Ishiya Shiroi Koibito 白い恋人

Shiroi Koibito is a premium sandwich cookie made in Hokkaido. It's usually given as a present to co-workers, friends and family on return from Hokkaido.

These days with the invention of the internet, you can simply go to their online shop if you live in Japan and get it delivered to you, rather than going all the way to Hokkaido. It is also available at airports nationwide, I saw it in Nagoya airport along with the Shiroi Koibito drink which I will expand upon at the bottom.

I've never actually bought it anywhere other than Hokkaido, I think it tastes better that way. I know when I'm in Hokkaido I'm home, so for me this is the taste of home.

The boxes come in a manner of different sizes, this here is the smallest one, retailing at 740 yen or around $7.50 for 12 individually wrapped pieces.


When I came home from Japan I bought a suitcase full of unique candies including Shiroi Koibito, and from the 100 yen store I bought some paper bags. I then filled up the bags with the candy and one each of the Shiroi Koibito. They were very much a hit and for weeks on end we had Yasu's co-workers asking us where they could get some more of this whitey goodness! They didn't realise we still had one small box stashed away in our cupboard for ourselves, and we weren't willing to share!

Anyway, so back to the cookie itself. It has French on the box that says
"Chocolate blanc et langue de chat". Googling that I found that it means "Chocolate and white cats tongue". The actual name of the cookie means "white lover". I guess Hokkaido could be known as my white lover anytime!

The cookie is 5cm x 5cm in diameter, is slightly rounded with the white filling poking out the corners. The cookie is golden and has a slightly more golden colour around the edges.


It's quite crumbly and breaking it in half means that a thousand crumbs fall off the edges. The filling is a thin layer of white creamy chocolate that just melts in my mouth, and is beautiful white chocolate in a demure way.

The cookie itself, despite using shortening has a really nice texture and has a slight taste of coconut. It's not oily or dry, its just right.

They use cocoa butter, cocoa powder and milk from Akayama (the maker's home town) to come up with a cookie I can't ever resist, no matter how many times I have it.

Yasu is quite the slave to Shiroi Koibito, and I have to hide it in the cupboard otherwise he would eat the whole box in one sitting and wouldn't save any for me!! Despite the fact that he's from Hokkaido and had it countless times when he lived there.

Ishiya have realised that when you do something you should do it well, and they have. It's been a stayer in the market for 30 years and still going strong.

As an aside, they have a website with a video showing how Shiroi Koibito is made, and they also have Shiroi Koibito Park, where for 600 yen entry you can make your own version of Shiroi Koibito. There is a chocolate tower and a lounge where you can indulge in all your favourite Ishiya delights, a chance to watch SK being made, do some shopping and relax in the restaurant. Each box also comes with a discount voucher for the park. If anyone here is planning on going and they want the voucher you are welcome to email me (adults get 100 yen off and children 50 yen).

Ishiya also make a Shiroi Koibito chocolate drink, which I picked up at Nagoya airport, funnily enough I couldn't find it where I was staying in Hokkaido. The drink was just as great as the biscuit, but in another dimension, it was also creamy and had that definite taste. You can buy a box of 2 for 420 yen.

This photo was borrowed from Ishiya website

Okay, so when it comes to Shiroi Koibito I have one thing to say, these are my favourite and I'm not into sharing! So go get your own! ;)

Lotte Drink Mix Candy いろいろたのしいドリンクミックス

This bag of candy was another gift from my generous sister in law in Japan. The packet is meant to look like a vending machine.

All the drinks in this bag you can actually buy from vending machines, but also supermarkets and convenience stores. They are what one would refer to as "for your health", or what I think Japanese people think are for their health but are not actual health drinks bar one.

They are all citrus in flavour, but apart from that they probably have loads of sugar, so not actually a 'real' health drink if you know what I mean!

There are 5 drinks and 5 individually wrapped candies for each flavour, making 25 candies in the bag.



Dakara

This has the refreshing taste of white grapefruit, just like the drink that I love so much! I really enjoyed this candy, it only had a hint of sweetness, more sourness, which I liked because it didn't make me thirsty.

