DIY Popsicle Kit

Summer is rapidly approaching, and though it's still a little chilly outside here, TokyoTreat comes to the rescue for those hot days with this popsicle kit. Oh, you mean there's no actual freezing involved? Well then it's perfect for days like today! It'll be interesting to see if they try to still make this kit have the cooling sensation that popsicles are known so well for.

Much like the candy apple kit, the contents are simple: some pre-made candies and two toppings. I'm not sure what exactly the toppings are, looks like a syrup and... powdered sugar? I taste a bit of the syrup and it seems to be ramune flavored, and the powder... what is this stuff? It has such a cooling sensation to it, I'm really impressed, whatever this is. The ramune candy doesn't have much of a smell, but there's an intoxicating strawberry smell coming from the entire package.

The assembly process is not the cleanest one. The syrup adheres well, but the cooling powder in turn doesn't seem to adhere that well to the syrup. It actually seems to merge with it a bit, which is a little odd. But here we go! It's an odd combination of flavors. The strawberry candy is nice, but I feel like it needs something different than what's presented to it. The ramune syrup and cooling are nice touches, but it still doesn't give me a popsicle sensation. I guess I am crunching it and not licking it after all, but what's a hungry pup to do? The ramune one is even more questionable. It comes off a little strong at first, but has a weird aftertaste? Something about it is not pleasant and I can't put my finger on it, but it crosses the flavor line into a not-so-great place. Overall I can't really recommend this one, the strawberry candy is okay, but every other decision going into these popsicles is questionable.

Rating: 2 - Awrr

Maruta Nericcho Soft Ice Cream DIY, Strawberry and Cider

Japanese candy includes many attempts at imitating ice cream without the meltiness, with varying but usually positive degrees of success. Now we have it in DIY form, with two flavors and these very happy little ice cream cones filling each other. The cider flavor (which likely means ramune) is of particular note, as I haven't had ice cream quite like that before. Maybe it'll work, maybe it'll be a disaster, or somewhere in between.

The contents of this DIY are quite simple, but simplicity can be sweet. A packet representing the ice cream, a spoon, and three cones. Which seems like a bargain considering only two are shown on the package!

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

Tohato Sakura Shrimp Potato Rings

The other sakura themed item in this box, we have sakura shrimp. Which may not actually be sakura flavored, as sakura shrimp are in fact a type of shrimp. And I can't really say I've even had those before. What I can tell is that this is a variation on the Tohato potato ring I've had before, but the first one was sweet potato flavored, so I expect more of a savory flavor for this one. Also the packaging absolutely enamors me, the triangular pyramid form factor is rarely ever seen so it's a treat to have here. This is also part of the party pack so there are plenty more where this came from!

To my surprise, the potato rings are a bit smaller than I was expecting, but I guess it makes sense given the smaller package. Not much to say about the appearance otherwise, they're rather plain looking but that's to be expected with this type of snack. The potato smell is definitely more dominant here than the shrimp smell but I do get both. I expect the shrimp flavor to play more of a background role here, accenting the potato to provide some extra flavor profile.

Like I predicted, the rings are more dominant on the potato side. The shrimp seems to be a rather sweet shrimp flavor. However, the two flavors don't seem to play off each other as well as I thought. It seems like they're always at odds, which is odd because this seem like it could work ala fish and chips. But the shrimp and potato do seem to be in their own universes, only overlapping occasionally.

I don't really think I get anything significant from eating this either. It's not quite satisfying, and I don't enjoy either the potato or shrimp flavors because they're always clashing with each other. It's not quite enough of a savory taste, or enough of a sweet taste. Definitely left feeling underwhelmed here, which was a shame, because I had high hopes for this after the last shrimp snack.

Rating: 2 - Awrr

Koikeya Sour Plum Chips

By now I've more than had my fill of strawberry, and cola.. and chocolate, though you can never had enough of that. Thankfully, the fine folks at TokyoTreat may have seen this coming and threw in a completely different flavor in the form of plum! I'm not the most familiar with plum flavor, but that makes it all the more exciting. I am also curious how these will taste in chip form.

DIY Minions Furifuri Shake

Okay I should give this a 1 just for the Minion but I won't. Like seriously, if you're going to put up a cute goofy creature on a package it should be me! I get into plenty of trouble but can give puppy eyes with the best of them. I'd sell way more DIY shakes than this yellow abomination. But hey, I guess it kinda makes sense since this is a banana flavored shake. And as my 2nd DIY item, I'm pumped to give this a try, because as much as I love eating I love making and playing with food just as much! Oh yeah and milkshakes. They make me feel like a cat lapping up milk (how disgraceful), but they're so good.