Sidenote: Marion Crepe

 こんばんは！

I had an awesome experience today! I went to Mitsuwa in Edgewater, NJ for my once or once every two months trip for lunch and treats. Aside from some delicious una-don (rice bowl with broiled eel), they had a special Marion Crepes booth! Mitsuwa often has a specialty booth set up and it varies depending on ...I don't know, maybe the month or something. Last month they had a booth showcasing sweet potato products from Hokkaido.

I've seen crepe trucks or booths in animes on occasion, and I've seen plenty of crepe stalls at American street fairs. However, the crepes I've had here look a lot different than the American ones....

(This is not my picture but was taken at the same exact booth at Mitsuwa in CA- my crepe looked the same minus the strawberries. See all the cool plastic crepes in the display?!)

The booth at Mitsuwa is an actual chain in Japan called Marion Crepes! They had 10 or 12 different varieties and a display case of the plastic versions so you know exactly what you are getting. Most were sweet and involved combinations of whipped cream, chocolate sauce, strawberries and bananas. A few were delightfully odd such as the tuna pizza crepe which seemed to be filled with canned tuna, cream cheese and lettuce.

(This was the paper cone...I did not have the camera with me at Mitsuwa- sorry!)

I opted for the whipped creme and chocolate sauce crepe, which was likely the most basic but totally worth it. The crepe was made fresh in front of me, rolled up into a paper cone and stuffed with not-too-sweet whipped creme and chocolate sauce. It was amazing. The crepe was warm and flavorful and was filled with the perfect amount of sweetness. For $5, I was floored. I would love too, but likely will not, drive the 45 minutes to Mitsuwa every day to try a different variety. This surprise cultural delight was an unexpected and incredible experience. 

Fujiya Puff in Chocolate

こんにちは！

This Japanese snack was one of those quick and cheap impulse grabs from Mitsuwa. At $.89, I didn't really care what was under the wrapper- the graphics are cute, it's Japanese, score. I actually figured it was a lollipop or hard candy of some sort based on past snacks.

 

The company who makes this snack is Fujiya. Their mascots are those unusual looking little retro kids. I've seen them make a ton of chocolate treats in the shape of their characters or Anpanman, etc. To be honest, I don't think I've ever had a snack by them so this was a worthy experiment.

The wrapping is great. The outer plastic protects the inner foil wrapper and chocolate. The foil is plastered with bright little images of their mascots and lets me know that the candy within is Puff in Chocolate. Now, that I knew it was chocolate, I assumed that inside the chocolate was marshmallow since other Japanese snacks use the term "puff" when it is marshmallow. This snack was full of false assumptions for me. The puff was actually krispy cereal bits.

 

Now, I have to be honest, I'm not sure if it was the candy or an off day for my taste buds but this candy tasted like chemicals. I'm talking about the serious kind I use at work in the housekeeping department of a hotel. I kind of waited a second and the milk chocolate flavor came through but I was too freaked and spit it out. 

I would consider trying Fujiya treats again, but maybe not for a little while. I'm hoping something got funky in transit and there were not actually chemicals in the chocolate.

Lotte Doraemon Cappucho Biscuit

こんばんは！

This week I tried this ultra cute looking tube of Doraemon biscuits. For $1.99, I couldn't resist the bright graphics! PLUS there is an included Doraemon sticker with a Doraemon secret printed on it.

 

In case you haven't heard, Doraemon is an extremely popular children's character in Japan. He's in pretty much everything you could imagine- TV shows, manga, toys, snacks, video games...and on and on. He is a cat robot from the 22nd century.

 

Even the top piece of foil is adorably decorated.

This is my favorite part of the packaging. I love the bright contrasting colors highlighting parts of the character. CUTE. I usually don't go so nuts over packaging but something about the snack really gets me.

 

(The sticker says he's from the "22th" century...heh)

The snack is produced by Lotte, which is a Korean company that tends to make a ton of Japanese treats. This is yet another variation of the popular chocolate covered biscuit. It's actually difficult sometimes to find treats that aren't nearly identical to this. The treat itself was rather mediocre and bordered on disappointing. The layer of chocolate was thin and the interior biscuit sort of stale.

Who am i kidding? I really bought it for the packaging. The sticker was actually a surprise! I suppose I didn't really inspect the package when I purchase it and was excited to find it. Each sticker is imprinted with a Doraemon secret. I couldn't really get the gist of this one...it had something to do with kimono sashes. Ah well. What is a cat robot doing with a kimono anyway?

