Showing posts with label Meiji. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Meiji. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Heart Apollo

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Apollo is one of those great Japanese chocolates that has been around for years and is ever popular with kids. It was one of the first Japanese chocolates I ever tasted, and it has continued to be a favourite of mine.

Imagine my delight when a friend of mine in Japan included this box of Heart Apollo in a care package she sent to me! This box of Heart Apollo I was told, was brought out to celebrate Mother's Day in Japan.

The box is really sweetly decorated, and the Apollo themselves are in the shape of hearts (when looking from above). The only thing that bothers me about this box of chocolates is the packaging. The box makes it seem like you are getting alot, when in fact there are only 8 individually wrapped Apollo chocolates. They are bigger than normal, but one individual wrap could fit two Apollo inside. The box is large enough to accomodate twice the size, so it is abit annoying to find such a small amount inside.

The box says 47 grams, but I think half of that we could safely say is the cardboard box and wrapping.

Each chocolate wrapper has a message in English on it. There are four themes:

Thanks
Love
Happiness
Cheer

I did not get any wrappers that said Cheer in my box. The variety of chocolate is also not even. There are 4 strawberry, 2 banana, and 2 vanilla. In terms of messages I got 4 good luck, 3 happy, and one thanks.

Each chocolate is 2 cm wide x 2 cm high. Each has a very strong scent.



Strawberry

Looks like the original Apollo but bigger. It also has flecks of strawberry in the chocolate. It tastes like strawberry mousse with tart strawberry sherbert. The milk chocolate is creamy, but has some bitterness, reminscent of dark chocolate.

Banana

Out of all the chocolates this one smells the strongest. I found that the banana chocolate broke off the top of the milk chocolate at the bottom join, making me realise that they were made in two separate molds and stuck together. The banana flavour tastes like overripe bananas with a hint of vanilla, and a vague tartness not unlike the strawberry Apollo. The milk chocolate is a bit waxy, but seems more buttery.

Vanilla

This smells like a vanilla candle. The chocolate has flecks of vanilla bean. A very light flavour of vanilla icecream here, but the chocolate is waxy, so I felt like I actually was eating a vanilla candle. The milk chocolate is waxy but tastes alot more like cocoa.

It's interesting to note how the top flavour affects the milk chocolate below. I like the strawberry the best, only because it's very close to the original and has no funky waxy chocolate. I like the taste of the banana, but I'm not keen on the vanilla.

It was an interesting idea from Meiji, but probably best to keep it to limited edition sales.
I would like to know if anyone else out there tried this and what they thought about it.

For anyone who is interested, you can get free downloads for Apollo at http://www.meiji.co.jp/sweets/okashi-land/download/index.html and a Meiji character directory is here. They seem to have a lot of fun online activities for children.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Meiji Salty Praline

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Since last year when Kit Kat released their Salty Vanilla Kit Kat, there has been an explosion of Salty chocolate treats from Japan. At first major brands released Salty + Vanilla and stuck to that, but since I have also seen Salt + Caramel, Salt + Milk Chocolate, and now Meiji's offering, Salty Praline.

The box describes this as "salt & baked crepe in almond praline". It has skipped over the crepe bit in the title. It should have been something like salty crepe praline, I think.

This is a rather thin block of chocolate 16 x 7 cm in dimension and only 0.7cm high. There are 12 pieces that are moulded to be broken off easily, which they do.

The chocolate smells like cocoa used for a hot chocolate. It is glossy and smooth and melts in the mouth easily. There is a strong cocoa taste followed by bits of something I assume to be the crepe mixed into the chocolate. The chocolate is not too sweet, the cocoa flavour is very strong. I find the chocolate flavour itself to be one dimensional, there is no real depth there. The salt is not present until the very end when biting, but if you suck the top of the chocolate the salt is really there. There is no real almond flavour amongst all the other flavours, everything is mainly overriden by the strong cocoa taste. But in saying that, I did enjoy the texture of the crepe bits mixed in, that is what has made this chocolate special. Also the salt kick at the end was nice.

Overall, I enjoyed this chocolate. It wasn't too sweet, and the texture was different to most chocolates. I also liked the salt factor. The only thing I wasn't sure about was the strong cocoa flavour, but in all a nice bar.

In case you are interested, there is a Meiji Poster Gallery here that showcases all the ads they have done with celebrities, and you can save them to your computer.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Chelsea Asian Dessert Mix

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This bag of Chelsea by Meiji has been sitting on my desk for a couple of weeks waiting to be reviewed.

I've really wanted a lolly today so I thought I would get the review over so I can eat some!

This bag weighs a mere 77 grams and cost $3.99. The bags usually state how many items inside on the back of the bag, but this one only says the weight.

There are three flavours covered in this bag, Banana Coconut Milk, Mango Pudding, and An-nin-dofu (an almond curd dessert).

There are 6 pieces of both the mango and the an-nin, but only 5 of the banana.

The good thing about Japanese candy is they are individually wrapped, and the wrappers are different colours, so it's not a surprise candy when you open it.

Mango Pudding - As soon as I put this one in my mouth I got the flavour of real mango. I'm a mango fan and I absolutely love this! It has all the aspects of mango, and as you suck the lolly there is alot of depth in flavour that comes out. There is real fruit juice in the mango and banana lollies, so that may have something to do with it. I've never actually had mango pudding but I will definitely have to try it now!

Banana Coconut Milk - Wow. I'm a big fan of banana and coconut and when I popped this into my mouth I got a really big banana hit, like a real banana, not that fake stuff. After having the lolly in my mouth for a while the coconut flavour started coming out. At first a coconut cream flavour which graduated into roasted coconut. For me, the banana comes second in this lolly and is really overpowered by the coconut. Sucking on this a while kind of makes me feel ill. I'm not sure if it's because of the overwhelming coconut taste or the sweetness building up.

An-nin-dofu - I've tried the Kit Kat of the same flavour, but never had the real thing. I like those almond cakes that you can get from European countries, but I'm not much into tofu, the texture puts me off. I don't like slippery food. This lolly gives off the same flavour as those cakes from Europe but there is a little bit more of a milk flavour there too. The almond is the star, but the creaminess of the milk is a welcome addition in this lolly.

The mango is really the only one I like in this bag. The banana was too sickly and the an-nin was not really my thing. I haven't had any of the original desserts these lollies are based on either.

It was an interesting foray into Asian desserts, but now I've realised Asian desserts are probably not for me. I think I'll stick to icecream!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Meiji White Chocolate

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This bar was part of Yasu's Easter gift and he generously shared it with me for a review.

At the regular price of $3.99 this is not very good value. I'm guessing its double the price it would retail for in Japan (about 198 yen).

The bar is very flat, .5 cm high. The bar is portioned into small rectangles that are easy to break off and have the word Meiji stamped onto them.


This chocolate smells like Vanilla with a hint of creaminess. It melts very easily, that could be though because it's so thin.

The first taste is vanilla, and then an almost buttery flavour, followed by a bit of saltiness. After that it gets sweet, but ends on a salty note.

This chocolate is good in that it doesn't have that throat-burning sweetness that alot of white chocolate has. I also like the vanilla and salt notes, they are evenly balanced and don't take over.

I would buy this again for a treat. I definitely recommend it to those who stay away from white chocolate because of its sweetness.