Dak Dari ("chicken legs")

 If it's 2:30am and your stomach is rumbling, if you weren't able to get a chicken skewer at a street stand like you wanted because it suddenly began pouring and you had to grab a cab, if you're feeling buzzed and content after three cheap gin and tonics at a really cool bar you stumbled across that appeared to have been a converted parking garage covered in Sonic Youth and Neil Young posters, if there is an AMAZING lightning storm that you and your boyfriend want to watch out on the balcony because you live on the 18th floor and it seems that the entire hazy city is illuminated with every flash, and if there is nothing else in your cabinet except Dak Dari, I recommend eating them.

You'll find that although they don't taste like chicken and the bbq flavor is more subtle than you'd like it, at least they're crispy, which is impressive because they've been steeped in the humidity of your apartment for the past month. They'll take the edge off your hunger, give you something to munch on during the show, and they're not bad, really. But I wouldn't eat them under any other circumstances.

 

Banana Kicks

Snack-happy Koreans have a veritable feast of bagged goods to choose from at the convenience stores here, and I decided it would be fun to start highlighting some of the unique offerings that we don't get back in the United States. For the inaugural "convenience store oddity" post, I purchased a bag of Banana Kicks from my local Mini-Stop and made Dan my guinea pig. Banana is one of Dan's favorite flavors, but he is not a fan of the ultra-artificial variety of banana flavoring present in candy.

Before he tasted the Kicks, I asked him a few questions.

Q.What do you expect them to taste like?

A.I'm expecting them to not actually be that banana-like in flavor.

Q.What do you think the texture will be like?

A.Judging by the picture, I'm thinking probably similar to Cheetos or cheese puffs--crunchy, but with not a lot of resistance. That kind of puff fiber that melts on your tongue, if you know what I mean.

Q.Do you think you'll like them?
A.I think I will, actually. I'm expecting them to taste more like cereal than bananas, and I like cereal, so... I'm just really hoping they don't taste like that banana candy/fake banana flavor.

At this point, I opened the bag and caught a whiff of incredibly strong fake banana smell. I told him I didn't want to give too much away, but that we should probably get the water out to wash the snacks down.

He cautiously took a first, crunchy bite and looked contemplative while I waited for the verdict, and then announced: "Not bad. It is the fake banana flavor, but it's overpowered by the cereal flavor."

I tried a couple and didn't like them at first, but warmed up after a few more. Dan's predictions about the crispy, yielding texture were accurate and there was a nice subtlety to the fake banana flavor; if they had used much more of it, it would have overwhelmed the Kicks and made them disgusting. Overall, we both agreed that they weren't necessarily a snack that we'd buy again, but they were good enough to finish the whole bag.