Tirol Matcha Soy Latte チロル 抹茶ソイらて

Wow, who would have thought to combine Matcha and Soy? I certainly wouldn't have...though I think maybe dairy intolerant people in Japan must already do this.

The colour of this chocolate is absolutely beautiful. It's beautifully layered, just like the Tiramisu Tirol. When I put this chocolate up to my nose, all I could smell was white chocolate, so I wasn't too excited to be honest...thinking it may be a bit of a dud.

But, biting into it there is a wonderful, strong matcha flavour that just gets better and better. There's a jelly layer in the centre that adds bitterness, and the soy cream in the middle adds another dimension. Yum! I have been disappointed with other matcha chocolate in the past when it hasn't had much flavour but this Tirol is just so full of flavour and it's so yum!

I just feel like shouting yum yum Tirol!! yum yum Green Tea!

Snack love also reviewed this flavour, and you can buy it at NapaJapan.

Tirol Tiramisu チロルティラミス

I've been sitting on this and another Tirol for a while, and have been meaning to get back to reviewing snacks, but finding the time to actually photograph them and then write a review is really hard with a 4 month old! I've been saying it all along though...but now that hub has a day off work, I finally squared away a couple of hours to sit down and do it!

So here goes. This Tiramisu Tirol has layers, like that of the real dessert. It's an Italian dessert made up of lady fingers dipped in coffee and layered with marscapone cream and cocoa, sometimes flavoured with liqueur too.

The Tirol version smells like coffee and biscuits. It has 3 distinct layers - the chocolate top, a creamy second layer that has a light coating of coffee in between and then the final layer which is a white chocolate. I actually expected some biscuit in there somewhere, but there is none. The creamy second layer is totally yum! It's soft and reminds me of fudge. You really get a sense of coffee, chocolate and cream in here and it's totally yummy! Just sorry I only bought 3 of these...

Snack Love also reveiwed this Tirol, and you can buy it at NapaJapan.

Riska Shittori White Choc リスカ しっとりホワイトチョコ

I'm a fan of white chocolate and when I happened upon this bag of Riska White Chocolate crunch I decided to grab them. They were only $1.40 for an 80 gram bag which is surprisingly good value for a Japanese snack.

When I opened the bag, a very sweet smell wafted up that reminded me of a cross between condensed milk and white chocolate. Yum!

The only weird thing about this snack is that the biscuits themselves are really ugly. When I first tipped them out my first thought was "smoker's lungs" - because they reminded me of the advertising campaigns a few years back when they would squeeze the tar out of smokers lungs and the results would be something like a dark grey holey sponge. Sorry for the analogy!

Each biscuit is about 2cm in diameter and 1cm high and is really crunchy. On the pack it says there is Xylitol in the ingredients but the white chocolate is sweet enough to cover up any xylitol flavour that might have been. I can't taste any. The white chocolate coating on the outside is delicious and really does taste like condensed milk. It's sooo yum. The delicious crunch when you bite into these is so addictive!! I could seriously eat the whole bag by myself.

I must point out that white chocolate can sometimes be overpoweringly sweet, but in this case it's not like that, it's very well balanced with the biscuit, so you don't feel that need to drink 10 glasses of water afterwards.

I've got to go back and get some more of these! I definitely recommend them! I wonder what the milk chocolate version is like? Hmm. I found a review of them here. Sadly no-one seems to have reviewed the white version.

Brand: Riska Calories per box: 2343 Website: http://www.riska.co.jp

Kabaya Juicy Grape カバヤ ジュー Ｃ グレープ

I was wandering around Nippon Food Supplies and wondering what to get as a small snack that would satisfy when I came up on this pack of Juicy by Kabaya. I love anything grape flavour and it was only 80 cents, so that pretty much sealed the deal for me.

When you open the pack it is basically filled with little round discs, similar in texture to a hard sherbert (like the ramune candy) and it has a very light lilac colour with a K imprinted on to one side and a random cute picture imprinted on the other. I'm guessing the K is for Kabaya. The smell is strong and smells just like grape candy that we all know and love from childhood.

I didn't count at the time but I estimate there to be about 20 tablets in one pack. The candy tablet has a strong taste of grape from the moment I put it into my mouth and it dissolves in the same way as the ramune candy, and it also has a tartness to it like sherbert, which I love.

They dissolve rather quickly, and can also be chewed even quicker. I'm sure kids could chew through a pack of these in ten minutes or less. However, I have to watch how much I consume so I still have about 5 tablets left. The outside is pretty cute too which I'm sure appeals to Kawaii lovers of all generations.

