Kinako Mochi Chocoball きなこもちチョコボール

Kinako is one of my favorite flavours so I was delighted to see this release when we were in Japan last year. I bought about 5 boxes of them and just discovered I had one box left and thought I better review it!

These Chocoball have a thick layer of kinako flavored white chocolate around the outside of an oval shaped mass of kinako mochi. The thick chocolate is divine when chewing together with the mochi in the centre.

It's a small packet and I had to share with my 2 year old son and husband as they both love kinako too, so it didn't go far! Now you can see why I needed 5 boxes... These were about 88 yen in the supermarket (just under $1.00) and very good value. Great as a treat for kids too as it has a small opening and a game on the lid.

If rate these as one of my favorite kinako treats and definitely my favorite Chocoball so far!

Asahi Balanceup Salty Vanilla アサヒ クリーム玄米ブラン 塩バニラ

Don't ask me why but Balanceup is a favourite snack of mine. I think it's because it is not only filling but it is made with real bran and always comes in interesting flavours. It is meant to be more of a convenience food, for example, to replace cereal in the morning or a snack at morning tea time if you're busy and don't have time to grab a proper meal.

The snack consists of two layers of bran crackers sandwiching a thick layer of flavoured cream, in this case salty vanilla cream is in the centre. The bran crackers are quite thick too (about 2mm) so they give a decent crunch when bitten into.

These crackers have a pleasant smell when the packet is opened and the outside of the bran has a sweetness to it, and lots of bits of bran inside the cracker make for a very crunchy experience.
The vanilla cream in the middle is sweet and has a slight hint of maple flavour followed by another hit of vanilla and finally some saltiness at the end so it seems like having sweet then savoury.
I'm not sure why the vanilla cream tastes like maple but I have noticed it before in other flavours so maybe it's coming from the crackers when it gets mixed with the cream.

The flavours are not strong but they are not weak either. This was quite enjoyable and I ate the whole bag in one sitting (4 crackers!). The bag is made up of 2 individually wrapped bags of 2 crackers each so it's great for portion control and also the crackers won't go stale if you don't eat them all at once.

Tirol Chocolat Au Orange チロル ショコラ オランジェ

I have a million Tirol reviews coming up! When I was in Japan this year I bought so many limited edition packs in Daiso and brought them home with me...but I haven't gotten around to reviewing them yet! Soon!

This Tirol was sent to me by a blog reader in Japan (thank you S!), and it's a flavour I did not see in my travels but is one of those classic flavours that just works. Chocolate and Orange.

Chocolat Au Orange as you can tell by the packaging is dark chocolate melded with orange. This is also a premium size Tirol so it's larger than the usual size.

I'm not usually a fan of dark chocolate, I prefer sweet milky chocolate over the bitterness that dark chocolate usually brings, and this Tirol smelled strongly of dark cocoa so I wasn't sure I would like it.
However, when I bit into it the chocolate was smooth and soft and the middle layer consisted of a sweet, mochi-like orange jelly that just melted in my mouth. The sweetness of the orange jelly contrasted well with the dark chocolate (which by the way wasn't bitter) and by the end of eating this chocolate I wanted MORE! Luckily S was kind enough to send me 3 pieces!

 

Chocolat Au Orange Tirol is not overly sweet, it is just right, a very stylish chocolat that you would expect to be in a fancy chocolate store. Tirol has made this really well, and I hope that you get to try this one, or they make it again some time in the future!

Tohato Green Tea Caramel Corn トハト 抹茶キャラメルコーン 🌽

I've had this packet in the pantry for a couple of months now but it was only today I decided to bring them out as my 2 year old son was wanting something different to munch on and he loves matcha flavor anything. 

I didn't realize at the time I bought them that these were bigger than usual, the packet states they are "でっかい" which means "very big".

They are really big and unfortunately have a shape and colour like doggy doo-doo.

Although the flavor is matcha (green tea) it is overpowered by the strong, very sickly sweet caramel flavor, and not only that there is some kind of raw sugar coating on the outside which means after one piece I am screaming for some water.

I do like Caramel Corn usually but I am disappointed with these because of the sweetness, it is too much, especially for a mega size corn.

