by | April 10, 2012

Review: Kit Kat Bitter Strawberry Bar

Review: Kit Kat Bitter Strawberry Bar
Best Before: April 2012
Reviewed: April 2012

Sometimes, sadly, the chocolates don’t make it all the way back from Japan quite as intact as I’d like them too. I just cracked open the Bitter Strawberry Bar I picked up in Tokyo towards the end of my trip, and it’s just a touch beaten-up unfortunately, like it might have melted a touch and then solidified again. I’d like to hope that the flavour hadn’t changed too much but, well, it’s always better to disclose than not ;)

So bitter strawberry! In Japanese candy production, “bitter” is code word for dark chocolate, and “dark” seems to be code for just slightly darker milk chocolate. I’m always happy to see slightly more complex candy flavours making their way to store shelves, and so I was excited to see the folks at Nestle combining their popular go-to strawberry flavour with their recently successful Adult Dark Chocolate to create a new snack. So let’s see if it lives up to its promise?

Packaging: The basic Kit Kat packaging is very successful again, with a much darker packaging that normal punctuated with strawberries. It really stood out on stores shelves… they really know what they’re doing with their brand, don’t they? Also, the English writing was appreciated. :)

Scent: Exactly what the package promised, with the dark chocolate Kit Kat scent giving a nice aroma of cocoa before getting the extreme sweetness of strawberry. That strawberry is something else, unmistakable, and like no strawberry I’ve ever had, that’s for sure…

Taste: It held up really nicely actually, despite butting up against the expiration date and travel mishaps. The dark chocolate is strong and surprisingly rich, but still has a nice sweetness. All of the chocolate coating is dark chocolate with no other flavours mixed in, meaning the first taste on the tongue is just the slightly bitter dark. If you’re a ‘real’ chocolate afficiendando, this is closer to a 60% or 70% cocoa bar than some of the truly intense dark chocolates, but it’s definitely tastier and more complex than the standard Nestle milk chocolate.

The strawberry flavour is contained entirely in the cream, sandwiched between the Kit Kat wafers. On its own it’s incredibly sweet, but taken as a whole bite the bar starts off bitter and not very sweet because of the chocolate coating, and then finishes very balanced with a near-piercing sweet strawberry aftertaste.

Verdict: It’s rare that I say this, but this might be a perfect bar; by the time I was finished eating it I felt totally satisfied. Unlike, say, Cheeza crackers that I want to keep eating indefinitely, and some of the other chocolate  I’ve tried here at the site that I fight to get through, the last bite was exactly as much as I wanted. But maybe I shouldn’t go so far as to say ‘perfect’, the flavour didn’t blow me away or anything, but it was a nice bit of chocolate and strawberry, and it tasted exactly as I expected. A very solid execution, and I’m glad to have tried it, but I doubt I’ll add it to the rotation. Still, it’s worth a try if you come across it!

 

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by | April 4, 2012

Review: Meltykiss Almond

Review: Meltykiss Almond
Purchased: November 201
Best Before: May 2012
Review: April 2012

Released every winter as the King of Seasonal Items: Meltykiss! The chocolate truffle in a box from Meiji. Smooth, luxurious chocolate with a dusting of cocoa on the exterior, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Meltykiss is most popular seasonal snack item in Japan. Every manufacturer has come up with a Meltykiss rip-off to try and get in on the action, but until I’ve got time to do a taste test comparing them, I’m just going to say they’re pale imitations and Meltykiss is the real deal…!

But even the King has to fight to stay on top, and so the standard sorts of variations like Green Tea and Strawberry have given way to Extra Milk Chocolate, Rum & Raisin, and recently (so far as I can tell) “Whips” (which is chocolate mousse) and Almond. Unlike last week’s disappointing Almond-flavoured LOOK chocolates, this box promises a whole almond in every bite and a unique shape from the traditional Meltykiss cube. I’m pretty excited!

Packaging: As mentioned, this box promises that the Meltykisses contained within will have a unique shape, and a whole almond hiding inside. Moreover, this is some high-end packaging! A cardboard box with printing on the exterior AND interior, a bonus 5th colour metalic gold ink on the exterior AND over-the-top gold foil-stamping! The whole box seems to be underprinted with some sort of iridescent or metallic ink, or on a special paper at least, because the whole box shimmers in the light!

The box opens to reveal writing, but also a foil package within! This might be one of the most elaborate packages for consumer chocolate I’ve seen, very nice.

Scent: Really lovely. The Meltykisses give off a strong, full scent, but it’s of a mild and sweet cocoa, and it’s apparent as soon as the package is opened. What I mean to say is that the scent itself is pleasant and mild, but it isn’t weak in any way… It smells like quality I guess you could say. There’s also a very good hit of almond in the mix, which is rather nice too.

Taste and Texture: As someone who grew up eating a lot of chocolate-covered almonds (basically 2-3 times a year all through highschool either my Brother and I, or one of our friends, would be selling them through school to raise money for something…), I have a really good baseline for what your average pack-of-candy chocolate covered almond should taste like, and these are clearly a cut above. As promised, there’s a whole almond in each candy, smothered in some sort of cream, milk chocolate, and I think a light dusting of cocoa. It’s sweet, for sure, but it’s got a lot going on with the different flavours of chocolate, whatever that cream is, and the really nutty, strong taste of the almond. It’s a great, well-balanced bite, and surprisingly excellent for a bite of commercial chocolate.