I'm pretty happy with these candies, I love the flavour and the texture and would definitely buy some again.

Brand: Kabaya Calories per box: 94 Website: http://www.kabaya.co.jp/

Koala no March Highland Vanilla Icecream コアラのマーチ 高原のバニラアイス

I'm getting around to my backlog of Japanese snacks. This box has been sitting in the cupboard since before Christmas. Yasu has been eying it off every time he opens the cupboard...probably wondering when I'm going to crack it open. Well Yasu will be happy when he gets home from work today! :)

This flavour is called "kougen no vanilla ice" in other words Highland Vanilla Icecream flavour. Not sure why but they seem to have a theme going. The last box of Koala no March I reviewed was "mountain hut" flavour. I guess they like the mountain theme?

The biscuits look and smell the same as always, Koala shaped biscuits that are lightly toasted, with pictures of various Koala's on the front in brown ink. From the outside there is a sweet smell, and biting into it there is a creamy vanilla cream in the centre. These really taste like vanilla icecream, my only complaint is there is not enough cream in the middle, as always. I wish there was more filling.

The biscuits are really crunchy though and deliver a satisfying loud crunch when you bite into them followed by the sweet vanilla cream. I love these as a sweet snack, they're really pleasant and great for sharing too.

It was nice to try once, but I probably wouldn't buy it again because it's just not that special. But I'm sure kids would love these!

And as an aside, by buying this pack you are also making a donation to the Australian Koala Foundation - www.savethekoala.com

Brand: Lotte Calories per box: 259 Website: http://www.lotte.co.jp

Kit Kat Cola & Lemon Squash キットカット コーラ味とレモンスカッシュ味

Wow, long time no Kit Kat review! I've had this box sitting in the fridge since last year and it still hasn't expired, in fact it won't expire until May, but I thought I better get around to it now before bubs arrives, because then I definitely probably won't have any time to.

This Kit Kat is a duo flavour, Cola, and Lemon Squash. It contains two individually wrapped packs, one containing two sticks of Cola and the other containing two sticks of Lemon Squash.

The Cola is a light brown chocolate, similar to the colour of actual Cola drink and it smells like a flat Cola. Biting into it at first is a flat Cola flavour but inside the wafers there is some fizziness which makes it taste and feel like a real Cola drink. I really love the fizzy sensation, it's quite fun and the chocolate is not too sweet, in fact the fizzy factor is the dominating flavour.

The Lemon Squash is white chocolate which smells like lemon cheesecake. Biting into it the flavour is quite tart, like a lemon tart, and the chocolate is quite sweet. There feels like there are some small granules inside the wafers, and these have quite a sour flavour which give it a real kick. This flavour is too sweet to really be considered as a lemon squash but I do like the flavour overall, because I'm a fan of the sour-sweet combo and lemon cheesecake flavour.

In all, I though this was a good effort from Nestle. Two distinct flavours in the one box and both are really enjoyable. Wish I bought more of these!


This Kit Kat got a mediocre review from Jen's Kit Kat blog, and got the thumbs up from My Kit Kats.

Brand: Nestle Calories per box: 100 Website: http://www.nestle.co.jp

Asahi Mitsuya Cider Lemon Burst Zero 三ツ矢サイダー レモンはじける・カロリーゼロ

I'm not usually a fan of diet sodas, mainly because I don't like the taste of artificial sweeteners. But that all changed once I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, and majorly limited what beverages I can drink. These days it's a choice of water, milk, diet soda, or juice which is severely watered down.

So when browsing in Nippon Food Supplies I came across this bottle of Mitsuya Cider Zero. The label states that it has zero calories, but it has 175.5kj and 11 grams of carbohydrate. It seems moderately ok, even for me having to watch my carbs, it's still under one serve. Surprisingly this drink has the same amount of calories and carbohydrates as the original Mitsuya Cider which doesn't claim to be low in calories. Strange?

 

Lemon Burst (known as Lemon Hajikeru on the label) is quite fizzy when first poured out into a glass. It smells quite lemony too, but more like a dish washing liquid than a soda! The first sip is really tart, the lemon is just so strong and overpowering and kind of burns the back of my throat. I can really taste the artificial sweetener in here, but maybe that's because I'm not used to it, however I just can't get over that taste and it's somewhat chemical.

I found this to be really harsh on the tastebuds. It's quite fizzy and the lemon is just so strong and sour, even though it's only 1% juice. I can't say that I would buy this again, even though it's meant to be reduced calories. I think I'd rather stick with juice and water! I seriously wouldn't recommend it unless you love sour, fizzy, burn-your-throat-out beverages. I don't think it's worth it.