C.C. Lemon

An oldie but a goodie, a big hitter in the popularity stakes, kind of a staple like Vegemite to Australia. This has a fizzy texture and a tart lemon flavour. The texture of the candy is quite hard and has a lot of lines in the candy itself, abit hard on my tongue, but the flavour is consistent with the real life drink. I liked this but my tongue didn't.



Natchan! Orange

My husband loves this drink, it's his absolute favourite. I'm not sure if it's because of the cute image on the packaging or the taste itself, but I have to admit, I like it too. Natchan! kind of reminds me of the from concentrate orange juice drinks we get here that are diluted with water. It's not 'real' freshly squeezed juice, but it has that smooth flavour that kids love. The candy was exactly the same in flavour and texture as the drink, the candy is quite smooth in texture, the taste is very orangey.

Bikkle

A stalwart of the yoghurt type drinks in Japan, this is along the same lines as Yakult pro-biotic drink. You can taste the custard like notes in this first off, and the the tang of the yoghurt. Very true to the real life drink, I really enjoyed this candy because it offered something different. It was smooth and tangy but with a real dairy feel.

Dekavita

This comes in a brown bottle in Japan - this is how Japanese manufacturers know they are not messing around, this is the real deal mate. Or something like that. Well, it looks more professional for a 'health drink' than coming in a pet bottle! I've never actually had the real drink and judging from the candy, I'm not sure if I want to! It's quite fizzy, sour, and with no real sweetness at all. It's like sucking on a sour lemon candy. The texture of the candy is quite rough too so it ripped up my tongue when I sucked on it too hard. No smiles here.

These are all real winners for me except Dekavita. Though if you like your candy sour, then I'm sure you would like it.

Koikeya Scorn Cheese Flavour スコーンチーズ味

I discoved these in Japan when I was looking for a cheesy snack. The image on the packaging looks pretty similar to a snack we have in Australia called Twisties. The pack contains 96 grams for 108 yen (about $1.10).

Scorn are primarily made from corn, vegetable oil, cheese powder, buttermilk powder, table salt, whey powder, amino acid, paprika, stevia, wheat, and soy bean flour. I'm surprised that stevia (a sweetener) is so low on the list because these are so sweet!

When you open the package you immediately get a whiff of sweetness with a kind of cheddar cheese smell. The cheese is quite a strong smell but there is alot of sweetness which overpowers the first scent.



Unlike Western "cheese flavour" snacks, these are more sweet than savoury. They are the same light yellow in colour and twisted corn in appearance, except that somehow these taste more like candy than a snack to go with beer.

There is some saltiness in there if you lick the twisted corn. Underneath the first taste of sweetness is the salt, then a light almost cheddar cheese flavour. Even the sweetness is kind of a let-down because it is through sweeteners not through real sugar, so the depth of the sugar flavour is vague and feels like something is missing.

Also unlike Western-style cheese snacks, there is no orange powder that comes off these onto your fingers. That to me, is one of the best parts of eating Cheetos or Twisties because you then have to go back and lick all that delicious powder off your fingers, so it's kind of like having double the amount! Here there is nary a spec of powder on your fingers, only a few crumbs from the actual twists themselves, but much less satisfying.

These don't leave me wanting more, they leave me wanting a drink! There is an aftertaste, the stevia no doubt, that makes me so thirsty I could drink the well dry. It's kind of the same as having an icecream or a milkshake on a really hot day.

By the way, I'm not sure why these are called Scorn. I can only imagine it's the feelings of Westerners like me who think they are getting a savoury snack only to find themselves drinking down bucketloads of water afterwards.

I won't be buying these again. Try at your own risk - make sure you have a drink handy.

Country Ma'am Mango Pudding Chocochip Cookies カントリーマアムマンゴープリン

I bought these on a last minute shopping trip to Seria in Hokkaido. I bought them primarily as souvenirs; in my family food seems to go down much better as a gift than a scroll.

105 yen seemed like a good price for a pack of 5 individually wrapped cookies. I bought too many though, and have now ended up with a few left over, hence this review.



I'm not a diehard mango fan, but I do like the flavour. I love white chocolate though, so the two combined, in my mind, seemed like a good match.

The flavour is actually mango pudding, and the bag states that apple mangoes were used. The cross-section of the cookie on the image shows 2 rather large white choco chips.

