One of my all-time favorite go-to candies is chocolate-covered nuts. There are boxes of almonds and macadamia nuts, and both make a fantastic snack. The only problem is, they’re a little pricey—around 200 yen for just a small box–and at that price, it’s a little hard to justify such a (pardon the pun) vanilla snack, when there are more exciting treats out there. And I guess Meiji has been thinking the same thing, because they’re now spicing up their Macadamia line with some new flavors, such as today’s Praline.

Basically, what we have here is a macadamia and a half surrounded by a dome of nutty white chocolate. Each box comes with ten such candies, sitting in a tray, covered in a handsome gold foil. As a bonus, on the inside of the box’s cover is a paragraph explaining the process of roasting the macadamias to go in the chocolate…if your Japanese is a little better than mine. The box closes up nicely, but there’s no way I can eat fewer than ten of these in a single sitting.

No way, indeed, for they are absolutely delicious. I can’t think of any other candies I’ve had that had praline chocolate, but I’ll be sure to seek it out in the future. 200 yen is still a little on the pricey side, but it’s absolutely worth it when this sweet, nutty taste is involved. I’m looking forward to what other flavors Meiji chooses to infuse its chocolate with, and you should be too.

5/5

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

A former resident of the eastern United States, and a firm devotee of the cacao bean, I of course have taken the pilgrimage to Hershey, Pennsylvania, to view that chocolatey Mecca. While I was very young at the time, I still remember the Kiss factory, a glorious array of colors of M&Ms, and, like candy Mickey Mouses: walking, picture-posing Hershey’s chocolate bars. To be entirely honest, I may be making that last bit up (I was very young), but the image has stuck with me to this day. Nothing is more American and chocolate than Hershey’s giant milk chocolate bars, and so, since moving to this terrifyingly Hershey-absent country, I’ve been on the lookout for a replacement.

Meiji seems like a possible candidate. One of the biggest candy companies, Meiji produces many of our favorite candies, and with the fairly recent packaging redesign, it seemed time to start covering the chocolate bars. Meiji offers quite a few different flavors, so it will take a few reviews to cover them all. I’ll start with the standard, one of my favorites, and a new addition.

The milk chocolate bar is a beast, and yet still stays below the 100 yen price barrier, making it a tempting impulse buy for a chocoholic.
Inside a nice paper sleeve, Meiji seals the bars in a foil shield, which typically does a great job of protecting the bar, and also reseals easily, if you can manage to not eat the whole thing at once. Unfortunately, the taste is nothing to write home about. At least, nothing to ship out of Japan for. While yummy, and worth picking up in Japan when you want a chocolatey bump, it doesn’t outclass Hershey’s, and certainly not European chocolates. 3/5

I was trepidatious about the strawberry bar, given some other strawberry chocolates I’ve had, but I’ll save you the suspense: I love this bar. The texture and taste is like good strawberry ice cream, down to little (possibly fake) bits of strawberry embedded inside. Unfortunately, the bar is about 75% of the size of the milk chocolate, although at the same price. I don’t know of any bar in America that matches up to this one, and it should definitely make it into your next box from Japan. 5/5

Meiji’s newest bar has the flavor of matcha, which is a traditional Japanese green tea. Matcha is such a part of the culture here that many of my female students go to classes to learn the ancient and complicated process to mix and serve the drink. A couple times a year, I really enjoy a cup. It’s grainy, and a little bitter, but I definately see what the Japanese love about it. However, like the zundamochi Kit Kat, I just don’t think it belongs in a chocolate bar. Which is not to say this is not a loving reproduction of matcha! Rather, it is almost perfect, down to the grainy texture. If you love matcha as much as my students, you will probably also love this bar. And it’s about as ‘Japanese’ as a chocolate bar can get, making it a great gift for any japanophile. I just can’t hardly eat the stuff. 2/5

Crunky Popjoy
Lotte is quickly becoming one of my favorite candy companies, but these balls of Crunky aren’t anything special. They’re about 3/4 of an inch across and about 1/2 an inch thick, so not huge, but not tiny. They’re exterior is waxy and unappetizing. Definitely would not buy again.

塩&キャラメル (Salt and Caramel) Kit Kat
Even more from Kit Kat! These bite sized wafers covered in chocolate are true to the Kit Kat brand, but a little ugly. The chocolate is tasty, and the interior is a lovely salted caramel wafer. The salt doesn’t hit you to the very end, but it’s perfectly balanced. I’m planning on repurchasing if they haven’t been discontinued.
Read Jen Ken’s Kit Kat Blog’s review of Salt and Caramel Kit Kat.

ぷっちょ (Puccho) Strawberry and Grape
This duo flavor bag contains both strawberry and grape flavored Puccho. The strawberry is a basic fake flavor, but it’s not very strong. The grape is fake, sweet and tart, but like the strawberry not very strong. I don’t dislike these, but they’re not unique enough for me to buy them again.

ポルテ (Porute)
I have no idea what a Porute or Polte is but it looks kind of like a chestnut. The candy is a cookie with a blob of “whip cream”, covered in bittersweet chocolate and cocopowder. Porute are about an inch at their widest point. The candy isn’t very sweet and the cream tastes like bland unsweetened whip cream. I’m not impressed with the thin chocolate or the texture of the cream. I wont be buying these again.

チロル (Tirol)
Tirol candies are available in tins, strips, and as individual pieces. I grabbed this assortment at a local 7-11 for about 30 yen apiece. Tirol’s website has a gallery of their flavors.

Milk – I was thinking that this little square would just be milk chocolate, but it is actually a white milky chocolate candy covered with a thin layer of milk chocolate. It was too sweet for me, so I don’t think I’ll get another one.

White & Cookie Crunch – I love Hershey’s Cookies n’ Cream bar, so I was very excited about this flavor. It lived up to expectations, but wasn’t anything special. The candy is white chocolate filled with chocolate cookies. I will buy again if I can find it.
Read Snack Love’s review of White & Cookie Crunch.

クリームあんみつ (Cream Anmitsu) – Based on a Japanese dessert, I found this candy underwhelming. The gel in the center had a nice texture, but the whole thing was a little bitter. Not getting this one again.
Read Japanese Snack Reviews’ review of Cream Anmitsu.

焼きなこもち (Toasted Kinako Mochi) – This was my favorite of the bunch, and I’ll admit to repurchasing. The exterior is kinako flavored chocolate and the interior is a thin slab of mochi. The chocolate contains puffed rice for a nice crunch, and the mochi is nice and chewy. Great balance of flavor and texture.

まっ茶もち入り (Matcha Mochi) – Similar to the Kinako Mochi, matcha (green tea) chocolate surrounds a mochi center. The mochi has the same texture, but I found the chocolate to be a little grainy. The flavor was true to matcha. I think if I was in the mood I would buy these again, but matcha is kind of a rare mood for me.
Read Tasty Jaan’s review of Matcha Mochi.