Posts Tagged ‘j-snacks.reviews’

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More “drink” snacks: Ramune KitKats

June 17, 2009

It looks like KitKats are also getting in on the “snacks that taste like popular drinks” bandwagon. Their drink of choice? Ramune.

Ramune KitKat

Ramune KitKat

The artwork on the bag suggests that these are the special flavor for Tanabata, but I don’t really see the connection. If memory serves me correctly, the Tanabata flavors for last year and the year before that were both banana, so yeah, I have no idea. I’m guess that it’s just because it’s being released around the same time.

As shown on the bag, the KitKats themselves are light blue. They have kind of a strange smell to them. A friend of mine said that they smelled like “erasers”. Luckily, they don’t taste like erasers, but pretty much like Ramune. Unfortunately, they taste more like Ramune candy than they do the actual drink. The chocolate itself tastes a little bit like Ramune, but it’s not very pronounced. They unfortunately didn’t mimic the carbonation effects from the cola caramel corn snacks.

The real flavor comes from a powder that they mixed in with the cream that’s inside of each stick. They mention that it’s supposed to be “bubbly” and taste carbonated, but it really just tastes like they crushed up the Ramune candies and mix those in with whatever cream they put inside. It doesn’t really mix well with the rest of the KitKat. That’s not to say that it’s bad, but you just end up noticing the two flavors separate from each other. At first, you taste the outer chocolate, and then, after chewing for a while, you taste the candy/powder but it’s as if you just put some of the candy in your mouth and not like a “ramune KitKat”.

If the cola Caramel Corn hadn’t beaten them to the punch, I might have been more impressed with these. I don’t feel that the powder was necessary, because it just tastes like you’re eating two separate things rather than one well put together one.

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Snacks that taste like drinks.

June 17, 2009

There’s a snack in Japan called, simply, “Caramel Corn”, and it’s a cross between actual caramel corn and a cheeto. It’s cheeto-shaped, but is very light and crispy. The normal flavor is, of course, caramel, but there’s always new flavors coming out. There are two special flavors that just came out for the summer: Vanilla Shake and Cola.

caramel_corn

Vanilla Shake and Cola

The vanilla shake ones taste like a vanilla version of the caramel corn, and that’s very good. I remember the vanilla bean KitKats being one of my all-time favorites. It has a hint of the standard Japanese “milk” flavor in there, but not enough to make it tase much like a shake. It’s fine as it is as a vanilla-flavored snack.

The cola ones are a bit more interesting. They have a powder on them that instantly dissolves as soon as it touches your tongue, and it does a really good job of replicating the feeling of carbonated drinks as you drink them. I’ve given samples to a whole bunch of people over the past couple of days, and every single one of them has had the same “Whoah!” surprised reaction upon tasting them, myself included. The flavor is also pretty spot on. If I had to choose, I would say that it tastes close to Coca-Cola if you were to get it from a fountain machine. The flavor itself is very sweet and, combined with the carbonated effect, does a really good job of tasting like cola. This is something I didn’t expect from a “dry” snack.

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New Assorted Snack Flavors

June 11, 2009

So there’s always new and exciting products being released, and I’ll try and list of a couple that caught my eye recently.

Soft packs of Pretz

Soft packs of Pretz

Here we have three flavors of Pretz: Purple Potato, Tomato, and Asparagus. While these have been around since last fall, I still think they deserve some recognition. These are also the only flavors I have seen in these “soft” packages.

Hai Chu display

Hai Chu display

“Hai Chuu” is a pretty popular snack similar to taffy. They just started releasing a bunch of flavors under the “World Fruits” banner. In the above picture, you can see the new “Dragon Fruit” and “Blood Orange” flavors.

Koala's March

Koala's March

“Koala no March”, known as Koala Yummies in the U.S., just came out with these two flavors: Strawberry & Milk (with honey) and Banana Crepe.

Almond Pocky

Almond Pocky

The new Almond Pocky seems to put the almond flavor in the cream itself rather than sprinkle the real thing all over it like the Crush Almond Pocky did.

