Glico Pocky Midi Butter Custard ポッキーバター華やぐぽってりカスタード

The name of this Pocky basically translates to "Brilliantly fat butter custard". The fat is probably referring to the thick layer of chocolate over the pretzel stick.

This packet of Pocky contains 3 bags of 4 short and stubby sticks each. Unfortunately mine melted in transit because here in Australia they arrived at the tail end of summer which is still quite hot.

The chocolate on the Pocky stick is a light yellow colour and it smells sweet and salty. 

The taste is quite light, there is a tiny hint of custard. There is some sweetness and again, the salt. But for me, these were disappointing as I thought the custard should have been stronger. The flavour was too vague here, and not what I expected.

Not recommended if you want a hit of custard flavour, but if you like sweet and salty chocolate on a stick then you'll probably like this. 

PS - at the top of the box it states that these would taste good while drinking Royal Milk Tea, so if you try it let me know. Maybe the pairing of tea brings out the custard flavour?!

You can buy these at napaJapan 

Calbee Potato Chips x Kentucky Fried Chicken ポテトチップス ✖️ケンタッキ ーフライドチキン

I bought this bag of potato chips from NapaJapan. I saw these released last year but didn't buy a pack and kicked myself for missing out. So this year as soon as they were released I bought a pack.

It's a rather large bag but the contents are not that big and it actually only weighs 83g. 

On opening the bag there is a smell like chicken flavoured potato chips. The appearance is the same as a normal potato chip but there are black specs which seem to be spices.

I have two big KFC fans in my house so as soon as I opened this bag they were fighting over it (husband and son). My son was trying to stop his dad from having too many as he thought he might eat them all! 

The taste is at first like chicken but the aftertaste is spicy like a KFC Wicked Wing. I can taste the similarity of KFC chicken to this potato chip although the potato chip is a different texture. The more chips you eat the hotter the spice gets. 

My son who is 4, loved these and had a bowl to himself despite the hot spice.

I thought these chips were a good gimmick but in no way replace the real thing.

 

These also come with a voucher for 30 yen (30 cents) off at a KFC store in Japan.

If you like KFC it's worth trying these just for the experience and wacky factor :)

Calbee Potato Chips x Kentucky Fried Chicken ポテトチップス ✖️ケンタッキ ーフライドチキン

I bought this bag of potato chips from NapaJapan. I saw these released last year but didn't buy a pack and kicked myself for missing out. So this year as soon as they were released I bought a pack.

It's a rather large bag but the contents are not that big and it actually only weighs 83g. 

On opening the bag there is a smell like chicken flavoured potato chips. The appearance is the same as a normal potato chip but there are black specs which seem to be spices.

I have two big KFC fans in my house so as soon as I opened this bag they were fighting over it (husband and son). My son was trying to stop his dad from having too many as he thought he might eat them all! 

The taste is at first like chicken but the aftertaste is spicy like a KFC Wicked Wing. I can taste the similarity of KFC chicken to this potato chip although the potato chip is a different texture. The more chips you eat the hotter the spice gets. 

My son who is 4, loved these and had a bowl to himself despite the hot spice.

I thought these chips were a good gimmick but in no way replace the real thing.

If you like KFC it's worth trying these just for the experience and wacky factor :)

Tirol Mix 9 Pack チロルミックス9

This is a Tirol Mix pack of 9 chocolates, one of each different flavour.

Out of the 9 I have already tried 5 so the 4 below are:

Milk Nougat 

Strawberry

Hot Cake

Lemon Cookie

Milk Nougat

Semi-dark chocolate covering chewy milk nougat. The chocolate is overpowering and wipes out the flavour of the nougat which is so soft and sticks to my teeth.

Strawberry

Hard chocolate strawberry centre covered in milk chocolate. The layer of strawberry is thick and has a subtle tartness to it, I like the flavours and unlike some strawberry chocolate it doesn't taste fake.

Hot Cake

It smells like maple from the outide and the chocolate is a buttery yellow. The centre has a soft crumbly biscuit with a very sweet maple syrup mousse and jelly covering. This reminds me of hoecakes but is sickeningly sweet. I could only eat half as my throat was burning.

Lemon Cookie

Smells faintly of lemon and is a light yellow colour. The centre has a chunky biscuit that is hard. The lemon chocolate on the outer layer is creamy but the lemon is not very apparent. From the Hot Cake to here is one extreme to another.

I can't say that any of these were my favorite but if I had to choose then if have to say that the strawberry was the most enjoyable.

Tirol Milky チロル ミルキー

This is a collaboration with Milky and Tirol and the Milky is surprisingly white chocolate with milky candy in the centre! I wondered why it was hard to cut through even at room temperature and that is the reason! Interesting idea, mr 3 and husband loved it but although it's a very clever idea I didn't like the milky candy because it got stuck in my teeth.

Tirol Full of Strawberry チロルいちごいっぱい

There are 9 pieces in this pack, all with a Strawberry theme. 

