Happy Turn Soy Sauce Cheese Flavor

Soy sauce... and cheese? It seems totally unlikely, yet at the same time these are both such staple flavors that it's surprising that they aren't usually combined. And I suspect it's not a bad combination, as they both share tanginess and saltiness with each other... though maybe it could come off to strong. If there's any medium to try this on though, a rice cracker is the one to do it.

To my surprise, all of these rice crackers are individually wrapped inside. It was the same for the rice crackers I had yesterday though, so maybe it's a trend. But they know nobody's going to open up this bag and just eat one, so why package only one at a time? Anyways, the actual cracker has a pretty peculiar shape, almost looks like a madeleine from this angle, though I doubt that's the look they'd be going for. The cheese is the most dominant smell here and it's quite strong, hopefully not overpowering. The soy sauce is there too, and for now at least, they don't seem to clash.

The taste of this snack actually reminds me a lot of the umaibos that I've been having. Definitely reminds me more of puffed corn, though I can taste the rice. The cheese, unfortunately, feels a little cheap here, and with the depth it had in some of the other cheese snacks I think it would be an amazing snack. The soy sauce is also a good idea, but altogether these two flavors do come off a bit strong, even with the soy sauce taking more of the supporting role. The crunch also, is just over the edge of too much, it may be personal preferences, but I like my snacks with just a little more give when I bite them so they melt a bit, which of course cheese is known to do. So... it's a nice idea to put these two flavors together, but needs a bit of work.

Rating: 4 - Boof!

Kracie Popin Cookin Japanese Festival

After going through the large box of Kracie kits I had, I found another one. Guess this calls for a celebration! Thankfully this kit has everything I need to do that. Four different components here being french fries, candy apples, chocolate bananas, and corn on the cob, so it's sure to be involved but no short on fun.

I expected a lot of components in this kit, and that's exactly what I got. Three different mats, 5 packets of powder, some yellow soft candy, sprinkles, toothpicks, and a shovel-spoon (my favorite!). The cutting board mat in particular seems rather excessive, but I guess it's nice to create the mood.

One Piece Bubbly Jelly DIY

 

Been a while since I've had a jelly DIY! These are always pretty fun except for figuring out how to eat them of course, because those tiny straws never cut it. This one also comes in the slightly more unique flavor of melon, which I at first haven't been a fan of but it's certainly growing on me as I try more and more melon snacks. Japan just does the flavor justice. This one also seems to come with a reusable cup, which actually worries a bit because the snacks with reusable cups I've had before haven't been good. Can this one break the mold?

Pretty simple setup this time, but also more involved than the other collectible cup DIY drinks, haing two packets. Likely this means there's a soda and jelly layer, like a DIY drink I had a while back. There's also a spoon instead of a straw, yay! No issues with trying to slurp up thick jelly, which is always a plus. The souvenir cup is nice too, but these are always so tiny that I don't know what to do with them.

Meiji Tsukorou Kinoko no Yama DIY

A while back I had one of these biscuit snacks from Meiji and it was quite yummy! But this one looks to take it up a notch, being in DIY form and having different shapes and many different layers. Already looks like ton of fun and hopefully not too much work between me and the delicious chocolate biscuits.

Thankfully it seems that'll be the case as the contents are quite simple: biscuits, molds, and three squeeze bottles with the different toppings.

Calbee Plum Seaweed Chips

Although TokyoTreat has very good box curation, I have to question why there's another bag of plum chips in this box, only two months after the last one. Though it is different, this time we have seaweed, a Ruffles-like texture, and a custom bag designed by SOU SOU, whoever that is. The flowers on the bag are nice, but only taste will make me go ARF ARF.

As expected, the texture is that of Ruffles, which is great as I love the feel of those ridges! True to the theme of the chip there are also pink splotches on the chips, but no green to also represent the seaweed. Last time I had plum chips there wasn't much of a plum flavor to begin with, so I'm glad to see some visual evidence. From the bag I get mostly a chip smell, but slightly accented with the fruity sweetness of the plum and the umami of the seaweed.

One of the things I complained about last time too was the fruity and salty flavors clashing and I still get a bit of that from these chips. I'm not sure if it's just an acquired taste? Because every time my brain is telling me these don't go together. Silly humans. Chip wise those the crunch of the ridges is on point, I think I would like the chips more slightly cooked for a bigger crunch. The seaweed flavor is definitely third fiddle to the potato and plum. I get it if I really concentrate on tasting this but otherwise it's just a microdose of umami to go along with this confusing combination. They do seem to have dialed back a bit on the salt to make these flavors work but it still... doesn't. Slightly better than the other chips though for the texture and seaweed.

