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.

***********************************************

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.

Koala March Mountain Hut Milk Pudding 山小屋のミルクプリン

This is called Mountain Hut Milk Pudding, the kanji 山小屋 (yamagoya), meaning "mountain hut". The picture on the box is of the alps, a green field, and a mountain hut in the background. This is a kind of milk pudding you can get when you're staying in the alps in a mountain hut, and Yasu immediately broke into the theme song of Heidi, when I mentioned it. I guess Japanese people have a fondness for it.

This is the latest flavour of Koala March, a limited edition. I can't say I'm very excited about the flavour, because Milk Pudding is a very simple flavour, and kind of boring to me.

However, when I opened the package I got an immediate scent of somewhat sour yoghurt crossed with lemon. This is intriguing, will it be milk pudding gone bad?

The biscuits have their usual images printed on them, and approximately half of that is filled with cream. Though the flavour is somewhat puzzling. The first taste is like the scent, sour yoghurt, it has some sweetness after that, and an almost how can I say this nicely, taste like vomit? It really is off-putting and I don't like it one bit! I have to wonder, what kind of pudding are they making up there in those alps?? There's no hint of yoghurt on the ingredients list, only the usual vegetable oil, flour, whey powder, coco powder, milk, eggs, cream powder, and salt. Hmm. Strange.

In any case, I don't like this. I don't want to eat sour milk pudding, no thank you. I'll be handing these over to Yasu who I'm sure, will probably say it's good, but not for me.

Tirol Tri-colour Dango チロル三色だんご

I love Japanese dango, it's one of my favourite foods. So, you can imagine my delight when I came across this lovely bag of Tirol Tri-colour dango chocolates. What is Dango you ask? It's a kind of rice dumpling made from sweetened rice flour. Depending on the flavour it will have sauce, or flavour kneaded into the rice. They are typically served on skewers and the tri-colour dango consist of 3 flavours, Sakura (cherry blossom), Mitarashi (sweet soy sauce) and Uguisu (the name of a bird - Japanese Bush Warbler - named for the colour of the bird, which is usually green).

There are 3x3 flavours in this pack, it's small, but the imges on the outside, and the colours, make the packaging a prize in itself. I adore it, it's so very cute!



Sakura
Very light pink in colour and smells like cherry blossom flower. There is a chewy gummi in the middle, of the same flavour but stronger. It's kind of hard to bite into as the gummi is quite strong. I quite liked this because while tasting the flavour, I also got an aroma in my nose that reminded me of lots of little sakura petals floating on the wind.


Mitarashi
Off-white in colour, the chocolate tastes like Maple syrup. The inside is really tough to bite through, again gummi, and orange-brown in colour, exactly the colour of the sauce laid over mitarashi dango. This was very sweet from the white chocolate/maple combination on the outside, which didn't leave much room for the mitarashi to shine. Despite that, I liked the flavour.


Uguisu

Green in colour, looks more like green tea flavour from the outside. The chocolate on the outside smells like almond, the almost lime green gummi in the centre is easy to chew and overwhelmingly almond flavour. It reminds me of those German finger biscuits with the almond on top. This is really different from what I thought it would be, but in a good way.

In all, I can't pick a favourite. They all have their good points, and I didn't really find any bad points beside the really chewy gummi in the middle, that for me, was a little bit too hard to bite through. The idea is very unique, and makes it fun to eat them in the order you would on a stick. Fun for kids and adults alike I say! :)

Chocoball Milk Pudding チョコボール牛乳プリン味

Kyoro-chan stowed away in my hand luggage and took a trip down under, or that's what Yasu would like me to think. More likely he stuffed it in my suitcase when I wasn't looking, in order to chomp on it later.

This box is back to the original style, unlike the recent flavours that have a tuna-can like opening. I wish Morinaga would make up it's mind about packaging.

Milk Pudding is not something I have ever heard of in Australia. In Japan, the land of pudding or "purin", it is one of the many popular flavours, in good company with mango pudding, almond pudding, and caramel pudding.

It's another white chocolate Chocoball, how different could it be from Yoghurt or Cream Cheese?

The balls themselves are rather small, in fact smaller than usual, round, white, and glossy. They smell faintly of vanilla and musk. It's a pleasant scent, but more suitable for perfume than chocolate.
The chocolate on the outside is creamy, only slightly sweet, has some taste of white chocolate, but the creaminess is the overall flavour, like a powdered milk flavour mixed with real milk. The let-down with this chocoball though is that because the ball itself is smaller than usual, and the biscuit is about 80% of the ball, the chocolate coating is too small to really get a big flavour hit.

