Tokyo Banana Caramel

Hello again!

We unexpectedly got to try another flavour of Tokyo Banana when a friend brought back some from Japan ^_^ bless her for remembering we have a sweets blog!

The packaging pretty much looks the same,with the exception that it has a splash of brown and it sports a slightly different label with the word Caramel on it.

Lookin' good!

It does look a tad darker brown than the original flavour of Tokyo Banana, and it also smells significantly sweeter out of the bag. It's also supposed to have some caramel filling on top of being overall sweeter, but in terms of looks, I'm a bit surprised that it doesn't have the distinctive patches or stripes that I mentioned in a previous review, but it apparently does taste the same.

The filling is still that distinct custardy-textured banana, but with a small layer of caramel surrounding it. It's kinda hard to see but trust me you'll taste it. As far as the flavour goes you still get sweet without being crazy sweet, and the sponge cake is divinely fluffy despite being slightly flatter than it's paler brethren.

However it IS sweeter than the original Tokyo Banana flavour so if you're not into sweet stuff it might be a bit of a turn off.

Spire sez: Honestly I like this just as much as the original! It's just a bit sweeter with a hint of caramel goodness. Man, I really need to make it a point to get more flavours if I visit Tokyo again.

Silvy says: Great if you utterly adore caramel. It was good, but I don't think I'd take any more; mostly because me and caramel aren't a good mix haha

Spire's Ratings

Flavor: 5/5

Price: 4/5

DIY level: Nonexistant

Fun: Damn that's tasty

Silvy's Ratings

Flavor: 3/5

Price: 4/5

DIY level: As high as imagination goes ;P

Fun: Just pop it open and nom!

Pfanner Erdbeer Saft (Strawberry juice)

Hello again and welcome to Sugarnoms!

Today's posting is our very first drink review. Drinks are more of Silvy's domain but I wanted to get the ball rolling first ;)

Anyway, tiny pack of juice caught my eye in Jarons; I think you can get it at Cold Storage too considering I've been seeing more Pfanner products popping up of late. Especially their iced tea! It costs RM 2.99, and looks deceptively small. Don't let the 'erdbeer' fool you, there's no alcohol in this one! Just good old juice.

I'd have to say the packaging is incredibly compact because it holds a very generous 200ml of juice. There's also this really cute teeny tiny straw that folds out the same way the ones on Yakult bottles do, albeit a bit thicker.

The juice itself is primarily strawberry juice with strawberry and apple pulp as well, but it doesn't come out pulpy the way some juices do. And as far as taste is concerned, it's one of those drinks which I feel you just can't hate. Its definitely strawberry with a hint of apple and a little bit of tang to it, though when poured out it looks like a large glass of muddy blood (Halloween party drink potential?) it's certainly a nice deviation from the usual apple-orange-tea drink packs we are so prone to drinking.

Spire sez: I definitely enjoyed this. It doesn't taste artificial nor hideously sour or sweet. I can foresee myself carrying maybe a couple of these in my backpack while I'm on the road. They're just so compact!

Spire's Ratings

Flavor: 5/5

Price: 4/5

Thirst quenching : Yes!

Best drank: Cold

KitKat Blueberry Cheesecake

Of all the loot I brought back from Japan, this one was probably the most oddly shaped thing I had to cram in my suitcase. I've always heard of 'strange KitKat flavours' being available in Japan so I decided to hunt about Narita airport a bit before my flight for anything of interest. This one certainly caught my eye. From what I found out is each prefecture in Japan has it's own unique flavour, ranging from the more benign Strawberry and Blueberry Cheesecake flavours as well as the ever popular Green Tea (Macha) flavour to scarier ones like Soy Sauce (Shoyu) and Wasabi.

For the whole box I think it was priced at 820 yen (about RM 25, ouch!). I may not be remembering exactly but these are generally sold around the 800 yen price bracket. The box which was shaped like a towering Mount Fuji held 9 pieces inside,  in a ball of clear plastic. 

The individual pieces themselves are heavily stylised with Mount Fuji and an image of it's indicated flavour in the front as well as a cute nameplate at the back which you can write on if it's meant as a gift. 

Sorry for the drop in picture quality. My camera died halfway and I had to resort to using my phone's horrible camera.

Out of the wrapper, it's pretty apparent that these special KitKats are a lot smaller than their bog standard chocolate brothers.

Regardless, they still look like KitKat and features their logo emblazoned on the top. It's not very visible because I think the Malaysian heat melted them a little in transit.

As far as flavour is concerned, it's white chocolate and exceptionally creamy, a little cheesy-milky with a hint of sweet blueberry as you chomp into the wafer. Its not too sweet but it's fairly rich so I couldn't handle too many at a go. Maybe that's why they're packaged so teeny?