Rating: 4 - Boof!

Weilong Kiss Burn

Have to say, I'm quite scared to try this one. Me and spicy foods don't always go along, and with a name like "Kiss Burn" there's no doubt that it's going to heat up my yap at least a little bit. As for what else is in here, I have no idea, seems like there will be a bit of a meat flavor, so maybe it'll be like jerky? I hope it has more mercy than the peppers and bright red coloring let on.

First glance says... probably not. It comes with the three pieces as advertised, and they certainly have the texture of jerky but are a bit more oily. It has a very in-your-face peppery meat smell to it.

The taste is pretty much as expected. It has that oily pepper taste that you typically get in Chinese food, and it's quite a shock to see in a packaged snack like this. It's also very chewy, as typical of jerky type snacks, but nothing my puppy teeth couldn't handle. The spiciness while evident was quite manageable, it's very clearly there but I never thought my mouth was on fire like many other times, so it's a more pleasant type of heat. All that being said though, this definitely isn't my type of snack. It reminded me of sausage in its meat flavor, which I'm actually not too much a fan of. Others may enjoy it much more and I acknowledge that it has good flavor, but I didn't want to keep eating it all the way through.

Rating: 4 - Boof!

Kit Kats - Kyoho Grape, Hokkaido Melon, Wa-Ichigo Strawberry

This time we have three more Kit Kats with some different fruity flavors. While matcha and strawberry are familiar territory, I'm really interested to see how grape and melon translate into Kit Kat's wafter structure. The last one is the ever-familiar strawberry but with Wa-Ichigo tacked onto it. I wonder if that will be any different?

As usual I look up the meaning behind any unknown words and see that kyoho grapes are a type of grape grown in Japan. Regardless  I don't expect this to be too different from the normal grape flavor, though this one has a lighter color and different smell than I expected. It smells... almost like grape toothpaste? Not sure if that'll be an entirely bad thing. It's definitely not pure grape smell, kind of muddled with a milky flavor and added sweetness.

The flavor does seem to work a bit in context of the wafer. Without it I imagine a pure grape flavor would be in stark contast to the rest of the treat. It still feels a little out place in candy, after adjusting to it, it's okay, but still odd and not quite what I'm looking for. It's a bit too sweet where from fruit flavors I expect something more authentic. This... is okay, but doesn't quite work for me.

Rating: 4 - Boof!

Maruta Purin Gokko

Ah pudding, my old friend. It's certainly been a while but don't think I've forgotten about you. How your eggy creaminess pairs perfectly with your gelatinous texture, throwing my senses into cloud nine floating on some light but tasty egg custard... and this time I get to have a part in making it myself! We'll see if that measures up, or it should stay premade.

Well the contents might be the simplest of any DIY I've seen so far, it's just a cup, powder, and straw. Though I guess that's all you really need. Only slightly disappointing is that this means there won't be a separate caramel layer which really does add a lot to the pudding. The powder, strangely enough, seems to be a mix of things, there is one part that looks like tiny white sprinkles and another that is purely powder. I guess this makes sense as several components are in there.

Christmas Kuppi Ramune

One last Christmas item comes back to haunt this blog in February, oh no! I found this in the clearance section of my local Japanese market, and of course with a cute cover like that it was worth a try. I'm not too sure what this is other than a ramune tablet, but I guess we'll find out.

Taking the tablet out of the package sure didn't reveal anything new - it's a plain white tablet. And it appears to have no smell at all! The texture is a bit chalky, and that's about all it revealed.

When I put it in my mouth the fun begins. It definitely has a chalky texture all the way throughout, though the taste is not the ramune flavor I've come to expect. It actually tastes... creamy? No, that can't be. It actually dissolved way too fast for me to figure it out so I have to try another one. No, there's no mistaking it, instead of the usual ramune flavor there's more of a buttery milky taste. It's strange, but kinda good? It's not over-the-top sweet but the flavors are more confusing than anything to write home about. And of course, it's gone way too quickly and doesn't leave any sort of lasting satisfaction.

Rating: 4 - Boof!

Calbee Sapporo Potato Vegetable Chips

Long overdue review here, as I also received this as part of a Christmas mystery pack at my local Japanese market. I'm really surprised why, because it looks rather promising, who doesn't love veggie chips? They're always nice for throwing some extra splashes of flavor into your traditional potato chips, whether they're actually healthier or just tricking you into thinking you're eating healthier.

