Yes my friends, the day has finally come to pass. The fabled Indomie Goreng flavored Chitato potato chips, which people went crazy over when they were first teased last month, are finally available in stores throughout Jakarta!
After having MSG-fevered dreams about what they would taste like for the last few weeks, today a friend tipped me off that she had gotten a bag from an Indomaret this morning and so I made it my mission to get some for myself.
I stumbled upon a cachet of the near-mythical chips at the Indomaret near my place, immediately bought two of the beautiful lookings bags and brought them home to gleefully devour them and share my expert assessment of their snackability with you.
But first, please take a second to appreciate the brilliance of the copy on the back of the bag (my dream is to one day be the guy who gets to write all the text that goes onto the back of potato chip bags and cereal boxes):
“You must be cool and like to experiment with new things, including new snacks. Ever thought of potato chips with the taste of your favorite fried noodles?
New…!!! Chitato presents a new taste, flavor Indomie Mi Goreng which is often a mainstay of your breakfast. The savory taste sensation of Indomie Mi Goreng is integrated into pieces of wavy Chitatos, providing sensational enjoyment. Hanging out and chatting with your friend is even more fun with Chitato, Life is Never Flat!”
Frankly, I had begun to feel like my life was getting kind of flat, so I had high hopes that the taste sensation of these new potato chips would make my life much more sensational.
Opening the bag, my nose was definitely hit by a smell similar to when I rip open a pack of Indomie Goreng seasoning and accidentally spill it all over my kitchen. A good sign. The shiny reflective interior of the bag was like a reflection into my soul and….
Oh, you just want to know what they taste like already? Well, I think they taste pretty much exactly like what you would expect them to taste like – a bag of Chitatos that somebody has dumped a bunch of Indomie Goreng seasoning on top of.
And I think that makes them pretty freaking awesome. In fact, I would say that their sensational taste was so profound that I now truly believe that life is never flat.
Now bear in mind this product was basically made for people like me. I have a high tolerance for salty and MSG flavors. I love Indomie Goreng and eat far too many Chitatos. If you are not a fan of any of those things, than these chips are probably not for you. In fact you might hate them.
But I think the food engineers at Indofoods did a fantastic job of translating the flavors of Indomie Goreng into potato chip form. If you can look past the powerful punch of salt and MSG that hits your tongue on first bite, you’ll be able to pick up all those other flavor notes you can find in a properly cooked bowl of Indomie Goreng, including soy sauce, white pepper, sesame oil and a touch of chili.
Most importantly, the seasoning is not overwhelming (like with some other Chitato flavors) so you can happily munch through a whole bag without your tongue getting tired of them.
Did I just spend about 600 words describing a bag of potato chips? Yes, yes I did. But a snack like this only comes along once in a generation and you need somebody to cut through all the hype and tell you how it really is before you spend Rp 8,000 buying a bag of your own.
And, hey, at least I didn’t make a whole taste test video to describe a bag of chips. Though props to these guys who did.
