Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category

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Cayenne Pepper KitKats and Teriyaki Doritos

May 17, 2009

Another friend of mine, Nickola, went traveling recently, and she also brought me back a region-exculsive flavor of KitKats.

Cayenne Pepper Powder KitKat

Cayenne Pepper Powder KitKat

The brand name is 八幡屋礒五郎 or Yawataya Isogorou which is a temple in Nagano City that has been making a special “Seven Spices” pepper blend since the Edo period. There are many different kinds that they sell, and these KitKats are based on the spiciest (大辛) kind of cayenne pepper powder that they sell. I only have two of these, so I’m going to hold of on eating them until I make a video review.

While shopping today, I found these:

Teriyaki Doritos

Teriyaki Doritos

I tried these right away. They taste like regular plain doritos corn chips with a hint of teriyaki flavor. You can recognize the flavor right away, but it fades once you start chewing, and there’s no real lasting teriyaki flavor or aftertaste. There’s a teriyaki burger pictured on the left, but don’t let that fool you. These don’t taste like a teriyaki burger by any means. There is a certain brand of potato chips that have a “Teriyaki Mayo” flavor, and those taste exactly like a teriyaki burger. These do not. They just taste like corn chips with a hint of teriyaki at the beginning. Kind of surprising, seeing how a lot of Doritos flavors usually load up on the flavor powder to try and force the flavor on you. Good nonetheless.

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Apple Vinegar KitKats are Here

May 12, 2009

I was mistaken in my earlier post about the apple and lemon vinegar KitKats when I said they were coming out last week. It was stated clearly that they went on sale on the 11th. I haven’t been able to find the lemon vinegar ones yet, but I did get some apple ones today.

Apple Vinegar

Apple Vinegar

I was expecting these to be really sour, just because of the vinegar in the name, but that, surprisingly, wasn’t the case. They pretty much smell the same as the Nagano apple KitKats, but the scent isn’t as strong.Thankfully, they also pretty much taste the same as the Nagano apple KitKats. There was a slight sourness to the taste, obviously the vinegar part of the flavor, but it certainly didn’t taste like vinegar. In fact, my first reaction was that this tasted more like a green apple than the red apple on the front of the box, and if they had called it that, I’m sure they would meet expectations without having to change a thing.

The whole package.

The whole package.

I have to say that I’m relieved and disappointed at the same time. I’m glad that there wasn’t a horrible kick of vingary sourness, but at the same time, I’m left feeling that this is little more than just another apple KitKat. Expectations were low for these, so naturally, I’m pleased with the results. Maybe I’m just offput by the mere mention of vinegar thanks to having had the pleasure of tasting some of the many “healthy” vinegar drinks they have here in Japan. Either way, I’m sure they would have a hard time marketing these is the west as they are now, but, like I said earlier, they could easily get away with calling these “Granny Smith Apple KitKats” and avoid the whole “Ewww, vinegar?” kneejerk reaction I’m sure lots of people have had.

Also, for those wondering where the video review is, don’t worry, I haven’t stopped doing them. It’s just much easier to take a bite and write this up, especially when I’ve been busy lately. I’ll still work to keep the videos up to date, even if it means that I’ll be eating and reviewing everything twice and repeating myself. Some people just don’t like to read and vice versa.

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Crush & Marble Pocky Video Reviews

May 11, 2009

Here’s the review of the “Crush Pocky”:

I’m not sure why Coconut Pocky isn’t allowed to fall under the Crush brand name, because it follow the same formula as these two: Crush something up, sprinkle it over a breadstick, and then cover with chocolate. Presto! The cookies that they chose to use in the Bitter Crunch ones are some of the blandest cookies I’ve ever tasted, and therefore, they add little to no flavor to the final product. The almonds, on the other hand, are very tasty and taste just like you would expect them to. If it were up to me, I’d swap out the Bitter Crunch for the coconut, because that’s a much better tasting snack, and, unless I’m missing something, it will fit right in the with the rest of the Crush line.

