Fujiya Look Hinyari Salted Ice Cream

With Tanabata (aka the star festival, held on July 7th) done and dusted, the chocolatiers of Japan are bringing out a bunch of new chocolates ahead of actual summer kicking into gear. At the time of writing, it hasn’t, but I do think we’re at the tail end of rainy season now. ANYWAY. Fujiya have brought out a new Look flavor, Hinyari Salted Ice Cream. It contains two “ice cream” flavors, salted vanilla and vanilla with salted caramel sauce. They’re both alright, though the salt flavor might cross the line into a bit too strong, especially in the salted caramel case. They’re not my favourite Look flavors, but they’re nice enough that I can see myself eating them again.

Glico Pocky Choco Mint

While we’re still in the throes of rainy season here, summer has kicked in whether you go by the calendar or prefer to use the solstices. The chocolate makers of Japan have duly brought out their summer ranges and chocolate mint has most definitely made a return this year. Hereabouts, the choco mint version of Glico’s famous Pocky sticks have been getting rave reviews and I tend to agree with them. I think the key thing with these is the mildness of both the mint coating and the cocoa Pocky sticks. The balance is really good, with neither flavour overpowering the other, but they’re still more than adequately tasty. While they’re very different texturally, they remind me of mint Aero bars in Australia, or even a Mint Chocolate Drumstick ice cream.

 

Tirol Chocotto France Kibun

Getting excited about French things happens just as much in Japan as elsewhere and Tirol have decided to channel that with their new Chocotto France Kibun (mood) multipacks. Each pack contains about 7 chocolates, a mix of three flavors: creme brûlée, gateau au chocolate cake, and chocolate eclair. The wrappers are in the colors of the French flag and, as you can see, are rather cute. The chocolates themselves are quite nice too. The chocolate eclair flavor actually manages to be quite eclair-like, smooth and very creamy with the dark chocolate outer layer only just breaking through the creamy inner taste. The creme brûlée is another win in the creme brûlée-flavored chocolate department, suitably bitter and caramel, and while the gateau au chocolate cake is mysteriously crunchy, it’s still quite pleasant.

Starbucks Cookies and Cream Chiffon Cake

Even when I try to cut back on Starbucks, for they’re more expensive than the local chains hereabouts, I often find myself drifting back there, if only for the free Wifi when I’ve invariably gone over my phone’s data limit for the month. Thus, I found myself at Starbucks the other day and ordering a slice of the Cookies and Cream Chiffon Cake. I wasn’t sure what to expect from it, but it was actually very nice, the sweet blandness of the cream offset nicely by the cocoa, almost salty taste of the cookie crumbs littered on top. The cake itself was soft and moist. All in all, a very nice sweet treat!

Fujiya Look Heisei Desserts Mix

At the end of April, the Japanese Emperor officially abdicated and thus ended the Heisei era. On May 1st, the Reiwa era began. Very little changed as a result, unless you’re required to fill in some manner of official Japanese document and need to identify the year. Anyhow, to celebrate the end of Heisei and the start of Reiwa, Fujiya released a new Look set of chocolates, with four flavours contained therein that channel the popular desserts in Japan of the Heisei era. Thus, we have tiramisu from Heisei 2 (1990), creme brûlée from Heisei 3 (1991), mango pudding from Heisei 17 (2005) and fresh caramel (2006). My favourite is probably the caramel, admittedly, with the creme brulee coming a close second. I’ll give mango pudding third place, because it’s pretty strong, while the tiramisu, while nice, still doesn’t quite capture the dessert as well as I’d like. This is actually quite a fun collection, though, and all of them are pretty nice.

