All the Ame

I know it’s late now, but happy second anniversary TokyoTreat! ☆*:.｡.o(≧▽≦)o.｡.:*☆

There have been some big changes to the TokyoTreat service, first up is a brand new box design! The shape is totally different and the box is much sturdier, you can pick it up with one hand now rather than two which makes it MUCH easier to handle. I’m sure my Post Man appreciates this change!

Here are a couple of comparison photos to let you see how the old box and new box look side by side:

The graphics have had a total make over too; the inside, back and sides of the box feature cute stylized snacks and drinks:

Visually and practically speaking I am very pleased with the new design. It may not look it but the new box is bigger on the inside, which leads to the next change; each box size will now feature more snacks for the same price! How awesome is that? The premium box will now contain 18 snacks, including one traditional wagashi snack and a 5 piece dagashi bag.

What’s a dagashi bag you say? Glad you asked! Each month we will receive a mystery bag containing 5 dagashi snacks. This is the dagashi bag from the April box:

And here are the snacks unwrapped:

I’m not going to go into lots of detail on the dagashi bag this month because I’m already worried this post is going to be huge after talking about the changes ^^;

This month the dagashi bag included a bag of yakisoba sauce flavoured corn puffs (delicious), a large chocolate coated corn puff (good), a pizza flavoured umaibo (gross in a delicious way as most umaibo are), a pack of pudding flavoured mochi (utterly amazing, tasted just like custard pudding but with a jelly filled soft mochi texture) and a pack of rice crackers with a sachet of strange sauce that is much better for drawing faces with than it is for eating, but that tastes fine in small quantities (if anyone can tell me what that sauce is I’d love to know!). All in all a great variety, I was impressed that there was nothing as noticeably cheap or poor quality as I expected. I think I’ve been too critical of dagashi in the past! Or maybe I just had some bad examples? Anyway, the dagashi bags are a really fun addition (especially since the price didn’t go up to include them!).

Other changes involve faster shipping when you sign up as TokyoTreat now ship everyday, great news for new subscribers, and general improvements to the website and customer portal.

Phew! What a lot of change! All very exciting, it’s great to see services getting bigger and better over time. I’m particularly excited for the wagashi snacks, can’t wait to see what traditional snacks TokyoTreat can find for us ｡^‿^｡

Now, please do read on for the actual unboxing ^_~

Ghana Milk Chocolate

Chocolate is always a great way to start an unboxing! Strangely of all the Lotte chocolate I’ve tried I’ve never tried the regular milk chocolate Ghana, so while this is perhaps quite a conservative choice of chocolate bar to include I was still happy to see it. Did you know Ghana has been the flagship chocolate bar for Lotte since 1964?

The chocolate is great, lovely and creamy and not quite as sweet as UK brands. The thin rectangles melt in your mouth very quickly, before you know it the whole bar can just disappear. Oops!

This gets a 10/10 from me, great quality chocolate is always welcome in subscription boxes ｡^‿^｡

PURERAL Peach Gummy

Gummies, yay! Now that summer is coming and it’s just about impossible to ship chocolate I’m hoping we’re going to see lots more delicious gummies. These PURERAL gummies are peach flavour and feature two different textures to mimic a real peach.

Texture wise these are really interesting; there’s a tougher layer that does mimic the fibrous texture of a real peach really well, but the inner squishy texture is probably not one you ever want to find on an actual fruit (≧▽≦)

The flavour these gummies have is amazing, it’s so realistic! It’s just like eating a ripe and juicy (if slightly squishy) peach, both the fruity flavour and sweetness level are spot on. Needless to say these smell divine too~

A firm 10/10, another brilliant example of the realistic flavoured gummies Japan provides. It’s fun to have a semi realistic texture too! I’ve said it once I’ll say it again; Japanese gummies are the best ｡^‿^｡

Chip Star Lobster Bisque

TokyoTreat say Chip Star is a popular brand in Japan, which I don’t doubt but when you see and taste the amazingness that is Japanese Pringles…well, Chip Star seems like a cheap knock off by comparison! I haven’t found a Chip Star flavour I’ve enjoyed yet, and sadly these are no exception.