You have to eat a handfull of these all at once to even get a vague sense of the milk pudding flavour. Obviously it wasn't intended for me, Yasu bought it for himself, and he gives it a big thumbs up, but then, he would eat anything Chocoball...he's a dedicated fan.

Big on flavour, these are not. Good for children and husbands, yes.

Hokkaido Condensed Milk Caramel 北海道練乳キャラメル

It's fair to say I'm on a bit of a 練乳 (condensed milk) kick at the moment. Since coming back from the land of condensed milk flavoured everything (Hokkaido), I've re-ignited my passion for the creamy white substance.

Oh, I've always been a fan of condensed milk. I remember eating it out of the can by spoonful when I was a kid, and before even going to Japan, Yasu and I enjoyed the odd squeeze from a tube of condensed milk we kept in the cupboard, which mysteriously disappeared while I was away in Japan - the mouse, err Yasu consumed it all by himself the 練乳 guts!

I saturated myself with condensed milk icecream bars, chocolate bars, drinks, and lollies, but I picked up one last thing before I left. That is, Condensed Milk Caramel, from the Wine factory actually, it was only 105 yen and I figured, it was a worthwhile buy because I knew that we were both condensed milk junkies by then.

The box has 18 pieces and comes in the same format as other caramels by the manufacturer - Dounan, which by the way, a look on their website shows this as ranking #1 in the top 3! See! Just goes to show Japanese people are junkies like me :)

Anyway, so what do they actually taste like? Condensed milk, silly! They really do taste like Japanese condensed milk, they even have that really creamy taste, and slight coconut flavour.

The caramel is quite soft and easy to chew, and quickly goes into a soft pliable texture with chewing. It has the same flavour throughout, it's really yummy!! It's not too sweet either, kind of in the middle of the scale of sweetness. The box says they used 100% Hokkaido condensed milk too, so you kind of get that feeling of being transported to green leafy fields while you're chewing on this caramel. The feel of the wind in your hair. The smell of cows...ahh.

Whoops, got carried away abit there. Anyways, this is one extremely good chew!! I suggest you buy some! :)

Umai Vegetable Salad

This is my first foray into the world of savoury Japanese snacks. I have been wanting to branch out more but for some reason I always end up buying sweet snacks, I guess it comes down to my very sweet tooth.

My sister-in-law bought a few of these as part of a bag of goodies she gave us, so I am forcing myself to somewhat gingerly try this flavour - Vegetable Salad.

Now, in Japanese, "umai" means something is very good, so when a food manufacturer uses it of course they are big-noting their products to mean very tasty.

The manufacturer Yaokin, has a very simple website, and they have a product catalogue you can download.

The snack in question is a long puffy savoury tube, abit like a cheezel but longer. Like one mega cheezel, I guess. The name of the flavour - vegetable salad - is a bit confusing to me really. It's either a vegetable, or a salad, unless it's a salad of vegetables...I guess?

Anyway, taking the tube out of the wrapper, it appears to be a long, orange tube of puffiness with green specks all over it. It's quite oily (the oil leaked onto the paper below), and it smells like my husband's dirty socks. No, really. It's quite gross.

Biting down into the tube, it has the same texture as a cheezel, puffy, but easy to bite through. There is some spice in there. It's not too hot, just enough to give flavour. There is alot of flavour sprinkled on the outside, it comes off on my hands.

I can taste some garlic, corn, and tomato. A look at the wrapper reveals potatoes, corn, garlic, cabbage, paprika, parsley. Paprika would have been used to give it the colour, and parsley the green specks.

In all, it's not bad, but it's not umai either. I can't say that I'm really a fan. Though these seem to be geared more towards the younger set, and at 10 or 15 yen each you can't really expect much more than that.

You can check out other reviews of Umai at Japanese Snack Reviews.

Alfort Chocolate Biscuit

These were given to my husband and I as part of a gift pack. I had seen them before but they are the kind of thing I would usually pass over in the supermarket, in favour of a chocolate bar or actual biscuit. I'm not sure when you are supposed to eat these. I would say it is as a small snack in between meals because of the biscuit content, or with a hot drink.

I'm not so much of a chocolate-and-biscuit-together fan, besides the odd Wagon Wheel. These strike me as odd in that the biscuit is on the other side of the chocolate, but it not covered by the chocolate. This is a whole new idea to me, I've certainly never encountered that kind of idea in Australia.

