Mentaiko Umaibo

Japan's umaibos all come in strange flavors but bring with them some very delicious unique snack food tastes, all in a convenient stick shape with some nice puffed corn flavor on the inside. While most of them are recognizable flavors though, I have no idea what this one is. Seems to involve salted pollock roe, which I've never had. So I assume it might taste a little fishy? The picture on this one freaks me out for sure, but only one way to find out if the taste will make me as crazy as that dude.

It's definitely very orange. And very fishy. The color inclines me to think some sort of cheese is involved, but that's definitely not the case here. One whiff of this brings you right to a seafood pier, and it's a little worrying. Fishiness doesn't tend to transfer over to snacks, but maybe this one will be better?

Thankfully the corn flavor that never shows up in the smell helps to mellow that down a little bit. The taste reminds me a lot of the veggie salad umaibo actually... somewhat cheesy, except it's definitely supposed to be something else. The fishiness that I got from the smell surprisingly isn't there at all, instead just some salty, sweet corn with some sort of tangy flavor that I can't name but it totally tastes like cheese. Like that other umaibo, it's just okay, nothing unique or special about it, just a confusing and slightly pleasant mix of flavors.

Rating: 5 - Ruff!

Don Taro Udon Snack

 

Well this certainly is a peculiar looking snack. I've had a ramen snack before but not udon, so I may no what to expect or get my expectations blown out of the water. It's also supposed to be flavored like an udon noodle soup bowl, which I tend to lap up like a parched pup whenever I get my paws on one. It's a tiny snack so maybe it'll incite a craving for some more udon. Can't win, huh?

Well this certainly wasn't what I was expecting. Rather than noodles clumped together, it's a collection of loose, dried, udon-flavored noodle crisps. I guess this was meant to be eaten tiny piece by piece from the bag then, but whoops, now it's all dumped out! The smell is peculiar too. I don't get an udon vibe from it, more of a beef instant ramen kind of flavor. Which is from the noodle snack I had before.

The noodles seem to be not as crispy as I was expecting, they're some kind of halfway point between soft cooked noodles and crispy dried. The flavor though is somewhat pleasant, there's a lot of salt, and then what seems like soy sauce, and some kind of broth (maybe dashi?) in addition to the eggy flavor of the noodles themselves. And it does somewhat work. Though I can't shake the feeling that I'm eating uncooked instant ramen. I'm also not a huge fan of this form factor because it's hard to eat all the tiny pieces without spilling them, but maybe that's me having clumsy paws. All in all it tastes a little cheap and the texture isn't great, but the combination of flavors does work. Not enough to make me crave udon though. Phew.

Rating: 5 - Ruff!

Boruto Pineapple Jellies

Well, once again I have no idea what the series on the cover of this snack is about besides it being a next generation sequel to Naruto. I'm not even sure how this relates to pineapple jellies. At least the Splatoon ones were squid shaped and flavored according to the game's colors. Maybe it's because it's the same color as Boruto's hair? That's a reasonable guess.

They all do at least seem to have different characters on the jelly containers. This one looks particularly emo, hopefully that's not him after tasting the jelly. The jelly smell weirdly enough is overly sweet to the point of being cloying inside the bag but if I smell this one on its own, it's more toned down to a normal pineapple taste. Still has that artificial smell to it though.

It is a rather peculiar pineapple taste. I get the impression there's some other flavor besides pineapple in it, but then I realize it tastes just like that pineapple juice in canned pineapple, but still with something else, maybe an energy drink type flavor? There is another Boruto pineapple snack in this box with that flavor, and maybe they re-used it to create this. It's thankfully not cloyingly sweet like it smells, but I think this jelly would really benefit from a more natural flavor. It's refreshing but not as much as it could be, it feels very bogged down by other ingredients resulting in a bit of a weaker pineapple smell. If pineapple energy drinks are your thing though, this may just be the quick hit of that flavor that you need.

Rating: 5 - Ruff!