The cookies themselves are small and round, about 3cm diameter. There is a sweet smell of mango, and the colour is a light orange. I found one small white choco chip in my cookie, but maybe I got the runt of the litter.


The cookie is soft in the middle with what tastes and feels like mango puree. The flavour is light, not too sweet, and the texture of the cookie is a little bit hard on the outside but soft and smooth in the middle.

The chocolate chips really don't add much to the flavour, the mango is the star here. I don't mind that though. I thought this cookie was really well done. It's a nice little treat to serve with afternoon tea, or as a small snack after dinner. It's got a hint of sweetness that is just right. I really like the lightness of the mango flavour, and I'm sure this is very close to the real mango pudding.

Luckily I have two more packets of these to chow down on, but I would definitely buy them again, if I'm not sick of them in 14 cookies time.

Kabaya Saku Saku Panda Caramel Milk さくさくぱんだキャラメルミルク

I didn't know this snack existed until I saw it on Japanese Snack Reviews. I then came across it myself at napaJapan and bought a pack along with the Halloween Crunky.

I'm pretty sure this is a Halloween version as the box is orange, the generic colour of Halloween. Something interesting I noticed now that I didn't notice is that there is a kinchaku (small drawstring bag) included in the box.

The inner packaging is a foil bag with only 50% of the space taken up by the contents. There are various cartoons and character images on the bag, another way to entertain the kiddliwinks eating them.

I was pretty surprised to find only 6 panda biscuits in the bag. They all had different faces, smiley through sad. Actually the front of the biscuit is a chocolate panda, and the back is more biscuit. The chocolate side is definitely cuter. I thought the biscuit side looks quite ghoulish. Or is that their purpose?

The chocolate coating is white chocolate, and brown tinted white chocolate for the eyes and ears. The scent is overwhelmingly caramel. It's very strong.

The biscuit itself tastes like a plain sweet biscuit with coconut oil. The chocolate is caramel flavour, with a hint of vanilla. The chocolate is quite soft and melts easily. I preferred them straight out of the fridge, they are harder, and seem to have more substance.

I'm sure these are a great way for portion control, the sweet taste of the chocolate, tooth-achingly so, would make sure I ate even less than 6 of these.

The kinchaku bag included is, I suppose, for all those treats you will receive on your treating mission. It is a rather cute bag with sakusakupanda on it, and it's actually quite big, and the material, although plastic, is very sturdy.

A great gift for Halloween either in Japan or elsewhere, and a great little snack for the kids, not so much for me as its way too sweet, but I would buy this again as a gift.

napaJapan Candy & Bento Store

I just thought I would take this opportunity to blog about a new online store that is selling Japanese snacks and bento, including the 25+ Japanese Kit Kat flavours to the world!
Jay, the creator of the store has been selling me Japanese snacks on ebay for a long time, and now he's opened his store from Sapporo, Japan.



It's great because for years Japanese snack lovers have been relying on J-list to satisfy their J-snack cravings. And while J-list do have a very comprehensive list of Japanese products, they never have the new Kit Kat in store, they only stock limited snacks - that often run out which I find annoying.

I've never had that problem in all these years of buying from Jay. He ships them out within 36 hours, the packaging is perfect, and he offers 3 shipping options.

You will find Shiso Pepsi, the new Azuki Pepsi, and other Japanese beverages on his website. Pringles, Koala no march, Crunky, Pocky, Fran, Hi-Chew, Mentos, Flavoured Coffee, Morinaga, Meiji and some unique Japanese chocolate.


There is also a big variety of bento supplies, toys, and health products. Plus, requests are taken into account.

As a long-time fan of napaJapan, I just wanted everyone to know how great this store is, and I wanted you to know there is a place you can go to try out all the wacky Kit Kat flavours, like the one's I blog about on here.

No, he didn't put me up to this. I wanted to let everyone know simply because I'm a loyal customer who appreciates the great customer service I've received over the years. :)

So what are you waiting for?? Go buy some Kit Kat! ...or something!

Tirol Mochi-in Uji Matcha チロルもち入り宇治抹茶

In Japan I was on the hunt for various Tirol flavours. Yasu is a big fan of Tirol, has been since childhood, and I wanted to find some interesting flavours for him. I managed to find the Salty Vanilla, and this one at Family Mart.