You can see how much flavouring there is on the Pringles Chip Star, usually a good thing but not in this case as the flavour is just foul! It’s an insult to lobster to say this is lobster (≧ x ≦)

There’s a seriously unpleasant fishy taste, we’re talking rancid shellfish fishy not delicious fishy. We did make other observations on the flavour but they’re not very polite, so we’ll leave it at saying none of us enjoyed this snack (and I’m sorry I made anyone else try it).

This gets a 0/10, 100% would not recommend!

Caramel Chocoball

Moving swiftly on we’re back to chocolate, a much safer pick than questionable potato chips. There are lots of different varieties of Chocoball, this one features a caramel centre. Yum! ｡^‿^｡

The caramel centre is the hard, solid type that hurts your teeth if you don’t let it melt in your mouth a bit before you chew. I wasn’t able to bite or cut one in half to show the centre so…that should give you an idea of how tough these caramels are. These are very much comparable to UK Toffee Poppets, I think the chocolate coating is a little thicker than Poppets but it’s been a long time since I’ve eaten those so I’m not sure.

These get a 10/10 from me. Toffee Poppets are one of my childhood favourites so I really enjoyed these, tooth/jaw pain and all (≧◡≦)

Mini-Karl Corn Puffs – Light Dashi Flavour

Dashi is a delicious umami stock that forms the base for many Japanese meals, I see no reason why something that makes delicious soups wouldn’t make delicious corn puffs and it seems Karl agree since, you know, they went ahead and made them (≧▽≦)

‘Light’ would be an appropriate word for both the taste and texture of these delightful corn puffs. The flavour is mild, a little salty and a little savoury, and the texture is airy and crisp. Part of me would like a stronger flavour, but I can appreciate that these make for a great snack if you just want something light.

These get a 9/10 from me, I’m not sure I’d go looking for them again as they’re just a bit plain for my tastes but they’re a tasty little snack nonetheless.

Pocky Rich Matcha

More matcha treats this month, as if the March Sakura & Matcha box didn’t spoil us enough! If you’re a fellow TokyoTreat subscriber I do hope you like matcha ^_~

There are quite a few varieties of matcha Pocky around, perhaps I lack the fine taste of a Pocky connoisseur but they all taste much the same to me. This one is as good as any of the others and has a great matcha flavour, which it seems means you’re likely to love it or loathe it depending if you like matcha or not!

A 10/10 from matcha loving me, although I’m getting a little bit bored of repeat Pocky flavours. I kind of hope we don’t see these (or strawberry or chocolate) again at least for a while. I wouldn’t say no to the new sparkly Colourful Shower spring edition though…^_~

Honey Soy Sauce Rice Cracker

The wagashi item this month is this large honey soy flavoured rice cracker. Honey and soy aren’t a combination I would have thought of, but I’m certainly not opposed to salty sweet flavour combinations ｡^‿^｡

This is an incredibly thick and solid rice cracker, I had to break it apart with my hands rather than bite it to avoid hurting my teeth!

There is SO much flavour, just look at that beautiful shiny glaze. Both the honey and the soy flavours came through really well, I’d say this is more sweet than salty overall. This has to be the crunchiest rice cracker I’ve ever eaten!

This one gets a solid 10/10, what a brilliant start to the monthly wagashi snacks. I’d love to see more flavoured senbei in future boxes ｡^‿^｡

Pokemon Chocolate Wafer

These chocolate wafers sure must be popular because they are a regular feature in Japanese subscription boxes. I don’t exactly dislike them but to be honest, I’m getting a little sick of them (⋟﹏⋞)

At least when it’s the Pokemon version the stickers are awesome! I have quite the little collection of stickers from these things now. This is the sticker I got this time:

I love Magikarp so was super happy to find this cute and shiny sticker inside (≧◡≦)

Urg, other than the 10/10 sticker I don’t know how to rate this one. I guess if I wasn’t sickened of them it’d be an 8/10 snack, but please…can we stop having these so often? Please? A new pack design is cool but it doesn’t make the wafer inside any different (╥_╥)

Sakura Design Coca-Cola

The drink this month is a special 2017 Japan only edition bottle of Coca-Cola. How beautiful is this  design? I love it!

The coke inside is just regular coke, but TokyoTreat posed an interesting question; does it taste any different to the coke in your country? I thought so to be honest, compared to UK coke I found the Japanese stuff to be much less sweet, less carbonated (although that could be a shipping problem!) and there wasn’t as much caramel flavouring. It’s more akin to UK diet coke than regular, but not quite the same as that either. Very interesting!

