Egyptian Lion Chips – Like an open paw smack to the face

Looking at the shiny green bag with Arabic writing across the front, I found myself quite excited to try these chips. The front of the bag gives away the flavor with a picture of a Lemon and Chili pepper on it. Fortunately for us these preservative-free chips kindly list the official “Chili’n Lemon” flavor on the bag so I had a good idea for I was in for, or so I thought.

The best way to describe your first Chili’n Lemon Lion chip is to say the sour lemon taste smacks you in the face and follows that with a spicy kick that lingers, daring you to have another. The chips themselves look harmless enough and are very light, similar to a Lay’s potato chip.

They are absolutely covered in artificial tasting seasoning and I think it was more fun giving them to friends and watching their reaction than enjoying the chips themselves. The taste magicians at Lion do have the ability to really separate flavors though which I must commend them for.

At first there is no chili taste at all, simply an overpowering lemon-juice like taste and just as you think that has passed, the hotness hits you. Perhaps the idea is to make you think you can quench the heat with more lemon flavor, unfortunately your only result for that is more heat. The bag actually warns on the back that the chips are “a little bit spicy.” Unfortunately there is no warning about how artificial they taste…

If you happen to find yourself in Egypt and want to try something that seems geared to local tastes, or you want to prank some friends, then I would recommend these chips. If you want a bag to sit down and enjoy while watching some TV, then I’d take a pass. Their ads do seem funny though.

Tags: greasy, lay's, seasoned, thin, unique