3 pieces each of:

Funwari Ichigo Jam

Funwari means soft in Japanese so this one is meant to contain soft strawberry jam as it's focus. It has chocolate on the bottom and soft marshmallow in the middle with a strawberry sauce that reminds me of strawberry bubblegum. The chocolate is dark and bitter and the strawberry chocolate on top is sweet so it's kind of a weird mix, but somehow it works. It's actually quite pleasant eaten all together.

Ichigo Daifuku 

I've tried this one before but will try it again for this review. Ichigo daifuku is a popular traditional Japanese dessert that is pounded mochi rice with a filling of strawberry and azuki bean paste. The inside of the Tirol version is a springy jelly with a soft azuki mousse covered with strawberry chocolate. It's a bit too much strawberry but I do like this one as I love azuki.

Ichigo Shortcake 

I've never been a fan of japanese shortcake as it tastes bland to me. This one has a biscuit in the centre and a covering of creamy tasting chocolTe with a strawberry base. It tastes very similar to a real shortcake. I have to hand it to Tirol for nailing the flavours!

Overall my favorite is the Strawberry Shortcake, it really was outstanding. 

Cafe Tirol "cafe style assort" カフェチロル

I bought this pack in Daiso because it stood out, it's shaped like an iced beverage you would get from a franchise like Starbucks. The pack has 8 pieces inside: 4 of Coffee Jelly and 4 of Lemon Tea.

Coffee Jelly

I've never been a fan of coffee jelly but old people serve it regularly to guests in Japan. I could be forgiven for thinking I had bitten into the lemon tea Tirol if I wasn't actually looking when I opened the wrapper. This has a very strong butter taste of espresso on the bottom, coffee jelly in the middle followed by a hit of sour lemon on the top. It is truly awful to me - I prefer milky coffee, I never drink it black or with lemon. The chocolate was waxy too; I felt like I was eating a candle!

Lemon Tea

This chocolate looks much the same as Coffee Jelly although the chocolate on the bottom is lighter. This one has a distinct lemon smell and I can also smell what reminds me of a cold ice tea. When I tried to cut this it crumbled. Biting into a piece there was a horrible strong/sour lemon taste that was followed up with a spicy burning sensation and a faint taste of tea. I thought it smelled and tasted like what drinking a cup of dish washing liquid would be like. This is truly awful and even worse than Coffee Jelly.

My verdict is don't even buy this pack! Now I can see why it was at Daiso!!! :(

Tirol White Marshmallow Assortment チロル マシュマロチョコアソート

A pack of 9 Tirol with a theme: Marshmallow. There are 3 pieces of 3 flavours each:

Strawberry Marshmallow

This one is light pink in colour and smells very strongly of strawberry. The fluffy white marshmallow inside is soft and surrounded by a strawberry sauce. The outer layer of strawberry chocolate is more like a mousse. This chocolate melts in the mouth.

Caramel Marshmallow

This has no aroma and tastes weird to me. Not exactly caramel, very creamy though. The mashmallow is very soft once again.

Cocoa Marshmallow

Dark chocolate surrounding the white marshmallow with a chocolate sauce trickling out. The dark chocolate is bitter and rich, over-riding the sweet soft mashmallow. 

The strawberry would have to be my favorite of the three, followed by cocoa. The caramel was not a hit with me sadly. 

Tirol Royal Queen チロル ロイヤルクィーン

I've heard great things about Tirol's premium strawberry chocolates and this is one of two I am going to review.

Royal Queen sounds very deluxe, even the packaging looks decadent.

The outside is covered in milk chocolate with embossing on the top. Underneath it is pink chocolate, which adds a pretty touch.

The chocolate itself is many layers, strawberry pink chocolate on the bottom, followed by a layer of crunchy strawberry bits that remind me of popping candy and which have a sour taste, then a lighter pink strawberry mousse, and finally the milk chocolate.

The unexpected crunch of the strawberry bits are what elevates this chocolate to royalty status. It's something different and when eaten together with the chocolate and mousse gives the taste of strawberries dipped in chocolate. There is just enough tartness to imitate the real thing.

I really enjoyed this one, no fake strawberry flavour, it really is the Queen of strawberry chocolates.

Tirol Chocolat Au Confiture チロル いちごコンフィチュール

This is the second in my line up of premium strawberry Tirol. I was intrigued by the name - what does "chocolat au confiture" even mean?

Well luckily for me Google had the answer - confiture means confection or jam, and chocolat is the French word for chocolate. 

Tirol have created a chocolate featuring strawberry jam in the middle. Obviously the French word for it sounds much more exotic. 

The outside layer is white chocolate with a thick milk base followed by a large layer of strawberry jelly dead centre. 

Biting into this is like eating a cloud, it's so soft, the base is like a whipped mousse and the jelly in the middle is soft and tasty. The white chocolate outer layer is softer than normal, more like a ganache.

My only negative is that it is very very sweet and that might put some people off. In no way is it a fake strawberry flavour, the tartness in the jelly makes sure of that, but with the white chocolate and the strawberry jam, this was just tooth achingly sweet and I needed water after eating one.