Tirol Premium Chou Cream "Sweet Custard" チロル シュウクリーム

Chou Cream how I love thee. In Japanese it's pronounced "shoe cream" although it's much lovelier than the image it conjures up!

It's basically what we refer to as a cream puff, but the Japanese style is to have a crunchy outer pastry and a soft cream custard flowing from the middle. It's a match made in heaven! Beard Papa's is probably my most favourite place in Japan because they make such divine "shoe cream".

So imagine my excitement when my friend announced she saw a Tirol Chou Cream released at the supermarket, and not only that but she was going to send me some! Oh man...that made my day that did!

So to cut a long story short this Tirol is amazing, it's soooo yummy. I'm so glad that I've got 3. Hubby stole off with one which leaves me 2 for myself!

 

The chocolate is like a light yellow custard colour and when I sniffed it, it reminded me of a vanilla candle. The chocolate is soft like mousse. There is a biscuit in the middle that is soft but also crunchy and there is a big hit of vanilla. This is like a reverse chou cream with the cream being on the outside and the crunchy pastry on the inside. I'm hooked, this Tirol is amazing! It brings back so many memories for me. It's nice just to savour it in my mouth.

Hubby thought it was too rich. Boo hubby. So maybe it's not for everyone, it is also quite sweet from the white chocolate, but the creamy vanilla custard distracted me.

Definitely.Try.This.One.

Get yours at napaJapan (limited quantities left)

Visit the Tirol website.

Tirol Premium Ichigo Daifuku チロル いちご大福

Wow, I now have a tonne of Tirol chocolates to review thanks to an awesome friend! I'm starting off with this Ichigo Daifuku (Japanese sweet made out of rice with a strawberry filling).

Hubby chose this one to try first, maybe because the wrapper was so pretty! It is really so cute, a checkerboard of light and dark pink with a cute picture of an ichigo daifuku on the front.

Biting into this chocolate I had the feeling that this was made out of sherbert, not chocolate. The strawberry was present but there was a very big tartness to it that made me think of sherbert. There was a brown jelly-like centre, which I thought was chocolate but then realised it was meant to be red bean paste, but to be honest I couldn't taste very much as the strawberry was so overwhelming. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad, but I wish it was more balanced.

The chocolate was so soft and crumbly

I really liked this Tirol chocolate, the strawberry flavour wasn't the same bland old strawberry chocolate, it had a kick with the tartness, so I wished I had some more of this. Hubby claimed that this was one of the best Tirol's he had ever had.

There are quite a few reviewers on the net who are sick of Strawberry flavoured chocolate as that seems to be the fall-back flavour of Japanese snack makers, but I recommend you give this one a go as it could be the chocolate that changes your mind :)

Get yours at napaJapan, and visit the Tirol website.

Meiji Melty Kiss Rich Green Tea Chocolate 明治メルティーキッス濃抹茶

Seriously, I have some really good friends, for which I'm eternally grateful! Yet another wonderful friend sent me a parcel filled with some delicious Japanese snacks and this box of Melty Kiss was inside.

I was aware of Melty Kiss and had seen it around but had never bought it. This box of Green Tea Melty Kiss is a seasonal flavour, meaning it won't be around forever. The kanji (chinese characters) refer to it as 濃抹茶 which translated to English means "rich green tea".

I am not such a fan of Green Tea as a drink, but I love it in chocolate and sweets. This Melty Kiss was no exception.

  

Not exactly how it's meant to look but whatever, it tasted good!

When I opened the wrapper I couldn't really smell anything but when I placed the (somewhat melted in transit) chocolate into my mouth I immediately tasted the bitter dark chocolate coating mixed in with the rich green tea, a match made in heaven! I could really taste the bitterness of the green tea too but it gave the chocolate depth and I was really sad it ended that I immediately opened another one! Hubby really liked this too, even though he's not really a fan of Green Tea either!

So I thoroughly recommend this one to you. There are 14 individually wrapped chocolates in the box so there are plenty to share with friends!

Melty Kiss Website