As shown the potato sticks are quite tiny, more akin to the size of shoestring fries. But as promised there are the little splashes of vegetable color in here. The bag smells like the typical veggie chips, potato with all those other vibrant flavors and some salt.

A bite reveals these to have that same pleasing flavor of the mixed vegetables, and surprisingly not over-salted which is a good thing in my book. Though I have quite a few qualms with the texture and size, as it is there's a heavy crunch to these on the outside and a seemingly almost-hollow inside, which means with every bite there's something lacking, I want so much more of the flavor. It feels like a snack that's on the right path, but doesn't quite hit the mark of satisfaction. Even putting two or more in my mouth leaves something to be desired... So as a whole I'd go with the usual American brand veggie chips over these, these seem to stop a little bit short in terms of flavor and texture.

Rating: 4 - Boof!

Onigiri Senbei

I got all excited at first reading this snack name because I thought it would actually be similar to an onigiri, but turns out it's an onigiri shaped rice cracker (senbei). Still could be very good, actually when I was a wee little pup I was allergic to wheat, so any time I wanted something starchy I would go for rice cakes instead. So I very well know the magic of rice snacks, but let's see how this one measures up.

Cabbage Taro, Okonomiyaki Sauce Flavor

Now not many people know this since I only blog about snacks, but I love Japanese food of all kinds, and have many an occasion snuck my way into Japanese restaurants to try some of their cooking. In particular the one thing that always made my mouth water was okonomiyaki. Cabbage on its own doesn't sound exciting, but when baked into a pancake it suddenly becomes the most delicious thing ever. Throw some meat on that and you got yourself a meal. I even managed to cook some of my own once for an alpha wolf and he loved it. What does that have to do with this snack? This is a puffed snack that is apparently flavored like cabbage, but doesn't actually have any cabbage in it, instead the rich flavors of okonomiyaki. If it's anything like the real deal, you can bet my tail will be wagging as I chow down on these.

Christmas Chocolate Umaibo

While umaibo seem to be part of the "cheap candy" in Japan, the first umaibo brought me a really interesting flavor and texture that I quite enjoyed. I also haven't tried anything chocolate in a while and I'm salivating at the chance to have some chocolate candy right now (my name is Brownie after all)! Hopefully the crispy texture translates over to chocolate as well as it did the corn.

Constellation Chocolate

One of my favorite nighttime hobbies is watching the stars. I sneak out when all the other pups are resting and lay there in the darkness, and observe the vastness of the night sky. And of course, try to connect the stars into constellations, but that's not a subject I tend to research so I'm very bad at it. But I try, at least the dippers, okay? This all relates because this chocolate displays one of the constellations on it at random. As someone who lies between a Scorpio and Libra I'm hoping for one of those.

Hapi Gummy Candies Mini Hot Dog

As an item part of Japan Crate, I'm not quite sure why they'd include this. It's... a hot dog gummy. Seems positively American. But nevertheless, it's a gummy and shaped like a hot dog, and as I write this it's giving off a tantalizingly sweet smell with some fruit flavors that my not-yet-fully-developed sniffer can't distinguish. What could go wrong?

November Japan Crate Odds and Ends

Aruff! Hi everyone, this is my first blog post so thank you all for reading as I begin this journey. I have quite the appetite, especially for new and out there stuff, and like any good boy I want to share all my food adventures with you.

But before we begin I'd be amiss if I didn't talk about the Japan Crate that just arrived a few weeks ago, and that would be my first Japanese candy box, the November Japan Crate. I started off getting a three month subscription and we'll see where things go for there. I'm all for whatever gets me the yummiest snacks at the best value.

Now since I've already scarfed up most of the snacks in here I won't do a full review for everything, but I'll give mini reviews for ones that I ate long ago.

Kagikko Chocolate Key - This one's pretty self explanatory - it's a bunch of chocolates arranged in a key shape. Why? I have no idea. It seems there are a bunch of these out there all in different shapes. The candies themselves tasted exactly like M&Ms, maybe a bit smaller. I ate them almost immediately because nobody eats just one M&M. Cool idea to arrange them in a shape I guess, but I wish the candy itself was more unique?

Rating: 3 - Rrr

Rilakkuma Gum - Okay first of all this packaging is ADORABLE! I love how cute Japanese packaging can be and this one certainly made me whimper in adoration. The gum itself surprisingly had a ridge shape to it, but once in my mouth it behaved like any other gum. It had a nice cola flavor which at first was pretty strong then it lost flavor quickly, which is kind of sad. I suppose I'm used to Extra.

Rating: 4 - Boof!