Review: Cheeza 65% Camembert with Cream Cheese

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Review: Cheeza 65% Camembert with Cream Cheese
Gifted: July 2013
Best Before:  April 2014
Review: September 2013
Website: http://www.glico.co.jp/cheeza/cream.html

So I’ve become something of an evangelist for Cheeza crackers, simply because they are the best cheese crackers on earth and easily one of the greatest snacks I’ve ever tried. I was going back through my archives here, SHOCKED that I haven’t reviewed literally every flavour… I’m sorry you guys. I’m sorry.

For those of you who don’t know, Cheeza are cheese flavoured crackers, created b the good folks at Glico. They are made up of varying percentages of cheese, and then baked down into crackers, and they are delicious.

The fall into the category of “Otsumami” or, effectively, bar-snacks, and are usually stocked next to the booze at convenience stores, and usually consumed with your choice of imbibement (but usually beer). In fact, the official website has a pretty ‘direct’ serving suggestion:

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I mean, if she’s having a beer and a Cheeza, who am I to argue? And! Can I tell you how thrilled I am about this new Suntory x Glico campaign that is apparently starting soon…? Eeeeeeee! SO EXCITED!

Uh, now onto my impartial review. Thanks to Aki Yanagi for bringing these back from Japan for me!

Packaging: This is a bit of a departure for Cheeza, with the foil packaging shining without anything interfering. This must really pop on the store shelves, and I think it looks pretty classy. The rest of the packaging is to Cheeza’s high standard, with two different cheese images, product shots, and a couple of well-placed blurbs. The back’s serving suggestion (plate of Cheeza and a beer) is a true classic, and I’m glad I can’t figure out just HOW bad these must be for me because everything on the package except CHEEZA, nutrition info included, is in Japanese only. The foil package with a resealable zip-lock type opening is also appreciated, though frankly, unnecessary. I can’t remember a time I didn’t finish this off in one go.

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Scent and Taste: These smell great, really earthy and a little pungent. Very appetizing.

As for the taste? As compared to normal snacks, these are Cheeza, and so they’re phenomenal. The cream cheese adds a little more creaminess to the standard camembert Cheeza, and the crackers are crisp and crunchy. The combination is phenomenal, I highly recommend it.

Verdict: Within the pantheon of Cheeza though, how do these stack up? Well, honestly, Camembert Cheeza are basically perfect, and any time you add anything to them you run the risk of screwing that up. The Camembert with basil worked out very well, the tomato versions though… didn’t. Gorgonzola was hit-or-miss depending on your feelings about blue cheese. So cream cheese then, is basically an inoffensive addition that dials down the sharpness of the cheese a little but adds a creamier, full-mouth feeling. It’s nice, but the reason I eat Cheeza is to have the flavour just knock me out completely, and anything that takes away from that seems like… a mistake. It’s not though, I’m just being too picky, but given the choice between these and the standard Camembert, I’d probably go for the standard 9 times out of 10.

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News: Upcoming Chu-Hai limited edition flavours

If you head to the Kirin Chuhai website, you can check out these awesome upcoming chu-hai flavours! I’m really looking forward to trying as many as I can on my upcoming trip!

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Kirin Dry Lime! Released September 3rd.

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Kirin Litchi! Release September 17th.

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Kirin Frozen Citron! Apparently fresh-frozen yuzu juice is used. Released October 15th. Press Release.

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Kirin Apple Nouveau! Apparently fresh-frozen apple juice is used, from the Fukushima area of Japan. Released November 5th. Press Release.

0731b_03_sKirin Pear! Made with fresh-frozen pear juice from the Fukushima area of Japan! Released November 5th. Press release.

I think it’s very cool that they’re going out of their way to promote the economic recovery of the Tohoku region with these flavours. I hope people support them!

– Chris

 

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Review: Kit Kat Adult Passion Fruit

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Review: Kit Kat Adult Passion Fruit
Gifted: July 2013
Best Before: March 2014
Review: September 2013
Website: http://www.nestle.jp/brand/kit/product/

I am lucky enough to travel to Japan fairly frequently, but despite that I still feel like I’m always missing some of the cool and exciting limited time flavours that are released to the Japanese market. It’s even more difficult in summer, when it becomes treacherous to ship chocolate and certain types of candy internationally without it melting along the way. This year, I was very fortunate to receive a gift of Passion Fruit Kit Kat from friends travelling from Japan to San Diego Comic Con, and so I got a little treasure-trove of cool, limited edition flavours! I’ll share them over the next few weeks, now that the site is updating more regularly. Thanks Aki, for bringing me such cool stuff!

So, first up, Passion Fruit Kit Kat! A flavour I was THRILLED to hear about, and even happier to get a chance to try for myself.

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Packaging: I gotta say, this is a bit of a let-down from some of the other Kit Kat I’ve purchased. I mean, sure, bright yellow package and big pictures of fruit, but aside from the colour the design looks unfinished, way too many elements (fruits, bar, logos, text, cookie bits, etc.) and not put together. I mean, it’s bright yellow Kit Kat, that’s cool! But it’s a little thrown-together. The interior packaging isn’t any better, the small bars have no photographs (or English) anywhere on them. The area on the back to write messges is glossy instead of matte, making it tougher to write. Just a little disappointing overall.