Mitsuya Cider Zero

Mitsuya Cider Zero

I always tell people that Mitsuya Cider is a much cheaper, more available, and usually better tasting alternative to Ramune. Now, there’s a zero calorie version of it as well. It certainly does taste like a diet drink. It still kind of taste like the regular version, but, as you would expect, it’s not as sweet, and there’s a strange aftertaste that you don’t get with the regular stuff.

Baby Star Gyouza Chips

Baby Star Gyouza Chips

I like Baby Star, and I like gyouza, so this seemed like a sure thing. The chips themselves are like little wafers that are like the kind you’d get if you were a Christian and took communion at church. Unless those, these smell exactly like gyouza. Unfortunately, that’s their strongest point. They don’t really taste as accurately as I had hoped and they do have kind of a strange “cardboard-y” taste that lingers as well.

Teriyaki Chicken Pizza-La Doritos

Teriyaki Chicken Pizza-La Doritos

Finally, there’s a new flavor of the long-running “Pizza-La” Doritos: Teriyaki Chicken. I’ll be doing a video review for these, and I hope that they taste better than the recent regular Teriyaki Doritos.

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Neon Genesis Evangelion Snacks

June 11, 2009

So the newest Evangelion movie is scheduled to be released later this month, so to celebrate, they’ve released all kinds of products with Eva characters slapped all over it. Two years ago, for example, you could get special cans of UCC coffee:

Eva coffee (missing: Rei)

Eva coffee (missing: Rei)

This time around, you can also get 500ml bottles of coffee, and they come with little cell phone straps as well. They also released some Eva-themed snacks.

Garlic Ramen Snack

Garlic Ramen Snack

First up, there’s the “Garlic Ramen Snack”. These just look like they repackaged a standard snack similar to Baby Star, possibly gave it a new flavor, and stuck Rei on the bag. I do like how Unit 00 seems to be wading through a giant pool of the stuff though. I was more interested in these:

AT Field Snack

AT Field Snack

Here we have the “AT Field Snacks”. There’s no indication on what flavor they are on the front, but I just like how they’re kinda shaped like little AT Fields themselves.

Well, kind of.

Well, kind of.

How do they taste? Apparently, AT Fields taste like Funyuns covered in black pepper, which, may I add, is extremely good. I thought I was going to just taste a couple for this post, but I soon found myself inhaling these things like they were going out of style (note: Eva will never go out of style in Japan it seems). For $1 a bag, these are a very good deal.

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Yuzu Pepper KitKat review

June 10, 2009

Remember when I showed you those special Yuzu Pepper KitKats from Kyuushuu? Well I just got around to uploading the video review last night. Here it is:

They tasted like citrus with a hint of pepper flavoring. They weren’t spicy at all, but the pepper tasted surprisingly good when combined with the citrus flavor of a yuzu.

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Finishing up those Pocky videos

June 10, 2009

Oops. It looks like I forgot to post my last two Pocky videos after I uploaded them, so here they are:

Dessert Pocky:

If  you’d like to know which ones I personally thought were the best, then you can check out this short “wrap up” as well:

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Marathon eating session: complete.

May 24, 2009

*Whew*

I just got finished filming video reviews for everything I still needed to do, so I have lots of things to keep me busy with this week. In the meantime, here are some short little reviews to keep you satisfied until the videos go up:

Lots of eating going on.

Lots of eating going on.

KitKat:

Yuzu Pepper – Tastes like dark chocolate and citrus with a pleasant pepper aftertaste.

Cayenne Pepper – Very little flavor and almost no spice. Disappointing.

Uji Green Tea – “Green Tea Light”. Less bitter than previous versions.

Apple Vinegar – Read about it here.

Lemon Vinegar – Didn’t taste the vinegar. Not too different from other lemon versions.

Kinako – Tastes like peanut butter.

Cheetos:

BBQ/Chili Sauce Combo – Like the standard BBQ ones with a little extra spice.

Garlic Soy Sauce – Pleasant garlic taste with salt added in.

Yokohama Shuumai – Very odd and hard to describe, but interesting and tasty nonetheless.

Doritos:

Men’s Chili – Not much flavor but very spicy as you keep eating them.

Men’s 7-spices – VERY GOOD! A fantastic blend.

Stick (Taco sauce) – Secretly Fritos. Nice flavor though.

Teriyaki – Good flavor, but it fades almost immediately. There are better teriyaki alternatives.

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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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