Calbee Hitokuchi Bizen

 こんばんは!

I saw these on sale at Mitsuwa for $1.99 and was psyched. I love whole grain-y and fruit snacks and bars and these Calbee Hitokuchi Bizen biscuits embody everything I look for in a treat. However when I got home and checked my receipt, I discovered I was charged $5.99 for them! This officially makes this snack the most expensive one I've reviewed so far.

(Hitokuchi means bite-size, hito=1 kuchi=mouth)

The box is great as it lays out exactly what is in the snack. There were a couple of other varieties as well but this combo was the most appealing to me. Not to be repetitive but I really love the box design...

 

This variety contains figs, prunes, bananas, walnuts and two different grains.

 

There are 4 packets in the box which contain 4 bite-size pieces. The bags are punched with a hole at the top...usually I see this when you expect to hang them on a peg in a store. I'm not sure why these particular bags sport that feature.

 

I'm torn on the flavor. My first impression was that it tastes like bread crusts. As I ate the rest I felt that the flavors of the banana, prune and fig were nearly undetectable. There was a slight hint of banana but nothing else. The fig did leave it's mark in the texture as it had the same some of small scale crunchiness that Fig Newtons have. I was not as impressed with this treat as I had hoped to be, though I will finish the bags. For $5.99, I will most definitely pass over these on my next Mitsuwa trip.

Bourbon Petit Cakes

 こんばんは!

Today I decided to try Bourbon's Petit Cakes with some tea. This little package was merely $1.99 at Mitsuwa and since I like few things more than pastries, I figured it was worth the price. I've tried Bourbon's Tomato and Chili crackers in the past (check it out here!) and they were just OK. I suppose like anyone, the company was worth a second shot.

The only choice was the choco chip flavor which did not bother me. The packaging is fine though slightly unremarkable compared to some of the snacks I've reviewed in the past.

 

It looks more like a double chocolate flavor to me! The little cakes are a cute-sized bite or two. It's hard to compare a treat like this to anything in America. The only snack cakes I tend to see in stores are the large and preservative filled Hostess/Tastycakes/Entenmanns.

 

(This shot isn't half bad! Thank you for forgiving my terrible photography!)

The flavor of these little cakes are funky. The chips give a nice burst of chocolate but the cake has some off notes that I cannot put my finger on- chemicals? The texture is very airy and slightly moist. I doubt I would buy these again due to that mystery flavor. I appreciate the size and idea of this treat but it falls flat.