Fujiya LOOK Baskin Robbins

It's been a while! Sorry for being so quiet. I'd like to say that I've been too busy with work and graduate school to post, but the truth is, I've had free time, I've just been doing other things. I did notice some new followers, so thanks for being patient with me!

Getting back into the swing of things, I thought I'd give LOOK chocolate another try. LOOK has been hit or miss; their French- and Italian-themed collections were fantastic, but their plain chocolates left a lot to be desired. This is the Baskin Robbins collection, so naturally, the four flavors are ice cream inspired.


It's fitting to start off with Jamocha Coffee because the coffee flavor seemed to find its way into many of the adjacent chocolates. On its own, it was all right. The milk chocolate went well with the mild coffee flavor, and it definitely reminded me of a blended iced coffee drink.

Strawberry Cheesecake had a slightly tart berry flavor with a hint of yogurt. It didn't really taste like cheesecake, but it was still tasty. As I mentioned, I think there was some flavor mingling going on, because some of the Strawberry Cheesecake pieces had a weird and off-putting coffee note.

Matcha, always the flavor I look forward to the most, had a slight bitter matcha flavor, but it was so subtle that it was easily overwhelmed by the milk chocolate. It was disappointing. One of the Matcha pieces tasted like coffee, too.

Vanilla had a sweet fake vanilla flavor. It was pretty standard fare, but the coffee essence seeped into a couple of these pieces, too. It wasn't too bad for this flavor.

Overall, when the non-coffee flavors didn't taste like coffee, they were fine, but flavor mingling was an issue in this package (even though they were well within the expiration date). It didn't happen to every piece, but I'm thinking the fresher you can get these, the better.

C+

LOOK website

Lotte Double Berry Cheesecake Toppo

In a world of endless Pocky-like snacks, Toppo is one of my favorites. I usually like it better than Pocky (with the exception of those fancy dessert mousse types of Pocky), so I was excited to try a new flavor.

However, in a world of endless desserts, cheesecake is not my favorite. Oh sure, a bite is good, but it's often just too rich for me - even New York style (though it is better). It could have something to do with the lactose intolerance, but if I'm picking the dessert, it's almost certainly not going to be cheesecake.


The Toppo smelled strongly of cheese (yep, I took a Lactaid) but not cheesecake. The cheese flavor was quite subtle and didn't seem like cheesecake at all. Mostly, I tasted the strawberry and blueberry flavors, but they had a slight soapiness about them.

The pretzel was standard, slightly sweet and salty Toppo fare, with a slight preservative-like aftertaste. The whole thing left a little oily residue behind, but it wasn't bad. The soapy berry flavors turned me off, and I definitely prefer regular chocolate Toppo to this limited edition.

B-

Meiji Cheesecake Takenoko no Sato

I am a dessert person. However, cheesecake is not one of my favorites. It's so rich that I can't ever seem to eat a whole piece (even though I can put away a lot of cake), and I'm lactose intolerant.

Still, I purchased this cheesecake Takenoko no Sato because the line hardly ever steers me wrong. These are much bigger than the normal chocolates and they come individually wrapped. The flavor is Takesato's cheesecake, although I don't know if Takesato is a real person.


The smell of these reminded me of cheese cracker sandwiches or Cheese Whiz, which was a big turn off. After touching them, my fingers smelled like that, too. I could smell a little white chocolate sweetness, and my husband thought they smelled just like cheesecake. Luckily, they didn't taste like electric orange cheese.

The chocolate itself was sweet, but not cloying, and the cookie center reminded me of shortbread. It lacked the sharp tang that often comes with cheesecake, but I didn't mind. I was too busy being impressed with the mildly sweet white chocolate and vanilla flavor. As usual, the textures went well together. Even though the chocolate was very rich, in a nice small portion, I was pleased.

B

Meiji Website (Japanese)

Schakolad Truffles

Last weekend, my husband and I went for a walk at an upscale outdoor mall. We didn't buy any clothes or trinkets (admittedly, we weren't really the target market), but we did buy truffles.

