Unlike Australia, Japan doesn't seem to sell a broad range of muesli bars, that is, healthy-style bars made from muesli or bran that are good as meal replacements, breakfast, or snacks on the go. Most supermarkets are big on these Balanceup bars that come in regular flavours and cream filled flavours.This was released for Autumn in Japan and features maple cream sandwiched between two bran biscuits. It is a 2 pack, and both cream filled biscuits are wrapped in their own packets inside the main bag.
I was surprised to find this is made by Asahi rather than Kelloggs or some other well known breakfast cereal company. After looking around I did find some bran cookies in a bag that looked very similar to this one made by Kelloggs. The only difference is they did not have cream, but the flavour was also maple infused.In Japan, a bag of these would set you back around 158 yen.
Opening up the small bag the scent of Maple hits my nose immediately. The bran biscuits themselves seem to be somewhat fragile, and crack easily, meaning that one corner of mine has broken off.
The cream to biscuit ratio is such that there are 2 parts biscuit and one part cream, but this is good because you get a good amount of crunchy bran biscuit and enough cream for a taste. The cream is quite sweet, so I am glad that the amount of cream in the biscuit is what it is.
I like the bran biscuit, but only for the texture, the definite crunch when biting into it and chewing. It has quite a few grains and seeds mixed in which give it such a great texture. However there is something about the texture which I also don't like is that it is quite powdery, and leaves a funny feeling on my tongue and the roof of my mouth.The flavour is quite good, an authentic maple flavour, not too sweet, and definitely something I would want to eat at breakfast time or as a snack on the go. The crunchiness is a definite winner for this bar. If it wasn't for the powdery feeling in my mouth after eating this would be something I could see myself eating on a regular basis.
5 comments:
dear kelly i used to travel to japan often. there are also cream cheese flavor and blueberry flavor. i loved the the blueberry and used to bring back many packages of them. u. s. customs got used to it and would tease me. anyway, if you can try the blueberry. regards, ruth jordan
dear kelly, have you tried asparagus biscuits? they are really good, too. they are long and thin. regards, ruth jordan
Thanks Ruth, I have seen the blueberry and cream cheese flavour before but I didn't get the chance to try them, maybe next time.
I've never seen asparagus though, have to keep my eye out for them next time!
Thanks for your comments :)
Hi Michael and Lucy, Sorry, I don't know. I don't live in the US so I'm not familiar. But you might try looking online, and I know for certain that you can request certain items at www.napajapan.com, so try there and he will certainly help you out.
We just returned from a trip to Japan, and found these delicious. I will be looking to buy these too online or in the US. I have been trying to determine the nutrition information, though. Each package contains two smaller packs consisting of two biscuits. I'm not clear if calories and other information is per the smaller pack (i.e., two biscuits) or for the total amount of four biscuits. Can anyone tell me what calories are if I eat all four?
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