Trader Joe's Simit Turkish Sesame Bread

I noticed at least one or two members of the Turkish diaspora gave their seal of approval to Trader Joe's Simit Turkish Sesame Bread. It is indeed imported from the nation of Turkey, so we have no reason to doubt its authenticity. Sonia and I picked up a package and have kept it in the freezer for the past couple weeks, looking forward to finally giving it a try.

Hot take: it's GOOD. Imagine the lovechild of a bagel and a pretzel with oodles of sesame seeds baked into the outer layer. And magically, the vast majority of the seeds stay attached even after heating, handling, and eating the simit bread.

It's got such a nutty, seedy taste. Similar to a bagel, the bread is slightly firm and crusty on the outside and it's soft and doughy on the inside. There's definitely a wheaty, yeasty element to the flavor profile, but it's mostly those yummy sesame seeds. As I said in our video review, "if you like sesame seeds, you really can't go wrong with this product."

We tried the simit with cream cheese, Trader Joe's Grecian Style Eggplant, hummus, olives, feta, and honey—not all at once, of course. Each and every thing we tried it with worked remarkably well. I even dipped a piece in ranch dressing, and it was pretty tasty. While this particular shape wouldn't necessarily lend itself to sandwich bread, flavor and texture-wise, it would serve that purpose perfectly.

This is case in point for why we shop at Trader Joe's—to travel the culinary world without leaving the state. I mean, Sonia and I have every intention of actually traveling the world in the future (we've got eight nations collectively under our belt already) and we might put Turkey near the top of the list just to try some true simit street food. Well done, Trader Joe's and whoever your third party Turkish supplier is. Thank you for introducing us to simit. We will buy it again.

$3.49 for four big round hoops of simit, brought to you from halfway around the world. Nine and a half stars from Sonia. I gave it eight and a half on the video review, but after trying it with feta, I might have gone with a nine. Either way, Trader Joe's Simit Turkish Sesame Bread winds up in the best of the best category here on WG@TJ's.

Bottom line: 9.25 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Filipino Style Chicken Adobo

Other than ube-infused desserts and the egg rolls known as lumpia, I'm not well-versed when it comes to Filipino cuisine. Sonia and I were both excited to try this chicken adobo. Even though it sounds like the name of a Mexican dish, this meal is indeed "Filipino-style." It does appear to be a domestic product rather than an import...just in case you were wondering.

$4.29 gets you a single serving of dark meat chicken in a thin brown sauce with a side of rice. Only microwave heating instructions are given on the box. Five or six minutes on high did the trick.

Most bites of chicken were decent quality, although we did get a bite or two of gristle and fat. The sauce is described as "savory, sweet, and tangy" on the packaging. We found it to be very salty, vinegary, and surprisingly soupy.

The green onions were a nice touch, adding to both the flavor and visual appeal of the dish. The nutrition info isn't too threatening, except possibly in the sodium department. Decent amount of chicken. Decent amount of protein.

We're both glad we tried it, and although neither the beautiful wifey nor I would go out of our way to purchase Trader Joe's Chicken Adobo again, we want to try some other version of the dish to compare.

Please let us know in the comments if you're familiar with authentic chicken adobo. How does TJ's offering stack up to the real deal? We're just coming at this product with no expectations and scoring it against the myriad of other microwavable chicken meals we've had. Sonia gives Trader Joe's Chicken Adobo seven out of ten stars. I'll go with six out of ten.

Bottom line: 6.5 out of 10.