Schakolad is a chocolate/candy chain store, and I had wanted to go there for a while, but this one never seemed to be open when I was in the area. We finally got a chance to go, so for a quick sample, we bought 4 truffles for $4.50. For the price, I was a little disappointed at the rather basic flavor assortment, but the chocolates certainly looked cute.

We selected Orange, Raspberry Cheesecake, Champagne Ganache, and Dark Milk Caramel. A couple of those aren't on the list from the website, but I'm not sure why. Here's a closer look at the flavors we chose.


Orange was a white-chocolate coated orange truffle with orange sprinkles on top. It smelled very citrusy, and the filling reminded me of orange Starburst, in that it was sour but with a little more sweetness. The filling had the consistency of thick frosting and melted nicely on the tongue. I usually see orange paired with milk chocolate, and the white chocolate with the orange made things a little too sweet here.


Raspberry Cheesecake was similar in consistency to the Orange truffle. However, there was no sourness here, just a very rich, milky filling with just a hint of raspberry flavor; my husband and I both wished the flavor had been stronger. I liked it better than cheesecake, though, because just when I had enough richness, the truffle was gone.


Champagne Ganache was the cutest of the bunch, with the gold stars. The filling was excellent, smooth as can be, and with just a hint of a champagne sparkle to make it special. More champagne fizz would have been good with me, but my husband liked this one best. I did like that the chocolate was a nice, darker milk - sweet but not bitter.


Even though it was arguably the least special of the bunch, Dark Milk Caramel was my favorite. The dark chocolate coating was tasty, but the milky, chewy caramel on the inside was perfect. It was like an ultra high-class Milk Dud, with that same kind of stick-to-your-teeth caramel but no cloying sugar aftertaste.

I'm not sure if I would buy truffles there again, but my husband and I both found the ones we had to be worth the price for a nice treat. If I did go back, I think I would try the butterscotch truffles.

B

Schakolad website

Hershey Kisses Strawberry Creme and Cheesecake

My friends at work and I really like trying new Hershey Kisses, so when one of my friends found these at Wal-Mart and brought them in, it was an exciting day. I'm not sure if these flavors are new this year, but they are new and exciting to me! Plus, the wrappers are really cute, which is a big selling point!

When I complain about the lack of limited edition candy flavors in the United States, I always forget about the Hershey Kiss. They aren't my favorite chocolates, but they certainly keep things interesting!


This might just be the cutest foil wrapper in existence! Perfect for Valentine's Day (and for my heart-shaped candy dish), the Strawberry Creme kisses have a very strong strawberry scent. The creme in the center, while not the most authentic strawberry, is pretty good. They taste a little yogurty, and the chocolate/strawberry balance is pretty good! I liked these a lot. B+


The Cheesecake Kisses also have a cute, classy wrapper. The Kiss itself smelled buttery and had a very mild cheesecake flavor. It didn't have the slightly sour, almost-lemony bite I associate with cheesecake. Instead, it mostly tasted of sweet cream cheese. This wasn't a bad thing for me since I'm not a big fan of the bite. B

Whenever I think about all the KitKat flavors in Japan that I miss out on, it helps me to remember that I do get to try lots of different Hershey Kisses.

Hershey's Website

Nestle Blueberry Cheesecake and Strawberry Cheesecake KitKats

Fianlly, another recent candy review. It's KitKats again, but I got these at a convenience store during my recent trip to Japan. These are single serving packets, and I paid about 40 yen for each.

Both are white chocolate KitKats, and neither had a particularly strong flavor. Neither tastes much like cheesecake, either, except for a hint of tartness.

The strawberry one tasted like very artificial strawberry, but maybe that was just the tartness. It definitely wasn't as good as other strawberry KitKats but it wasn't bad. Pretty forgettable.

The blueberry one was better! At first, the blueberry taste was very weak, but as I ate, it got stronger and was tasty. I haven't had any other blueberry KitKats, so I can't really compare it to anything, but I liked this one much more than the strawberry.