Spire sez: I'm not a huge fan of large quantities of white chocolate but it's a nice change if you're tired of regular ol' KitKat or are just feeling adventurous. Most of the people I gave this to absolutely loved the flavour!

Spire's Ratings

Flavor: 4/5

Price: 3/5

DIY level: Nonexistant

Fun: Nonexistant

Tokyo Banana

Hi again! It's been a long while since we had a posting ;) that's because Spire went to Japan and brought back a whole bunch of goodies that you'll soon see here, so lets get the ball rolling!

This here is Tokyo Banana, a speciality treat from Japan, Tokyo. Generally it resembles a banana (hence the name) and is a spongy confection that has banana creme filling inside. At first glance it's best described as a twinkie with banana in it! Before visiting Japan, I practically got swamped with people asking me to bring this stuff back. It's apparently *that* legendary.

They generally come in packages of 470 yen, 1000 yen and a bigger one at 1500 yen, with 4, 8 and 12 pieces respectively. The price is slightly different depending on the flavour, I got the classic one so it was the cheapest.

The stuff is practically sold everywhere touristy, you can get it at train stations in Tokyo and there's a variety of flavours and designs featuring leopard spots, tiger stripes and giraffe spots with each 'design' having it's own distinctive flavour. I wasn't able to try all the different flavours but they go like this: tiger stripes were caramel flavoured, giraffe was banana pudding, leopard is chocolate. The company makes a whole slew of tasty treats (mostly banana themed!) you can check them out here.

Sure enough, it was delicately spongy and roughly banana shaped. It did smell nice and rather banana-ish too; I'd describe the entire experience as gently banana, if that made any sense. Time to take a bite!

Mmph. That was delicious. The spongecake was very soft and fluffy, and the inner creme had the consistency and texture of banana mixed with custard. Not too sweet but distinct, I think I'm insulting Tokyo banana by comparing it to twinkies.

Spire sez: I.cannot.get.enough.of.the.stuff. If you go to Japan, this is a must try, even if you don't like sweets. Seriously, it's a right shame if you don't.. My only complaint: dammit I should have bought a bigger box =_=;

Silvy says: First of all, THANK YOU SPIRE FOR THE TOKYO BANANAS!! ^____^v Being extremely particular about the sweets that I consume, I am totally in love with Tokyo Bananas! The sweetness of the banana is not compromised by a truckload of sugar, which is probably the reason why I adore this dessert (I go bananas over bananas). Try it if you can! :D

Spire's Ratings

Flavor: 5/5

Price: 4/5

DIY level: Nonexistant

Fun: Damn that's tasty

Silvy's Ratings

Flavor: 5/5

Price: 3/5

DIY level: Nonexistant

Fun: OMNOMNOMNOM

Coris Wakuwaku Doubutsu Soft Animal Candy

I wasn't entirely sure what these were at a glance, based on the packaging alone I thought these were some kind of chilled candies. But no, they're actually soft candy lollies which looks like one of those Kutsuwa eraser kits gone wrong. I got it for RM 7.70 at Isetan KLCC. Their selection has gotten very good as of late so I strongly recommend looking around there if you want to try out any of their Japanese candies.

The flavours that you're given are pretty apparent from the packaging; strawberry and lemon. And this is one of those kits where the contents are blind packed too. The wrapper shows a panda and a lion, but I got a bunny and an elephant instead.

There are four different molds you can possibly draw, with the giraffe and bear looking like the cutest.

Inside you'll get the pair of aforementioned press-molds, the soft candy and four lollipop sticks to use.

On opening the candy I was hit by some great smells. The candy is soft and the lemon smells tangy while the strawberry smelled a bit sweet but not too artificial. It was looking great so far. How it works is you have to pluck off the desired bits of soft candy and press them into different sections of the press, since both flavours go pretty well together it doesn't matter where you place them either.

When you're satisfied with the placement of things, stick the stick in the middle and press it down as far as it'll go. Pop it off and what you get? adorably cute lollies!

The candy itself is soft and easy to manipulate, though it gets sticky if you handle it for too long. You've got enough material to make 4 sticks worth but I somehow ended up with extra. The molds are a breeze to use too, nothing got stuck! which is pretty neat in itself because mold kits tend to tell you to either spray the molds with water or oil them.

Spire sez: This is definitely a fun kit that's meant to be shared. They even give a little extra candy so there's room for error. The candy is not too sweet, its just right in my opinion. Both the lemon and strawberry taste true to their flavours without artificialness, though I also find the kit requires crazy levels of manual dexterity to get candy into the tiny parts of the mold else the candies can end up looking pretty creepy with holes and stuff. Overall I think it'll be a hit with slightly  older kids.

Spire's Ratings

Flavor: 4/5

Price: 5/5

DIY level:  Easy

Fun: 3/5