All you really need to celebrate Father’s Day is your front yard (or condo’s rooftop), a few cold beers and some snacks. For a sense of occasion, we tested out some of the more unusual options out there.

1.) Gildo

(dried crab imitation sticks in curry flavor, B35)
Gildo is really pungent. The second you open the bag you’re torn between aromas of Mama noodles and dried squid. We admire the concept, though. If you’re going to make a fake flavor, why pick “fake” crab sticks instead of just crab? Half-snack, half-conceptual art, Gildo divided our testers—as bold concepts often do.
Try Tops Supermarket, Silom Complex, Silom Rd., 02-231-3333. www.tops.co.th for more branches.

2.) Entrée

(chicken with teriyaki flavor, B20)
Take Japanese skewers, slice them up, and throw them into a bag. This is culinary genius. Why didn’t we think of it? The chicken is cut into very little pieces so the texture is a bit mushy but the taste isn’t that bad—sweet and completely unrelated to yakitori, which just goes to show how far they’ve taken their original idea.
Try Tops Supermarket

3.) Pumpui <BK PICKS>

(baked baby clams, B10)
If baby clams were baked in sugar and left out in the sun to dry, you’d get this wonderful surprise of a beer snack. And just like in the promotional TV ad, we were very tempted to just pour the little critters down our throats—shot style. Highly recommended.
Try 7-Eleven.

4.) Hed Tod Nanhode

(deep-fried mushroom and vegetables, B20)
This snack has the subtle sophistication of a kaiseki dinner at Aoi: it actually comes with a sweet dipping sauce, meaning the completely plastered may struggle with the added level of complexity. Also, it’s for vegetarians—as is beer. Mercifully, though, it doesn’t taste like vegetables, or mushrooms, or anything really. Hence, the dipping sauce.
Try 7-Eleven.

5.) Pumpui

(baked shrimps, B10)
Pumpui does it again. Only this time they’re using baby shrimps instead of clams. Very crispy, sweet and a bit salty, it reminds us a bit of the namprik gung siab (dried shrimp Southern paste with herbs). We could swear beer was invented for this stuff, but apparently it’s the other way around.
Try Tops Supermarket.

6.) Pretz

(bread sticks in laab flavor, B13)
Ah, laab, that quintessentially Northeastern mix of MSG and chili. Or at least that’s what an alien being introduced to the minced Isaan salad via these pretzel sticks would think. And if that alien decided to destroy our planet after tasting these, we’d have to agree it would not be entirely undeserved punishment.
Try 7-Eleven.

7.) Nut Candy

(peanuts coated with squid flavor, B33)
While the outside is crispy, there’s something squishy and frankly weird inside. Something unknown. Something whose taste we can’t even describe. This is like a ghost movie made into a 4Dx beer snack complete with the smell of nuts, old people and faux squid. Fear this snack.
Try Tops Supermarket.

8.) Mr. Capp

(deep-fried pork skin with no fat in chili sauce flavor, B15)
Even though the logo is a pig roasting in a fire, this kab moo doesn’t feel all that hot. Clearly, this pig is overstating his case. We would argue that the spice levels in this snack are more akin to a warm afternoon in Copenhagen than the fires of a barbeque pit. The texture is very floury and light, too, making us wonder: were any pigs really harmed in the making of Mr. Capp?
Try 7-Eleven.

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