MaruKyo Ketchup French Fries

 こんばんは！

I'm reviewing a surprising Japanese snack today....MaruKyo's ketchup french fries! I picked these up for a little variety at Mitsuwa for $1.99. I tend to pick up a lot of sweet snacks and so I figured I needed to spice it up...plus the packaging is kind of cool.

 

This snack is made by Maru Kyo, which is a Japanese food company, although these particular "french fries" are manufactured in Taiwan. I prefer having the entirety of the treat made in Japan but there is just something equally enticing and frightening about "ketchup" flavored anything.

 

(Little sticks of heaven...also, I think my photography skills have slightly improved)

Have any of you tried French's potato sticks? These are pretty much the same aside from the ketchup flavoring. I was not predisposed to thinking this snack was going to be delicious. I've already reviewed Bourbon's tomato crackers and they tasted like powdered marinara sauce. These. Were. Amazing. They were crispy and the ketchup REALLY tasted like ketchup. I was shocked! The flavor was not overpowering, but just right and somehow they avoided making it taste like fake tomato.

While the whole bag is one serving, I divided it up into some smaller ones. I had to really exercise some self control, you could easily consume the whole snack in a minute or two.

Sidenote: Odango

I decided to go all out on my Mitsuwa trip last week and buy a pre-packaged sweet I've only read about in manga/seen in anime etc. Now, I've had takoyaki and taiyaki and various other snacks popular in daily life in Japan, but odango are something I've not often come across. This package of three skewers was $3.49 in a refrigerated display.

I wasn't really sure what to expect since I did not read up on the details before I purchased them. They are comprised primarily of rice flour and doused in a savory/sweet brown sauce. On further study after the fact, I discovered this particular serving is called mitarashi dango.

Now, I've had cakes made of rice flour before and was not a fan of the sticky, chewy, and flavorless experience. Aside from the brown sauce, I felt the same about these. They are SO sticky that a good portion continued to stick to the skewer even after I tried to eat it. Now, I don't know if it was just these particular odango, but I certainly was not a fan. They weren't terrible but the cultural experience was the only redeeming factor.

Namennayo Card & Gum

こんにちは！

I took a trip up to Mitsuwa this morning and picked this treat up without any hesitation. It's a cat dressed up in clothing AND comes with a card with MORE pictures of cats dressed in clothing. How odd and awesome! It cost a little more than I like spending on small treats ($2.19 to be exact) but sometimes the adventure is worth a few more cents, right?

 

I did a little research on this and it seems a guy named Satoru Tsuda started this trend of taking photos of cats dressed in clothing back in the 1980s. I'm assuming there has been a revival or something since this gum and collector's card just came out.

(There are apparently some super secret 3D ones I didn't luck into getting)

The cats on the card I got are dressed as deliquent Japanese school students, hence the bandanas and unbuttoned shirts.

 

The back features the license of the cat "Chibisuke"...I'm guessing he's the smallest of the cats by his name.

 

The pack comes with a piece of gum that is simply bubblegum flavored. It was pretty soft and tasty, though the flavor lasted approximately 20 seconds.

 

I love purchasing things with a sticker or card...it's a super cute, relatively inexpensive way to sell candy and get kids (or people like me ;) ) to buy more. I wish I saw stuff like this in America!

Tenkei Strawberry Marshmellow

こんにちは！

aaaaaaaaaand, we're back! The new camera has arrived and so I am back on track with normal updates. Sorry for the long delay! My old camera went missing in action for a while. I'm not a great photographer anyways so please be kind while I figure this one out.

 

(pafu to ichigo- puff and strawberry)

For today's treat we have Tenkei Strawberry Marshmallows. I've seen this sort of treat around forever, but this is honestly the first time I've tried it. When not for blogging or novelty's sake, I'm slightly more cautious on which treats to spend my money and these stuffed flavored marshmallows just sort of weirded me out. Now, don't get me wrong, I actually love Peeps, but there was something about grape and cola flavored packaged puffs that did not sit right with me.

Each marshmallow is individually wrapped and there are 3 marshmallows per suggested serving which amounts to about 34 kcals per puff. Not terrible if you have a sweet tooth.

I sort of found this treat to be mediocre. I didn't hate it but I probably won't go back for seconds.  It's VERY sweet and is more reminiscent of a strawberry ice cream strawberry flavor. The marshmallow is softer than your average Jet-Puffed brand marshmallow and the inner strawberry filling is creamy, though a bit chalky. There is also a sweet powder covering the puff that likes to stick to your fingers (and then to your brand new camera while photographing said treat).