There's always a flavour adventure awaiting in Chinatown - one part of a complex history of resistance and accommodation by Asian immigrants facing discrimination has always been offering foods for the community but also for visitors and tourists.

The best Chinatown experience, might be to go for dim sum but that costs money, especially when you gotta pay rent in this city.

Not all food experiences need to be serious and high-brow. One way I like to explore new flavours, even when I'm on a serious budget, is the chip selection at my local Chinese grocery store. 

The Chinese grocer closest to my house with the best chip selection is Kai Wei Supermarket, so I hit there and picked up whatever random chip bags seemed interesting.

I also enlisted my 10 year old kid for a second opinion, mainly because I was eating them in front of her and she caught me.

Taro chips with lime

Megan [me]: Ok, so these ones looked promising. What are these chips? What are they made of? I do not know. Regardless these chips are a revelation. They are *not* made of potatoes, but whatever vegetable this is, flavoured with lime, it tastes like a chip margarita.

So delicious and refreshing, without that hot greasy mouthfeel you get from potato chip, but also without that too-healthy organic Trader Joe's thing you get from those too-healthy $9 veggie chips. A perfect balance.

My kid: "They are not bad, I'd eat them for munchies."

Chicken chips

Megan: These are very chicken-y. Like the very edge of the fried-ness of a chicken skin, plus also they are a surprisingly a little bit spicy? They are chicken-y and crunchy, but in a way where you *can* eat just one.

Greasy mouthfeel. You eat one of two and they are good, but you don't want to finish the rest of the small bag, but you aren't really sure why.

My kid: "It was like a little chip got hit by a car full of chickens and all the oil went on the chips and made chicken chips. But not necessarily in a good way."

Cucumber Lays

So these are clearly from massive chip company Lays and also labelled in English, so halfway into the western-appropriation of Chinese flavour continuum?

Maybe this is the next bitter melon flavour or green tea, poised for gas stations stores across America. They are not dill pickle, just straight cucumber.

Megan: They taste sort of like seaweed.  I agree. Why do they taste so much like seaweed? Why not just sell seaweed chips? I'm getting like a vague cucumber flavoured seaweed here, like the wasabi flavoured seaweed snacks, not cucumber itself. Its more sea cucumber than cucumber.

My kid: "Smells gross and doesn't taste great when you first try it but then you like it after a bit. Not too bad. I like the chunky texture."

Salt and Pepper shrimp flavour

These appear to be some kind of shrimp? Shrimp flavour chips are a big part of the selection at my local Chinese grocer and I've been eating them for a while, but these look more specialized. I'm informed by friends that these might be salt and pepper chip flavour.

Megan: They are… gross. I like shrimp chips, but these, I am really not into in, tho I have the munchies so I eat a bunch of them anyway, then have weird burps and can't get the taste out of my mouth.

I wish I'd saved some of the nice taro chips with line for a palate cleanser. I try drinking a too-strong IPA, hoping the bitters will erase the flavour, but I keep having weird burps.

My kid: "I don't eat shrimp, they are basically ocean bugs."

Chicken Chips Version 2 (Cheetos shaped)

So these are more the shape of Cheetos or something like that? Are these chicken chips? Are they general tao flavoured chicken chips? I don't know, could be some other kind of imitation sweet/sour sauce.

Megan: I don't think they are that bad. I don't regret eating them, but would not buy again.

My kid: "They were supposed to taste like tasty chicken but in my opinion it was disgusting. A monstrosity."

Butter and Honey chips

These are.. yummy. The honey flavour feels familiar in chip form, I'm a big fan of Ms. Vickies honey/dijon mustard flavour, and the Kettle Chips knock off might be even better. Without the mustard to balance tho, these are, very sweet.

The Butter flavour is something I'm more used to on popcorn, it's fun but a bit disconcerting on chips.

Megan: The honey plus butter feels like a dessert to me and I'm used to savoury chips, or something like ketchup chips that pretend to be savoury even though ketchup is basically mostly honey. I think that dessert chips are a possible

My kid: "These are good. Butter is a bit weird."