The only plus is that my son and I held up the pieces to our face to make happy and sad faces, and my son thought it was big enough to be talked into like a telephone. :)

Sakura Marshmallow by Ishimura 石村萬盛堂 桜マシュマロ

I received two packets of these Sakura Marshmallows right before I went on my trip to Japan so I am a little bit late blogging about them, well more than a bit late, a LOT late. I was lucky enough to see the Sakura (cherry blossom) blooming in Sapporo, right before I left to return to Perth. I also ate a lot of Sakura Mochi while I was staying in Japan and the taste is very unusual, but I do like it.

The brand is "Gateau de Paris Patisserie" made by Ishimura and I can't seem to find it on their website, but scouting around the internet it looks like it might have only been a limited release for White Day (the ladies version of Valentine's Day in Japan).

I loved the colour on the packaging, even though the packs are small it looks premium and would be a lovely gift. Hubby and I both tried this together and when we opened the package we could immediately smell the Sakura scent wafting up to our noses.

 

 

The marshmallows were very light pink, soft and rounded on top with a flat bottom. The marshmallow was soft and springy and when we bit into it it was like eating a cloud. Very "fuwa fuwa". The inside of the marshmallow had a big ball of white chocolate ganache which was a delight to eat. I'm not sure why but we both thought that the white chocolate had a distinct flavour of coconut, which we both really liked. It was soft and rich and really complemented the outer mashmallow wonderfully. With this the sakura flavour of the marshmallow wasn't very strong, but the scent was quite powerful so when biting into the marshmallow we got the strong taste of the white chocolate ganache, the fluffiness of the marshmallow and the scent of sakura, all combining to make a very memorable experience.

We had these with a cup of nice Japanese green tea, but you could have them alone. I would really like to have these again sometime, they were so nice! I definitely recommend them if you come across them :)

Fanta Plum ファンタ うめ

Just before I left Japan in May, this new flavour of Fanta was released. I'm not really a fan of Japanese plum, because they tend to be small and sour. But the quirkiness of the flavour alone, urged me to buy at least one bottle and bring it home to Australia.

I've only now, just worked up the courage to try it! So tonight at dinner, I poured my husband and I each a small glass. He is also not a fan of plum, but he agreed to try it out of curiosity.

This Fanta wasn't that fizzy, after it was poured into the glass it fizzed for a few seconds and then that was it. It didn't really seem like a soda at all, more like a cordial in consistency. It was a golden colour in the glass, and reminded me of beer without the foam and fizz.

The smell was quite sweet, and it reminded me of a cloying sweet air freshener that you would use in a car or toilet. The first taste was actually quite nice though, and not as bad as it smelled.

Ume flavour Fanta tastes like Japanese plum, but it also has a kind of "odd" flavour that I can only relate to another drink called Sarsparilla or even Dr Pepper. It has that same strong flavour, like both those drinks do, but I can't explain what it is!? I have no idea how to describe it except strange.
I'm not a fan of Dr Pepper or Sarsparilla and I don't like it in this Fanta either, but unlike the other drinks, in the Fanta Ume it is bearable, and not as strong. It did have a slight sourness present, but not as sour as I expected. My husband agreed that it definitely nailed the Japanese plum flavour.

We both agreed that we wouldn't buy this again. Once in a lifetime was enough. We thought that it was a pleasant drink though, and are happy to have tried a quirky flavour from Japan.

Meiji Kinoko no Yama Roasted Sweet Potato きのこの山 やきいも味

This was a snack I picked up in Japan in May and am just getting around to review it. Ever since we came home life has been so hectic I just haven't had a chance to review the snacks bought especially for this purpose so most of them are still in the pantry.

Tonight we were looking around for something for dessert and I pulled these out. My 2 year old son was very interested in the box and kept asking me to open it.

Originally, when I bought it, I was in a hurry and grabbed it from the shelf because I thought it was plain white chocolate flavour. But after opening the box tonight I discovered it is actually "yaki-imo" (roasted sweet potato) flavour.

It's a nice surprise because I actually love sweet potato, and even more so when it's roasted!

This pack is a box containing one wrapped bag of snacks. When you open the box (like a lid) it has a bag inside decorated with mushrooms and trees, and you tear it open from the middle outwards. If you don't eat the whole box at once, you can simply close the lid and save them for next time, so it's very convenient.

Kinoko no Yama are very cute. They consist of a pretzel stick with the top part of the mushroom being the chocolate. In this version the chocolate is white chocolate but with the addition of sweet potato, so it is a golden colour. It smelled vaguely of caramel.