I like the single serving KitKats, but there is a bit of a mark-up. I also saw solo KitKats in Canada, but I think they were a little longer than these. For another take on these KitKats, check out the review at Japanese Snack Reviews.

Strawberry: B-
Blueberry: B+

KitKat Website (Japanese)

Meiji Cheesecake Apollo

I have a confession to make. I am not a huge fan of cheesecake. Oh sure, it's delicious, but it's so rich and filling that I just can't eat very much of it at a time. Plus, my lactose intolerance might factor into the equation. But I rarely choose cheesecake if there's an option. Here, Meiji has solved my problem - cheesecake chocolate. Hokkaido is famous for dairy products, and apparently, this cheesecake Apollo was inspired by the tastes of Hokkaido. It was made with 0.9% cheese powder, but I think I'll be OK without a Lactaid.


The chocolate has that Meiji taste for sure, and the cheesecake-flavored white chocolate hits the mark pretty well. It's a little lemony to try to mimic that tangy sourness of cheesecake, and it mixes with the milk chocolate very well. The chocolate is smooth and silky, so this is definitely enjoyable.

It's not my favorite kind of Apollo, but it's nice to have something cheesecake flavored that's not as rich as the real deal. I would definitely buy this again, and all my friends who tried it seemed to really like it.

B+

Meiji Website (Japanese)

Non Appètit

I don’t know what it is about first tries…or maybe it’s psyching yourself up for something extraordinary, but I seem to fall flat with both of these things. My first attempt and much deliberated ice cream recipe from The Perfect Scoop this summer was down right disgusting. While my first attempt at a recipe from my new subscription to Bon Appètit wasn’t disgusting, it was a disappointing ordeal.

I took last Friday off, not specifically to make the cranberry-chocolate tart featured in the Thanksgiving issue of Bon Appètit, but to…celebrate Columbus Day…yeah, that’s it. Figured I had the whole day, so I’d wake up, make a tart, and have the rest of the afternoon for napping.

I’m in the largest grocery store in Wilmington bright and early, before most people are at their desk jobs, and the stock boys are still in the grocery aisles, only I can’t find a plain chocolate cookie. I stood their about to cry, because I couldn’t find a non-marshmallowed-chocolate chunked-dipped-filled plain chocolate cookie. Thank goodness for those stockers still in the aisles. Turns out they hide those plain cookies in tiny, unassuming boxes two feet above my head.

Oh, the cranberry-chocolate tart calls for gelatin, which everyone knows is made of collagen from horse hooves, bones and whatnot. I try to avoid gelatin because it is the most disgusting product ever. Do this little experiment and I promise you’ll never think of gelatin the same: rehydrate an unflavored package of gelatin and smell it – smells like filed fingernail dust. Nothing you want to eat.

Thought I’d pick up agar agar, a thickener derived from seaweed that’s commonly used as a gelatin substitute. I called five health food stores closest to me to locate this stuff, and ended up driving thirty minutes out of town to the one store with agar agar. Then it turns out that after the tart was all done, I don’t think the thickening agent was necessary.

Did your elementary school teacher give you that exercise on following directions where they hand you a sheet of paper with instructions on cutting out a snowflake, and the first instruction is to read all of the instructions first, the rest are how to cut the paper with the instructions printed on it to make a pretty snowflake, and the veeeery last instruction is to disregard all of the above instructions? I did. And half way through my merry snowflake-making way, I discovered that my teacher was a bitch.

I never learned my lesson, and I’m still generally a bitter person. “Do Ahead” in bold print embedded in the middle of a recipe’s instructions is not helpful, Bon Appètit. The cranberry topping needed to be chilled at least eight hours, and I was planning on eating the tart for lunch that same day.

Beautiful, defined berries on the left, and my cranberry mush on the right.

I did follow the recipe’s directions to simmer the cranberries for five minutes! And I got mushy cranberries and an ugly topping for my tart; nothing near as pretty as theirs.