It does build up a super-sweetness in your mouth half-way through the box which is a little unpleasant, but maybe that’s nature’s way of telling you not to eat 500 calories of chocolates in a go.

Verdict: These are great! I’m so happy to find such an excellent chocolate that isn’t afraid to play with taste and texture in this way. It’s even more surprising when you realize it’s a ‘spin’ on an enormously popular type of candy with a very rigourous set of rules and a maniacally devoted fan following. Way to break the mold, Meiji! Of course, I feel a little bad that I haven’t reviewed the standard Meltykiss on here yet and jumped right to a variation, but since I’ve got 3 or 4 other flavours sitting in the fridge I might be able to get to that sooner than later.

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by | April 2, 2012

Review: Kit Kat Rich Strawberry Puff-In

Review: Kit Kat Rich Strawberry Puff-In
Purchased: November 2011
Best Before: September 2012 
Review: April 2012

I love fake Strawberry flavours, and Kit Kat Strawberry in particular. I follow a bunch of Japanese snack food blogs and they tend to follow the same refrain: We’re bored of strawberry! I get it, I do, but not me. I find that to be the same as saying I’m bored of chocolate, you know? It’s a core flavour, and open to any number of interpretations, however slightly different from the original they might be.

Which brings us to: Rich Strawberry Puff-In! The anticident to the Air-In Kit Kat, these feature little rice puffs–like mini Rice Krispies–layered inside the chocolate… er, strawberry-flavoured white chocolate coating. The description promises a sweet-and-sour strawberry experience, mixed with big crunch. I’m excited!

Packaging: Bright red Kit Kat packaging with clear product illustrates what’s inside, though the writing entirely in Japanese isn’t terribly helpful to me… :-(. Still, It’s strawberry bar with puffs in it, that much is illustrated, and a little bit of Google-fu revealed at least the jist of a translation of the text.

Scent: As expected, it has a strong, artificial strawberry scent. It’s good stuff if you like it, but I imagine it’d be a huge turn-off if you don’t. It does smell a little bit richer than some of the other strawberry Kit Kat I’ve had, which is pretty exciting. I wouldn’t go so far as to say “sweet and sour”, but it’s lovely.

Taste: Unfortunately the bar didn’t survive the trip back from Japan 100% intact, and it’s a bit crushed and a bit melty, so take my observations with a grain of salt here.

Taking a bite from the middle, I’m surprised that the taste of the wafers and the rice puffs is so much stronger than the strawberry! It’s one of the most wafer-tasting bars I’ve had, on first bite, though as I continued chewing the flavours did even out a little bit more and the strawberry came back up. It’s not a super-strong strawberry taste, but it’s certainly not bad. It’s only 30 seconds after your bite that the flavour really kicks in, as the aftertaste is a very tart, sweet hit. The corners of my mouth lit up with flavour, and that’s a pretty neat trick!

The bite of the end (there’s much more chocolate coating on the end) is a lot closer to what I expect from a Strawberry Kit Kat, and the flavour is pretty standard once the chocolate/wafer ratio is worked out. The more you eat, the more the sourness kicks in as well, which is really elevates it as a whole.

Verdict: I’m really mixed about this. I tried to go in with an open mind, but as usual, I find that the Kit Kat Bar’s just don’t have the right mix of chocolate and wafer, it’s all out of whack, and it negatively affects the overall taste of the bar. But the sour strawberry bits are awesome, and once those build up it’s right up there with some of the best tasting bars. It definitely leaves you wanting more, but I do feel a bit tricked into thinking that because it didn’t get great until the last few bites. I’m happy to try it and I’d buy it again, but only if there was nothing new on the shelf.

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by | April 1, 2012

News: Japanese Beer Gets Colder With Frozen Foam

According to Japan Probe, Kirin has launched a new volley in the war on warm beer with Ichiban Shibori Frozen Nama. They use what looks like a soft-serve machine to dollop a layer of frozen beer foam on top of your delicious Kirin at -5 degrees Celcisus! They say it’ll keep the beer cold for another half-hour which is pretty… cool.

I think I like the idea of this a little better than the beer brewed slightly stronger so you could pour it on the rocks… though I’m quite honestly not going to turn down either… and I can’t wait to try both!

You can see the full press release at http://www.kirin.co.jp/brands/IS/campaign4/index.html (Japanese).

– Chris

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by | April 1, 2012

Best of the Web: Aerocize!

Head over to http://nestle.jp/brand/aero/ and be amazed.

I came across this while reviewing Aero Green Tea this week, and was a little awestruck. I don’t normally do this sort of thing, I’m not terribly interested in “Japan is so weird!” type postings, but it seems since my last visit they’ve switched the marketing on Aero chocolate bars to… a health food. Seriously. The word “Aerocize” is on the front page and apparently a fat dude is going town to town, doing a stage show, exercising in the name of Aero. There is a Youtube video, which I include here:

Chunky Japanese dude promoting exercise through Aero bars while they dance to a high-energy dance remix of “I’m Popeye The Sailor Man” is the weirdest promotion for a candy bar, ever. Even weirder than Satan being the final arbitor of the Caramilk Secret. I can tell you I didn’t feel particularly healthful after having eaten 3 or 4 of these for the review, but at the very least it’s a delicious snack. :)

If you click around the website you can see that Aero is only 27 calories and Aero is delicious and there are more videos of this chunky dude exercising and eating Aero. It is truly remarkable, and I welcome anyone with any further light to shed on the Aerocizing Phenomenon to post about it in the comments.

– Chris

– Chris

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