The pretzel stick is just a plain pretzel stick and although it's quite nice and crunchy there is no real flavour. The chocolate is nice and smooth and there is a subtle flavour of sweet potato. It's not a bold hit of sweet potato as I expected. It's quite sweet too so you don't need much. The smoothness of the chocolate and the crunch of the pretzel stick are a nice combination.

I really enjoyed this snack and I found it was the perfect size for my 2 year old's hand, he gobbled most of them down before my husband and I could get any! If you like sweet potato then I definitely recommend you try this one. It's a quirkier chocolate flavour but not too weird as to be inedible.

These are available online at napaJapan too (but I think only limited quantities are left) -- Kinoko no Yama Roasted Sweet Potato

 

Skoshbox Review

I was delighted recently to find an email in my inbox asking me if I would like to receive a box of Japanese goodies from a new subscription service in the US called Skoshbox.

Skoshbox is a company founded by two close friends from childhood who have lived in both Japan and the US throughout their lives. Raised by Japanese mothers and brought up on Japanese snacks, video games, and comfort food, they noticed a severe lack of variety and accessibility to affordable Japanese items in the US. Out of this they created Skoshbox - a monthly subscription service that will deliver a variety of new and quircky snacks to your doorstep.

They hand pick every item that goes into the box, because it is important to them that each item reflects the Japan they know and love so much.

The subscription service is priced at $12 which includes shipping. At the moment it is available within the US only, but according to their Facebook page, they are working on bringing Skoshbox to the international community as well.

For my readers who live in the US I have a special promo code that you can use at checkout which will entitle you to a FREE mystery snack included in your box. Just type the code TASTYJP05.
The code is valid until July 15th 2013 which is the cut-off date for ordering the first box. (Unfortunately because I live in Australia, my parcel took quite a while to arrive so my readers will have less time to use the code.)

I've looked for information on the website and Facebook page as to why Skoshbox is named that. Where did the name come from? I can't find any info but I can only assume it comes from the Japanese word "sukoshi" - meaning "a little bit" because the parcel that came in the mail was filled with lots of little bits and pieces.

When I opened the box, I noticed that it was very professionally packed. There was a postcard that greeted me, which had all the snacks listed on the other side in English. The white tissue paper wrapped around the snacks was a nice touch and it made it feel like I was getting a gift.

Even though the parcel was quite small, it was filled to the brim with a variety of snacks which gave me the feeling of receiving a lot. I knew all the snacks in the box, they are my husband's childhood favourites.

The one thing I observed though is that if you can't read Japanese, then you wouldn't know what snack is which, just by reading the postcard alone. In my opinion, the postcard needs an image of the snack next to each listing. Otherwise, customers will have to find out purely by a process of elimination. 

There was a total of 14 items in the box. 13 of which were edible. When my Japanese husband saw what was in the box he exclaimed "natsukashii" (nostalgic) because these are the snacks he grew up eating, and some of them he still eats now, even though we are in Australia.

My husband and 2 year old son joined me for this review, purely because we all love Japanese snacks and they were hanging around watching me so I had to invite them to join. ;)

We started off with the Senbei (rice cracker) which was soy sauce flavour. There were two crackers in the pack and they are supposed to be "soft" senbei (easy to bite into), but they were quite hard. I thought maybe they were a bit stale. The soy sauce flavour was hard to detect, my husband and I first thought that it was salt or salad flavour because we could only smell the soy sauce. The cracker itself was quite salty. None of us were very big fans of this senbei sadly.

Kaki no Tane
There were two small packs of Kakipi, and my husband and I had one pack each since my son has a nut allergy. We both felt there were too many peanuts in the pack. Usually (and this is just personal preference) we like to eat 2 or 3 hot crackers with one peanut, but each pack seemed to have a high ratio of peanuts to crackers, meaning when we had finished the crackers there were still peanuts left. If we ate the crackers and peanuts together, then the spiciness of the crackers was mellowed out by the peanuts.

Marble Chocolate
The packaging was very cute and my son made a grab for it straight away. We all liked the crispy shell and the chocolate inside had a very strong cocoa flavour. Some of the chocolates had a picture of a cow on the outside so we felt lucky, because they are rare.