My Captain Cheese Tokyo Cheese Chocolate Burger

Last week, one of my students surprised me with a box of treats. Inside the box, from My Captain Cheese Tokyo, there were two neat columns of what are called cheese chocolate burgers. They look just like cheese burgers but the “bun” is actually made up of sweet puff pastry and the sauce is actually sweet cream. Lest you start thinking that the square of “cheese” is purely decorative, though, it is allegedly cheddar-cheese flavored chocolate. When you open the packaging, there is a distinctive cheddar scent and while the taste isn’t as strong as cheddar cheese might actually be, it is still decidedly cheesy. They’re… ok, I guess. Cheese isn’t my thing so it feels a bit unfair for me to call. But I didn’t dislike them, anyway, though I’m highly unlikely to purchase them myself. The whole thing is pretty quintessentially “weird Japan” to me, but the website claims they are inspired by the US west coast. It’s a treat to try just to say you did, or if you’re a (really) serious cheese lover.

KitKat Everyday Ruby Nuts and Cranberry

A few curious-looking packets from KitKat started showing up in my local 7-11 in early May. A closer inspection of these packets, with their large jar image, revealed them to be KitKat bites targetting working women who want an everyday treat.  They are clusters of nuts and cranberries, each coated in either traditional milk or ruby KitKat chocolate. There are only a few in each packet and they cost around 200 yen, a bit more expensive than a standard KitKat but still reasonable. The whole idea of making “working women” a niche market irritates me. Are working women are really missing out in the rest of the chocolate market? I mean, I’m a working woman and look at this blog. As a sweet treat, however, these are very nice. I’m honestly not sure what, aside from the colour, is meant to be the difference between ruby and standard milk chocolate, but they are cute and the design is nice too.

(Sorry for disappearing! I think it was the whole vortex that was the 10-day Golden Week that threw me. Alternatively, it may have been the weird unicorn ring from Tully’s. Anyway, here’s hoping I’m back to posting regularly?!)

Tully’s Unicorn Ring

Earlier this week, I found myself at a branch of Tully’s and eyeing the sweets behind the counter. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this thing leapt out at me and I felt compelled to try it despite really having misgivings about the name choice. Proving to be quite a contrast to my dark-as-my-heart straight black coffee, the Unicorn Ring is a pastel coloured, over-decorated confection. The doughnut itself – for that’s what it is – is pale pink and the white chocolate icing (i.e. the reason this has appeared here) is pale blue with the pretty decorations shown above. I didn’t hate the thing, though the reasoning behind its existence concerns me, but it became obvious pretty quickly that the appeal was in its appearance rather than the taste. Yes, I should have guessed that just by looking at it, but Tully’s so seldom lets me down that I gave it a chance anyway. It’s mildly sweet and, seriously, that does work well with coffee, but the texture doesn’t work for me. It’s not just the silver beads that I don’t like, though they are irritating, but even the doughnut itself was a bit too hard. I probably won’t get this again, though I confess to now being curious about the Unicorn Roll Cake that’s also apparently available.

Fujiya Salon De Look Strawberry and Pistachio cake

Fujiya has quite a lot of these Salon de Look cake-themed chocolates floating around at the moment, and one of those that has appeared at my local supermarkets is this, the  strawberry and pistachio cake. While I love pistachios as nuts, their chocolate form doesn’t always work for me, so these were definitely a pleasant surprise. The tart strawberry and dark chocolate worked well with the mild but definite pistachio flavour, and the texture of the insid was soft without being fluid, a clever touch. It might be an unusual combination, but it’s a good one – and it’s visually striking too! Unfortunately, them being at the supermarket is a sure sign that their availability time is nearly up, but I’ll see about picking up some more while I can!

Mister Donut Sakura Choco Fashion

So it’s fair to say that Japan goes a bit sakura (cherry blossom) crazy and the excitement starts well in advance of the first blossoms opening. One manifestation of the build-up happens at cafes across the land, and Mister Donut duly has a range of sakura-flavored doughnuts currently. The Sakura Choco Fashion is a variation on their usual old-fashioned chocolate doughnut that uses a cherry-flavored, slightly pink dough. The flavor that (apparently) best channels that of the cherry blossoms is definitely cherry, but it’s more mild than what gets used for just plain cherry offerings. It’s nice enough, anyway, and it makes for an interesting doughnut. The chocolate completely dominates the cherry flavouring, but you still have the other half of the doughnut with which to enjoy that. It’s almost like getting two-for-one and I liked it well enough, though I’d probably opt for getting one or the other flavors rather than the combination in the future.