It's not just a plain matcha flavour though, it has 'mochi' or sweet rice, inside. I bought two of them at the time, and just uncovered them in a box of snacks I sent home from Japan.

Uji matcha is a famous blend of matcha powder from Kyoto. Accordingly the chocolate on the outside has that dark green colour and powdered tea smell. It is so rich in smell, it really smells like the powdered tea from tea ceremonies.


Biting into the chocolate, the powder gives the chocolate a very certain texture, which I love. The 'mochi', is more like a gummi, but it is sweet and kind of reminds me of red bean, or I could almost imagine it there. The chocolate is the absolute winner here, I just love the powdery tea texture, and the strong matcha flavour, with a slight bitterness at the end. It really is true to the real thing.

The bitterness of the tea matches well with the sweet inner mochi. It's a match made in heaven for matcha lovers.

I really wish I bought more than two of these!!

Pumpkin Pudding Crunky (Halloween) パンプキンプリン味

Halloween is not really a custom for us in Australia but I do enjoy seeing the different snacks that Japanese companies put out at this time of the year, all with a Halloween theme decoration on the packaging.

The most popular Halloween flavour in Japan seems to be Pumpkin, and it ties in so easily as this time of the year is Autumn in Japan anyway, and warm vegetables are 'in'. So it's no wonder that Crunky has put out their Halloween flavour as Pumpkin Pudding.

I've never heard of Pumpkin Pudding before, but I suppose in Japan, anything is possible, right? They could take virtually anything and if they put 'pudding' on the end of the word make it marketable to the Japanese people.

I love Pumpkin, so it's not a hard task to indulge in this one. Will it be pumpkin-y though, I wonder?

The box itself is unlike the usual long rectangle block that Crunky comes in. I suppose because it's made for Halloween, the keyword here is 'sharing', that it is in individually wrapped packages inside. 12 to be exact. They could have gone all scary on us and put 13 in there, but oh the party poopers.


There are 2 joined squares in each little packet, which surprised me because I only expected one.

The chocolate is white, but with a light orange hue, and smells quite like caramel and coconut. The pumpkin flavour is not exactly shouting out on this, given it's 11th on the ingredient list. It's only after sucking the chocolate off the rice puffs that I actually taste a slight pumpkin taste, that which is known as 'jap' pumpkins in Australia, or "kabocha", in Japan.


It's more pudding than pumpkin sadly. Lots of caramel, coconut, and creaminess in there, but not so much pumpkin to be seen. I'm disappointed because if you're going to market something for a scary occasion, couldn't they actually make it scary by bringing out the pumpkin more? I know Japanese flavours are not exactly famous for being bold, but being bold on one day of the year surely isn't bad?

Anyway, pumpkin aside, these are enjoyable. I did like them, and when I stopped thinking they were pumpkin, I enjoyed them more. They would make a very nifty Halloween gift, or a box all for yourself. I certainly won't be sharing these with any trick or treaters...they're all mine! (insert evil laugh here)

Morinaga Milk Tea Pie 午後の紅茶ミルクティーパイ

Gogo Tea (or gogo no kocha) is one of those Iconic Japanese brands that has been around for ages, in fact, 23 years. It's one of the more well known milk tea brands in Japan, that has a plethora of Japanese talents endorsing it.

Gogo Tea is actually produced by Kirin beverages, but these pies are made by Morinaga, in conjunction with Kirin. I couldn't find any mention of these pies on the Morinaga biscuit website and likewise the Kirin website.

The box has 12 pies, 6 individually wrapped packs of two pies each. Each pie is 2cm wide by 5cm long and resembles more of a flaky biscuit, than a "pie". The top of the pie is covered in a light brown layer of sweet milk tea coating. I say coating because it's smooth and warm, and very different in texture to icing. The texture of the coating leaves a pasty texture on the roof of my mouth, it's hard to get used to.


The pie itself is flaky, has lots of air in the middle when I take a bite, and reminds me of Pie no Mi, but a long flat version. I tend to think of this more as a biscuit than a pie, just because my idea of a pie, is round with something in the middle, and my idea of a biscuit is flat like this "pie".