On to the Marble Pocky:

It seems like a bit of a waste to have both of these flavors centered around berries, but they are both good, so it doesn’t really matter. It was just a thought that I had. I assume that the “marble” refers to the design made in the frosting itself, which is thick enough to make these as chewy as they are crunchy. They could have cut the amount of frosting used, and sold these are other flavors of regualar pocky, because the only thing setting them apart from the rest is the amount of frosting on the stick. There are no special additions aside from that.

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Choco Banana & Coconut Pocky

May 9, 2009

I’m a fan of coconuts, so I really liked the coconut Pocky.

The choco banana was still tasty, but I don’t think it will be winning any awards anytime soon. Nobody has ever gotten the “banana” flavor right, or at least I don’t think so. It’s as if someone got kinda close, and everyone else decided that it was god enough. Maybe that’s why there’s not too many banana-flavored things aside from Laffy Taffy and everything else is usually “strawberry banana”. The chocolate is what saves the Choco Banana, and I probably would not have liked them if it wasn’t there.

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Strawberry & Crushed Strawberry Pocky

May 9, 2009

This review focuses on the two strawberry-themed flavors:

The strawberry (いちご) ones were nothing new, as I’ve had them plenty of times before. If I have tried the crushed strawberry (つぶつぶいちご) ones before, I don’t remember it.

The strawberry ones aren’t anything special, really. If you’ve had anything remotely strawberry flavored, you’ve probably tasted something similar to a strawberry Pocky.

The “crushed” ones were unique in that they actually tasted somewhat like real strawberries do. They had that certain kind of tartness that you get when biting into one. I’m not sure what exactly has been crushed and sprinkled on the stick, but I’m assuming it’s dried strawberries of some kind. If I had to choose, I would choose these over the standard ones.

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Three kinds of Pocky and Men’s Pocky review

May 8, 2009

Here’s the first of the Pocky reviews. I started off simple with three variations of the basic chocolate flavor as well as the dark choclate “Men’s Pocky”.

The next review will focus on the two strawberry flavors.

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Lots of Pocky reviews coming soon.

May 7, 2009
Pocky Tower

Pocky Tower

Acen is this weekend, and I won’t be attending, because I’m a couple thousand miles away at the moment. People have also asked me to start reviewing snacks that originated in Japan and not just Japanese flavors of western snacks. So, in the spirit of Acen (or probably any anime convention for that matter), I’ll kill two birds with one stone and make a series of Pocky video reviews to be released this weekend.

I just went to the store and bought whatever they had, and here’s what I ended up with:

14 flavors

14 flavors

From left to right, back row: Almond Crush Pocky, “Thin” Pocky, My Calorie Pocky, Pocky, Men’s Pocky, Strawberry Pocky, Crushed Strawberry Pocky, and Bitter Cookie Crush Pocky.

Center: Choco Banana Pocky, Coconut Pocky, Tiramisu Dessert Pocky, and Chocolate Organe Dessert Pocky.

Front: Chocolat Framboise Marble Pocky and Mix Berry Marble Pocky.

So, I just spent an hour or so filming six shows to be released over the next couple of days.

After I tried them all.

After I had tried them all.

Some short comments:

  • Marble and Dessert Pocky were very chewy on account of the large amounts of frosting.
  • Cookie Crush Pocky were pretty disappointing.
  • Those that had real bits of what they were supposed to taste like tasted a lot better than those that were strictly relying on flavored chocolate/frosting (go figure).
  • I was pleasantly surprised by the My Calorie Pocky, Tiramisu Dessert Pocky, and Chocolat Framboise Marble Pocky

The first episode should be up sometime tomorrow. I’ll be comparing “regular” Pocky with “Thin” Pocky, My Calorie Pocky, and Men’s Pocky. Look forward to it!

:edit:

Here’s the little video intro I threw together:

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