I guess it is fitting that I review this Italian snack a day after Italy won the 2006 World Cup but the big question is : Is it a winner?

The puffs come in a satiny foil which gives the product a luxurious feel despite the less than $5 price tag for a pack of 6. The wrapper opens with very little effort. VERY GOOD because I am prone to wrap rage!

The dusting of sugar on pastry was just nice and the pastry, light and flaky It wasn’t dry but it did not leave an oily aftertaste — NICE! However I had to take three bites before getting to the hazelnut cream center, which was a tad dry. The filling tasted ok — like a grown up Kinder Bueno — darker, slightly less sweet.

Before long, I’ve consumed a whole bar and was yearning for another one. At 132 calories a piece, I had to restrain myself from going overboard with the “tasting” and stop at three bars(!) or I wouldn’t have room for another snack… heh :)

There wasn’t much to complain about: it’s a pleasant-tasting snack and the price pretty much neutralized its negative points.

Photo, top: Vicenzi Biscotti; bottom: Snacktimes

Very good snack

When I first saw this bottle (it’s glass BTW), I thought it was another one of those new-age fusion drinks, like ginseng-vodka, or soy-redbull. Instead, it’s just coke with coffee. (I also thought the overlined letter “a” in Blak would produce an “ah” – as in “blah” – sound, but according to the sexy voiceover on the website it is pronounced “black” – as in coffee. Also, in the interest of saving my typing time, I will omit the overline/diacritic above the letter “a”)

First things first, I love my Coke and I love my coffee but I’ve always enjoyed them separately. Why no one thought of combining two of the most popular caffeine-laden drinks earlier escapes me, so it is with this enthusiasm that I try Coca Cola Blak.

An overpowering sweet smell engulfed me upon opening the bottle – a combination of vanilla candles, root beer and toffee. I poured the liquid into a clear glass. There was something unsettling about it – it looked very much like Coke, just didn’t smell like one. I was apprehensive about the taste, especially when my visual and olfactory centres are getting conflicting messages. It couldn’t be any worse than Vanilla Coke right?

Well, in a way it is not any worse than a Vanilla Coke, as it has the same vanilla tinge taste. Hey, this might just be Vanilla Coke: The Redux. The first sip is really sweet, that is sugary sweet. It’s a bit too sweet for my liking (it has to be noted that my favourite coke is Diet). After a few more sips, my tongue got use to the taste which I can only describe as “fizzy caramel” with zero coffee taste. The blend is really smooth, too smooth in fact, that I’m not really getting the jolt of “coffee essence” that I expected. There however, enough fizz to make an average coke lover happy.

All in all, not a terrible experience, but I wouldn’t want to try it again in the near future. Not unless it’s for free.

I was out shopping with an old friend the other day. We were in the middle of a dollar store when she started squealing loudly and pointing to a dark, secluded corner of the store. From experience, it could mean one of two things – either she’d just seen a rat or she’d just seen a dog. See, this friend of mine hates rats and have an extreme case of cynophobia. The probability of a dog wandering in the store is very low as we were in a “No Pets Allowed” shopping centre so I checked out the aisle expecting to see a huge, filthy rat. There was none.

“What are you squealing about?”

“Super Ring! Eeeek!!!”

Yes they were squeals of delight. You see, Super Ring is one of the snacks that many people growing up in Singapore and Malaysia in the 80′s have fond childhood memories of. Mamee, Bee Bee, Chickadees, Kaka, Ding Dang and Tora– these are the other snacks we loved as kids – so cheap and full of tasty MSG. It’s been 13 years since I last eaten any of these and I was surprised to find the price of a pack of Super Ring not being affected much by inflation.

Super Ring are cheap, very cheesy-smelling, cheesy-tasting soft cracker rings. Those not familiar with the snack might be repulsed with the initial cheesy attack but bear with the smell and you’ll find a pleasantly sweet, creamy and salty cracker that’s both cheap and satisfying at the same time.

If you’re a child or a child at heart, the correct way to eat Super is by slipping a bright orange ring on each finger, admiring your bejewelled digits for a few minutes and then proceed to stuff each ring one by one into the mouth ala the opening scene of the movie Amelie. Repeat this until the pack is empty and you’ll be left with a thick coating of orange powder at the tips of your fingers. You either scrape the well-earned powder with your teeth or suck your fingers like a treasured lollipop. To me, this is the best part of eating Super Ring.

Photo: Oriental

As cheesy as a cheesy snack should be, this snack is also cheap and doesn't pretend to be anything else. And that's super!