Perfect Beer Snack! Tasting Three Types of Spicy and Sweet Dried Squid

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Eating rice without side dishes is fine, but drinking alcohol without any snacks is unpleasant. If I’m drinking, I need to eat something. Preferably something delicious. I’m a ‘strict snack person’ who finds it hard to enjoy alcohol if the snacks don’t suit my taste.

Recently, I prepared a salad as a snack and went to a convenience store to buy a can of beer. As I picked up the beer and headed to the checkout, an unfamiliar snack caught my eye. The sight of dried squid in a retro-style package instantly made me forget about the salad. That day, I ended up drinking two cans of beer with this squid.

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Let me introduce today’s star that shook the heart of a snack lover. These are ‘Maepday’s Mala Squid, Butter Squid, and Zzuran Squid’, mainly selling spicy foods. They are dried squid seasoned with various spices, all available at GS25 convenience stores.

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The Mala Squid comes in packaging that reminds one of a Chinese restaurant menu. It is sprinkled with mala seasoning, giving it a reddish color. The squid is soft and tears easily along the grain, very tender and chewy.

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True to its name, the ‘Mala Squid’ delivers a spicy kick as soon as you take a bite. The scent of Sichuan pepper is strong. It captures the unique mala flavor found in Chinese cuisine well. The irresistible spicy-salty-spicy-salty harmony makes the beer go down smoothly. After finishing, your lips tingle slightly, not enough to hurt, but similar to eating mala soup. If you’re not used to mala’s spiciness or generally can’t handle spicy food, I recommend having mayonnaise ready.

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The second contender is Butter Squid, which soothes the tingling lips. While the Mala Squid came in a red package, the Butter Squid is in a cute yellow package. The center of the packaging says ‘An Maepday’ (meaning ‘Not Spicy Day’).

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Butter and squid?this combination can’t be bad. It has a scent similar to charcoal-grilled squid, but compared to the Mala Squid, it has a stronger dried seafood aroma. The taste is softer than charcoal-grilled squid. You can feel the buttery flavor, but it’s not overpowering, so it’s less greasy. It has a sweet and salty taste similar to many butter-grilled squid products sold on the market. Because the familiar taste is always the most formidable...

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The Zzuran Squid is a collaboration between ‘Qingdao’ and ‘Maepday’! It’s dried squid seasoned with zzuran, the spice used for dipping lamb skewers. The green packaging, reminiscent of Qingdao beer, features a panda illustration.

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As soon as you open the package, the scent of zzuran wafts out. It feels like you’re not just opening a package but stepping into a lamb skewer restaurant. The taste is similar to the zzuran you get at a lamb skewer place, but less spicy and with a slightly sweet finish. If you go to eat lamb skewers because of zzuran, this flavor will satisfy you 100%! A refreshing, cool beer paired with this squid is truly a perfect match.

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The first time trying the three types of dried squid snacks from ‘Maepday’! Thanks to the tender, chewy squid and salty seasoning, the alcohol goes down smoothly. It’s a bit disappointing that the quantity is quite small, so you need two or three packs for one can of beer, but if you’re tired of the usual dried squid flavor, this snack is worth trying. Especially the unique taste and aroma of Mala Squid and Zzuran Squid are very attractive, so I recommend focusing on these two types.

Enjoy a fun solo drinking time with delicious snacks!

Photo by Kim Bomi

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