Monday, November 5, 2012

KitKat Vanilla Ice Cream


With little chunks of ice and a waffle cone with a few scoops of vanilla ice cream on the package, it will surprise no one to learn that this is a summer leftover KitKat. It was introduced on June 25, but according to Nestle Japan's web site, it's still on the roster. On the one hand, thanks to climate change, we appear to be finding that we're generally giving autumn a miss and living in a prolonged summer, so those who continue to sweat into the early autumn may find the illusion of a cooling treat appealing. On the other, seasonal flavors in Japan are something all the natives and non-natives alike look forward to. I'd be saying, "bring on the sweet potato and chestnut", but right now the newest mini variety is a white chocolate "adult sweetness KitKat". I guess Nestle Japan isn't in the fall spirit yet.

Since most of the new KitKat flavors are a crushing disappointment, I have been unwilling to invest in buying them despite having more reasonably priced access than most via Nijiya Japanese market. I'm particularly reluctant to pop for the $7 price tag on the standard large size bag of minis when I have a strong feeling that they'll taste like overly sweet disappointment. The only reason I went for this was that it is a smaller than usual bag of minis. With only 4 small bars and at a price tag of only $2.19 (175 yen), I figured that the chances that I'd be suffering buyer's remorse was relatively low.

I'm using my KFC Christmas plate for white food because they photograph better on a dark background, and this is all I have in my puny selection of dishes at present.

The bar does smell a bit like vanilla. Fake vanilla is, after all, a pretty potent scent. The bars have a very sugary, slightly gritty texture in addition to the trademark wafer crispness. The white chocolate coating is soft and yielding with no snap of its own. The first bite carries with it a potent, but not overbearing, vanilla flavor coupled with something which is reminiscent of frozen dairy confections. Subsequent bites, however, reveal an odd fake flavor which becomes increasingly reminiscent of powdered milk and the cheapest ice cream in the store. At the end of the second finger of the mini, it was potent enough to overwhelm the experience.

This is not a bad bar, but it's not an especially noteworthy one either. It is, like most of these white chocolate bars, extremely sweet. While I don't regret picking up this 4-pack for the price I did, I'm glad that I didn't buy a bigger bag as it'd feel like a huge waste of money. As it is, I sampled a bar, my husband will likely eat one, and a craving for super sweet candy will see us through the other two. However, I would not buy this again, and unless you truly enjoy artificial flavoring, powdered milk, and very sweet white chocolate, I would not recommend this to my readers.


10 comments:

Retrograve said...

I was thinking this ice cream with kitkats in it, like the other strawberry one you showed last time.

Orchid64 said...

I realized that this might be confusing after the post was already up. Being a fan of confusion, I went with the flow.

Your interpretation is utterly reasonable. :-)

Thanks for reading and commenting!

Emelie said...

Wow! I just had one of these bags before reading your blog! They were sold for 105yen for 2 bags (with 4 pieces in each bag) at the 100yen shop : )
As you sad, super sweet. But I prefer the summer flavours instead of the autumn ones!

Me said...

I am a big fan of kit kats but these were really boring, just sickeningly sweet and one-dimensional

Orchid64 said...

The price was great for you, and I'm guessing they were so cheap because the season is finished.

Thanks for reading and commenting!

Orchid64 said...

I see we are in total agreement "me". ;-)

Thanks for reading and commenting!

brit_brat100 said...

You've probably seen/tried it, but Mitsuwa in San Jose has Pumpkin Pudding flavor now.

brit_brat100 said...

You've probably seen/tried it, but the Pumpkin Pudding KitKats are available at Mitsuwa in San Jose now.

Orchid64 said...

Hi, Brit_brat. I have seen it, but I reviewed it before and it was fine, but not fantastic and it's pretty expensive so I didn't bother to try it again. I gave it a "happy" rating, and if it was cheap, I might give it another go, but there's a lot more new stuff to try first. ;-)

Thanks for reading and commenting!

World Of Snacks said...

We just tried these for the first time and loved them. Take a look at our most recent post on our international snack blog!

www.worldofsnacks.com/blog