Walkers "Do us a flavour" - Onion Bhaji vs Cajun Squirrel

Okay, here we go again...! First off the Onion Bhaji (thanks for recommeding it, previous commentors! But - ) I'll be completely honest here, the first crisp to enter my toothy test environment just screamed out "This is Cheese and Onion!" - and after that it was rather tricky to get the thought out of my mind, so they have obviously just kept the same strong dried onion ingredient with it's tardemark sweetness...oh well...However, if you wait, the curry spices *are* there, even if they don't manifest themselves (and then only *very* gently) until a few have been consumed. I think the most surprsing bit is that the *aftertaste* is almost identical to that you would have after eating a real bhaji, right down to the slightly burnt, sweet taste where the onion has caramelised around the edges (and minus the ghee)...so, jolly nice, but rather too close to normal cheese and onion flavour to merit knocking the Builders Breakfast on the head (I would seriously doubt anyone in a blind taste test would say "Onion Bhaji" until *maybe* half way down the bag when the Fenugreek starts to trickle in)...these are, however, a crisp I know I could happily eat all day long - since my initial appraisal I have had some doubts about craving the complexity of the Breakfast crisps *very* often, as it's a challenging combination I'm not sure I'm actually going to crave all the time (but I can't take my vote back now)...oh well...

Anyway, from the pedestrian on to the "interesting" (yes, that sort of interesting)...With Cajun Squirrel flavour I felt that we were immediately off to a bad start, as it's frankly (I hope) materialised from the realms of fantasy (rather than inbred family BBQs in the smelly swamps of Hicksville, USA)...I know what Cajun spices taste like (and they are fine), but why not add in an element that people might actually hear and think "Ooo, that sounds tempting!" (like perhaps -Chicken- for example) rather than frowning and echoing "Squirrel?" in a slightly confused voice...but anyway...I once saw Hugh Fearnley Wittingstall bother to pick the tiny flecks of meat from a dead squirrel (I think he found it by the side of the road), which means *some* people *somewhere* do actually take the time, so with a bit of a funny expression on my face I bit my tongue and opened the bag...no real overwhelming aroma, first taste had a lot of thyme and oregano and quite a lot of sugar (a bit too much for a bag of crisps actually), you then get just a hint of lemon (which reminded me of lamb tikka for a second) a little BBQ taste and then a very healty dose of chilli arrives on the sides of your tongue...unfortunately it mingles with a little stale garlic...which isn't a good way to leave the palate...I did a blind taste test on this one with a few people in the office, and *no-one* could guess what it was supposed to be, just a lot of flavours (some of them slightly unpleasant) not heading in any one particlular direction...

So, in the second fight of the evening, the referee stopped the match in the 6th round thanks to an untreatable cut above the right eye...the winner - Onion Bhajiiiiiiiiiiii - but it was a close one...

The last two I don't hold out much hope on (Fish and Chips and Chilli and Chocolate), but I suppose I should try them just to complete the set (now I have started)...