Instead, Morinaga have, what should be in the middle, on top of the pie, which seems topsy-turvy to me.


The pie pastry has no discernable flavour, it's made with shortening, milk, flour, and rice flour. It's quite unremarkable, I could almost say "cheap". The coating is made with 100% gogo milk tea, salt, cocoa butter, and cocoa powder.

This is a cheap, unflattering tribute to Kirin, a product which falls short of Kirin's consistent quality of products. I think Morinaga have really let themselves and Kirin down with this pie, and I'm really disappointed.

I definitely wouldn't buy this again.

Fritolay Teriyaki Doritos

I really love corn chips, but I'm not a terribly big fan of Doritos, I prefer CC's for their stronger flavour and crunch. I am a big fan of Teriyaki however, so when I saw this bag of Doritos, I couldn't go past them without buying.

Teriyaki is a kind of all-encompassing Japanese flavour. Every Japanese restaurant I've ever been to has had Teriyaki in some form. In Japan however, it's considered more of a home-style Kansai-area dish, and is not commonly found in restaurants.

I was surprised to find a Teriyaki flavoured snack on the Japanese market at all.

On the front of the packet, it states that it is the Japanese flavour that is known all around the world. Teriyaki or 照り焼き in Japanese is a method of cooking by frying or boiling food in a sweet soy sauce marinade.

The front of the packet has a hamburger, but most people identify more with Teriyaki Chicken. These Teriyaki Doritos are more meat based, and actually have meat extract powder as one of the ingredients.

I was shocked when I opened this bag, because only a quarter of the bag has chips! In a 63g bag that's about 16g of chips and 44 grams of air. What you see below is the whole amount of chips that were in the bag.


The smell was very strong when I opened the bag, and it was a very "meaty" smell, with an undertone of barbeque sauce, the kind you put on ribs.

The corn chips themselves are the same size as usual, same colour, but have a light coating of brown and red seasoning. The seasoning is quite sweet, you can taste the soy sauce and mirin, followed by the meatier flavouring.


I find these quite morish. They are good as a savoury snack, and I'm sure these would go down great with a beer. They are quite crunchy, and even though the "meat" flavour is not something I would normally choose to eat, once I got snacking on these I found myself unable to stop.

The sweetness in the seasoning actually comes from Stevia (a sweetener), listed on the back of the pack, along with Sucralose (a zero calorie sugar substitute).

A really different flavour for me, but one I really enjoyed. This just proves I should be more adventurous!

Morinaga Mango Milk Kyorochan Cake マンゴーミルクケーキ

When I was in Japan a month ago, I began to see Kyorochan - of Chocoball fame - gracing the shelves in the form of cookies and cakes. The cookies and cakes all had one flavour - Mango Milk.

One box will set you back 158 yen, or about $1.50. I viewed the cake as more of a dessert treat than the cookie, so bought the box of cakes.

The box states キョロちゃんが作った, meaning that the cakes were made by Kyorochan. I guess it's another ploy to rope kids into getting their mum's to buy a box!

In true Japanese style, this box contains 6 individually wrapped mini cakes. They are round like cookies but are made from chocolate sponge cake, with a mango milk cream filling.


The cakes really are quite small, but great for portion control. They smell really nice, the mango filling is the most prominent scent when opening the pack. The chocolate sponge is so soft that it crumbles when picked up, you really have to be careful when holding it, and not press too hard.


The chocolate sponge is somewhat bland, there is no real 'chocolate' flavour present, but this is ok for me as I don't like strong chocolate tastes. I really like the soft texture of the sponge though, despite the crumbly texture.



The cream is whipped, like a mousse, so it's very light and fluffy. The taste is really strongly mango, and I think the milk component is in the whip texture because it gives it some creaminess on the end notes.

In all, I really liked these cakes. They are great little snacks for lunchboxes and for on the go, light, and well priced. :)

Top Valu Soft Ebi Senbei えび味せんべい

I picked up this pack of soft Ebi (prawn) senbei in Japan. They're a pack of 10 individually wrapped packs of 2 senbei each, and cost 98 yen, around $1.

The brand, Top Valu belongs to the Aeon chain. But unlike home brands in Australia, I have found that Top Valu is much better quality across the board.