10/10, mostly because I love Coca Cola anyway haha! I know this was just included for the packaging, but unlike the aforementioned wafer I think that’s okay considering it’s the first time TokyoTreat have included standard coke (at least in my time of subscribing). Plus, it is really pretty packaging! ｡^‿^｡

Scone Rich Cheese Flavour

Another popular pick in subscription boxes and another snack I’ve always enjoyed, Scone are crunchy corn snacks that are quite like UK Nik Naks (but with much more exciting flavours). This pack has a rich cheese flavour, yum!

There’s a generous coating on each stick but the flavour is surprisingly mild for being labelled rich. Beyond the mild cheese flavour there’s a delicious nutty flavour, like a good Red Leicester cheese, and a sweetness that seems to come with all cheese flavoured snacks from Japan. They certainly have a more complex flavour than regular cheese Scone do. They’re seriously moreish, which is okay as there are LOADS packed in this bag (another reason to love Scone- great flavours and generous portions!).

Another 10/10, how could it not be? Japan definitely knows how to make delicious cheese crisps (o˘◡˘o)

Baskin Robbins Chocolate Love Potion #31

This is one of the teaser items people were most hyped about this month, I can’t say I understood the excitement as I didn’t know Baskin Robbins existed until I got these but I can definitely be excited about more chocolate! ^_~

These cute little chocolates feature a filling made of raspberry cream and raspberry sauce, how delightful!

The chocolates are individually wrapped and feature cute pink heart studded Valentine-tastic wrappers. Wouldn’t you feel special if someone bought you these as a gift? ｡^‿^｡

The chocolate itself is great quality, but the filling is where the magic happens. These are absolutely divine! The raspberry cream is fluffy and firm with a mild flavour while the sauce is a heavenly little explosion of super sweet joy. The textures, the flavours, it’s all just perfect. These are the kind of chocolates you spend the rest of your life wishing you could experience again, the chocolate that sets the bar for all other cream filled chocolates. No exaggeration, these are amazing~

These are 10,000/10 really, but for the sake of continuity 10/10. I certainly think my family loved me a little more when I shared them with them, haha. I wonder if the ice cream is as good as these chocolates?

Re-ment Sakura Sweets Blind Box

 I love it when Re-ment items are included, who doesn’t love cute and tiny toy food? There were a number of sakura themed sweets available, I got lucky and got the one I really wanted; an adorable pair of sakura dango.  I wish I could try these in real life but there is no where local that sells them, maybe someday…in the meantime I’ll keep dreaming ^_~

They’re the perfect size for doll treats too (≧◡≦)

10/10, as physical items go re-ment are a great choice as they’re so small it’s easy to find somewhere to keep them. Maybe it’s just me, but I think it’s cool to get realistic plastic food so there’s something thematic left when the actual food is gone. I hope we see more re-ment in the future ｡^‿^｡

Coris Candy Apple Soft Candy DIY

Finally the DIY kit for April is this sugary sweet candy apple treat. This kit is pretty simple as DIY candy goes and consists of sticking your ball of sugar on a stick, dipping your ball of sugar in some liquid sugar then rolling it in some crunchy coloured sugar for decoration/texture/one step closer to a new dental cavity. You really need to be in the mood for a sugar overdose to crack this one open (≧▽≦)

I will be writing about this and the ice lolly version in a separate post, so look out for that!

10/10 assuming you love super sweet things (I know I do!).

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And that’s it! TokyoTreat seem to have stuck with tried and tested favourites for this month, which makes sense in an anniversary edition. As always a great selection, my favourites would be the Baskin Robbin chocolates and the peach PURERAL gummies. As much as I love pop culture type snacks I’m looking forward to seeing some variety through the dagashi bags and the wagashi treats each month~

Thanks to anyone reading this far, I am a little concerned my TokyoTreat posts in particular are getting a little too TLDR. There’s just so many snacks in each box! Should I shorten them by maybe putting a couple of snacks in each photo or do you like seeing/reading about everything? Please don’t hesitate if you’ve got a suggestion, I enjoy writing long posts but if no one enjoys reading them…well, I can change it up a bit ｡^‿^｡

See you next time! (≧▽≦)/