Mont Thabor Chocolate Croissant: The best and most popular baked item from this shop is their Hokkaido milk bread, a pastry that can easily serve 2/3 people and consists of a fluffy baked bread with a sweet crumble coating. I had purchased it once but seemingly didn't photograph it, so here's a another item I purchased from the bakery instead. This is a chocolate croissant, shaped like a cornucopia, that has both a chocolate sandwich cookie at its end plugging a very rich and substantial chocolate filling. The entire pas... (read more) 3.0/5.0
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Mont Thabor Ohina-sama Pastry: This week, I moved to a new part of Tokyo and left Azabu-Juban, the neighborhood I was living in for 3 months. One of my favorite parts of Azabu-Juban was its variety of small historic businesses: there was the original taiyaki shop, a nuts and beans shop that's over 100 years old, and this bakery, Mont Thabor, that opened in the neighborhood 40 years ago and has since expanded to several locations. The bakery overall was a solid neighborhood bakery - the prices are reasonable, and the pro... (read more) 3.5/5.0
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Chokai Kogen Blueberry Yogurt: Given the quality of the pear yogurt I had from this Japanese brand, I bought the other flavor available at my local grocery store: the blueberry yogurt. According to the company's website, the blueberries are grown in Yamagata Prefecture on the Gassau Plateau. A layer of blueberry compote, with whole berries, sits on top of the yogurt base. The yogurt is very smooth and has a uniquely soft yet light texture. Personally, I found the blueberry compote to be more ordinary and close to othe... (read more) 3.5/5.0
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Chokai Kogen La France Pear Yogurt: A local grocery store offers this unique yogurt made in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. The 400g mini tubs of yogurt (offering around 3 servings) consists of two layers: a base layer of yogurt that is smooth and acidic, and a layer of fruit compote that sits on top. The first flavor I bought was the La France flavor, which is a type of pear from Yamagata I hadn't heard about before. Looking up more information on the pear, it looks a bit like a D'Anjou pear, but here it's been cooked down to ... (read more) 4.5/5.0
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Yamazaki Biscuits Co Nori Chip Star Potato Chips: These chips are like Japanese Pringles, with more Asian flavors than you would normally find for Pringles. They come in a similarly-shaped cardboard tube but the stack of chips inside are further wrapped in sealed packaging. I bought the nori-shio flavor, which had specks of seaweed. They definitely had a distinct nori flavor but otherwise taste just like Pringles, which is to say they are thickly-cut potato crisps whose flavor dries largely from the oil they're fried in. If you like Pri... (read more) 2.5/5.0
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Denroku Porippy Spicy Peanut Snack: I found these peanut snacks in what seemed to be the bar snack section, with a variety of nuts and dried seafood. I've had versions of this snack before in rice cracker mixes; it consists of a crispy rice cracker coating surrounding a single roasted peanut. It has a very unique sweet and savory quality, with a mix of seasonings and flavorings including honey and nori. Very tasty and affordable! Would definitely buy again. 4.0/5.0
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