05.03.08
Asian Passage Rice Crackers (Tokyo mix)
I told you I’d get to the snacks MomQ’s friend found for her more or less post haste. Well…perhaps more post since I am, once again, a little late on the write up and technically post dating the review. I have three cracker assortments from Asian Passage and one from Archer Farms, which may or may not qualify for the JSFR. I grabbed the Tokyo Mix to try out on some new Guinea Pigs because it seemed the most interesting of the lot. Also, I keep thinking “Tokyo Drift” in my head and it amuses me to think of the crackers driving all crazy like very fast through hi-rise parking structures.
Tokyo Mix has five cracker shapes and two distinct cracker textures and one basic taste. Most of the crackers are the usual slick, shiny, crunchity rice cracker while one is kind of a tubular airy crunchy thing. The crackers, which I have dubbed long rectangle, white square, star, tube and whoopdie, all have a rice-y taste that isn’t overpoweringly present. It like a constant background buzz of rice, which seems right as they are rice crackers.
The crackers are crunchy too in a nice crispy munchable fashion. If you were a huge fan of the rice cracker taste I could see munching on these absentmindedly while watching TV or whatnot. They remind me a lot of Hapi Mixed crackers which were reviewed back in August of Aught Five, save the Asian Passage crackers are a little less sticky and don’t seem to glom onto your teeth as badly. Asian Passage crackers are also less visually appealing and slightly more ho-hum in flavor. Having only five shapes, two textures and one taste limits the Asian Passage Crackers.
And then there is the Tokyo Mix aspect. I’m not sure what that is about but I would guess that the slightly burnt soy flavor might be the Tokyoness of the mix. It’s not a stellar taste and leaves a lingering burnt that is slower to fade away than the rice-y flavor or the soy flavor. It doesn’t linger hugely, which is a blessing, but it is there and has a slight persistence of taste. All in all, I’d recommend the Hapi brand crackers for the wider selection and more robust taste that the nori crackers, the wasabi pea and the peanut crackers give the mix. Asian Passage crackers are pretty much all rice cracker and lacking in distinguishable character other than the Tokyo Burnt which…yeah.
Rating of 2.5 wasabi peas out of a possible 5 wasabi peas.
TeacherPatti said,
May 11, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Oh hai. This does not make StalkerPatti gargle teh beerz. Tasty Asian snacks? Ur doin it right!
dawn graham said,
May 24, 2010 at 2:19 pm
i am looking for a product i have purchased at your stores for many years can you please tell me where i can still get it? product asian passage
hot mango pickle….
Boo said,
May 24, 2010 at 5:39 pm
Hi Dawn! I don’t have a store, I just review snacks I find here and there. You might try Googling Asian Passage Snacks to see where you might buy the hot mango pickle (I did that and found that World Market carries Asian Passage snacks. Whether they have hot mango pickle I do not know). Hope that helps.
Joy Asamoto said,
September 27, 2011 at 8:22 pm
Hi! I am doing an Asian Market in Ohio. I’d like to get your products at my store.
Please let me know with the informations.
Thanks in advance. Joy
Boo said,
October 4, 2011 at 5:54 am
Hi Joy. I do not know about wholesale suppliers for a market. I’m not even sure where to begin…sorry.