Asahi Mitsuya Cider Lemon Burst Zero 三ツ矢サイダー レモンはじける・カロリーゼロ

I'm not usually a fan of diet sodas, mainly because I don't like the taste of artificial sweeteners. But that all changed once I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, and majorly limited what beverages I can drink. These days it's a choice of water, milk, diet soda, or juice which is severely watered down.

So when browsing in Nippon Food Supplies I came across this bottle of Mitsuya Cider Zero. The label states that it has zero calories, but it has 175.5kj and 11 grams of carbohydrate. It seems moderately ok, even for me having to watch my carbs, it's still under one serve. Surprisingly this drink has the same amount of calories and carbohydrates as the original Mitsuya Cider which doesn't claim to be low in calories. Strange?

 

Lemon Burst (known as Lemon Hajikeru on the label) is quite fizzy when first poured out into a glass. It smells quite lemony too, but more like a dish washing liquid than a soda! The first sip is really tart, the lemon is just so strong and overpowering and kind of burns the back of my throat. I can really taste the artificial sweetener in here, but maybe that's because I'm not used to it, however I just can't get over that taste and it's somewhat chemical.

I found this to be really harsh on the tastebuds. It's quite fizzy and the lemon is just so strong and sour, even though it's only 1% juice. I can't say that I would buy this again, even though it's meant to be reduced calories. I think I'd rather stick with juice and water! I seriously wouldn't recommend it unless you love sour, fizzy, burn-your-throat-out beverages. I don't think it's worth it.

Brand: Asahi Calories per bottle: 175.5 Website: http://www.asahiinryo.co.jp/products/carbonated/mitsuya_hajikeru_lemon/

Riska Umai Wa Cheese リスカうまい輪 チーズ味

 Photo courtesy of Riska as by the time
I got around to photographing Yasu had already opened the packet!

Here's a similar product to something I reviewed earlier, except this one is called Umai Wa, instead of Umai Bo. The difference is that Umai Bo is a long tube snack, whereas this one is made into separate rings. Umai Bo seems to be made by Yaokin, while Umai Wa is made by Riska. It's odd how seemingly the same product with the same characters are made by two different companies. Or maybe they are the same but different branches...maybe someone can enlighten me?

This is a large size 75 gram bag full of cheesy flavoured rings. The cheese has a very strong flavour and the rings smell very sweet, unlike Western snacks where if cheese is featured it's usually more savoury than sweet.

The rings are not uniform in size or shape, but they have a very thick coating of cheese powder on the outside. They are really light though and when biting into one there is a loud satisfying crunch. The cheese flavour is quite nice but it's sweet at the end, so that if you eat the bag in one sitting you end up needing a drink straight after as the flavour build up is so strong.

Yasu really loves these, both Umai Bo and Umai Wa so this is the main reason I bought them. This cheesy snack gets the thumbs up from him. They are a pretty "el cheapo" snack but the flavour isn't lacking so it gets my thumbs up too. I found it to be enjoyable and the pack size means it's great to share.

By the way, don't you think the character on the bag resembles Doraemon?

Riska Character

Doraemon

Brand: Riska Calories per bag: 1849 Website: http://www.riska.co.jp/catalog/page1/item10.html

Tohato All Banana 東ハト オールバナナ

Hey, long time no post, since December 1, 2010 to be exact! I've been on a really strict diet while pregnant and haven't made any allowances for Japanese snacks, but now that I can relax a little, I can try out the backlog I've got going on at my place!

I thought I'd start off with a rather summery fruit snack - All Banana - by Tohato.

This is the first time I've ever reviewed anything from Tohato, so it will be interesting to see what kind of product it is.

This 106.4 gram bag was bought by me at Nippon Food Supplies in Subiaco. It was originally $4, but was on sale for $1! Bargain.

I love bananas and it being summer, it seemed like a really good snack. The bag has 14 pieces inside, which are not individually wrapped, surprise! On the back of the bag it says that one serving is a whole bag, so that's an even bigger surprise. The carbohydrates contained in here though number 75 grams which is 6 servings of carbohydrate, that's a lot for a one sitting consumption. But one or two pieces would be ok as a snack.

The open bag smells divine, like lots of ripe bananas in a very small room. The biscuit itself is about 3cm x 3cm and kind of puffy, almost like its pie pastry on top and biscuit underneath. The banana is squished into the biscuit and sandwiched in the middle. It's a similar concept to the sultana slice biscuits you can get at a  supermarket. There is just enough banana to give a yummy taste but without overpowering the biscuit.

 

 

I'm not super keen on the pie pastry/biscuit combination, but it's ok. I think this would have been better if the biscuit/pie pastry was crunchier instead of it being a bit flat and limp. It seems kind of soggy, but it's not out of date, so I assume it's the squishy banana inside that makes it so.

These were a little disappointing for the texture but in regards to flavour they have a lot. If a soggy biscuit doesn't bother you then I would say to give them a go, if not, leave them on the shelf!

Looking on the website, they don't seem to make this variety anymore, they do have All Raisin, All Apple and All Apricot though.

Brand: Tohato Calories per box: 1681 Website: http://tohato.jp/products/allraisin/