Kellog's Brown Rice Flake Matcha Milk ケロッグ 玄米フレーク 抹茶ミルク

I purchased this pack of Matcha Milk Brown Rice Flakes at the same time as I purchased my previous review (Brown Sugar & Honey).

As the Brown Sugar & Honey Flakes were very healthy tasting, I was reluctant to taste this Matcha Milk (Green Tea & Milk) variety, so they have sat around on my desk for a while, staring at me every time I turned the computer on.

I finally summoned up the courage to taste them, only to find that they're not that bad. Because they have Matcha powder inside, the texture is a lot better than the Brown Sugar & Honey Flakes. You can really taste the Matcha flavour, and the texture of the powder in there, along with the crunch of the biscuit.

Matcha Milk Flakes don't come across quite as healthy as the Brown Sugar & Honey Flakes do. I could tell it was still cereal based, but the Matcha Milk texture and flavour masked it quite well to the point I felt like I was just eating a savoury snack. There is only a very vague sweetness in this biscuit, when it becomes soft in the mouth, but it seems like there is only grape sugar added and that is in the middle of the list of ingredients so it doesn't play a big part.

Everyone knows I'm a Matcha Freak but I can tell you it didn't make me biased towards this product. I was expecting it to be just as healthy if not worse than the previous review. I was pleasantly surprised to find that healthy doesn't have to be bland.

Kellogg's Brown Rice Flake Brown Sugar & Honey ケロッグ 玄米フレーク 黒糖＆ハニー

I was browsing at Japanese snacks on Rakuten when I came across this packet of brown rice flakes made by Kellogg's. Kellogg's are familiar to me as the brand of cereal my son most likes, they make a lot of breakfast foods that are popular in Western countries. I was a little bit surprised to see that they make this kind of snack for the Japanese market and in such a Japanese flavour!

This pack weighs 40g and I'm pretty sure it's just one serving. Brown sugar, which in Japanese is pronounced "kokuto" and originates from Okinawa, is made by boiling down sugar cane until it has a deep rich brown colour. In Okinawa it's known as a health food and lots of people take it to ward off fatigue. Added into this mix is honey which on the packet it is said to match with the brown sugar very well.

What I thought of as a snack when I purchased it, is actually a type of breakfast food and on the back of the packet they refer to it as "cereal". I'm not sure if Kellogg's want you to eat it with milk, with a cup of tea, or by itself. But as they refer to it as a "biscuit", I think I might just eat it that way.

Opening the packet there is a strong smell of molasses and a sweet scent. Each biscuit is quite flat,
and measures 3cm long x 2.5cm wide. There are 14 biscuits inside. When I bite into a biscuit there is a satisfying snap and crunch. The first thing I taste is oats, and sure enough when I look on the ingredients list there is oat flour used.

The big punch of brown sugar and honey flavour that I expected is not there. The brown sugar is only apparent right at the very end, with a vague sweetness that must be the honey. The smell of the brown sugar is actually stronger than the flavour in this biscuit which is a disappointment. The oat flour here is the star of the show, and although I don't mind it, it reminds me more of a muesli bar than what it is supposed to be.

It does taste healthy, so if that is what Kellogg's were going for then they nailed it. It just doesn't live up to the image on the pack of a big pile of brown sugar covered in oozing honey. It's only a vague representation of that.

I must admit, I ate the whole pack. They were somewhat moorish, I do like oats, and I don't think anyone else in my house will eat them. Personally, I would have to eat these while having a drink as they made me quite thirsty. I guess a nice cold glass of milk or a hot cup of tea would do the trick.

If you have tried these, what did you think? 

Fujiya Strawberry Shortcake Chocolates 不二家 苺ショートケーキチョコ

I've been saving this box of chocolates. I received it from a friend in Japan a while back but I held onto it because the box is so pretty.

These chocolates are based on Japanese style strawberry shortcakes which are usually made from a soft sponge cake with layers of strawberries and cream. I find a Japanese shortcake to be much less sweet than a Western version.

Japanese style Strawberry Shortcake courtesy of Google

They are made by Fujiya - a well known sweets manufacturer in Japan. Their mascot is Peko-chan - a girl in pigtails with her tongue hanging out the side of her mouth.

