Thursday, May 29, 2014

Tirol Mix 9 Pack チロルミックス9

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This is a Tirol Mix pack of 9 chocolates, one of each different flavour.

Out of the 9 I have already tried 5 so the 4 below are:

Milk Nougat 
Strawberry
Hot Cake
Lemon Cookie



Milk Nougat
Semi-dark chocolate covering chewy milk nougat. The chocolate is overpowering and wipes out the flavour of the nougat which is so soft and sticks to my teeth.

Strawberry
Hard chocolate strawberry centre covered in milk chocolate. The layer of strawberry is thick and has a subtle tartness to it, I like the flavours and unlike some strawberry chocolate it doesn't taste fake.

Hot Cake
It smells like maple from the outide and the chocolate is a buttery yellow. The centre has a soft crumbly biscuit with a very sweet maple syrup mousse and jelly covering. This reminds me of hoecakes but is sickeningly sweet. I could only eat half as my throat was burning.

Lemon Cookie
Smells faintly of lemon and is a light yellow colour. The centre has a chunky biscuit that is hard. The lemon chocolate on the outer layer is creamy but the lemon is not very apparent. From the Hot Cake to here is one extreme to another.


I can't say that any of these were my favorite but if I had to choose then if have to say that the strawberry was the most enjoyable.


Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Tirol Milky チロル ミルキー

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This is a collaboration with Milky and Tirol and the Milky is surprisingly white chocolate with milky candy in the centre! I wondered why it was hard to cut through even at room temperature and that is the reason! Interesting idea, mr 3 and husband loved it but although it's a very clever idea I didn't like the milky candy because it got stuck in my teeth.


Sunday, May 4, 2014

Tirol Full of Strawberry チロルいちごいっぱい

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There are 9 pieces in this pack, all with a Strawberry theme. 

3 pieces each of:

Funwari Ichigo Jam
Funwari means soft in Japanese so this one is meant to contain soft strawberry jam as it's focus. It has chocolate on the bottom and soft marshmallow in the middle with a strawberry sauce that reminds me of strawberry bubblegum. The chocolate is dark and bitter and the strawberry chocolate on top is sweet so it's kind of a weird mix, but somehow it works. It's actually quite pleasant eaten all together.


Ichigo Daifuku 
I've tried this one before but will try it again for this review. Ichigo daifuku is a popular traditional Japanese dessert that is pounded mochi rice with a filling of strawberry and azuki bean paste. The inside of the Tirol version is a springy jelly with a soft azuki mousse covered with strawberry chocolate. It's a bit too much strawberry but I do like this one as I love azuki.



Ichigo Shortcake 
I've never been a fan of japanese shortcake as it tastes bland to me. This one has a biscuit in the centre and a covering of creamy tasting chocolTe with a strawberry base. It tastes very similar to a real shortcake. I have to hand it to Tirol for nailing the flavours!



Overall my favorite is the Strawberry Shortcake, it really was outstanding. 


Cafe Tirol "cafe style assort" カフェチロル

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I bought this pack in Daiso because it stood out, it's shaped like an iced beverage you would get from a franchise like Starbucks. The pack has 8 pieces inside: 4 of Coffee Jelly and 4 of Lemon Tea.

Coffee Jelly

I've never been a fan of coffee jelly but old people serve it regularly to guests in Japan. I could be forgiven for thinking I had bitten into the lemon tea Tirol if I wasn't actually looking when I opened the wrapper. This has a very strong butter taste of espresso on the bottom, coffee jelly in the middle followed by a hit of sour lemon on the top. It is truly awful to me - I prefer milky coffee, I never drink it black or with lemon. The chocolate was waxy too; I felt like I was eating a candle!

Lemon Tea

This chocolate looks much the same as Coffee Jelly although the chocolate on the bottom is lighter. This one has a distinct lemon smell and I can also smell what reminds me of a cold ice tea. When I tried to cut this it crumbled. Biting into a piece there was a horrible strong/sour lemon taste that was followed up with a spicy burning sensation and a faint taste of tea. I thought it smelled and tasted like what drinking a cup of dish washing liquid would be like. This is truly awful and even worse than Coffee Jelly.

My verdict is don't even buy this pack! Now I can see why it was at Daiso!!! :(


Tirol White Marshmallow Assortment チロル マシュマロチョコアソート

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A pack of 9 Tirol with a theme: Marshmallow. There are 3 pieces of 3 flavours each:

Strawberry Marshmallow

This one is light pink in colour and smells very strongly of strawberry. The fluffy white marshmallow inside is soft and surrounded by a strawberry sauce. The outer layer of strawberry chocolate is more like a mousse. This chocolate melts in the mouth.

Caramel Marshmallow

This has no aroma and tastes weird to me. Not exactly caramel, very creamy though. The mashmallow is very soft once again.

