Bon Appetit Sardines in Hot Tomato Sauce

Reviews

1. 

   Stephen (verified owner) – July 10, 2022

   For fans of spicy tomato sardines these punch way above their weight class and would classify the brand as a whole – the dark horse in the daily driving sardine world. I do not see much discussion of this brand in the canned sardines reddit which I surmise is from people trying to avoid competition for a limited supply. If you look around the Internet this brand is rather difficult to find.

   Here is what I love (all to my tastes aka IMHO):
   1. Compared to the Hot Tomato Pollastrini Di Anzio – the fish are much firmer and ‘meatier.’ The Pollastrini’s are mushy, disintegrate, and not as pleasant. I also feel I get much more usable fish per tin. Pollastrini using ‘natural flavours’ as an ingredient from an Italian brand of Tomato sardines is also a bit disheartening.
   2. The Salt content is perfect. I avoid Angelo Parodi / Nuri because (for me) the salt content is way too high. You can always add – but never subtract.
   3. My stomach doesn’t tolerate smoked seafood – even cans of “lightly” smoked. That means King Oscar and Bela are out.
   4. I’ve had 10+ tins and thus far have not run into any scales. I have not tried Porthos but am afraid to due to multiple reports of high scale content so those are out.
   5. A $3.50 daily driver. $3.50. Notice I put this last in the list. Price is important but what’s even more important is feeling like you are a thief. Like you bought a tin that in reality should be $2-$3 higher. This is the direct opposite of buying a $15-$20 tin and thinking “That’s it?”

   I feel very grateful for this tin. I am in the multiverse where my favorite tin is on the more affordable end of the spectrum.

2. 

   Hream McDan (verified owner) – August 18, 2022

   High hopes for these but sadly, they were just … okay. They tasted a lot like Santo Amaro in tomato and aren’t really much different from any other non-Nuri sardines in tomato sauce that you’ve ever had.

   The good? The filets were large, meaty, firm. The sauce was just thick enough to alllllmost coat the sardines if you spun them around in it a few times.

   The bad? The filets were pretty dry, no way around it. Not inedible-dry but definitely enough that it negatively impacted the experience. The sauce was lacking overall flavor /balance and was clearly a “this was from tomato puree” situation. The label says I should expect “hot” but it was merely a 2 out of 5 on the spice scale.

   I love the price. I really love Stephen’s review on this page. But I just … don’t love this tin. For now (and forever?), Nuri remains **clearly** head and shoulders above all others in my personal tomato sauce sardine competition.