Kabaya Rispy Basil and Chicken Crackers (QR)

In the interest of making my "quick reviews" even quicker, I've decided to label them as "QR" rather than to write out "Quick Review" in the title. I'm also sure that it will add a layer of confusion for new readers and require me to put another FYI post on the sidebar. All of the explaining about quick reviews probably will initially take me longer than writing a full review, but that's all part of the fun of blogging.

I bought these crackers at the local Inageya supermarket because I liked the name. It reminded me of "raspy", though I know that this is just a play on the word "crispy" in English. It has also been awhile since I've seen anything resembling a new potential product line, especially in the salted snack realm, so I figured they'd make for a somewhat unique experience. Forty grams (1.4 oz.) cost me about 130 yen (~$1.50) and will set you back 200 calories. The back of the bag shows a glass of bear beer next to a plate with 5 little crackers. Since each is about the size of the tip of a particularly large thumb (though not quite as big as Sissy Hankshaw's), I imagine most people would eat more than a measly five of the approximately thirty pieces.

The flavor combination on these, basil and chicken, sounded like a winner, and I wasn't disappointed. They are very savory and have a nice blend of saltiness, chicken, onion, and garlic coupled with just enough basil to leave a faint impression on the tongue. Since basil is pretty easy to overdo, this is a very welcome turn of events.

The main selling point of these is how crunchy they are, and they live up on that front as well. Each is a slightly thick, but not in the least bit tough, pillow of crackery goodness. This is thanks to a high level of fat which manifests in ever so slight oiliness, but nice flakiness in the crackers.

These are quite a nice little treat and I'd recommend giving them a try if you come across a bag despite the goofy effete little fellow illustrating the bag. I'm not sure what someone who looks like one of the 3 musketeers has to do with crispy basil chicken crackers, but perhaps we're supposed to think that he's French and they're renowned for their crispy bread. It's a pretty tenuous connection, though the crackers are made to resemble loaves of bread.

Random Picture 64

Pepsi has introduced yet another in its small line of infinitesimally different Pepsi drinks. This is in contrast to its line of extremely odd and interesting drinks like Pepsi Baobab, Pepsi White, and the nadir of Pepsi weirdness, Pepsi Shiso. The main selling point of Pepsi Dry is that it is a less sweet version of Pepsi. Perhaps there is something wrong with my taste buds, but few colas strike me as overwhelmingly sweet. Of course, it could be that I just consume so many artificial sweeteners that my tongue has become deadened to the effects of real sugar. At any rate, this offering is 11 calories per 100 ml., which makes it a mere 55 calories per 500 ml. bottle. Clearly, less sweetness carries the benefit of also having less sugar and fewer calories. I haven't reviewed this, and I'm not sure that I will because I'm pretty sure it won't be significantly different from regular Pepsi. Also, I'm not quite ready to pay 147 yen ($1.80) for a bottle of soda. When it shows up for 100 yen in the cut-rate bins, I may give it a go.

KitKat Zunda

The earliest charity items for victims of the Great Tohoku Earthquake were T-shirts. Other items are sluggishly following at their heels and these KitKats are Nestle Japan's entry. The sale of each bar will add 10 yen (12 cents) to the Japanese Red Cross's coffers. It's a pretty nice gesture, and I'm sure that if these sell well, a tidy sum could be donated.

These bars are unusual in their distribution because they are a non-standard flavor of KitKat, but on sale at supermarkets. Usually the "specialty" KitKats are mainly available for a limited time in convenience stores, but there was a huge display of them at my local Inageya supermarket. The odd thing was that they are 128 yen ($1.56) at the market, but only 108 yen ($1.32) at Family Mart convenience stores (click the picture above to load a large version which shows the respective displays with their price differences). I'm guessing that someone at Family Mart decided to go with the standard KitKat price rather than some sort of suggested retail price, but that is pure speculation. I'm rather at a loss to explain it, but clearly you're better off buying these from them.

Zunda is mashed green soy beans (or raw edamame) and this particular cuisine is a specialty of the northern Tohoku area. It makes sense that they'd choose something associated with the region the sales of the bar are meant to help. It's also an interesting choice for a KitKat. In fact, it's probably one of the more curious options that have come along in a long time.

In terms of flavor, this is a white-chocolate-based bar and very sweet. Since the flavor is "green" soybeans, it's no shock that the first bite carries a grassy flavor that gives you that telltale sense that you're munching on something with chlorophyll. The soy bean aspect is very mild and by the end of one finger, you pretty much are eating a sweet white chocolate KitKat with a mild soy and grassy aftertaste. Even my husband, who is not a fan of soy or edamame, didn't find this unpalatable because the taste of the main element was relatively mild.

