Meiji Matcha Azuki Chocolate 明治抹茶小豆チョコレート

When I saw these at napaJapan I knew I had to buy them. Two of my most Favourite Japanese flavours! How could I resist? 

The box is quite small, but it is attractive. A black background with pink and green and images of chocolate covered azuki. 

The chocolates are contained in a small foil bag which keeps them fresh. There were around 20 small beans, they reminded me of peas. 

(Please note: discoloration is from the chocolate melting in transit)

My 4 year old son loves matcha but not so much azuki, so I was surprised when he ate 3 of them and came back for more. My husband and I both loved them too. It was the perfect pairing. Just the right amount of chocolate to bean, and a traditional pairing, so how could anything go wrong.

This felt like dessert and satisfied a craving for Japanese sweets. I know that I will go back to buy more of these!

Meiji Curl Stick Indo Curry カール カレー味

My son, hubby and I just love curry senbei so when I saw this pack ofcurry flavored curl at Daiso for 100¥ ($1.00) I just had to grab them.

The lid opens by pulling the tab back, and it emitted a strong scent of curry spice. The sticks are long and yellow in colour, very crunchy to bite into and very tasty. 

The flavour is very authentic, it is not just a bland curry "flavoring", you can tell that individual spices have been used. 

As always with good snacks, this curry curl was devoured very quickly and I lamented not buying more.

I definitely recommend these to you if you see them in store.

Meiji Kinoko no Yama Roasted Sweet Potato きのこの山 やきいも味

This was a snack I picked up in Japan in May and am just getting around to review it. Ever since we came home life has been so hectic I just haven't had a chance to review the snacks bought especially for this purpose so most of them are still in the pantry.

Tonight we were looking around for something for dessert and I pulled these out. My 2 year old son was very interested in the box and kept asking me to open it.

Originally, when I bought it, I was in a hurry and grabbed it from the shelf because I thought it was plain white chocolate flavour. But after opening the box tonight I discovered it is actually "yaki-imo" (roasted sweet potato) flavour.

It's a nice surprise because I actually love sweet potato, and even more so when it's roasted!

This pack is a box containing one wrapped bag of snacks. When you open the box (like a lid) it has a bag inside decorated with mushrooms and trees, and you tear it open from the middle outwards. If you don't eat the whole box at once, you can simply close the lid and save them for next time, so it's very convenient.

Kinoko no Yama are very cute. They consist of a pretzel stick with the top part of the mushroom being the chocolate. In this version the chocolate is white chocolate but with the addition of sweet potato, so it is a golden colour. It smelled vaguely of caramel.

The pretzel stick is just a plain pretzel stick and although it's quite nice and crunchy there is no real flavour. The chocolate is nice and smooth and there is a subtle flavour of sweet potato. It's not a bold hit of sweet potato as I expected. It's quite sweet too so you don't need much. The smoothness of the chocolate and the crunch of the pretzel stick are a nice combination.

I really enjoyed this snack and I found it was the perfect size for my 2 year old's hand, he gobbled most of them down before my husband and I could get any! If you like sweet potato then I definitely recommend you try this one. It's a quirkier chocolate flavour but not too weird as to be inedible.

These are available online at napaJapan too (but I think only limited quantities are left) -- Kinoko no Yama Roasted Sweet Potato

 

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

Meiji Hokkaido Cheese Caramel 明治北海道チーズキャラメル

I just love presents from friends, don't you? A couple of days ago I received a parcel of goodies from a friend in Tokyo. Thank you M! It was so unexpected which made it all the more lovely.

I'm back on the cheese snacks again - this time with caramel! Meiji has come up with some Hokkaido Cheese Caramel. Cheese and caramel are not exactly two flavours you would expect to see together, however it seems to work for this treat!

There are 12 individually wrapped square caramels in the bag. Each caramel is 2cm x 2cm in dimension and just over half a centimetre in height.

The funny thing about these caramels is the dairy products used in them are from my husbands home town of Tokachi! Even funnier is they are sold all the way over in Tokyo. I guess Hokkaido produce is getting more popular these days, people want to experience the country taste.

I took the caramel out of the bag while editing the photo's and all I could smell was a lovely creamy smell that kept wafting up to my nose. The caramel is smooth and glossy with a few hash marks on the top. It's easy to bite into and quickly softens. Mmmm.

Remember the Hokkaido Cheese Tirol? Well the cheese flavour is exactly the same! It's quite strong and rich and really creamy. The caramel really takes a backseat, though the chewiness of the caramel and the soft smooth texture really add to the all-over experience of the cheese flavour.

I'm a big fan of these!! However, if you didn't like the cheese tirol, I'm pretty sure you won't like these caramels, because the cheese component is very strong.