Inside the box is a gold foil package, which opens up to reveal a tray of 2 x 3 cm rectangular milk chocolates with an image of a ship imprinted on it. The website doesn't give any clue about what the ship means so I am guessing it's only an image.

It does say however, that the biscuit is made from whole wheat flour, basically a digestive, and fragrant milk chocolate, and is a perfect combination of the two.

The milk chocolate smells sweet, but tastes alot darker than it appears. It has those bitter notes that dark chocolate has, and if I hadn't read the package I would say this was dark chocolate. The biscuit is slightly sweet and very much the same as an average wheat biscuit. Both singularly not very exciting.

When eaten together, the flavour seems to take on an almost malty quality. Underneath the bitter chocolate is the humble sweetness and grainy goodness of the biscuit, a good match as far as I'm concerned. I really like the texture of the two combined, the bitterness of the chocolate is matched by the sweetness of the biscuit.

I didn't think these would be a winner, but I was wrong. These are a surprisingly great little mini snack for on the go. Abit more filling than the average Japanese chocolate bar too.

Alfort is something I could definitely see myself eating again in the future, if I come across them.

Hokkaido Butter Shio Candy 北海道バター塩飴

The 100 yen stores in Japan are popular for the variety of goods you can buy there, all at a low price and great quality. Most 100 yen stores also have a corner selling snack foods and limited grocery items. I found these in a Daiso 100 yen store in Obihiro, among a wide variety of Japanese candy bags.

I had never seen these before but because of my love of all things Hokkaido, and Japan's obsession with salty candy/snacks, I decided that I would satisfy my curiosity by buying them.

The candies are made by Meito who appear to make candy, chocolate, teas, and icecreams. It's not a company I have ever come across before, but looking on their website I found quite a few other candy bags that I saw in the same 100 yen store as I bought these. They seem to be a cheaper candy option.

The salt used in this candy is stated to come from the Sea of Okhotsk. They also have table salt, sweeteners, Hokkaido butter, Hokkaido condensed milk, and b carotin, and the bag weighs 90g.

As per usual Japanese candy manufacturers each candy is individually wrapped, this candy is in a clear bag with the name in white. Each candy is small 1cm x 0.5cm, pale yellow and in a rounded rectangular shape. It has a small dent in the top.

It doesn't really smell like anything in particular. The first taste is slightly lemon and sweet. Yes, lemon. I don't know why that is. A little bit of salt emerges, and a buttery flavour also, but the lemon flavour is still present.

As I begin to suck the candy more, the buttery flavour gets stronger, and so does the salt. There is a slight sweetness but overall it is more butter and salt now than lemon or sugar flavours, which is good. The flavours are not big and bold, they are quite mild. This is a candy more for Japanese tastes, and is probably not suited to non-Japanese palates. I feel as if I am missing out when I eat this candy. I really expect it to develop into a full on butterscotch flavour, but it doesn't.

It was good for a look, obviously it didn't break the bank at 100 yen for a whole bag, and I will probably eat the rest of these, but, I wouldn't recommend them if you like bolder tastes.

Crunky Matcha Shake 抹茶のシェーキ

This was a gift from my sister-in-law upon our departure from Japan. She handed us a bag chock-full of Japanese snacks and goodies to eat on the train ride (15 hours) back to the airport. We dutifully munched our way through some of the snacks but couldn't finish them all. I was able to bring the rest back with me, and this is one of the treats that survived. The chocolate with the slightly engrish name - Crunky.

Its called Matcha Shake, and the image on the front must be meant to be a shake, but it looks more like a mousse or a very thick thick-shake.

The chocolate inside is in a long rectangular block and is matcha green. It also smells very much like matcha used at traditional tea ceremonies.

As you can see in the photo, the back of the block is full of rice crisps. The top of the block is molded into little rectangles that are meant to make it easy to break off; unfortunately mine did not break along the lines but along the corner.

The chocolate is quite thin, so the majority of chocolate is taken up by the bottom layer of rice crisps, with only a very little amount of chocolate by itself on the top.

Each bite is a satisfying crunch of crisps, exactly what it is named for. The chocolate, although it smells alot like matcha, tastes anything but. The most apparent flavour is the rice crispies, and then a vanilla flavour, which I think also comes from the crispies.

There is no real matcha flavour in this chocolate except right at the end, a slight bitterness, but only momentarily. There is no depth of flavour in this bar. I'm really disappointed because I expected much more. It's not really even sweet, but I might prefer it if it was, just for the flavour. It's like eating crispy cardboard really.

The box is pretty, the smell is nice, but that is as far as it goes, unfortunately.