Reviewed by
Mary
Summer is here, and this month’s TokyoTreat selection has been inspired by Japanese festival season – Summer Matsuri!
The booklet is always very informative. There’s a full menu of all the items, which include descriptions and an allergy guide.
You can also read a ton of cool trivia about Japanese festivals, from the various different origins, to the foods served, and even about some of the flavours featured in the snacks.
KitKat Cookies & Cream
TokyoTreat always includes one of the amazing Japanese varieties of KitKats. This month with have a limited edition for summer, covered in white chocolate with cookie chunks for extra crunch. Delicious, and they’re great frozen as well!
Setouchi Lemon Salt Senbei, Sakura Marshmallows (surprise snack)
The crunchy crackers have an amazing delicate lemon flavour. While Setouchi lemons (a Japanese specialty) are less acidic than normal lemons, their flavour goes incredibly well as a salty savoury taste, and they’re very light and moreish too.
A surprise sakura snack was included in this month’s box, and I got a bag of delicious sakura-flavoured marshmallows. great to eat on their own or add to hot chocolate, or I suspect you could even toast them on a summer barbecue!
Fanta Premium Lemon, Nissin UPF Strong Dashi Yakisoba
Another lemon item, this is one of the Fanta Premium range, made from real fruit juice. This lemon soda has just the right amount of tartness to be perfectly refreshing on a hot summer day.
Dashi is a savoury broth made from bonito (tuna), kelp, and shiitake mushrooms. It has an amazing savoury umami flavour and these noodles are incredibly tasty. You can also add you own toppings, it does particularly well with pork and spring onions, but it tastes great just by itself.
Pocky Salted Vanilla, Koubo Apple Pie
These Pocky – chocolate dipped pretzel sticks – are another limited edition for summer. The white chocolate coating has a lovely scent of Madagascan vanilla, and is a lovely contrast to the salted pretzels.
Candy apples are a new favourite in Japan, where they’re enjoyed all year round, especially at festival time. This baked pastry is made with apple jam to give you the caramel apple flavour in a more portable form! Japanese pastries also somehow manage to taste perfectly fresh, even when they’re prepackaged like these. I have no idea how they do it, but every pastry of cake I’ve had from these boxes tastes like they were made that day!
Ponkome Rice Bar, Yaokin Fugashi, Chocotto Soft Marshmallow Candy, Sherbet Pero Cider
Sweet, salty, and umami flavour mixes are found a lot in Japanese snacks, and the puffed rice bar is a great example. It’s flavoured with soy sauce, sugar, and salt with a little sweet potato for a really amazingly complacency flavour in a simple crunchy snack.
The fugashi is popular at festivals, and is another remarkable flavour. It’s an incredibly light crispy bar which is coated with an intensely flavoured molasses and Okinawa brown sugar layer.
Another nod to summer with a little marshmallow-filled cone, soft and chewy with a hidden chocolate centre. The cider candy is a classic sherbet dipper, with tangy sherbet with a cider apple lolly.
Yakisoba Taro, Full Moon Pom Salted Cracker, Mini Ramune Candy, Bubble Soda Ramune Candy
Not only can you eat noodles cooked of course, but they also come in crunchy dried snack form! They’re soy sauce-flavoured, and are a delicious little crunchy snack. The salted cracker is named for the shape of a full moon, and is light, crisp, and salty.
Ramune is Japanese soda and is also a great favourite in candy form. The tiny little balls pop out of the package and come in summery flavours, and the larger package is fizzy and both sweet and sour and melts in your mouth.