Splatoon Gummies

One little known thing about me is that I LOVE Splatoon. Like whenever I get the chance to play video games I'm addicted to this game. So seeing a Splatoon snack in this month's box was quite the delight, and just like the colors of the game it comes in unique melon and orange flavors. I'm not the biggest fan of melon but Japan seems to do it justice. Will this make me a woomy pup?

I unfortunately did not get the rare octopus gummy but still the assortment of colors here is quite nice (they appear yellow but are in fact orange). They have a more opaque appearance than I'd expect, but still some nice smells. I'm much more a fan of the melon one here smell-wise, it's quite vibrant with the added sweetness in a way that I wouldn't expect. The smell of the orange one on the other hand is just confusing to me.

But nevertheless I'll try the orange one first. I'm less confused upon tasting it, maybe the smell just blended with the lemon. These gummies are quite chewy, a little bit more than I like, and have a bit of a gritty consistency to them, but some nice flavor from the orange one. It is a little bit too on the sweet side for my liking, to the point where I think it clouds up the orange flavor, like overly sweet orange juice.

The melon one works much better, as melon on its own needs a bit of extra sweetness. Same situation though, the sweetness seems to cloud out a bit of the wonderful melon flavor that I've experienced from some other snacks. Overall these are not my favorite gummies out of the ones I've tried, but still nice flavors in their own right. No "booyah" or "woomy" from me but it's enough to ink my flavor turf.

Rating: 5 - Ruff!

Kit Kats: Caramel Pudding, Tokai Red Bean Sandwich, Strawberry Cheesecake

What an interesting trio of Kit Kats! I'm stoked for all of these flavors, but particularly the pudding one, as anyone who's seen me review a pudding snack would know. The red bean sandwich one is certainly a mystery in taste to me as I've never had a red bean sandwich myself. The cheesecake one of course I have a good idea of how it'll taste, having had snacks in this kind of flavor before.

The caramel pudding flavor doesn't appear to have much caramel with the pudding judging by the color, but the smell seems to tell otherwise I get some eggy pudding deliciousness in the smell, but also lots of caramel, almost overshadowing it completely. I hope this doesn't upset the balance of flavor, as these two are amazing in ths right proportions.

Looks like I didn't have to worry too much about that. The caramel dominates the smell but I get more pudding in the taste, though something seems off about this pudding flavor. It's a lot more gritty and shallow, and I'm not too much a fan. The caramel also seems that way, being way too sweet rather than rich tasting. It could be the adaptation to this crunchy wafer texture, but they could've easily done a way better job even on the flavor with that in mind. As it is now it's not too pleasant to eat.

Rating: 2 - Awrr

Ice Cream Lolly, Chocolate

Having had one of these already, I know the greatness of this concept: all the goodness of ice cream in hard candy form, without the need for freezer or the meltiness or the extra calories. But now it's a chocolate flavor! Last time I remarked that the strawberry flavor was too subtle, but I don't expect that to be the case with this one, as chocolate tends to stand out a bit more.

Already it looks like both halves might even be chocolate, because the bottom half has a light brown tone rather than the pure white of the vanilla. However the more likely case here is that some of the chocolate from the chocolate top leaked down into the vanilla part. There's not a very strong smell here, so looks like I'm going to figure out the truth all through taste. The chocolate has a very nice dark color too it though which seems promising.

The chocolate flavor on the top half, like the other lollipop, is quite subtle. I expected a huge burst of chocolate, but it's rather light and faint once again. The vanilla flavor seems that way too, with a bit of milkiness. I keep sucking and sucking on this trying to leech more flavor out of it, because what's there is great, but it never seems to be enough. The chocolate flavor is nice and pure, no hint of any ice cream flavor, but it doesn't overdo the sweetness and is overall pleasant, and adding the vanilla on it completes the combination quite well. This one sadly seems even more faint in flavor than the other one... and it's the most tragic thing because the flavors great, I just want more of it... why must they tease me so...

Rating: 5 - Ruff!