Brand: Asahi Calories per bottle: 175.5 Website: http://www.asahiinryo.co.jp/products/carbonated/mitsuya_hajikeru_lemon/

Riska Umai Wa Cheese リスカうまい輪 チーズ味

 Photo courtesy of Riska as by the time
I got around to photographing Yasu had already opened the packet!

Here's a similar product to something I reviewed earlier, except this one is called Umai Wa, instead of Umai Bo. The difference is that Umai Bo is a long tube snack, whereas this one is made into separate rings. Umai Bo seems to be made by Yaokin, while Umai Wa is made by Riska. It's odd how seemingly the same product with the same characters are made by two different companies. Or maybe they are the same but different branches...maybe someone can enlighten me?

This is a large size 75 gram bag full of cheesy flavoured rings. The cheese has a very strong flavour and the rings smell very sweet, unlike Western snacks where if cheese is featured it's usually more savoury than sweet.

The rings are not uniform in size or shape, but they have a very thick coating of cheese powder on the outside. They are really light though and when biting into one there is a loud satisfying crunch. The cheese flavour is quite nice but it's sweet at the end, so that if you eat the bag in one sitting you end up needing a drink straight after as the flavour build up is so strong.

Yasu really loves these, both Umai Bo and Umai Wa so this is the main reason I bought them. This cheesy snack gets the thumbs up from him. They are a pretty "el cheapo" snack but the flavour isn't lacking so it gets my thumbs up too. I found it to be enjoyable and the pack size means it's great to share.

By the way, don't you think the character on the bag resembles Doraemon?

Riska Character

Doraemon

Brand: Riska Calories per bag: 1849 Website: http://www.riska.co.jp/catalog/page1/item10.html

Tohato All Banana 東ハト オールバナナ

Hey, long time no post, since December 1, 2010 to be exact! I've been on a really strict diet while pregnant and haven't made any allowances for Japanese snacks, but now that I can relax a little, I can try out the backlog I've got going on at my place!

I thought I'd start off with a rather summery fruit snack - All Banana - by Tohato.

This is the first time I've ever reviewed anything from Tohato, so it will be interesting to see what kind of product it is.

This 106.4 gram bag was bought by me at Nippon Food Supplies in Subiaco. It was originally $4, but was on sale for $1! Bargain.

I love bananas and it being summer, it seemed like a really good snack. The bag has 14 pieces inside, which are not individually wrapped, surprise! On the back of the bag it says that one serving is a whole bag, so that's an even bigger surprise. The carbohydrates contained in here though number 75 grams which is 6 servings of carbohydrate, that's a lot for a one sitting consumption. But one or two pieces would be ok as a snack.

The open bag smells divine, like lots of ripe bananas in a very small room. The biscuit itself is about 3cm x 3cm and kind of puffy, almost like its pie pastry on top and biscuit underneath. The banana is squished into the biscuit and sandwiched in the middle. It's a similar concept to the sultana slice biscuits you can get at a  supermarket. There is just enough banana to give a yummy taste but without overpowering the biscuit.

 

 

I'm not super keen on the pie pastry/biscuit combination, but it's ok. I think this would have been better if the biscuit/pie pastry was crunchier instead of it being a bit flat and limp. It seems kind of soggy, but it's not out of date, so I assume it's the squishy banana inside that makes it so.

These were a little disappointing for the texture but in regards to flavour they have a lot. If a soggy biscuit doesn't bother you then I would say to give them a go, if not, leave them on the shelf!

Looking on the website, they don't seem to make this variety anymore, they do have All Raisin, All Apple and All Apricot though.

Brand: Tohato Calories per box: 1681 Website: http://tohato.jp/products/allraisin/

Kabaya Apple & Mango Gumi カバヤアップル&マンゴーグミ

This is the last bag of sweets from a carepack from a friend in Tokyo, M.


It's a bag of individually wrapped gumi candy. There were 13 in the pack, 7 apple and 6 mango.

The pack smelled wonderful inside, so fruity and fresh. The gumi are so soft and smooth and have a texture of being almost wet.

They are really like eating jelly, much softer than any other gumi I've had. The mango did not have a strong flavour, it was much weaker than I expected, though in the middle the familiar mango flavour was present. The apple tasted like a nice juicy red apple, it was sweet but also had a sourness at the end.

These gumi were really enjoyable, the flavours were nice but not profound. I enjoyed serving these up to guests and Yasu really like the mango even though he's never been a fan of the fruit itself.

Brand: Kabaya Calories per bag: 216 Buy it now at Daiso