Hotcakes Maple Syrup & Dorayaki Chocolate ホットケーキメープルシロップとどらチョコ

I have another Canadian-inspired snack here and I'm mixing it up abit by reviewing a product that is pretty much the same except for the flavour.

They are both made by Yaokin and are "puchi" (small) size snacks.



First up is Hotcakes with a maple syrup filling.

Both of these snacks are very cute and resemble mini pancakes. The pancake is fluffy and light. There is a good blob of maple syrup like cream in the middle that holds the two pieces together well. The cream is light and has a very authentic maple syrup flavour and a look on the ingredients indicates that it is real maple syrup that has been used. It's got a slightly woody taste which is apparent in real syrups and I really like it.


In all, Hotcakes is a nice light treat that is over a little too soon for me, but nevertheless is a very nice way to eat maple syrup!


Dorachoco

This has the same texture as the hotcakes for the outside - light, fluffy and aerated. The chocolate on the inside seems thicker than the maple syrup but it has a nice chocolate flavour and aroma that goes well with the pancake. This is somewhat gooey-er when eaten all-together, but it tastes no less wonderful.


I liked both of these versions of mini pancakes, and if I had to choose it would be the maple syrup flavour by a whisker but I would happily eat both. Definitely try them if you see them around. :)

Baby Star Do-Dekai Ramen Maple Syrup ベビースタードデカイラーメン・メープルシロップ味

Sorry for the long gap between reviews guys. I didn't mean to leave you hanging in the wind. I started a new diet and was finding it a bit hard to balance snack reviewing and healthy eating but now I think I've found the right balance I'm raring to go, and have lots of interesting snack reviews coming up thanks to napaJapan!



I have a few Maple Syrup flavoured snacks this week - they were released during the Vancouver Olympic Games to tie in with the theme, and should have been reviewed back then but alas I'm a little behind the times.

Today I present you: Baby Star Ramen "big" in Maple Syrup flavour.

I've never had these before but I know they're popular and Yasu also likes them, but I've only seen them in the regular size.

This bag has a strange smell, when I was typing and had it open in front of me, I kept getting a whiff of something that smelled like celery. On closer inspection it was the baby star that I was smelling. Strange! There is no celery powder listed in the ingredients, but I was surprised to see "cake donut mix" in there!! There is also maple syrup from Quebec, so at least we know it is authentic maple syrup.

Baby Star is basically a snack that is made to look like ramen. It is a golden colour, thin and in a wiggly shape. This "dekai" ramen is flatter and wider, and reminds me of pasta more than a noodle, though it is imprinted with vertical lines that are making it look like it is clumps of noodles stuck together, perhaps.


They have a wonderful smell of waffles, and it's kind of like walking past a waffle house when I hold one up to my nose. They are crunchy and have a wonderful buttery flavour. There is only a slight flavour of maple syrup on each piece but if you eat more than one at a time, or keep eating them one after the other, the flavour really builds up into a rich maple syrup experience. This is kind of a crunchy pancake with maple syrup, cheaper and easier than making the real thing, more convenient for portion sizes.

I love this! If you love maple syrup like I do, or if you love pancakes with maple syrup even, then I'm sure you will love these too :) You can buy these now at napaJapan - but hurry only limited stocks left!

Pocky Dessert Mont Blanc Chocolate ポッキーデザートモンブランショコラ

It's been a long time since I've had Pocky, the celebrated snack of the Anime Otaku. In fact, I've never reviewed it on this blog. Funny that, how such well known snacks are overlooked in favour of weird and wacky or more interesting variety snacks. I really should go back and do the tried and true flavours shouldn't I.

This is the last part of a parcel from a very nice friend in Sapporo (Thanks D!), and I have been holding onto it for a while now. I squirrelled it away for a rainy day. The rainy day came and went and I forgot about it, and then when I was cleaning up the front room I found it again. Timely.

This is not an average Pocky, it's part of the Dessert range which is abit more premium than the average Pocky. It's more in line with it's competitor - Fran by Meiji - which is still a pretzel stick snack though it has a thicker coating and more luxurious flavours. It's the Louis Vuitton of the pretzel world.

This box has 4 clear wrapped packs of 3 sticks each. So you basically get 12 sticks in a pack that is big enough to probably house 24. But with Pocky desserts its all about quality not quantity Dahlings.


The pretzel stick looks like it is double the size of a regular stick, about half of a centimetre thick. It is then covered in a thick layer of regular milk chocolate, and then layered with a light brown coloured white chocolate in a kind of spiral fashion.

This flavour is Mont Blanc, inspired by the French dessert of the same name that is a cake or tart made of pureed chestnuts and whipped cream, sometimes on a meringue base. So basically we have a chestnut dessert on a stick. The light brown coating on the outside is very similar to the coating on a real Mont Blanc dessert and represents the chestnut flavour.

To me, the chocolate on the outside smells like coffee more than anything else. The light brown chocolate has a slight chestnut flavour by itself but when it is sucked off the stick together with the milk chocolate is when the roasted nut taste starts to emerge.

The pretzel is nice and crunchy, and the two flavours of chocolate merge well together, but I still get that sense of coffee underneath the chestnut flavour. The texture of the chocolate is smooth and is mousse-like.

This Pocky is special because of it's appearance. The flavour is not as luxurious as I thought it would be but nevetherless it is rich and creamy and a really great chocolate snack. I like the individual packs inside the box because I can put one in Yasu's bento and have one myself without the rest of the pack going stale.

If you want to try these you can buy them now at napaJapan.