Brand: Meiji Calories per bag: 294 Website: http://www.meiji.co.jp Buy it now at: Family Mart Japan

Meiji Chelsea White Peach Milk Candy 明治チェルシー白桃ミルクキャンディー

I'm a long time fan of Chelsea, and so when I saw this pack of Chelsea White Peach flavour I knew I had to try it.

The box is a very cute pink with the same flower illustrations as always but made for Spring. The box slides out with individually wrapped candies on a tray. The contrast between the black tray and the pink wrapped candies is gorgeous.

Each candy is glossy and smooth and like a dark milk tea colour. The peach flavour is apparent straight away. It's lovely and strong and stays there the whole way until the end. It really tastes the same as a white peach and definitely reminds me of eating the fruit, even down to the way the skin tastes. We both really loved this Chelsea flavour and I wouldn't hesitate to buy it again - if I could find some!

Meiji Cheese Kugel 明治チーズクーゲル

 This came in a care package courtesy of napaJapan and the front of the pack says "大人のチーズスナック" - Cheese snack for adults. It also says in English down the bottom "Delicious cheese snack".

The main point of this snack was that it was a different kind of cheese snack that you would expect. The form itself was like a hard candy. The outside reminded me of Mentos, it was white and smooth, but instead of coming in a long roll, it came in a small re-sealable bag.

Each one smelled quite strongly of cheese. They weren't hard to bite into. It was quite surprising to bite into one and find a honeycomb shaped web of golden orange inside. Therein contained most of the flavour.

We ate these over the course of a couple of weeks because the cheese flavour was just so strong and on the nose. These were unique because they weren't the average "snack" that you would expect to be flavoured with cheese, but I won't hunt them down because they were too strong for me. 10/10 for novelty status though!!

Meiji Kaiten Zushiya-san Gummy 回転ずしやさん グミ

Kaiten Zushi is basically conveyor belt sushi. As in, sushi on small round plates go around on a conveyor belt in front of diners who pick up whichever plate they want to try.

This gummy is based on that concept, but instead of tasting like fish and rice, the flavours are apple, melon, and strawberry.

There are 7 pieces of "shari" (rice) and 7 various pieces of ingredient that goes on top of the rice. In this case the rice is apple flavour, 4 of the ingredients are strawberry flavour, and the other 3 are melon flavour.

When you open the packet, there is a sealed section containing the gummy. You peel the plastic off, somewhat like plastic cheese, and the rubbery little pieces of gummy sushi come with it, so you have a kind of clear plate with "sushi" on it.

There is also another component to this gummy. When you place the ingredients on the rice, it combines both flavours and turns into a new one.

Apple + Strawberry = Peach
Apple + Melon = Banana

Each piece is quite small, 2cm x 1cm. The rice base is a very weak apple, and quite chewy. The melon is more like gummy in that it is a transparent orange. It has a strong flavour of melon and is enjoyable. The strawberry is also a transparent red colour, but this one tastes like watered down strawberry concentrate with more water than concentrate.

Combined together, the melon and apple tasted like banana while still maintaining the original flavours. However, the strawberry and apple really didn't taste much like peach until I had swallowed it.

Yasu and I ate this together, and while we found it interesting and quite fun at first, the flavours just didn't do it for us. We felt the flavour was too weak, and the base was too rubbery.

We don't want to eat it again but it was fun and quite unique for a one-time snack. The packet has a lot of cute graphics and there is a quiz on the back. The website also has a lot of fun interactive games and downloads to keep kids entertained online.

Brand: Meiji Calories per pack: 71 Website: http://okashi-land.jp Buy it now at napaJapan

Meiji Kinoko no Yama Banana Milk きのこの山バナナ・オ・レ

Note to self: Don't order chocolates in the middle of Australia's summer (around 38~42 degrees celcius) or this post will be the result.

Unfortunately this box of Meiji Kinoko no Yama didn't make it all the way here without melting into a puddle. And when I say puddle, I mean puddle.

The little mushrooms all ended up becoming one big yellow blob with pretzel sticks poking out. Okay if you're planning to scoff the whole box down in one sitting, not okay if you're planning on sharing it with someone else.

Nevertheless, the review must go on.

Despite its blobbiness, the smell wafting out of the box is delicious. I am a big fan of banana, and in particular fake banana scent and essence, so I expected to really love this.

The chocolate is surprising as it starts off as a banana milk taste and ends up being quite tangy, almost lemony. I could also taste a fruitiness and when I looked on the ingredients I found apple paste was used.

This is a nice banana flavour, not too over the top, not too fake, and it has quite a few different elements mixed in to keep it interesting. The pretzel stick is plain, but it's a nice contrast to the banana and it's really crunchy so it adds a great texture too.

