Tops Rare Cheese Yogurt

It's hard sometimes to convey the value of a product that isn't available to the majority of your readers and Tops brand cakes are something you have to have experienced to understand their (relative) value. Most of the cheesecake in Japan does not resemble New York cheesecake. It is either chiffon cake which is made with cream cheese, baked cheesecake, or some bizarre bastard off-spring of sour cream, whipped cream, and cream cheese which lacks the heft and luxurious feel of cheesecake.

 The real deal, in all of its fattening glory.

The steady exception to the unpredictable and strange "cheesecake" offerings is Tops. Their shops are in some stations and in department stores and they sell the only cheesecake that I will be sad to say goodbye to when I finally pack my bags and quit this land. It's dense, rich, covered with a light frosting, and has a nice base.

This yogurt had a lot to live up to, and I know that I had to adjust my expectations. This is yogurt, not expensive cheesecake from a select shop. That being said, if they're going to slap the Tops name on the label, they'd better give me something. You can't put out a lure like that and not let me reel in a big fish.

When I first peeled back the foil, I was presented with the smell of regular yogurt and a very thick, white offering. Digging your spoon into it shows that it has the same textural quality as warmed cream cheese. The first bite is very much that of yogurt, but by the third bite, it takes on more of a cream cheese dense cheesecake sense to it. By the end, it was definitely carrying the essence of a Tops brand cheesecake both in richness and general flavor.

It's important to keep in mind that this is yogurt, and it's not going to fill the space of a really rich slice of cheesecake. That being said, this is an interesting experience and will remind you of the real deal. At 109 calories for 90 grams (3.17 oz), and at a cost of only about 100 yen ($1.20) when a small real Tops cake is considerably more expensive and exponentially more calorific, this is a chance to experience the fringes of decadence for a fraction of the cost.

Morinaga Chocolate Caramel

Morinaga offers a variety of caramels in an old-fashioned box design. They both attract and push you away because they seem uniquely Japanese, but they seem like the sort of thing that your grandfather kept in a drawer in his garage when the taste in his mouth from chewing tobacco felt a bit funky and he didn't feel like rinsing off his dentures.

The truth is that my experiences with this line has revealed a very finely-made caramel with a soft texture. The "black sugar" caramels remain one of my favorites. For those with other tastes, there are also adzuki, green tea and plain old caramels available as well. This chocolate version is new. The web site for the product says they were released in Tokyo in August of this year. It also promises that the sweet chocolate and caramel flavors will "satisfy the heart".

The ingredients for this include "syrup" (probably sugar syrup or fructose-based syrup), sweetened condensed milk, sugar, vegetable oil, cocoa powder, wheat protein, butter, black honey, salt, sorbitol, and "flavorings". One thing about most Japanese caramels is that they are rarely made with butter, so they are fine in texture and tasty, but lack deep, rich buttery flavor. That's generally not a problem, but it does make them a different experience from eating European-made caramel.

You can find these in most supermarkets and dedicated snack shops. For the time being, they are also available in convenience stores, but I'm guessing that will change once the product ages a little more. The price is usually 100 yen ($1.20). There are 12 caramels (4.9 grams/.17 oz.) in the box and each is 21 calories.

Candy like this often does not have a strong scent and this was no exception. It smelled faintly like caramel. The texture is nice and soft , offering a good chew without pulling out your fillings. The caramel is pleasantly sweet without being overbearing, but it doesn't really taste strongly of anything and the chocolate element is so weak as to be nearly undetectable. The fact that "cocoa" is so far down the list of ingredients is a clue as to why this may be the case.

These are fine enough as a generic caramel. They are well-crafted and pleasant to chew on, but ultimately don't leave much of an impression. Certainly, I'll slowly finish the box, but I wouldn't buy them again. I'd rather buy the more flavorful black sugar caramels.

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I liked the way this water was named, and I wish that there was actually a flavor that tasted like "relax". That'd be awesome.