Cocoa Marshmallow

Dark chocolate surrounding the white marshmallow with a chocolate sauce trickling out. The dark chocolate is bitter and rich, over-riding the sweet soft mashmallow. 

The strawberry would have to be my favorite of the three, followed by cocoa. The caramel was not a hit with me sadly. 

Monday, February 17, 2014

Tirol Royal Queen チロル ロイヤルクィーン

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I've heard great things about Tirol's premium strawberry chocolates and this is one of two I am going to review.

Royal Queen sounds very deluxe, even the packaging looks decadent.

The outside is covered in milk chocolate with embossing on the top. Underneath it is pink chocolate, which adds a pretty touch.


The chocolate itself is many layers, strawberry pink chocolate on the bottom, followed by a layer of crunchy strawberry bits that remind me of popping candy and which have a sour taste, then a lighter pink strawberry mousse, and finally the milk chocolate.



The unexpected crunch of the strawberry bits are what elevates this chocolate to royalty status. It's something different and when eaten together with the chocolate and mousse gives the taste of strawberries dipped in chocolate. There is just enough tartness to imitate the real thing.

I really enjoyed this one, no fake strawberry flavour, it really is the Queen of strawberry chocolates.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Tirol Chocolat Au Confiture チロル いちごコンフィチュール

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This is the second in my line up of premium strawberry Tirol. I was intrigued by the name - what does "chocolat au confiture" even mean?

Well luckily for me Google had the answer - confiture means confection or jam, and chocolat is the French word for chocolate. 

Tirol have created a chocolate featuring strawberry jam in the middle. Obviously the French word for it sounds much more exotic. 



The outside layer is white chocolate with a thick milk base followed by a large layer of strawberry jelly dead centre. 

Biting into this is like eating a cloud, it's so soft, the base is like a whipped mousse and the jelly in the middle is soft and tasty. The white chocolate outer layer is softer than normal, more like a ganache.

My only negative is that it is very very sweet and that might put some people off. In no way is it a fake strawberry flavour, the tartness in the jelly makes sure of that, but with the white chocolate and the strawberry jam, this was just tooth achingly sweet and I needed water after eating one.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Tirol Bireley's Orange チロル ビャーリーズオレンジ

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Bireley's Orange is a popular juice in Japan and you can find it in almost every supermarket. To me it tastes more like orange concentrate than freshly squeezed juice, it's sweet, so popular with kids and husbands alike. My husband says this is his favorite drink.


Just like the wrapping, the chocolate is light orange and smells like an orange scented eraser.

The chocolate is soft and sweet and gives out a hint of orange by itself but it's the soft orange jelly in the centre that explodes with orange essence that has my brain shouting "orange C".


The jelly has a cool wet texture that when eaten becomes almost juice-like. It is hard to explain but I think a lot of science went into making this Bireley's Tirol.

A very creative effort by Tirol, very realistic and a great reminder of the beverage.

Tirol Sakura Mochi チロル桜もち

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It's nearly time for girls day to rock around again and here I am still catching up on last years Tirol! They have been kept in the fridge though, so no harm done. A big shout out to my friend S for sending these to me! 

Sakura Mochi is a variety of "wagashi" or Japanese confectionery consisting of a sweet pink rice cake that is filled with smooth red bean and wrapped in a Sakura leaf. Because of the leaf it smells strongly like Sakura (cherry blossom) and may also have some essence in the rice as well as colour to give it the pink hue.

I must admit I go crazy for Sakura Mochi, mochi sweets are one of my favorite. 

Tirol releasing Sakura mochi in a chocolate form just has to be a winner!

The chocolate smells very strongly of Sakura and has a light pink hue on top and a milk brown base. This is a premium Tirol so it's a little bit bigger than average size Tirol.


The middle has a thick layer of mochi-like jelly which is chewy and has a very sweet flavour, and a strong perfume. The chocolate tastes like vanilla, and the milk chocolate adds another layer. 

Overall it was a really good take on what an actual Sakura mochi is like but the red bean was missing. I can overlook that though and say that this was a really nice treat. Maybe if you didn't get a chance to try it last year you will sometime this year?


Meiji Curl Stick Indo Curry カール カレー味

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My son, hubby and I just love curry senbei so when I saw this pack ofcurry flavored curl at Daiso for 100¥ ($1.00) I just had to grab them.

The lid opens by pulling the tab back, and it emitted a strong scent of curry spice. The sticks are long and yellow in colour, very crunchy to bite into and very tasty. 



The flavour is very authentic, it is not just a bland curry "flavoring", you can tell that individual spices have been used. 

As always with good snacks, this curry curl was devoured very quickly and I lamented not buying more.

I definitely recommend these to you if you see them in store.