 

Koala's March
The outside of this packet is also very cute and shows pictures of Koala's that may show up in your pack indicating you are "lucky". Unfortunately I got no such characters, or if I did, I couldn't tell because the insides were broken. This happens sometimes and because it came such a long way, it can't be helped. We found that the shell was very crunchy and nice but the chocolate had an odd flavour, like it was old. My son made a swipe for this packet too!

Umaibo Cheese
Umaibo is a long tubular corn snack, similar to what Aussies would know of as a "Cheezel" but sweeter. This was broken into 4 pieces inside the pack but I have found them to be somewhat fragile in the past, so it's no wonder. It's probably not a good snack to send internationally because it is easy to break. The flavour was quite cheesy but it also had a sweetness that Western savoury snacks don't have. We all enjoyed this one!

 

 Umaibo Mentaiko (Fish Roe)
I have to admit, I am not a fan of seafood, but my husband loves mentaiko. I was not looking forward to trying it but was pleasantly surprised. There wasn't too much seafood smell or flavour and to me this could have been bbq for all I knew. We all liked it but preferred the cheese. My son chomped the last half of the stick all by himself!

Haichu Strawberry
How to split this candy three ways was our difficulty, however we managed and liked it. It was very mini indeed, I would have liked a couple of each flavour in the box. The strawberry flavour was very light. The candy was very chewy and stuck to my teeth.

 

Haichu Melon
This was green and white in colour and tasted like rock melon. The flavour was very strong and reminded us what we love about Japan. All three of us wanted more of melon Haichu. It was a very pleasant candy to eat.

 

Look Chocolate Matcha Azuki
We all like the combination of Matcha (green tea) and Azuki (red bean) so we expected great things from this chocolate. The matcha flavour was strong, rich and quite sweet, but we couldn't taste any azuki which is a real shame. I preferred this chocolate out of the two flavours.

Look Chocolate Matcha Milk
The "milk" inside this chocolate was clear and stringy, unlike the image on the box of a white creamy liquid. However, I could taste a creaminess which I imagined was the milk. The matcha in this chocolate was not as strong as with the azuki which I didn't like but my husband loved. My son devoured both chocolates and seemed to love them both equally...he would have had another box of them if he could!! ;)

 

Chocoball
Besides Tirol, Chocoball is my husbands favourite snack ever. He loves the combination of peanuts and chocolate. I expected him to love this as it's the original version of chocoball. However he told me that the flavour of this mini pack was different to the normal box of original Chocoball and he thinks that the layer of chocolate is thinner. I liked the crunchiness of the toffee and coating inside, and the flavour of the dark chocolate on the outside, but I too noticed something different but I couldn't work out what it was. The only thing I could say is that these small snacks seem like they come from a share-pack so they could have been modified a little bit for that purpose.

 

Orange Bubble Gum
Bubble gum is not something I eat a lot of, so I have no real expertise in this area. I am familiar with this gum mainly because I see it for sale at oriental supermarkets in my city. This was my first time trying it, and sadly will be my last. The orange flavour was strong and it burned my tongue. Both sides of my tongue were on fire while eating this and afterwards I had acid indigestion. I can only assume that whatever chemical used in this gum just doesn't agree with me. It is a cheap and nasty addition to Skoshbox and I would recommend they leave it out in future.

Milk Hardcandy
There was only one of these candies so I got to have it to myself. I was glad I did because it was so creamy and tasted very milky. It was really hard so it lasted a long time. I wished there were more of these candies in the box!!

Air-in Eraser
I thought it was kind of strange to put an eraser in a box of candy from Japan. I know that Japan is popular with geeks and they must like using mechanical pens and erasers. But for the rest of us who aren't students, what will we do with an eraser? If it has to be an eraser, I would prefer something more "Japanese" such as one of those cute erasers that look like a bowl of ramen or a sushi roll. Otherwise I would have liked to see a cultural item such as some chocolate in the shape of 5 yen coins or a phone strap, or maybe even a sushi keyring.

I really like the idea of Skoshbox but I thought the contents were somewhat hit and miss. I guess being a seasoned snack reviewer and regular consumer of Japanese snacks, the contents of the box feel a bit "meh" to me, but to someone who is just getting to know Japan, this would be a great introduction.

It's also really good for those who like getting parcels every month, it feels a bit like getting a gift in the mail, especially because it is packaged so beautifully. Skoshbox is the kind of thing I would have liked when I was in high school and just starting to learn Japanese. I feel that it is marketed towards Japanophiles who have an avid interest in everything Japan. My husband said that if he was missing Japanese snacks and he couldn't buy them in his area then he would buy a Skoshbox every month. I guess for Japanese people away from home, this could even help cure homesickness.

