Morinaga Chestnut Cake: The Japanese snack aisle is full of seasonal items, and it looks like we're now in chestnut season, with a variety of chestnut-flavored cakes and desserts. I purchased the Japanese version of Choco Pies from popular brand Morinaga, consisting of a circular cake base filled with a layer of creme and covered in chocolate. Overall, I prefer the texture of Choco Pies, whose cake is less crumbly (most of the individually wrapped cakes in my Morinaga box were not in one piece when opened), and t... (read more) 2.0/5.0
japanese inegaya morinaga chestnut cake 2.0
Glico 牧場しぼり Affogato Ice Cream: These little ice cream cups, about the standard size of paper-cup ice cream snacks you'd get as a kid in the states, come sealed in plastic packaging. The affogato flavor consisted of milk ice cream surrounded along the perimeter and at the base with an espresso-flavored ice, whose consistency was somewhere between shaved ice and bruleed sugar. Overall, it was decently enjoyable, in the way that normal store-bought ice cream has a familiar but comforting taste. 3.0/5.0
icecream japanese glico 牧場しぼり affogato ice cream 3.0
Glica Cafe Ore Purin: I've always loved Japanese purin, or custard pudding with a sweet caramel base. It has a very satisfying jiggle that's more set than American pudding but less bouncy than Jello. I had never tried the Glica coffee version, which is flavored after the beverage line Cafe Ore. it has a typical yet still robust coffee flavor; the roasted coffee taste does round out the typical sweetness of the pudding (though it is definitely still very sweet). Would purchase again! 3.5/5.0
recommended japanese pudding glica cafe ore purin 3.5
Lotte Cheese Tart with Lemon Toppo : These are straw-shaped biscuits with an icing-like filling that are popular convenience store snacks in Japan. The biscuits are a little bit smaller in circumference than Pixie Sticks, a bit wider than Pretz crackers. I purchased this box thinking it was egg tart flavored, but the tart pictured on the packaging is actually a cheese tart with a bit of lemon from the Setouchi Region of Japan. You can definitely taste the lemon, but the cheese has more of a more neutral creaminess – kind of ... (read more) 2.5/5.0
japanese lawson lotte cheese tart lemon toppo 2.5
Meiji Essel Super Cup MInt Chocolate Chip Ice Cream: As far as flavor goes, this is a pretty standard mint ice cream, the type that's white rather than seafoam green and has thin slivers of chocolate throughout rather than chocolate cubes. The main reason I'm writing this review is for the size of the ice cream, which is a standard single-size serving you see everywhere in Japan. Even in normal grocery stores, I haven't seen gallon or even normal-sized pints. This container is slightly larger than the ice cream cups you'd get a field day gro... (read more) 3.0/5.0
icecream japanese meiji essel super cup mint chocolate chip ice cream 3.0
Calbee Black Pepper Potato Crisps: There are two Japanese versions of Pringles that I've seen on the shelves from major brands Calbee and YBC. Both come in familiar tennis-tube packaging and feature a hyperbolic paraboloid-shaped stackable chip. The differences are minor: the Japanese chips are a bit thicker and tend to taste more of fried potato than of their powdered flavoring. These black pepper flavored chips have a decent spiciness to them and are otherwise fairly expected – neither good nor bad. I recently learned t... (read more) 3.0/5.0
japanese inegaya calbee black pepper potato crisps 3.0