by | September 21, 2011

Review: Kit Kat Adult Dark Chocolate Bar

Review: Kit Kat Adult Dark Chocolate Bar
Purchased: 2010
Best Before: August 2011
Review: September 2011

Adult Dark Chocolate Kit Kats were everywhere during my 2010 trips to Japan, in both the standard 4-fingers version, and also in the chunky, bar version. I’ve honestly eaten more than my fair share of the ‘fingers’ versions, so when it came time to review this flavour I figured I’d give the bar format a whirl. Let’s see how it goes!

Packaging: The Kit Kat Adult Dark really does have some pretty ‘sophisticated’ packaging, with about the smallest Kit Kat logo on the packaging I’ve ever seen. It communicates the ‘maturity’ of the product I guess, but it is incredible vague as to what, exactly, is going on with the bar. There is a sort of a crumble of something on the right hand side, but other than a piece of the bar zooming through space it’s a little vague. Attractive, but much more effective at communicating intent than communicating what it’s actually supposed to taste like.

Scent:  The scent of this bar isn’t particularly big or bold, but it is pleasant. It smells like a reasonably rich dark chocolate.

Taste: The visual appeal of the Adult Dark Chocolate Bar is actually a little strange, as the bar is actually a sort of dull, matte texture and appearance. It’s a bit like the chocolate hasn’t been tempered maybe? It’s certainly not as attractive as many (all?) of the other Kit Kats.

The taste, on the other hand, is phenomenal. Usually I find the mix of the bars to be ‘off’, a bad balance between the chocolate (or ‘chocolatey’ coating) and the wafer and cookie interiors. But for some reason this actually manages to work out on this particular bar. There’s a ton of wafer in this one–five layers by my count, with chocolate cream between each of them. The crunchy wafers add additional taste and texture, and the chocolate is considerably more dark than standard Kit Kats. As I’ve mentioned, its certainly not the nicest dark chocolate you’re likely to have, but it’s much less sweet than the standard and the mix of thick chocolate coating with the really big wafer crunch is excellent.

Verdict: I liked, but didn’t love, the regular Adult Dark Chocolate Kit Kats. I think this is a considerable improvement over the regular, and if you want to give it a try, see if you can find the bar version on this one.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Japanese Kit Kats, Reviews

Tagged as , , , ,

by | September 19, 2011

Review: Kit Kat Cookie Plus

Review: Kit Kat Cookie Plus
Purchased: December 2009
Best Before: September 2010
Reviewed: September 2011

One of the flavours acquired over the past few years from the import-candy stores located in Markham’s Pacific Mall (30 minutes north of Toronto) is “Cookie Plus!” At some point I’m going to have to do a little write-up on the good folks at Pacific Mall who keep me in Kit Kats in between trips to Japan. But for now, lets review some Kit Kat!

Packaging: As I mentioned, its set up in the format of Cheese Kit Kats, which is to say a box containing individually-wrapped Kit Kat fingers, weighing in at 48 calories each. The packaging is a bit… huge considering that the box only contains 10 little Kit Kat fingers, although the design is fun. It’s a bit kitcheny, with cookies, placemats, adorably hand-written-esque writing. It’s not bad, but it seems a bit directed-at-housewives for my tastes.

Scent: With this having expired last year, I wasn’t really expecting a lot but there’s still a nice chocolatey smell, but the overwhelming scent is of cookies. Not quite shortbread, not quite vanilla, but a sort of a straight-ahead cookie smell that I’m finding hard to place. It smells like the cookies pictured on the box, basically.

Taste: Kit Kat Cookie Plus is probably the closest to the original taste of Kit Kat of any of the Japanese varieties, at least so far as I’ve tried. Where it really differentiates itself is in texture, as some of the wafers have been replaced with additional crunchy cookies, giving it the taste of a standard Kit Kat with a little more wafery, cookie crunch, and taste. The chocolate is nothing to write home about, again, standard-issue milk chocolate. But as a snack it’s actually really good, and is just close enough to regular Kit kats to probably find a foothold in North America.

Verdict: I dug it! Admittedly, the cookie could’ve been a little bit nicer, it was a touch stale I thought, but I blame the expiration date rather than the product itself. I’d give this one another go if they ever produce it again.

– Christopher

Leave a Comment

Filed under Japanese Kit Kats, Reviews

Tagged as , , , ,

by | September 18, 2011

News: Japanese Food Safety Following 3/11

There’s a great deal of concern about the safety of Japanese food in the wake of radiation leaks from the Fukushima reactors damaged in the March 11th earthquake and tsunami. As pointed out over at Japan Probe, these fears are being exacerbated by poor and misleading reporting of the situation, not to mention a Japanese public with little faith in their government:

“The article’s author … made no attempt to verify the statement. She just included the quote and left readers to guess about whether the Japanese government was really hiding “the truth” about radiation. Since there are few English language articles that adequately explain the food testing system, many readers may have assumed the Japanese government wasn’t releasing food safety data.

“In fact, the Japanese government is releasing food safety data. Hundreds of tests are conducted each day and results are released to the general public.

– Japan Probe

Further, one of the most symbolically important tests of radiation levels in Japanese food is underway, and the results are very heartening, and have been widely broadcast. From the NHK World website:

Radioactive tests on rice have been completed in more than half of the Tohoku and Kanto regions, and radioactive cesium has been detected in 4 percent of the samples. But the highest level detected so far is about a quarter of the government’s safety limit.

– NHK World.

I don’t think anyone was expecting a complete lack of radiation to be found in the rice surrounding the Fukushima area, so it’s good news that the level of radiation is so low, and is found in so few of the samples that are being taken. There is still the aspect of whether or not you believe in the accuracy of the government’s findings and whether or not you are terribly confident in the government, and that comes down to the individual.