The top of the box is one big photograph featuring shortcakes. In the middle is an image of what the chocolate is supposed to look like. A biscuit layer on the bottom, followed by cream, then a layer of strawberry, covered in milk chocolate with a fleur-de-lis imprinted into the top.

Inside the box, each chocolate is encased in a bright strawberry red packet, there are 9 in the box.

The chocolate is quite a good size, 3cm diameter, and 1cm high. It smells milk chocolate mixed with strawberry. Biting into it the first thing I tasted was strawberry, but it wasn't very sweet. In fact the second flavour I tasted was the chocolate, and although it looks like milk, it tastes quite dark. The chocolate was much stronger than the strawberry so it was overpowered. In regards to texture, the biscuit on the bottom is crumbly, so biting into it there is the taste of strawberry and a texture of crumbly biscuit, then the dark chocolate. I couldn't really taste the cream element, that was somewhere in there with the strawberry and probably contributes more to the texture than the flavour.

Although it didn't have nearly as much strawberry in there as I expected, it's actually very accurate to what a Japanese style shortcake is like (minus the chocolate). I find the sweetness in a shortcake is downplayed, to the point of being non-existent.

If you find strawberry flavoured chocolate, or chocolates in general are too sweet for your tastes, then I'm sure you would like these. I would like these when I'm dieting because they don't make you crave for more. Each chocolate will set you back 38.8 calories, which I think is pretty good.

Caramel Nuts Tirol (Premium) キャラメルナツ チロル

So here is my last blog about Tirol for now. I've managed to review quite a lot of different Tirol flavours during 2012 and that's all thanks to a very kind friend in Tokyo who sent them over to me during the year. So I'd like to take this opportunity to thank her so much for her kindness, not just for the Tirol and all the other snacks she sent me but for her friendship and support. Thank you so much S! :)

Caramel Nuts....it sounds pretty good and it's one of those combinations that is used over and over by confectionery makers the world over. Just think of Snickers and Picnic for starters. 

When I opened this Tirol I couldn't smell anything but a sweet scent. However when I bit into it I could smell Snickers! It smells just like it!! The chocolate on the outside is a caramel colour and there is a layer of dark chocolate on the bottom followed by a biscuit piece, peanuts, caramel and then chocolate. There is a lot going on in this chocolate, that's for sure!

Sadly, the flavour just wasn't as good as a Snickers. The chocolate and caramel were just so sweet, that even though the nuts were plentiful, it just wasn't that good. I really feel like the peanuts needed some salt to balance out the sweetness, then we could have had that salty peanut butter and chocolate combination going on.

I'm kind of sad that this one didn't live up to my expectations either. I usually really enjoy the Tirol chocolates. I will be looking forward to trying some new ones in 2013.

If you have tried some Tirol chocolates this year, what were your favourite?

Choc Banana Tirol (Premium) チョコバナナ チロル

Sorry for my absence (again). Christmas happened, and then New Years, and life has been so hectic. I've just gotten some free time to blog and I thought I should get around to blogging about two more Tirol chocolates that I have.

This one is Choc Banana and the image on the wrapping shows some fireworks in the distance and a big banana covered by chocolate in the foreground. It's really quite cute. This is a premium Tirol so it's a bit larger than the usual size.

The chocolate is a banana yellow colour on the outside but doesn't really smell of banana at all. I can only smell a sweet chocolate scent. On the inside of the Tirol is a layer of dark chocolate on the bottom, followed by some white marshmallow sandwiched in the middle, then a thin layer of chocolate coloured banana flavoured sauce followed by the banana coloured chocolate.

The dark chocolate inside doesn't look really dark but it has quite a bitter taste to it, so much so that it overpowers the banana sauce. It's only really after swallowing that I get the taste of the banana sauce but the dark chocolate lingers on my tongue for a lot longer.

Overall I was disappointed. This could have been an amazing Tirol if not for the bitter dark chocolate. Who puts dark chocolate on their bananas anyway? I don't know why the marshmallow was in the middle either, it would have been better with a banana mousse or even a banana marshmallow. I'm sad, I was expecting so much more.

Will my next Tirol be a winner? Stay tuned!