Scent and Taste: These things smell AMAZING! The scent is very bright and strong passion fruit flavour! It’s so neat, and immediately impresses at the same level as the buttery, syrupy pancake Kit Kats, one of my favourites. There’s none of that telltale white-chocolate Kit Kat smell, none that I can detect anyway.

As for the taste, it’s really… inconsistent? Some bits end up with a strong, slightly acidic passion fruit flavour with that same citric acid burn that the best Kit Kats feature. But other times, the white chocolate coating dulls the overall impact, as it seems most of the passion fruit flavour is sandwiched between the wafers, and the chocolately coating is kinda… meh. It’s weird, every other bite, depending on where the wafter lands on your tongue, is either bright and sharp and tasty, or just sort of there. I think part of the problem might be the crumbled up biscuits that are also included, as they are in ALL “Adult Kit Kats”, which are essentially flavourless and just there for extra crunch. These are crunchy, and the texture is nice and cookie-like because of it, but it doesn’t do the flavour and favours.

Verdict: All in all, I think this is a successful Kit Kat flavour, and an interesting addition to the pantheon of great Kit Kat tastes. It’s just a shame that, seemingly for a market strategy, they’ve dulled the flavour considerably (passion fruit has a BIG natural flavour). The Adult Raspberry Kit Kat was bright and great, and though hobbled by the Adult problems (crunchiness, extra cookies) it was still stunningly successful.

These are definitely worth trying, if you can find them, but they aren’t quite a home run.

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News: Comics, Cheeza, and Torys Whisky

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3 of my favourite things have come together in an amazing way: Comics, Booze, and Japanese Snacks!

If you head over to http://otsumami-p.jp/, you’ll find the special website for the Cheeza X Torys Highball collaboration! Cheeza (as you should know by now) is one of the greatest Japanese snacks, and Toys Highball is a brand of whisky-highball-in-a-can, made by the Suntory corporation (For Relaxing Times…). Uncle Torys is the mascot, a 1960s style flat illustration of a man about town. Fab!

At the site, you can see a 9 part fumetti comic series (parts 0 to 8) where the Uncle Torys, the advertising mascot for Suntory Whisky meets the famous actress who advertises Cheeza crackers! use Google Chrome as your browser and it’ll translate most of the text for you, and you can click on the 0-8 on the left side to read all of the parts chronicling their meeting and the new product reveal!

The new product is Cheeza Napolitan, or Napolitan Pasta Cheeza.

Needless to say, I will procure and review this snack, a.s.a.p.!

– Chris

P.S.: Here’s a really great blog post on the creator of Uncle Torys, including an incredibly politically incorrect Suntory Whisky ad: http://www.goofspot.com/bamboo/features/ftri0507.htm

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Review: Pocky Hot Cocoa (Kumamon Edition)

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Purchased: August 2013
Best Before: November 2014
Review: September 2013
Website: http://pocky.jp/

Kumamon is the name of the adorable bear who adorns this particular box, and he’s the mascot character for Kumamoto Prefecture, in the north south of Japan… and in case you were wondering, yes, he is the most popular mascot character in all of Japan! He won a vote last year. When I saw him for the first time, I instantly fell in love, he’s just a dopey looking, happy bear. I mean, woohoo! Then I saw him 10,000 more times over the course of the week, as his likeness now adorns literally anything you could think of. Seriously. http://kumamongoods.com/ Apparently this is because you can apply to Kumamoto Prefecture to use his likeness on your product, free of charge! You just have to ask the gov’t first, and then you’re good to go if they give you permission. I can’t get over what a neat idea I think this is, and kudos to the Kumamoto Prefecture folks for doing so.

So how then, does the Kumamon X Pocky collaboration add up? Well considering it is Milk Cocoa flavoured (ostensibly from Kumamoto milk!) I’m pretty excited about that, at least, as I think there’s a lot of potential. And hey! The box is totes adorbs. I can’t wait.

Packaging: Eeeeeee! I love this derpy bear. Luckily I’ve been practicing my kana so I can read that it’s “Milk Cocoa” flavoured, but the lack of English is a bit of a bummer. Still, the design is fantastic, and I love the image of Kumamon floating over Kumamoto Castle on the back too. I can imagine any child (heh) would love to carry this around with them!

Scent and Taste: Opening the package, the scent really exploded from the package! The milk cocoa is definitely there, though it’s a little sweeter (maybe it’s milk cocoa with marshmallows?). Actually, it smells a little bit like tea-flavoured snacks that I’ve had in the past.

The taste is much nicer than the last bear-themed Pocky that I tried, with a bolder flavour overall. There’s definitely a strong hint of chocolate/cocoa, and the lightly flavoured biscuit stick cuts some of the sweetness making for a nicely balanced taste.

Verdict: This, I believe, is what Pocky should taste like. I mean, sure, the regular chocolate, strawberry, and Banana flavours are great, but this Milk Cocoa is a worthy addition to the team. I still have a few problems, like the slightly oily aftertaste left after polishing off a package, but all in all if I had a sweet craving I’d feel good about grabbing a Kumamon Pocky.

I’d also feel good grabbing any number of Kumamon branded goods, frankly.  I’m gonna try to grab this towel next time I’m in Japan, actually. J

http://kumamongoods.com/?pid=41311223

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