Feb 12th, 2010
by Gregory.
Valentine’s Day is like Christmas to candy enthusiasts. This means we’re getting out of the long and drab days of strawberry season, into exciting and festive pink chocolate and candies for sweethearts. First on my plate is something that jumped out of me while wandering the aisles the other day: Raspberry & Passion Fruit Kit Kat.
Those are two of my favorite fruits, but while I certainly had had raspberry with chocolate, I hadn’t experienced passion fruit outside of a juice. As you can see in the pictures, there’s two boxes you can choose, one darker, one lighter; both festooned with fruits and hearts: depending on your preference, I suppose. I prefer the pinker box, but I’ll leave that up to you. Either way, you get a cute box, with a fantastic space on the back for a short message for your special someone.
Once opened, the boxes continue their the heart motif continue, on the inside of the boxes themselves, and on the wrappers. As with any Japanese Kit Kat box, you’ll get four long fingers, packaged in two wrappers, each just under 100 calories.
I really love these things. The smell is powerful, and makes my mouth water as soon as I put it under my nose. The fingers are dark, darker than normal Kit Kat, and between the biscuits are layers of more fruit juice powder. Someone at Nestlé was paying close attention, because the ever-important ratio of fruit to chocolate is dead-on. If you don’t have a Valentine already, you certainly will, if you give them a box of these tasty Japanese treats. 5/5
Posted in: 5/5, Cookie, Kit Kat, Nestlé, Reviews, Uncategorized.
Tagged: chocolate · Cookie · Kit Kat · Nestlé · passion fruit · raspberry
Jan 22nd, 2010
by Gregory.
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
Posted in: 4/5, Cookie, Meiji.
Tagged: cho-pan · chocolate · hazelnut · Meiji · puff pastry · strawberry · white chocolate
Jan 11th, 2010
by Gregory.
Glico’s latest entry in its never-ending series of Pocky is つぶつぶミックスベリー, or granulated mix berries. The box itself is rather attractive, showing a cornucopia of berries, with a flower thrown in for good measure. I’m assuming this is released in conjunction with Japan’s strawberry season, which has led to way too many bland strawberry products. This one distinguishes itself by adding to the mix blueberries and cranberries.
The granulation part of the name comes from that, mixed in with the flavored coating, there are bits of berries. Aside from feeling grainy, these bits add a really nice texture to the sticks. Five sticks fit in a pack, and four packs fit into the box, which stands out on the shelf, because it sits horizontally rather than vertically.
As you can tell from my earlier Giant Rainbow Pocky review, I am no fan of Pocky flavored with something other than chocolate, or at least incorporating chocolate in some way, but these Pocky really impressed me. They’re sweet without being too sugary. I especially like the inclusion of cranberries. I never eat much of the red fruits, but I can detect them in the mix, souring it just slightly. I can safely say this are my favorite of the non-chocolate Pocky flavors I’ve tried so far. 3/5
Posted in: 3/5, Cookie, Pocky, glico.
Tagged: berry · blueberry · cranberry · glico · pocky · pretzel · strawberry
