Scale is an interesting thing. When you look at a picture of, say a box of KitKats like the one above, you have no idea of the size of that box without a point of reference. It sort of looks like your standard cookie box back home which might be about 8-10 inches (20 cm x 25 cm) long and 6-8 or so inches (15 cm x 20 cm) wide. The box is actually quite small. In fact, after seeing this package of 8 individually wrapped "bars", I'm wondering if Nestlé is on a quest to make the KitKat as tiny as possible.
I'd say that these are a little under half the length of a standard KitKat finger and slightly wider. There is nearly as much volume in terms of the wrappers as there is in actual candy. These also certainly were not cheap for the quantity. A box of 8 is probably about the same quantity as one and a half KitKat bars and was selling in a store which is known for discounts for 169 yen (about $1.70). Still, it's not about size or price so much as taste, though one has to ponder just how good a KitKat can be regardless of what bizarre combination Nestlé Japan has come up with this time around.
These bars smell very faintly of chocolate. In fact, I was struck by the fact that these seem to be lacking in scent for how much chocolate there should be in them. The bar is a standard KitKat wafer with the sort of bitter chocolate cookie you eat in an Oreo placed on top of it then the whole thing is coated in chocolate. The bar is very crispy and has a real bittersweet taste to it. The bitterness of the cookie is very present when you first bite into it, but you get a very sweet finish.
I found these intensely chocolaty and actually pretty good. The main benefit of them is that they are so intense that you really don't desire to scarf down a lot of them. A standard KitKat is milky and mild and it's easy to eat the whole thing, but these are so strong (but not overpowering) that you can stop at one. Portion control on these is excellent with each little stubby bar weighing in at 49 calories.
Nestlé Japan did an excellent job of capturing the cookie part of this. The only thing I can say is not so great is that the fact that this is a KitKat in any way seems largely superfluous. You can't really taste the wafer or its filling, but I guess they add crispiness and that's a good thing.
This KitKat was also reviewed at Snack Love.
These definitely sound good! I love cookie snacks like Takenoko no Sato, so I think I would like this KitKat. But I agree, this shape isn't really KitKat... kind of like matcha one from last year.
ReplyDeletewow, if you didn't take that pic of the kitkat package next to the pen, I wouldn't have guessed it was so small! They sound kinda good, though I can see what you mean about them not really being kitkat-ish..
ReplyDeleteActually, I just saw a package of Petit Kit Kat at Lawson's. I think they were even smaller than this one. Didn't measure, but it was probably only two small bites or one regular size. Haven't seen these yet.
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