I love seeing new products on the shelf, especially from Meiji or Glico. This one is Assort Cho-pan, which I’m assuming means ‘assorted chocolate bread,’ although it looks nothing like the chocolate bread I buy from convenience stores (oh so good). So far, they come in two varieties, chocolat & white and strawberry chocolat & white. I’ve found them at a few combine, and each box is around ¥150.
Each box has four of the Cho-pans, which are like deep chocolate trays. They’re all filled halfway from the bottom with a piece of puff pastry, chocolate in the chocolate, and just normal in the strawberry. But instead of just giving you puff pastry in chocolate, Meiji mixes it up. Two of the Cho-pans include an extra piece of pastry, and the other two are filled with a creamy milk chocolate substance. The chocolate one even has some hazelnut flavoring, while the strawberry sticks to milk chocolate with just a hint of the berry.
All in all, I really didn’t mind these. I don’t really share Aimee’s aversion to puff pastry (although it certainly helps that these weren’t sold to me as ‘pie’), and so even though they were certainly messy—make sure you carry a handheld vacuum—I enjoyed straying from the typical chocolate mix. Long-time readers will certainly be shocked, shocked to discover that I prefer the chocolate Cho-pans, but if your tastes run to the berry, there’s certainly nothing wrong with those. They’re a little fake, but nothing like some of the worst fake strawberry I’ve tasted. To complete this review, I’ve eaten through two boxes of each, and I’m planning to get more, so please consider this review a recommendation. 4/5