Just like when I drink a milk drink, this made me thirsty afterwards. So if you're going to eat this make sure you have a drink handy. In all, I would buy this again as I thought it was an interesting take on a classic flavour.

Brand: Meiji Calories per box: 430 Website: http://kinotake.jp Buy it now at napaJapan

Meiji Kinoko no Yama Melt-in-the-mouth Milk Caramel きのこの山口どけミルクキャラメル

One of my long-time favourite snacks from Japan is Kinoko no Yama (meaning mushroom mountain in Japanese).

I don't always get to try the very numerous new flavours that Meiji comes out with but I always try. I was pleasantly surprised to find this amongst the goodies in a care pack from Japan.

The website that is made for this snack is very cute and is animated. The characters who are shaped like the snack itself talks to you in speech bubbles and takes you on a trip into his home where you can get information about their mobile site, watch the new commercial, hear Kinotake-san play his guitar and sing the song, read about his profile, read the mail magazine, see party ideas and loads more.


When I opened the box of Kinoko no Yama I realised there was alot more in the box than I had expected. It was pretty full. The smell that wafted out was a creamy milky caramel scent that made me think of a cake shop.

The mushroom is made up of a pretzel stick stem and a chocolate top. The chocolate top is quite thick, so I usually eat these by crunching down on them to get an even mixture of pretzel and chocolate as the pretzel is quite plain to eat by itself if you suck off the chocolate first.

The chocolate is a light coffee coloured white chocolate. I could really taste the cream in these and secondly the caramel. The chocolate melts quickly and really is melt-in-the-mouth (but not in your hand).

The caramel flavour is not overwhelming, it tastes more towards butterscotch than actual caramel. The pretzel is crunchy and when blended with the chocolate seems to take on a real buttery flavour.

I really enjoyed these and thoroughly recommend them. Even though the chocolate is white, it's not too sweet like some other white chocolate snacks and it has a definite dessert-style flavour.

Meiji Porte Hokkaido Creamy Whip Filling ポルテこだわり北海道クリーム

This was another gift from a friend in Japan, and it's something I have never seen before. The fact that it's got Hokkaido cream inside excites me because I love Hokkaido everything. Especially dairy.

Porte are small, individually wrapped biscuits for want of a better word. It has a dense chocolate biscuit base and a creamy white whipped marshmallow on top, covered in a thin layer of chocolate and coated in cocoa powder.

Heaven in a box.


Biting in I get the bitterness of the cocoa powder followed by the crunch of the biscuit base and the soft creamy marshmallow. The flavour is absolutely divine and is like eating a cloud, that's how soft it is. There is a beautiful vanilla icecream like flavour in the whip.

Yumm. Who could stop at one? Not me. There is nothing more I can say about these except they are totemo oishii, divine, beautiful, delicious and excellence. Pure excellence.

Whoever dreamed these up needs a raise!

Of course these are recommended!! Go!! Buy!! :)

Poifull Soft Chewing Candy

I bought this pack of Poifull Soft at Lawson on a pit-stop, driving along the coast of Nagoya. I had heard alot about Poifull but never actually tried it myself, and as I needed a quick pick-me-up, I decided on these.

What really decided it for me was the flavours in the box - red grape, white grape, peach yoghurt and yoghurt. I love all of those flavours so I thought this candy couldn't let me down.

The box weighs 44 grams and was ¥115. There seemed to be more yoghurt and white grape than the other two flavours.

Each pellet is a small rectangular rounded piece of chewing candy, this is where they differ from the regular style of jelly bean.

Yoghurt - Creamy white in colour, very much like Yakult or some other yoghurty drink, though it is quite tart.

White Grape - The outside of the candy tasted sour, the first notes are tart and sour, and becomes sweet at the end, really tastes like muscat.

Red Grape - A washed out maroon colour, sour on the outside, really sour and tart on the inside, only a little sweetness, mostly sour.

Peach Yoghurt - Baby pink in colour, this reminds me of the texture and taste of the skin of a peach, very real peach flavour, some tartness, but very well balanced with sweet.

Overall, my favourite was the peach yoghurt, followed by yoghurt. I am a grape flavour fan but I thought these were way too tart for my liking. I gave them to two other friends and they also agreed.

Kinoko no Yama Tiramisu - きのこの山・ティラミス味

Kinoko no Yama (Mushroom mountain) has been around since my husband was a boy, and this year marks their 30th anniversary. It's a favourite of Japanese children and originally just came in chocolate top with plain pretzel bottom. The past few years have seen more and more exciting and interesting flavours being developed for Kinoko no Yama, and Tiramisu is the latest, released for their anniversary celebrations.

I've only recently jumped on the Tiramisu bandwagon and realised how great the dessert is, so I thought this would be a good way to try out more of the flavour.

