I’m just getting over a bout of the flu and I was looking for something to add a little kick to my lunch so I opted for the new bottle of Try Me Tiger Sauce we picked up a couple weeks back. With a name like “Tiger” how could this not give my taste buds the excitement it was looking for. From a child, whenever I was getting over not feeling well, I always found comfort in hot sauces. Yea, I’m strange… I guess!

So did it live up to it’s name?

The Aroma.

This one took me a few tries to actually come to a conclusion as to what my nose was trying to identify. I usually try to go through the review before actually reading the list of ingredients, as not to have what I read influence my thoughts. However, due to the sort of complex scent I got on opening I had to take a peek at the ingredients. There’s a sort of earthy opening scent which is similar to the musty smell you’d get on entering a vegetable market during a humid summer’s day. As someone who’s familiar with Tamarind, I could easily point out it’s scent with a bit of an “aged” twist. This was all encased in an overall smokey aroma, that really worked for me.

The Taste.

Definitely not the “kick” I was looking for as there’s not much heat to this Tiger Sauce. However I found it well balanced with a unique taste from the tamarind and Worcestershire sauce that’s listed in the contents. As with the aroma, the smoky smell was also present in the taste as well (somewhat aged) and there was also a savory sort of finish to this sauce. Looking back to when I was testing this sauce I recall that I also got a hint of something similar to Cumin (maybe this is where the smoky taste came from?). Not a “hot” sauce by any means, but well rounded and full of good flavours.

Texture.

Shake Well before Opening! Don’t miss this warning, as the sauce seems to separate in the bottle and needs a good shake to combine everything before use. A rather runny sauce (even though they have artificial thickeners listed in the ingredient list) that “pours” out if you’re not careful. With specks of pepper flakes, glossy look and occasional pepper seeds in the sauce, it reminds me of the dipping sauce I got with chicken fingers that was called “Sweet chili heat” by the restaurant we had lunch at a few months back. Think about the plum sauce (but darker) you’d get at MC Donalds when you purchased that last chicken nuggets ‘happy meal” for your daughter, except there’s pepper flakes included.

Overall this is not a disappointing sauce, even though I was looking for some heat and there wasn’t much. With a wonderful dark caramel colour, aged smell and well balanced taste with the use of the tamarind, this sauce should be included in your pantry. However, more for a dipping sauce than anything else. As far as heat goes, I’d give it a 0.5 out of 5 and for taste I’d give it a 3.5 out of 5.

This would be perfect as a dipping sauce for shrimp or grilled kabobs and so much for a topping for sandwiches etc.