Golden Wonder Nik Naks Assorted Pack

You're Niked, me old son

I had been casting about somewhat for a suitable item to review today, and had a mental shortlist of several things, none of which I felt I could write an entirely satisfactory account of without a bit more preparation. In such circumstances the thing to do is often to wait for a flash of inspiration, but I'm not the most inspired of people at the best of times! Thankfully, I was rescued from the ignominy of having to write about my clothes pegs (I'm sure there's a category for them somewhere!) by good old Poundland.

The first thing I saw when I walked through their door was a shelf on which were stacked a rapidly-diminishing number of multipacks of Golden Wonder Nik Naks. Closer inspection revealed the reason for there not being more remaining: this was no ordinary ten-bag multipack, but one containing no fewer than fifteen bags of what the manufacturers describe, in that curiously uninviting language common to most makers of snack foods, as "knobbly, freaky sticks of corn". A 15-pack of branded crisps (well, crisp relations) for a quid seemed unmissable, so I grabbed one.

Nik Naks come in four flavours, but the scampi'n'lemon variety was not represented here; that was no hardship as I dislike that version anyway. Instead I was confronted with five bags of each of their other three flavours: nice'n'spicy, rib'n'saucy and the distinctly awkwardly named pickle'n'onion. This last has fairly recently replaced a "nice'n'cheesy" flavour, which I think is a shame as I rather liked that and miss it already. Still, pickled onion is usually a good choice when it comes to this sort of product.

Absolutely Nakered

As far as nutrition goes, there are the usual unread panels on the back about how Nik Naks are free from monosodium glutamate, are made with sunflower oil, etc etc. The actual nutrition figures are almost identical across the three varieties, so to give you the flavour (ho ho) I'll just quote those for the rib'n'saucy flavour. One bag of this (25 grams) provides 143 kcal, which is really quite low for a snack and much lower than the average chocolate bar... but also 9.6g of fat, which isn't. They are vegetarian, but contain most of the potential allergens: wheat, barley, soya, egg, gluten and mustard all make an appearance.

The pack designs seem clearly to be aiming at a young audience: all flavours' bags consist of a bold main colour with the spiky Nik Naks logo in white. My favourite is probably the purple pack of the rib'n'saucy flavour; I think the dark red of pickle'n'onion is a bit less successful. Inside, there is quite a strong smell, which feels artificial even though for the most part it's not. Each bag is quite generously packed with the actual crisps, which are indeed knobbly sticks, though to be honest they didn't seem too freaky to me!

On taste, I think I would again choose the rib'n'saucy flavour as the nicest. It's very roughly a barbecue sauce sort of taste, and fills your mouth nicely without being too strong. The pickle'n'onion comes second, since although it's pleasant I think it may actually be a bit too restrained; to my mind, pickled onion crisps should have a real kick to them! I'm least enamoured of the nice'n'spicy flavour, which is not really spicy at all, but quite mild and relatively uninteresting. On the plus side, all of them share a nice crunchy texture.

However, I still think I got a bargain: ten packs of crisps I really like, and five more of ones I can take or leave, for a pound is good going at any time, especially as normally a six pack of Nik Naks is more like £1.40. At that price they're obviously less of the unmissable buy I managed to grab, but in the crowded arena of tasty yet slightly childish crispy snacks, Nik Naks can hold their heads up high - even though they will then get them bitten off!