On the Skoshbox website you can see what is in each month's box before it is delivered to you. I will be interested to see what comes out each month, and even more so when Skoshbox go international. Who knows? I might even buy one myself. :)

How you can find Skoshbox
- Website:  http://skoshbox.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Skoshbox

Here are some other reviews of Skoshbox

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy5JREANS30&feature=share&list=UUAF7DMTeAnZOZvikNygerOA

- http://youtu.be/e9PeEH9-hb0

- http://polishmaniacs.wordpress.com/2013/07/04/skoshbox-june-2013-unboxing-review/

- http://www.subscriptionmaven.com/2013/06/new-subscription-box-skoshbox-review.html

- http://www.ramblingsofasuburbanmom.com/2013/06/june-skoshbox-review/

- http://ayearofboxes.com/2013/06/27/june-box-review-coupon-code-skoshbox/

- http://www.subscriptionboxtalk.com/2013/06/skosh-box-review-and-coupon-code-new.html

- http://www.girlmeetsbox.com/skoshbox-june-review/

- http://ebidebby.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/skoshbox.html


**The Skoshbox reviewed here was shipped to me for free by Skoshbox and reviewed honestly and fairly. At the time of writing Skoshbox do not ship internationally but it seems like this might change in future.

Country Ma'am Strawberyy Parfait カントリーマアム いちごパフェー

When I saw this pack of Country Ma'am cookies at Daiso for ¥105 yen I just knew I had to have them. I am a fan of strawberry flavour but more than that the image on the packet was so pretty and looked delicious. I love Japanese parfait. It's one thing I love about Japan, they do desserts so well.

So here is a share pack of Country Ma'am that has 5 individually wrapped cookies inside. 

It's not the prettiest cookie I've ever seen but it does smell very nice. There is a strong smell of strawberry even when I'm nowhere near the cookie. Something that baffles me with Country Ma'am is that no matter what the flavour, every cookie has choc chips inside. Sometimes it doesn't go well but other times like with strawberry parfait flavour it is a match.

When I was little I had a Strawberry Shortcake doll and the stand out feature of the doll was it's pink curly hair and the scent of strawberries. When I smell this cookie it makes me think of that doll, the scent is pretty much the same. 

To smell it is nice, but to taste it, I get a real sense of chemical/artificial strawberry taste. It is really tart and has an unpleasant taste at the back of my throat. The outside is crunchy but the inside is like uncooked dough so it is like eating glue. The only thing that really saves this cookie is the chocolate and white choc chips in the middle. In fact, after eating this I had a burning feeling in my mouth and started to get a headache. I am not sure what chemicals they put in here but I wouldn't recommend anyone trying it.

As pretty as the packet is, this is one awful cookie. I'm disappointed as all my reviews so far about Country Ma'am have been positive but this one is not anything like a real strawberry nor a parfait.
Do yourself a favour and steer clear of this one!

Country Ma'am N.Y. Cheesecake カントリーマアム N.Y. チーズケーキ

I've never been to New York so I wasn't familiar with what makes a New York Cheesecake different to other cheesecakes around the world. Wikipedia tells me that a NY cheesecake relies on heavy cream or sour cream, and that it is rich and has a dense, smooth and creamy consistency.

This is a share pack of 5 individually wrapped cookies, which I bought in Daiso for ¥105 (roughly $1). 

The cookie is mostly white on the outside with a "baked" look, as if it has been slightly browned in the oven. It smells like yoghurt and cheese, actually quite a nice smell. It is soft on the outside and crumbles easily when bitten. The inside is quite soft, almost as if it was uncooked dough.

The taste is very much like cheese but more like an unbaked cheesecake. There are white choc chips in the centre which add a touch of sweetness to the whole thing. I think it needs the white chocolate to add contrast, otherwise the flavour of the biscuit would be too rich. 

This cookie really is quite rich and the flavour is strong so I'm not sure I could eat any more than one at a time. The only thing I don't like is that it is so crumbly. When I bit into it most of the cookie fell away, and I had crumbs everywhere.

If you don't mind the crumbs, then I would recommend you try this cookie. It's really quite a nice flavour and something different to the usual Country Ma'am fare. I would definitely buy it again.