Tirol Sesame Mochi チロルごま団子

I am a big fan of traditional Asian sweets and also a big fan of Tirol as you might guess from the amount of Tirol products I review.

So when I saw this Goma Dango release I knew I had to try it. Besides, the packet is so cute, and there are two flavours inside, not just one! Good value right there :)

This pack contains 7 individually wrapped pieces. 4 of the "金" (white sesame) and 3 of the "黒" (black sesame).

Each chocolate piece contains either black or white sesame seeds, azuki (red bean paste) and mochi gummy.

White sesame is a creamy white chocolate on the outside and it has a sweet smell. The middle is soft and then chewy as my teeth hit the mochi. There are lots of white sesame seeds inside so the sesame taste is quite bold, but it's not overpowering. However, I'm not sure why the azuki paste (which is more like a sauce) is there because it's not very apparent.

The black sesame is a grey and black mottled white chocolate on the outside. Biting in, there is an ample amount of black sesame seeds but I couldn't locate the azuki paste. The black sesame seeds are not very strong in flavour so the white chocolate is centre stage followed by the texture of the sesame seeds. A major let down as I expected the black sesame to be the best but it's actually too sweet and not interesting enough.

That's a shame, and possibly the reason why there were only 3 in the pack. Did Tirol know they bombed out?

Either way, this was a fun pack to try out, even though it wasn't as reminiscent of traditional Asian sweets as I would like.

Have you tried these and if so what did you think!? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

Royce x Tirol チロル x ロイス

A while back Tirol teamed up with the famous Hokkaido chocolate manufacturer Royce to make a premium Tirol (which is a little larger than the regular size).

It sold out very quickly but I managed to buy some pieces online. Unfortunately because it contained Nama cream, most online stores would not send it overseas. Mine was sent during summer and leaked inside my parcel, and the Tirol ended up mutilated, but still edible - however I didn't take photos of the disaster so the above image is the result of a Google image search.

The chocolate itself was quite dark so it seems it had a rather high cocoa content. Inside it was soft and kind of chewy. Because of the Nama cream the chocolate was creamy and had a very milky taste. Even when melted, this Tirol was everything I expected it to be and was a really good representation of Royce. It's just a shame I only had 9 pieces because I could have easily eaten double that! 

I hope that like some of the other Tirol releases this will make a comeback in the future! :)

Tirol Tsum Tsum Honey Lemon チロル はちみつレモンチョコ・ツムツム

If you're not familiar with the Japanese game Tsum Tsum made by the creators of the chat program LINE, then you should be because it's everywhere!

I was introduced to the game mid-2015 by some Asian friends who had been playing for ages, and I quickly became hooked. 

The characters are all from Disney and are very cute. It's simple to play, you just have to link up lines of the same character to erase them from the screen to earn coins within 60 seconds. If you add friends on LINE you can send each other hearts (lives), and try to beat their score.

It's only natural with the game being so popular that Tsum Tsum related products would soon follow, and now collaborations with Japanese snack makers. The first one of which I have seen is Tirol - one of my favourite snacks.

This bag is covered in popular Tsum Tsum characters and contains 7 individually wrapped chocolates. The wrapper is represented by different characters but the chocolate remains the same - Honey Lemon.

It is a very simple concept; a biscuit covered in flavoured white chocolate. The chocolate has a light yellow colour, and smells like a mixture of soap and honey. 

The biscuit is quite firm but crunchy and biting into it I immediately get a feeling of nostalgia. The honey lemon cough drops from my childhood, these are exactly the same flavour! I'm not sure whether that is a good thing though, it is chocolate after all. It's a weird combination. I can't quite get used to it. I do like the strong hit of honey though. 

I can see this is probably aimed at kids or to bring up a feeling of childishness, the flavour is something most people are familiar with. 

My 4 year old son loved them and had great fun choosing which character to eat next. Our bag had an uneven amount of characters, but the one Mickey Mouse was saved until last by my son because he's so special. 

I would recommend these simply because the concept is simple and fun for all :)