Kracie DIY - Colorful Peace

This one might be one of the cutest Kracie kits I've seen! But also one of the most intimidating. After all there are so many options! Does this make me actually have to be good at sculpting things? I hope not, I'm better at making and eating delicious things than making good looking things. But there seem to be a lot of options here and some easy-make molds shown on the back. So hopefully like all Kracie kits this'll be fun to make, but also relatively simple, and of course, delicious.

This kit seems to be open ended like I thought, a few templates to work off of and five candies, and the bag has instructions for a number of things. I guess as I'm not feeling creative I will try those ones. There are also sprinkles and a makeshift rolling pin. And I see that the candy is supposed to combine to make different colors! That's certainly unique.

I ended up picking a few of the designs on the bag to make, and because I'm a hungry wolf, I couldn't do any more of these before my mouth started watering. It was a bit difficult to mix the colors as expected, since the candy is very sturdy, but after time they do combine colors quite well. The rolling pin was also a little stickier than I would have liked.

As for the taste, the blue and white candies are tangy (in that generic Japanese fruit flavor way) and the rest are a sweeter generic fruit flavor. They do blend quite well this way in taste, it's quite delicious to eat, though I would've liked a little more fruity variety, as every one of these creations tasted exactly the same. The sprinkles also seem limited use here. The only design on the box that even has them is the donut and well... I already made those. But I mingled the sprinkles with the rest of the candies, and while the crunch is nicely appreciated, I had the feeling they didn't belong here. This kit will probably inspire the artsy types to make great things, but I'm more of a musical pup when it comes to creativity (check out my howling symphony!). The taste however is pleasant but has a lot to be desired, it is an alright kit but could be much better.

Rating: 5 - Ruff!

Veggie Salad Umaibo

These umaibos never cease to surprise me. Every time I get a flavor where I think "it's going to taste like THAT!?" and it turns out being really good. At this point they could probably make a peanut butter squid (shoutouts to Shokugeki no Soma) umaibo and it would be the most heavenly thing ever. This flavor is not so much out there as maybe a bit on the unappealing side. Especially for me. I'm used to meat, what kind of canine feasts on vegetables?

What lies inside is... surprising to say the least given the description. It looks and smells more like a cheese umaibo funny enough, with the bright orange color and even a bit of a cheesy smell. The info booklet for the box though does say that Japanese salads come with a variety of tastes. Is this one of them?

The taste is also more cheesy than anything but I can definitely see where the veggie salad component of this comes from. I definitely do get a hodgepodge of other flavors in there. As usual I'm enjoying the crunch but also fluffy texture of the umaibo, it pairs well with the cheesy veggie flavors. Although I was expecting a bit of a weirder flavor so I am slightly down in that regard, this is still tasty in its own right. In general though this could use some stronger flavors--besides the already faint cheese flavor I don't really get too much of any flavor here. The texture and flavor that's there is nice as always, but definitely needs a bit more of a punch.

Rating: 5 - Ruff!

Kit Kats: Amazake and Japanese Sake

This time we have a pair of Japanese Kit Kats that look very similar, but are likely to have some difference or another. According to the TokyoTreat guidebook, the Amazake Kit Kats are sweet sake, meaning that they'll be sweeter than the traditional Japanese Sake. It's also worth nothing that I have never had actual sake before, so I won't know anything about the source material. Could that make it hard to describe? Maybe, but I've had more difficult before.

Starting with the Amazake Kit Kat, which is the one included in this month's TokyoTreat box. The appearance is nothing special to describe: just a plain white. The smell of it is what I'd best guess a sake smell is like, it has an alcohol smell to it, a slight fruity smell, and bit of milkiness and sweetness.

Now I can't say I'm a fan of the alcohol smell or taste myself, but this Kit Kat seems to make it worth with a very creamy taste backing it. And as I eat more of it that taste seems to go away, and I get more of the fruity/milk flavor. It's a pleasant taste but not particularly noteworthy for me. I think it could actually benefit from a little less sweetness, as I don't get enough of the actual sake flavors.

Rating: 5 - Ruff!