This is an okay KitKat, and the flavor choice is a pretty enticing one. I wish I could say it was the bee's knees and that everyone should run out and stock up on a load of these before they go away. However, this just isn't that incredible. It's moderately interesting, but rather sweet and mild. If you can pick one up in Japan, I'd say do it to satisfy curiosity, but I wouldn't buy it more expensively from an importer. If you want to help the victims of the tsunami and quake, donate directly to the Japanese Red Cross because it'll probably mean more than 10 yen from the sale of this bar anyway.

Glico Pocky Mint

Not too long ago, I said in comments that the flavors that are exotic-sounding to foreigners like green tea, sweet potato, chestnut, sakura (cherry blossom), etc. aren't really a sign of Japan's adventurous nature with flavors, but a reflection of the fact that they have different flavor norms. Back home, we have cinnamon, mint, and peanut butter as our flavor norms. Note that I chose those three flavors because they are relatively rare finds in sweets in Japan. As if to make a liar out of me, Pocky came out with this mint flavor. I'd like to say very loudly for all Japanese snack makers to hear that they don't combine chocolate and peanut butter very often. Please make a liar out of me again.

I found these mint Pocky at 7-11 around at various other places including markets, snack shops, and other "konbini". I can't remember what they cost exactly, but for some reason the figure 127 ($1.56) sticks in my mind. There are two packs with eleven sticks in them each. Eating an entire pack (1/2 the box) will set you back 126 calories or 11.5 calories per pretzel stick.

When you open the package, you are greeted with the familiar smell of mint mingled with chocolate. The first bite is stronger on the mint than the chocolate. The bittersweet chocolate flavor only starts to settle in around the third stick and the mint cools your tongue. The pretzels are a little on the soft side, but still add a nice textural element. They do nothing, however, for the flavor. Unlike Pucca, which add a nice rye flavor to whatever they are combined with, Pocky pretzels tend to be more of a bland vehicle for the coating.

I liked these quite well, though I really could have done with a little salt on the pretzel and a stronger chocolate component. If you're thinking Girl Scout "Thin Mints" or even "After Eight" mints, think again, but if you're looking for something mild with a nice crispy texture, these will nicely fill the bill. Pocky fanatics should be delighted. As someone who is all well and good with the Pocky concept, but not really on board with any sort of aggressive relationship with them, I was happy to sample these, but I'd probably go for something more intense to get my mint on in the future.

Market O Real Brownie

I've been seeing big boxes of these "Market O Real Brownies" at Costco for quite some time. One of my students even bought a case of them while she was there and only later realized that as a petite single woman, she might be eating them for the next two years. I wasn't going to gamble on a big box of an untested baked item, no matter how grandiose it's claim is about producing a "real" brownie. Brownies are very difficult to get right even when fresh, and it's that much harder when they're packaged to be shelf stable.

Because I have the chance to buy these slightly cheaply at Costco, I jumped at the chance to buy just one 35-gram (1.2 oz.) serving for 120 yen ($1.35) at 7-11. Note that though these are being heavily marketed in Japan, they are produced in Korea. The scribbly characters on the front of the package are Korean, not Japanese, but all of the information on the back of the package is in Japanese (not a sticker over a Korean label, but originally done in Japanese). So, we have a Korean brownie with Japanese packaging and clip art depicting a Western woman and her kid around 1950. These are cross-cultural brownies.

The brownie is nicely chocolatey, but quite sweet. It has a strange aftertaste that may be associated with preservatives. It tastes like a chalky version of actual chocolate as opposed to an actual brownie. It's lacking in that quintessential "baked" flavor of a brownie. The small brownie has 173 calories, which is pretty dense for such a relatively small morsel, but not out of line for something made with butter and sugar.

I can certainly make a much better brownie than this, but that's not really the question. The question is whether or not this would satisfy you if you wanted a brownie in Tokyo and couldn't or didn't want to make your own. The answer is that "it might". It really depends on where you place the bar for your brownies and how you like them. This is dense and somewhat rich without being very fudgey or moist. It's certainly better than most of the brownies you can buy in bakeries in Japan, which tend to be closer to dry cake than an actual brownie. In fact, compared to a standard bakery brownie, this is actually quite good. It just doesn't come close to a homemade brownie or one made from a Western-made mix, but if I was jonesing for a brownie to accompany a cup of coffee, I'd choose this over any of the other available convenient options. I wouldn't buy a case of them, but I'd pick up another single brownie if I was in the right mood.