I’m headed out to Japan in November, and I have to same that I’m not particularly worried about the safety of the food because of the reports like these.

– Chris

Leave a Comment

Filed under Website Information

by | September 9, 2011

Review: Kit Kat Sparkling Strawberry

Review: Kit Kat Sparkling Strawberry
Purchased: October 2009
Best Before: October 2010
Review: September 2011

So, yeah, this is one of the older Kit Kats in my ‘collection.’ Still, when I broke this baby out at the taste-test a month back, it got an incredibly strong response from everyone there! Positive? Negative? Keep reading to find out!

Packaging: SPARKLING STRAWBERRY! Mixing the red-and-pink colour scheme designed to attract the all-important female snacker demographic with large photographs of ripe strawberries and a bubbly effervesence, this packagine effectively communicates what’s on the inside–even if you’re not entirely sure what that’s going to mean when you finally taste it.

Again, this is a product intended for the domestic market as the lack of English was something of a hurdle, but at least it’s one that I’m slowly overcoming…!

Scent: Imagine the strongest-smelling, sweetest strawberry candy flavour you can–like a Strawberry Pocky or a strawberry candy from Chinatown somewhere, and then crank it up a notch. The overwhelming scent of artificial strawberry fills the room as soon as you open the package and, even years past its best before date it smells incredibly intense. It’s great stuff!

Taste: Now the thing about Sparkling Strawberry that’s a little different than regular strawberry, is that something’s been added to the candy bar that gives it a bubbly, effervescent effect. It’s a bit like pop rocks, but not.quite. It’s less explosive, and more like… well it’s like your taste buds are being tickled by some magical candy fairy.

And then you mix that with the most intense Strawberry flavour of all time!

An almost painfully intense and sweet flavour hits your tongue as you bite down into each wonderful finger of this Kit Kat bar, and as the bits of chocolate melt you get that bubbly greatness. The intensity is almost citric, the way it burns. But it burns soooo good. It’s bright and intense and sweet and strawberry and there’s bubbles and and and. Wow. Wow.

Verdict: I know it’s going to be too much for some people, I get that. But for me it’s basically one of the best and most unique Kit Kats I’ve ever tried! I can’t remember if I ever tried it back when it was fresh, but I can say that I do love it now… or at least I did. I just finished my last one for this review. Que sera, sera.

Anyway, if some other Kit Kat freak has got Sparkling Strawberry Kit Kats hidden away somewhere, do your best to get on their good side to get a chance at trying them out!

1 Comment

Filed under Japanese Kit Kats, Reviews

Tagged as , , , ,

by | September 7, 2011

Review: Kit Kat Framboise

Review: Kit Kat Framboise
Purchased: May 2010
Best Before: March 2011
Review: September 2011

I think, though I’m not entirely sure about it, that this was perhaps the first Kit Kat I bought myself in Japan, on my first 2010 trip. I found it on the shelf at the convenience store (conbini) across the street from my hotel in Shinjuku, and I remembered being slightly chuffed at the fact that the non-Japanese writing on the package wasn’t English at all… but French! Framboise (raspberry, for the French-language-challenged) is one of those words that all Canadian kids learn, because it’s on the french packaging of many of our favourite snacks and candy. I’d have to imagine that it’s a touch different in Tokyo… While strawberry is a more common flavour in Japanese candy, raspberry isn’t entirely unknown and so I was a little surprised to see them going with the French pronunciation, particularly with the katakana pronunciation written underneath…! If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say the French language on the packaging is used to denote an air of European sophistication (not unlike the ‘European Cheese’ flavour description of Cheese Kit Kats).

I should note that, unlike many of the fruit-flavoured Kit Kat bars, this one isn’t made of the white chocolate base, but the milk chocolate mixed with raspberries.

Anyway, I picked a few of them up alongside a Banana Kit Kat bar and some fried chicken (not in Kit Kat format) and headed back to the hotel room to try it out.

Packaging: A pretty pink package tied up with a bow, and a slice of delicious raspberry mousse cake pictured on the front! It couldn’t be any prettier, and while I may be stereotyping somewhat I think it’s safe to say that this product could not be aimed more at a female demographic.

This traditional Kit Kat box packaging with the two sets of bars foil-wrapped inside (portion control!) is lovely and kept the Kit Kats safe and fresh long after the best before date came and went.

This particular package has a “Sweets Concept” logo on it that I can’t place, I guess raspberry flavoured chocolate requires a high-concept product design. Ooo, look, Google! Apparently this was part of a Nestle’s attempt at a more sophisticated range of flavours. Like Framboise.

Scent: Cracking open the package the scent is very strong, but mostly of Kit Kat milk chocolate. There are other scents there, mostly really high, sweet notes, but it’s mostly chocolate with an underlying scent of raspberry. I kind of expected it to be a little more intense, but maybe that’s the trade-off for avoiding the white chocolate base?

Taste: Unlike many of the Kit Kats I try, this bar actually tastes much stronger than it smells. The sweet, jammy raspberry flavour shoots right to your taste buds, and as you let the bar melt on your tongue the only flavours you’re really picking up are sweet raspberry and sweet milk chocolate. This is an intensely flavoured bar! It’s nice though, not that complicated but an amazing sweet hit. It’s everything it promises on the package!

Verdict: It’s everything I want in a chocolate bar! Sweet, chocolatey, full of flavour. I don’t know if it’s a terribly sophisticated flavour, as Nestle may have hoped, but it is tasty and I’m hoping that they bring it back eventually so I can try it again.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Japanese Kit Kats, Reviews

Tagged as , , ,