If my family served this cranberry-chocolate tart to me for Thanksgiving instead of pumpkin pie or pecan pie (Bon Appètit does have suped-up recipes for these classics in the Thanksgiving issue), I’d throw a temper tantrum. But if cheesecake-type desserts are a family tradition for you, you just might like this tart. Go get the magazine, or hit up Epicurious for the recipe. I’m not reprinting it.

The tart tasted fine (with the exception that the crust was too hard), but the end results were not worth the my effort. Maybe if you read directions thoroughly, shop ahead of time, and are organized. But, really, who is this good?

Basically, I'm upset that my first experience with my new magazine was difficult, I STILL don't read directions, and my tart was ugly.

Mikimotos

Remember last week when I wrote about my visit to Mantra, and I said that there were better cheesecake spring rolls out there? Well, that place is surprisingly in Wilmington at Mikimotos, a sushi restaurant and bar. I say surprisingly because even though I live in Wilmington Monday through Friday, I’m always at a loss of where to eat and what to do in “the city that closes at 5 p.m..”

Mikimotos (not to be confused with the infamous Morimoto in Philly) sits on a block in downtown Wilmington with two other restaurants right next to it: Washington Street Ale House and Presto. All three of these restaurants are owned by the same person – Darius Mansoory. It’s a little block of Mansoory-land. Besides the fact that all three of these places serve up semi-decent food, I stop into Mansoory’s places because, at a five minute’s walk distance they are the closest restaurants to my house in Wilmington.

When I first moved to Wilmington and asked around about what there is to do in the city, Mikimotos was one of the first things that popped out of people’s mouths. I think this is because Mikimotos is a popular bar and meeting place for younger professionals (khaki attack!), and it’s open after 5 (!!!). Large pictures of comic heroes and anime grace the walls as dance music pumps out of speakers. Mikimotos is not quiet dining.

I stop into Mikimotos about twice a year, mainly because it's close by. The vegetarian sushi is your standard fare – cucumber roll, avocado roll, and vegetable tempura roll. They also have a vegetarian handroll assortment, but when I ordered this in the past they filled it with the usual suspects: cucumber, avocado, and carrots. The creativity of the veggie sushi at Mikimotos has never impressed me.

This last time, I ordered the best veggie sushi from the menu – tempura vegetable roll – and asked for one of the more creative fish rolls - salmon, avocado, sweet onion, and mayonnaise – without the fish. It’s no secret that I love mayonnaise, but this is a match made in heaven. I don’t’ know why I’ve never had sushi with mayonnaise before? In the future, I’d like a little dish of mayonnaise beside my little dish of soy sauce.

Now, back to that cheesecake spring roll. Apparently every server at a restaurant that serves cheesecake spring rolls is going to highly recommend ordering them. This time, the server was right on. My partner, who normally takes just a bite or two of my desserts so I can gorge on the rest, had trouble stopping. He ate nearly half of my dessert! Thankfully, I was in a good mood, so didn’t stab him with my fork.

The oreo cheesecake spring rolls sprinkled with sugar were hot, and the oreo cheesecake insides were gooey and melty. The caramel dipping sauce was just the icing on the cheese cake. When I eat cheesecake, this is how I want to eat it.

Even though the vegetarian sushi at Mikimotos is uninspired, I’ve never had anything bad at Mikimotos. Besides the usual veggie offerings at sushi bars – edamame, vegetable tempura, veggie rolls, miso soup, and various salads – Mikimoto’s has a couple of tofu dishes on the menu, and a few dishes that can be modified and have tofu added. If only they would put the tempeh dish from a few years ago back on the menu, I might brave the sea of khaki more often.

Mikimotos 1212 Washington St., Wilmington, DE, 19801 302-656-8638 Mon.-Thurs., 11a.m.-11p.m.; Fri., 11a.m.-12a.m.; Sat., 11:30a.m.-12a.m.; Sun., 4p.m.-10a.m.