Reviewed by
Mary
Bokksu is the only Japanese snack box that sources directly from snack makers in Japan, so many of our artisanal products cannot be found anywhere else. Start your cultural journey through Japan by subscribing to Bokksu and receiving a curated box of premium Japanese snacks and teas delivered to your door every month.
They have two levels of subscription: the Tasting, which is smaller, and the one I have received, The Classic.
Subscriptions are prepaid for one, three, six, or twelve months.
For the Classic box they work out at $39 (£29.31), $37, $35 , and $33 per month.
As usual, they are priced in dollars, so GBP conversion is according to today’s exchange rate. Obviously this will vary, but it gives you some idea of cost.
This month’s box features snacks from Nagoya, the one of the most populous cities in Japan.
The menu is a double foldout, so needs two pictures!
Langue du Chat cookies are very popular in Japan, though they’re square instead of the usual oval. These are Nagoya Kinsyachi Langue du Chat, which are which chocolate layered with cream cheese. On the cookie itself is printed the symbol of Nagoya, a golden carp with a lion’s head.
This is a mixed crunchy snack called Ebi Crunch. It’s a mixture of peanuts and rice crackers flavoured with soy shrimp, pepper, curry powder and garam masala.
Another langue du chat, this time an Ogura Toast Langue du Chat. Ogura Toast is a traditional Nagoya breakfast dish, which toast with butter and red bean paste. This cookie has a red bean filling.
These are Rich Matcha Cream Sandwich Cookies. They contain matcha from Kyoto, which is baked into the cookies and infused into the filling. The creamy sweetness contrasts very well with the bitter edge of the matcha.
These crunchy Tenmusu Senbei Rice Crackers are based on Tenmusu flavours – a dish of shrimp tempura and rice balls. They also have a soy glaze and are flecked with seaweed.
These are two little bags of Mini Red Bean Crackers. These little crackers have a red bean paste filling and are inspired by the Japanese dessert red bean porridge.
These langue du chat are Kinsyachi Chocolate, a chocolate sandwich cookie with a chocolate cream filling. The package also has a picture of Nagoya on it.
The Scallion Miso Senbei are really big! The flavour mirrors the Nagoya dish Miso Katsu, pork cutlet with miso sauce. The senbei themselves contain negimiso, which is a sauce made from misa and scallions.
Another sandwich cookie here, this time Nagoya Caramel Sandwich Cookie. The cookies are caramel flavoured, and the cream contains raisins for extra fruitiness.
Finally, this month’s tea is Nagoya Hojicha, which is made from slow-roasted sencha leaves which reduces the caffeine levels and makes it perfect for evening drinking.
There was also a little bonus in the box! These are little sweet soy senbei.
The only thing I don’t like about this box is that two of the snacks contain shrimp, so I can’t eat them!
Otherwise, the selection is lovely. I really like the snacks based on traditional dishes, such as the Ogura Toast cookie.
The there are only three savory snacks this month (I can’t eat two of them though!) so it would have been nice to have more. However I think the various sandwich cookies and langue du chat are fantastic, so many lovely flavours! I do love all the different Japanese cookies.
Bokksu is very good at finding delicious and unusual things, and even if you are familiar with some flavours, such as matcha or caramel, it’s unlikely you’ll have seen them in this form before!