Chocolate Kinako Mochi DIY

Not any especially new territory here, as I've had mochi and kinako snacks before, but the combination of them with chocolate is something I don't think I've had. It seems like it would make a good combination, with the sweetness of chocolate and the umami of kinako, with a solid base in mochi, but we'll see how this translates into DIY form.

Unfortunately, the mochi seems to have come to me broken, oh no! I'm also surprised that it's hard, as similar DIY packs have opted for soft candy here, but from what I see I'll be pouring water on the mochi to soften it up. There are also two packs consisting of the chocolate and kinako, and a utensil as expected.

After pouring the water on the mochi, things made more sense as it softened up almost immediately, and the texture definitely seemed akin to mochi. There seems to be much more kinako than chocolate which is surprising, both smell as I'd expect them to.

Weilong Super Crispy Black Pepper Steak Ramen Ball

In search of more delicious snacks, I stumbled upon asianfoodgrocer.com, which is basically a wholesale seller of Asian snacks. Naturally I saw a bunch of stuff that was very inexpensive or marked down, so I sure pounced on it! That means I have a lot of stuff sitting in a box making my mouth water right now, but before we get to the stuff I picked out I'll review this bonus item they gave me. It already sounds like it has the potential to be super delicious - ramen balls flavored like steak? Sounds like a Japanese enthusiast-wolf's dream.

Seeing and smelling what's inside has me curious, but a little worried. Appearance-wise, it strongly resembles regular instant ramen, and there may be mixed feelings on this but I'm not usually a fan, as it gives true Japanese ramen a bad name. It also smells like that beef powder from instant ramen packs, which has me worried that this is in fact just repurposed packaged ramen. But maybe it'll be better as a salty snack than as a meal? Only one way to find out.

There are some key variations from normal ramen that I notice here, mainly it seems a bit sweeter, at first. Maybe it's part of the binding agent but it sure took me by surprise. The other main difference is the pepper. When they said black pepper steak, they weren't kidding, there's a lot of pepper in here!In fact the snack is a little spicy as well... let me go lap up some water.

Back. Anyways, aside from the other aspects, the ramen snack is pretty crunch but not too crunchy like you'd expect uncooked noodles to be. I'm a little disappointed the beef flavor doesn't seem to be more than a powder, it's okay but nothing like the steak shown on the package. All in all this is okay, definitely not what I worried about. But it lacks a bit of flavor in key areas, like MEAT. Or maybe that's just me.

Rating: 5 - Ruff!

Kracie Popin Cookin Cake Shop

Many kinds of cakes here, and they all look so yummy! And rather difficult with all the shapes, but Kracie sure has a way of making it accessible to anyone. I'm interested to see how the solid components are done. There's also ice cream. Everything here looks so fun, and a bright pink color, which I assume is strawberry.

To my surprise, all the solid components are premade. That's a little disappointing, but hey, I guess it just means I'll get to eat everything quicker! That makes this one of the easier DIYs, with only two powders, a pastry bag, and sprinkles to work with. The bags I assume, are the strawberry frosting and the vanilla icing that is shown on the ice cream and wafers.

Puchao Ramune Flavor

This is one of the few examples of candy on this blog that was found at a local supermarket! So that means, either it's super mainstream or one of the best out there. Or... a lot of other things. But anyways, this gummy comes in quite a few flavors, but I picked out the ever-popular ramune flavor as my first go, and like the Hi-Chew I tried earlier, it comes with bubbles. It'll be quite interesting to see how these two compare.

Lotte Ultimate Muscle Chocolate Wafer

In a box full of pink berry-flavored items, this sure comes off as a surprise! Ultimate Muscle and romance don't really go together, but nevertheless we have this treat, which is based off the anime of the same name. Will it help me grow my puppy muscles? Probably not. Will it be delicious? Maybe.

One interesting surprise is that it comes with a sticker! This would probably more significant to me if I watched the anime. The wafer itself has quite the plain design. It would be cool if they had some print related to the anime on it. It's also very messy, leaving crumbs all over my eating space! The chocolate smell coming from it though is pretty delightful and sweet and reminds me of semisweet chocolate - my favorite!