I think food reviewing would be a lot more interesting (and popular) if we could flavor things with feelings or experiences. Of course, we all know what the most popular variety would be if this were possible.

Meiji Snow Wasabi Baby Cheese

If I didn't write this blog, there is every chance that my 4:00 pm snack each and every day would consist of a small portion of some type of cheese and some sort of accompanying salted snack (crackers, pretzels, etc.). Frankly, there is little that I find more satisfying for me than this pairing. I'll take this savory combo over sweets most days. I'm guessing this is part of getting older and having moldering taste buds that can detect only stronger flavors, like the pungency of cheese and the heavy salt of a cracker or other such like.


These packets of small processed cheese blocks are sold in supermarkets and convenience stores all over Japan. They usually cost 100-150 yen depending on the brand and the number of blocks in the pack. This one was 100 yen ($1.20) at Seiyu supermarket. There are four 18-gram (.63 oz.) servings and each is 57 calories. There are usually salami, almond, and various fortified flavors (added Iron or Calcium). This wasabi version isn't incredibly common, and appealed to me because I like things like jalapeno cheddar back home. I like the combination of spiciness with the coolness of cheese.

When I peeled back the foil, I was disappointed to see that there weren't little green bits of wasabi embedded in the cheese. The ingredients list reveals that powdered wasabi was used to flavor it. That isn't necessarily a bad point, but from an aesthetic point of view (and that does play a role in enjoying food).

These don't smell like much. They have the same bland aroma of processed cheese. The cheese flavor is not particularly strong. It comes across as more like cream cheese that operates as a base for the wasabi flavor. The wasabi is fairly well-balanced and is neither too strong nor too weak and the cheese seems to stop it from doing the usual punch to the back of the sinuses that I get from wasabi.

If you're a fan of wasabi, this makes a nice accompaniment to a pretty bland cracker. It's compact and easy to serve, which makes it more convenient than squeezing wasabi paste and placing cheese individually on a cracker, but it is a little expensive for what you're getting. Still, it's nice to keep on hand as a quick and handy snack, especially in your office refrigerator.

Lotte Ryoma Sakamoto Yuzu Cookies

I've had these cookies around for an incredibly long time. This is not a testimonial to the unpalatable nature of the cookies, nor necessarily to my laziness (okay, perhaps it's at least a nod to my sloth), but rather to the slow rate of my consumption of treats. There are 11 cookies in the box, and my husband isn't a fan of yuzu so I've had to slowly eat them all myself. I'm pleased to say that it was a task I enjoyed.

More of the Ryoma Sakamoto line of snacks has made an appearance in my area since I initially discovered them and reviewed the sweet potato cakes. While those who have forgotten what I said about him in the first review or never heard of him in any way may think he's a Japanese chef, he's actually a political feature. It's like America putting out George Washington pretzels, bubble gum, and Oreos (cherry-flavored, no doubt).

These cookies are flavored subtly with yuzu, a Japanese citrus fruit which tastes like a cross between a grapefruit and a lemon. It has unique properties which I can't really convey, but it is a good citrus addition to a wide variety of snacks in Japan, both salty and sweet. In fact, it's one of my favorite flavors.

The cookies are tender and slightly soft on the inside, and a little crispy on the outside. They share this property with Country Ma'am brand cookies, though the textural contrast between the exterior and interior is less profound. Each cookie is 5 cm. (2 in.) in diameter and provides 47 calories. The cookies smell lightly and pleasantly of yuzu's unique scent and the flavor is lightly sweet. The citrus flavor is mild so that you can taste the qualities of both the cookie and the flavoring.

These cookies are really a delight, but I would caution that they are quite subtle. Their delights are as much in the texture as the flavor and they are not going to suit someone who likes more robust offerings. I found them to be really enjoyable with tea, and I'd definitely consider buying them to take home and share with people who may be squeamish about uniquely Japanese treats and flavors. They may not love them, but they surely wouldn't find them unpalatable, and there's a good chance they'd enjoy them as much as I have.