I'm not much of a fan of seafood myself, especially prawns or crayfish, but I do love the taste of Ebi crackers!

This pack is really good value for a dollar, because they basically have 10 packs, equalling 10 cents per individual pack or 5 cents per cracker. They make great snacks for lunch boxes and I carry them around in my handbag as a snack on the go.

So what are they like? Well the wrapping keeps them very fresh. They are easy to bite into and deliver a loud crunch when you do. They seem to have a fine powdery substance on the outside that delivers a big punch of ebi flavour. They are very much like eating a thicker version of a prawn cracker.

I can't get enough of these. I love the loud crunch noise they make, and the flavouring on the outside. Unlike other senbei I find them to be less oily too, it could be because of the powder on the outside though.

Good value, and good taste, what more could you ask for for $1? :)

Kit Kat Kinako Ohagi きなこおはぎ味

Yes, another Kit Kat review, I couldn't help myself. I'm still intrigued by the unique flavours that Kit Kat always bring out. I was drawn to the box because of the traditional design, the green and yellow, and Japanese reeds. Being a lover of Traditional Japan, taste or not, this was a Kit Kat I had to buy.

Just in case you don't know:

Kinako is Japanese soybean flour and is commonly used in Japanese cuisine. Soybeans are toasted, and ground down into the flour.

Ohagi is a sweet that is made in Autumn, and is named after the bush clover that flowers in Autumn. It is made with sweet rice on the outside and an azuki (red bean) paste in the middle.

In the case of Kinako Ohagi, a dusting of Kinako powder is added to the outside of the sweet rice, giving it the appearance of a small brown ball.

Right, now we've got that out of the way, I have to say I wasn't expecting to like this. Some people say that Kinako tastes like peanut paste, and I was hoping it was true. I'd never tasted it before today and I have to say I was abit apprehensive.

But....wow! Yes, it does taste like peanut paste, in fact more of a peanut cream because it's sweet more than salty. The milk chocolate on the outside, really smells like roasted peanuts. I'm really glad they made it wilk milk chocolate instead of white too, because it has a very earthy smell.

The milk chocolate is sweet and tastes like peanuts where the cream in the wafers taste very sweet like peanut cream. Towards the end there is a bitter, long-roasted taste, that really sets the scene for the toasted sesame flavour that emerges near the end. MMMmm this is delicious!!

I can imagine this going down very well with a nice cup of real green tea. Although there is no azuki in this chocolate, it doesn't really matter, as you do get the feeling you've been transported back to ancient Japan. I was surprised to look down and see I was still wearing jeans and not a yukata after eating this!

Crunky Roasted Chestnut クランキー和栗

As it's now coming into Autum in Japan the Japanese confectionary makers have been releasing snacks to cater to Autumn tastes. A snack that is popular in cool seasons is Waguri or roasted chestnuts, so it's no surprise that Crunky have rolled it out as their latest flavour.

The thing I find disconcerting about Crunky from the start is that the bar itself is so thin. There's literally only rice crispies with a chocolate coating, not the other way around.


The chocolate, when unwrapped, has a strong smell of sweet coffee. It's a coffee-coloured white chocolate that smells so sweet I was afraid to eat it.

See on the back of the bar, it has all the rice crispies, and then some darker dots? Those darker dots are bits of roasted chestnut.


Despite the coffee scent, it doesn't taste like coffee. It does taste like roasted chestnut, it has that roasted flavour, like it has been roasted over the pan for many hours. The rice crispies are quite good in this with the mix of chestnut as they also bring a kind of popcorn taste to the flavour, which ends up being like roasted chestnut, hot popcorn and peanuts.


I really love this! It's got such an interesting mix of flavours, and it really is quite unique. I can image myself eating this while nestled in front of a warm fire with a good book. It's very Autumn-y. But then, I'm eating it in an Australian Spring and it's still really good!

This one is a definitely a keeper.

For Loyal Readers - Win a pack of Matsuri Hi-Chew!

Thankyou, this competition is now closed.

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All you have to do to win is write in the comments about the Matsuri in Japan that you think is the weirdest, and why.

The most creative answer will win a pack of Watagashi (cotton candy) Hi-Chew.