Kinoko no Yama is a favourite treat of mine. I really love the cute little mushrooms and my favourite way to eat them is to bite off the top first.

The mushrooms are 4cm high by 3cm wide, double the usual size. That means that while the package weighs 22.4 grams, you only get 7 individually wrapped mushrooms, not as many as usual. A great waste of packaging and space.

The individual bags are see-through with red writing. It's evident that the mushrooms have been bumped around abit in transit as there is a fair bit of chocolate dust on the inside of the bag and the chocolate itself looks abit rustic.

There is no obvious smell from the chocolate, but once I bite in I get a brilliant taste of a rich, golden roasted coffee, it is so divine. The chocolate is smooth like silk and at the end has a small bitter bite. The layer of chocolate underneath is mild, not too tangy or sour, but creamy and has slight black flecks in it which might be vanilla. On the box it says this layer is marscapone cheese, something I have never tried so I'm not sure if this is a true taste or not.

The pretzel itself is dark chocolate, lots of cocoa in there, some salty notes and finishes off with a slightly bitter note. It's almost music for my mouth. This chocolate-cookie combination is a triumph and well done to Meiji for getting it right! It really tastes like a Tiramisu but alot crunchier.

This would make a nice, albeit less-is-more gift, or just be a little bit decadent and treat yourself!

To learn more about Kinoko no Yama you can visit this site.

Takenoko no Sato Cheesecake - たけのこの里・チーズケーキ味

Takenoko no sato (or Bamboo Shoots in the village), is shaped like a bamboo shoot with a cookie base and a flavoured chocolate covering. They have a brother called Kinoko no Yama (mushrooms on the mountain), which is pretzel based, and looks like a mushroom.

As my husband is a big cheesecake fan I bought this Takenoko for us to try. Takenoko is his favourite, he prefers the cookie base, while I prefer the pretzel base of Kinoko.

While this box is large, it only weighs 23.4 grams and there are 7 large indivdually wrapped bamboo shoots. A major waste of packaging and space. These are 3cm x 3cm, double the size of the normal chocolate Takenoko.

There is no perceptible scent from the cookie. The cookie is covered in a creamy coloured chocolate with Vanilla Bean specs within. The first taste when biting in is a creamy vanilla chocolate, followed by a more milky taste that develops. The crispy biscuit underneath is good, crumbly in texture, sweet but not too much. There is some saltiness that develops at the end that rounds out the flavour.


I found this to be more vanilla flavour than cheesecake. There was no cheese flavour, or tangy yoghurt like flavour that is usually present with cheesecake flavoured snacks. It was disappointing for me as I expected a nice creamy cheesecake. My husband wasn't disappointed though because he loves the cookie crunch and really loved the vanilla flavour anyway.

I just wish that Meiji had labelled this better, or developed the flavour better, because it did not deliver it's promise of flavour. This is a really nice cookie-chocolate snack if you don't expect it to be cheesecake. If someone had blindfolded me and told me it was vanilla bean, I would be really happy.

I wouldn't go out of my way to get another box as a) the flavour is quite pedestrian, and b) the contents of the box in no way match the price.

Hokkaido Azuki Apollo

This Hokkaido Azuki Apollo was a limited release, along with other flavours like Muscat, and Peach.

On one side of this box is a photo image of Clark, as in "boys be ambitious". The other side is a normal Apollo box with a square stamp on the top showing the product is from Hokkaido.

The Area of Tokachi in Hokkaido is well known for the tasty Azuki they produce. The fact that this Apollo is made from those Azuki is meant to make this all the more attractive to Azuki consumers.

The box is the regular size and holds 22 pieces inside. They are contained only in the box without other packaging, and because of that I think that the pieces look abit rustic. As in, they have rubbed together and been thrown around in the box, so they are somewhat dusty with bits of chocolate.

The colour is somewhat different than I expected. I thought it would be a dusky rose colour on top and brown on the bottom (though the box has a picture of a light pink on top, brown on the bottom). In actual fact, the chocolate is light brown on the top with flecks of darker brown, with a dark brown chocolate on the bottom.

The smell when I opened the box was similar to that of the Oshiruko Kit Kat. However, when I pop one into my mouth, the taste is a fully flavoured Azuki bean, and the texture is exactly the same as if I popped a spoonful of Azuki beans in my mouth. You know that crushed up texture of Azuki, it's very hard to describe. The chocolate at the bottom is very lightly there, and is a very good match for the Azuki that takes centre stage.

I loved this version of Apollo, it was fantastic and tasted great, and very true to Azuki. The chocolate was a very good combination, offering a slight bitterness at the end to offset the sweetness.

If you see these I recommend you pick up a pack, you won't regret it!