Baley Baler

By now you know that I'm an avid snacker, and became addicted to chips again sometime during the pandemic.  I pretty much love to try all crispy and salty (or sweet for that matter) snack foods.  Bonus points if they are not generic American snacks.

Which brings me to Balay Baler, a chip maker based in Manila, Philippines.  The company is quite young, started only in July 2020 during the pandemic as a way for a pair of sisters to make a bit of income.  They don't have a website, although have Facebook and Instagram accounts.  I think they might have a physical storefront in Manila, but I'm not certain.  They are available through a couple other small local resellers in the Philippines.  Not the most accessible to me, sadly.  But I was still able to try them when a co-worker brought some back from a trip.

They. Were. Fantastic.

I want more, stat.

Kamote Crisps (4L Bucket). P360/$5.73.

The chips are sold in 100g pouches or 4L buckets, which is what I had here.  The chips come in 5 regular flavors (plain, nacho cheese, sour cream and onion, barbecue, or sugar) and 2 premium flavors (white cheddar, garlic butter).  Sometimes they offer additional interesting flavors like nori or tom yum.  Pouches are P130, buckets P360 (premium flavors slightly more).  All are made with local organic sweet potatoes and cooked in coconut oil.

I kinda loved the giant bucket format, not something I've seen with chips before, and yes, something that made it way way too easy to eat far too many in one sitting.  Danger, danger, if you are a compulsive snacker like me.

Barbecue Kamote Crisps.

"Local sweet potatoes thinly sliced for that perfect bite ."

The flavor I got to try was the barbecue, which would have been my first pick anyway.

Wow, these were delicious.  I'm not going to say that I devoured the entire 3L bucket in one sitting (ok, it took 3 sittings, just, 2 of them were the same evening ...), but yeah, I could have.  Couldn't. Stop. Eating. These.

They were very unique chips.  The sweet potato flavor was actually pretty subtle, the taste clearly not standard white potato, but, not compelling strong sweet potato flavor.  Which I didn't mind at all, but if you are looking for a chip that tastes very strongly of sweet potato, these aren't it.

The barbecue coating flavor was also relatively subtle, or perhaps it is that it mixed with the sweet potato flavor a bit to make it less pronounced than it would be on a more mild regular potato.  But again, I didn't mind at all.  There was still plenty of complex savory flavor, and a touch of sweetness.  Not a smoky mesquite style bbq, and not a tangy style either, more balanced and just overall blend of sweet, smoky, tangy, onion-y, tomato-y, etc.  Good salt level too, not too salty, just enough to amp up the flavor overall.

I know this doesn't sound like a very impressive review yet, but it was the form factor that really sets these apart.  The chips are probably the thinest chips I've ever encountered.  I loved how wispy thin they were.  All the surface area for the coating, considerably higher ratio of coating to potato than you'd normally have.  I loved how some were all folded over, others quite long and large.  Each one was a totally distinct shape and size.  They were also some of the crispiest chips I've ever had, and yet, not greasy at all.  The form factor of these was really quite remarkable.  So thin, so crispy, not greasy ... I don't know how they do it.  But it is this form and unique style that made it impossible to put the bucket down.

I adored these, and wish I had access to another bucket, of any flavor, because they really were outstanding.  ****+.