Upon taking a bite, the chocolate doesn't seem as prominent as I thought it would, I definitely get a lot more of the wafer flavor. The wafer itself doesn't have much of a flavor though, it serves mostly as crunch, so I would've liked for either more chocolate or for this to have a flavor. The chocolate I do get though is quite delicious, and pairs well with the stark crunchiness of the wafer. It's not the most amazing chocolate ever but it does the job. Ultimately though, I'm wanting just a bit more of something from this wafer flavor-wise, the crunch is there, but my yap isn't satisfied in the taste department. Maybe this wafer too needs to workout like the characters from this anime.

Rating: 5 - Ruff!

Kracie Popin Cookin Sushi

Next in line in the Kracie kits is this one, promising different types of sushi. There's probably no way to emulate the fish flavors with candy powder in this case, so I'm expecting some delightful fruit-flavored sushi instead. Would prefer meat flavored, but that's just my nature... maybe I should start making sushi out of the pack's hunts? Anyways one cool feature of this will be the "roe", which seems to be formed by dropping bubbles into the water. And there's even a fake soy sauce!

The pack once again has a mat that can be cut out from the bag, and I quite like the look of this one, has a fancy feel. There's also the standard array of packets, a solid piece of brown candy (which will likely be the nori?) and the utensils, which are a spoon and squeeze bottle.

Tirol Kinako and Matcha Mochi

Two more Tirols! Whether they're jaw-droppingly amazing or meh, these always seem to deliver some surprises, and with unique flavors such as these ones this should be no different. I'm especially looking forward to the matcha one, as that is one of my favorite flavors in Japanese desserts, and kinako I got a taste of in a previous Japan Crate and liked it well enough, but we'll see if it shines on its own here.

For those who did not remember or did not read the previous post kinako is a soybean flour, and this chocolate has kind of a soybean taste. It's a bit like miso, sweet, kinda like peanut butter but more savory and with some umami. The chocolate is not much interesting on the outside except for a nice light brown color.

Tirol Strawberry Assortment

Another assortment of the lovely square bundles of joy that is Tirol. This one focuses on strawberry desserts which I'm VERY excited about as the strawberry jelly Tirol was definitely my favorite so far! They clearly have strawberry down and are good at recreating very complicated things in such a small package, so we'll see how they do on this.

The three desserts shown, from left to right, are strawberry brownie (my namesake!), strawberry tiramisu, and strawberry confiture. I don't believe I've even had regular tiramisu, so no frame of reference here for that one, although the confiture sounds very much like strawberry jelly, so a big aroo if it's anything like that.

Pepperidge Farm Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies

It hasn't been evident from the things I've reviewed here, but this puppy loves pumpkin. I've probably eaten enough to practically turn into that pumpkin dog from Steven Universe. Pie, cheesecake, butter cake, ice cream, cereal, pasta, you name it. Pumpkin just makes everything better. That's why I pounced on these pumpkin cheesecake cookies in the store. You have to get this stuff while it's there because it all goes away after December making for one sad pup. But hey it's good while it lasts right?

Tohato Christmas Caramel Corn

Tohato is back once again, and seems to be the Japanese go-to for crispy corn-based snacks and biscuits. This time it's caramel corn, which from the looks of the package is likely not popcorn but instead puffed corn snacks. And they're in fun Christmas tree shapes! I don't have any business dealing with trees as a wolf, but this packaging and the shapes are surely making me feel a bit more festive.

Meiji Hello Panda Matcha Green Tea Creme

Chances are most people who have seen the Asian section in a local supermarket know what Hello Panda is. It's one of the most recognizable snacks, along with Pocky, Hi-Chew, etc. And normally being the curious puppy I am, I like to try the more unique things Japanese snacks have to offer but when I saw at my Japanese market that they made these in matcha flavor I had to try. While I haven't reviewed anything green tea flavored yet, I love this flavor! Whenever I'm baking in the den I always throw some matcha powder into my treats.