Reviewed by
Mary
For the first box of the official summertime, we’re of to the capital of Japan withthe TokyoTreat: Tokyo Snacksation box of sweets and snacks!
Tokyo is a wonderful mixture of the old and the new, and TokyoTreat will be giving us goodies to reflect the variety.
Inside the menu booklet is a full menu of the box contents. The descriptions include an allergy list, which is very useful. There’s also lots of fun information about the marvellous city of Tokyo, from different food available to the weird and wonderful places you can see and stay. I think the Hello Kitty hotel looks like a lot of fun!
This month’s KitKat is Royal Milk Tea KitKat. Milk tea is a popular beverage in Japan, and is exactly like it sounds, sweet and milky tea. The KitKat version is coated with creamy milk chocolate with a hint of black tea in the flavour. It’s surprising, because you don’t usually associate tea with chocolate, but it works beautifully. If you’re having a regular cup of tea, Pai no Mi Mini Pies Peach Tart are the perfect little pastry to accompany it. These are little bites of flaky puff pastry filled with peach-infused which chocolate. Really yummy!
Koikeya Ume Chips are potato chips seasoned with a deeply traditional Japanese flavour – pickled sour plum. These are savoury and tangy and are an unusual but great contrast with the crunchy crisps. Monjayaki Squad Chips celebrate a popular street food dish local to Tokyo, which is a savoury pancake filled with cabbage and seafood and cooked fresh on a hot plate. It’s another distinctly savoury flavour, quite different from anything else you might try! You can do a little bit of customising with the Jumbo DIY Sauce Senbei. Senbei are flat thin rice crackers, and this package comes with its own little sachet of Japanese BBQ sauce for dipping or drizzling.
There are two more pastry-type snacks here. The Castella Donut is a donut-shaped version of the Castella cake, a light and fluffy sponge that was originally brought to Japan by the Portuguese. Dorayaki is one of my favourite Japanese snacks. It’s a bit like a pancake crossed with a Whoopie Pie, two flat cakes sandwiched together with a filling. The Neko Banana Dorayaki gas lovely banana flavoured filling, as well as super cute Neko (cat) packaging and even two little paw prints on the Dorayaki itself! There’s a nod to one of the most famous Japanese exports – Pokemon – with the Pokemon Chocolate Marshmallow. This yummy marshmallow, which is quite a generous size, is filled with rich chocolate cream.
Mitarashi Kibidango is a delicious combination of sweet and savoury. It’s a soft and chewy glutinous rice cake flavoured with a sweet and salty soy sauce glaze. This version is covered in edible rice paper to protect you from sticky fingers! Mini Choco Chip Cookies are exactly what they sound like, a little pack of tiny cookies, and the packaging features the Little Twin Stars for some extra Japanese kawaii. You’d think that a cheesy snack would be completely savoury, but the Chee-Zack cheese crackers have just a hint of sweetness, that reflects the Japanese love of this flavour combination. Mini Gummies are also a great favourite, and they come in four flavours which you can eat individually or combine for extra flavour. There’s another kawaii touch with the Hello Kitty Candy Mints. This little packet features our favourite kitty, and the fruity mints come in one of three flavours – I’ve got pineapple, which works surprisingly well with the mint!
This month’s ramen is Tokyo Shoyu Ramen. This ramen, which is often seen in Tokyo, has a light savoury broth flavoured with soy. You can eat it as is or dress it up with meat and vegetables. The drink this month is Melon Cream Soda. Melon is a very popular flavour in Japan, both for sweets and drinks, and this soda combines fizzy melon soda with condensed milk which gives it a lovely creamy flavour. Definitely a uniquely Japanese beverage!
By Evelyn 
