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!

Senzu Bean Edamame Snack

 

Edamame is always a fun little Japanese snack. So much flavor from such a tiny bean, and it seems to come from the saltiness of the pod itself. It's quite a unique thing and I'm surprised it's not in more cuisines. I'm skeptical of this snack like I am many other salty snacks, but I hope this one manages to get the flavor just right. And then hopefully I'll be popping them in my mouth nonstop like edamame.

The snacks seem to be shaped to resemble an edamame pod, and they get the color right, although the shape could definitely be a little less rigid. They have a very salty smell as well, almost a little too salty, and then a smell that does resemble edamame but it's a little off. I can't tell what it is, it seems to lack depth.

One of the major differences from edamame right off the bat is the crunch. It certainly makes the whole snack taste a lot different from how I'm used to it. While the smell fell a little flat, the taste certainly has more depth. It's quite rich, earthy sweetness accented by a lot of saltiness but not drowned out by it, and I'm certainly popping quite a few in my mouth as I go. It actually manages to capture the feel of edamame well despite being a completely different texture. They did a great job here, and though it took some adjusting at first I'm impressed at the depth of flavor in this unassuming snack.

Rating: 9 - Arooooo!

Minute Maid Craftz Cherry & Peach

Now this was quiet a welcome drink to see in TokyoTreat. Not only is it not a soda once again, but the combination of flavors sounds quite vibrant and refreshing. Like the transition from the spring cherry blossoms to the summer peaches. Seems accurate for May, huh? It even has some sakura flavor in it. Even though May isn't here until tomorrow, I guess I'll be celebrating the end of spring just a little bit early.

The drink has a little lighter color than expected, and seems to resemble the peach more than the cherry. The smell is absolutely wonderful. I thought these flavors would blend together in theory, but in reality it's actually even better. The tanginess of cherry and the light sweetness of peach seem to meld into something like a sweet syrupy flowerbed, which... makes absolutely no sense. I'll get a better sense when I taste it.

The tanginess of cherry definitely comes out much more in the taste, and it's quite a shock but still works very well. If it were just the cherry, this drink might be a little too harsh, but the peach melds that tartness into something softer and more palatable. It's still quite refreshing and brings to mind a stroll through the May flowers, but with an extra little punch. Maybe that's the thorns of one of the roses. I think I would've preferred the way my smell depicted this, with a nice blend of comforting sweetness. But what Minute Maid has in actuality here is still quite good, just wish a slight unpleasant grittiness along with the nice sweet medley.

Rating: 7 - Aroof!

Shin-Chan Gummy, Cola

 

Quite a simple little candy here, just a cola gummy. With a Shin-Chan character on it. I don't watch Shin-Chan though, so all I see here is a lady with very buggy eyes. Maybe that's her reaction after eating the gummy? Not sure if that's good or bad.

The packaging actually completely fooled me here and I thought it was the ramune variant because it appeared blue through the white filter so I assumed it was ramune. It's a little disappointing to have another cola gummy but they always bring a nice strong flavor. This one in particular seems to be no exception from the smell.

The gummy has a really nice texture, not chewy but quite soft actually, like slightly more solid jelly. The flavor I'm not enjoying quite as much as that texture. It's not as bold as the smell, and seems to lack sweetness as well to help bolster that. In fact, it doesn't taste like too much of anything. And with that tiny of a gummy it better be memorable. This was at least pleasant but definitely not any kind of taste experience that stands out.

Rating: 3 - Rrr

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!

Lotte Petit Choco Pie

Everything about these little pies looks so good! From the drizzling chocolate image, to the velvety cream within, to the scrumptious fluffy chocolate, there's a lot of excitement to be had. And as a party pack, there's 8 of them! Hopefully choco pies are every bit of the greatness that are pictured on their packaging.

The pies unfortunately are a bit smaller than I'd expect (they are "petit" after all), it still looks quite delicious, and very close to what it does on the cover. From one sniff I get both the chocolate which balances out sweet and chocolatey nicely, and the cream within, which doesn't always happen with filled snacks.

The textures are a mix of velvety softness. There's the outside with slightly more bite, then the inside chocolate which is softer and gets close to melting in your mouth, and then the cream filling which does melt in your mouth, drawing everything together with cream. It's basically reminiscent of a moon pie, which are also wonderful, and this doesn't fail to be the same. Everything is well done between the chocolate flavor and the cream, even the balance of flavors pans out where I don't get too much cream or too much chocolate. My biggest complaint is that these are way too small! I believe Lotte does make a larger version. As it is this one makes it so I'm going to go through the 8 included pies very quickly seeking even more chocolatey, creamy goodness.

Rating: 9 - Arooooo!