Kabaya Delicia Chocolate Strawberry Biscuit

 こんばんは！

There seems to be a great variety of chocolate-with-biscuit styled Japanese treats. I have tried a few in the past and I am bound to try some more. The idea is great- similar treats a la "Le Petit Ecolier" are extremely delicious. I believe it was my husband who snuck this particular chocolate-with-biscuit snack into our basket at Mitsuwa.

The packaging design is pleasant if uneventful. I'm sure the feel of the words are lost in translation but the biscuits claim to be a dichotomy of "airy and thick". 

 

While there are not a lot of treats in the box (8 to be exact) this style of packaging is my favorite. I am fully convinced that good packaging predisposes me to enjoying the product. The box opens to reveal a small bit of text about the biscuits and the individually wraps treats inside.

 

I love this shot...the actual treat compared to those great diagrams the Japanese seem to put on nearly every snack. The top layer is milk chocolate followed by a strawberry sauce infused whipped cream chocolate. The biscuit is, of course, a biscuit.

The whole treat was surprisingly good! While I usually don't prefer white chocolate, the "whipped cream chocolate" had a delicious vanilla and cream flavor. The biscuit was hearty and sweet and kept up well with the heavy chocolate. I almost appreciated the parts over the whole but everything combined well. While I have not seen other Delicia flavors, I would consider buying these again in the future.

Glico Strawberry & Choco Pakitz

 こんばんは！

Today we have a Glico product called Pakitz and this particular flavor is a combo of strawberry and chocolate. I have enjoyed Glico products in the past (they are the masterminds behind the ever-popular Pocky line of products) and so I figured I have nothing to lose in this fancy looking chocolate bar. I picked this up at Mituswa for $2.29.

The packaging is the quality I have come to expect from Japanese treats. The bar is wrapped in foil and placed inside a cardboard box. Despite the shipping, it has come into my possession in perfect condition- no cracks or breaking. The box does not have super exciting graphics but it is colorful and happy enough!

 

There are two packs of Pakitz inside the box which is great. The bar is pretty big and I don't have to worry about the other half going stale if I do not get to it right away.

 

Pakitz are...odd. The idea of the product is chocolate with krispies inside of a wafer. The downfall is that the chocolate does not stick to the wafer in the least. The wafer feels more like a mold with chocolate inside and not a part of the bar as a whole. The wafer was flavorless and not a great textural addition. The chocolate itself was just passable. The fake strawberry flavor was very intense and unlike the pleasent creamy strawberry flavor of the ice cream variety. I would not venture into the other varieties of Pakitz, however my love for Glico is still strong.

Meiji Black Chocolate

こんにちは！

I am a big fan of both Meiji and dark chocolate so I've been eying Meiji's Black Chocolate for quite some time. At $2.49 a bar, I kept passing it over but I finally decided to give it a whirl. I purchased this on my last trip to Mitsuwa in Edgewater, NJ.

The wrapping design is simple and appealing. It makes the chocolate seem adult (which is typical of dark chocolate products I suppose!). I will admit the simple paper and foil package itself is more reminiscent of American products that the typical over-packaged Japanese ones. I've come to appreciate the Japanese style packaging so I'm a bit disappointed!

 

I find it hard to describe chocolate as the nuances mean very specific things like when tasting wine. I'll do my best! Meiji's Black Chocolate is a low percentage dark chocolate. It has slightly bitter note but it is also very sweet, even sweeter than Hershey's Special Dark. The texture is waxy and smooth. It's not terrible dark chocolate but it is by no means impressive. This is probably the first Meiji brand snack I have not been head over heels about. Based on my past Meiji purchases, I will continue to try their products but I will probably not pick this one up again.