it, and the ingredient list shows the work: fish sauce powder, fermented shrimp powder, coriander, ginger, chilli, shrimp powder, lemon juice powder and lime juice powder.

That is a genuine attempt at the dish rather than a chilli-and-citrus approximation.

Fermented shrimp is where the depth comes from — Thai cooking builds its savouriness on it the way Japanese cooking builds on dashi — and the two citrus powders supply the sourness that defines the soup.

Coriander and ginger sit underneath as the aromatic layer. Calbee’s own word for the result is yamitsuki, habit-forming.

What makes it work on a potato chip is that Japanese potato chips are thinner and less oily than most, so they carry a complex seasoning without competing with it.

The potatoes are Japanese or American depending on the season.

This is a limited-period flavour at 53 g, available nationwide, and it belongs to a long Calbee tradition of putting foreign dishes onto a Japanese chip and seeing what happens.

About this item
Item Name : Potato Chips Tom Yum Goong
Brand : Calbee
Item Form : Potato Chips
Allergens: Shrimp, soybean, fish and shellfish
Number of Items : 53g (Pack of 1)