Kozy Shack Rice Pudding: After my good experience with carrot cake at the hospital, I ordered dessert again for lunch. This time, I ordered rice pudding only to find it was a pre-packaged Kozy Shack, which probably shouldn't have come as a surprise. Nonetheless, I think this may be the first time I've had Kozy Shack pudding, which I know is a lunchbox staple but wasn't in my household. The texture of the rice was very soft and gloopy, and the vanilla-flavored pudding was far too sweet. Would not eat again. 1.5/5.0
avoid kozyshack rice pudding 1.5
Marusan sesame honey soymilk: Taste is reminiscent of black sesame porridge you can buy in powder packets. All three flavors are present (black sesame, honey, and soymilk) but fail to work together. Very sweet, strange flavor overall. Not recommended. 1.5/5.0
marusan japanese drinks soymilk avoid blacksesame 1.5 honey soy sesame
Mary's Gone Crackers Everything Pretzels: Each pretzel stick is shaped like a twig and sized like a skinny cinnamon stick, with a texture that did not match my expectation for a pretzel at all – it's crispier, as if fried. The sticks are covered with an array of seasonings like poppy seeds, sesame seeds, and caraway seeds, but the flavor combination overall tastes like burnt garlic. One of the more unpleasant snacks I've consumed in some time. 1.5/5.0
avoid organic vegan marysgonecrackers everything pretzels 1.5
Matchabar Rose matcha milk tea: I really enjoyed a bottled Fuji ginger matcha drink from Matchabar a few months ago and decided to try a freshly-made beverage from their small to-go window in Soho. This rose matcha milk tea, while colorful, was actually quite bad - very sweet, and quickly diluted. Hardly any green tea flavor, and tasted like watery milk after only a few minutes. Definitely $5 wasted. 1.5/5.0
avoid drinks nyc matchabar rose matcha milk tea 1.5
Meiji Ujikintoki Ice Bars: I've been very slowly working through this box of popsicles for about a month now. Having previously tried a Lotte version of packaged kakigori ice bars, I decided to try this matcha version not realizing it was from a different brand (Meiji). These ice cream bars are really quite bad; the green tea ice is very hard and crunchy and lacks flavor, whole red bean throughout the ice have a very dry texture, the viscous condensed milk that sits on top of it is far too sweet, and the outer coati... (read more) 1.5/5.0
popsicles japanese dessert avoid maretsu icecream popsicle meiji ujikintoki ice bars 1.5
Milwon Black Rice Steamed Bread: Frozen steamed buns are some of my favorite quick breakfast items. Back when I lived next to HMart, I would purchase them frequently. After not having had them for several months, I was happy to find some at my local Korean grocery store. These Milwon buns are made with black rice, which gives them a speckled purple color. Each fits comfortably in the palm of your hand and has a red bean filling. The only positive thing I can say about this product is that it's not too sweet. Otherwise... (read more) 1.5/5.0
korean redbean asian milwon black rice steamed bread 1.5 avoid