Kabaya Rilakkuma Pretzel Butter Flavor

Hey, this makes two Kabaya reviews in a row! Instead of gummies, it's a Kabaya take on Glico Pretz, with a cute mascot character (Rilakkuma) tie-in. This snack was kindly provided by Tsunami.hk.

Rilakkuma is basically a couch potato. His name comes from the English word relax and the Japanese word kuma, which means bear. He spends most of his time relaxing, presumably stuffing his face with cookies like on the package.


The design on the inner bag was strikingly adorable. Although the package says pretzel, the sticks are more like crackers (basically naked Pocky). They smelled like buttered toast, and had a fresh, appetizing crunch.

The flavor was slightly sweet, salty, and buttery without being oily. I didn't detect a preservative aftertaste, and had no trouble finishing the whole bag (160 calories) in one sitting. Although addictive, they were pretty basic as far as snacks go. Still, they definitely satisfied my craving for crunchy.

B+

Kabaya website

Kabaya Kakigori Gummies

Kabaya isn't the biggest name in the Japanese snack business, but they do make excellent gummies. These are based on kakigori, a popular Japanese summer treat that is basically a snow cone. These came in four flavors: Soda, Melon, Lemon, and Strawberry Milk. They were even shaped like little mounds of shaved ice!

Soda smelled strongly of ramune. The texture was really neat! The coating and bottom half was a little crunchy and grainy (sort of like ice) but the top of the inside was soft, sticky, and gooey. It had just a hint of a fizz to it and a good citrus flavor.


Melon smelled a little floral, and the flavor was a very convincing, mellow honeydew. It had the same interesting shaved ice-like texture, and I had no complaints.

Lemon smelled like a cleaner, and although it tasted a little more like a lemon than it smelled, it still wasn't too authentic. It was floral and sweet, but my least favorite of the flavors. Although the textures were similar, the flavor was not as good as the other Kabaya lemon gummies I tried.

Strawberry Milk was very authentic! It smelled and tasted just like strawberries and condensed milk. It was one of the sweetest of the bunch, but the favor was so good that I didn't mind.

B+

Kabaya website

Kabaya Hello Kitty Strawberry Milk

Don't judge a book by its cover doesn't really apply to candy, but maybe it should. I tend to gravitate towards Hello Kitty products, so I was really excited to see this bag in my sample package from Tsunami.hk. Half the bag is Kitty's face - the candy must be good.

My expectations only got higher when I opened the bag. As shown in the following photo, the white, round candies were individually wrapped in clear plastic so that each piece looked like Hello Kitty's face. It is definitely some of the cutest and cleverest packaging I've seen since I started this blog 2 years ago.


The candy was a different story. The concept was rather complex; there was a crisp and chewy outer sugar coating, then an inner layer of intensely sweet white chocolate, all surrounding a hard and crunchy strawberry-flavored center (like the center of a Gobstopper) with candy pieces inside. It was a little overwhelming, and not at all what I imagined.

Instead of tasting like milk, the white chocolate layer tasted like sugar, and pairing it with a crunchy sugar coating didn't help. The center was so hard that it hurt to chew, and the strawberry flavor was pretty typical, but it was hard to pick out from all that sweetness. It's the white chocolate layer that ruined it for me, because if it was just a candy shell around the strawberry center, I think I would have liked this candy much more.


Because the design was so clever, I rated these a little higher than I would have based on taste alone. The packaging is that cute. The candy just didn't suit my tastes at all, but one of my friends really liked them and graciously finished the bag for me.

C-

Kabaya website

Kabaya Lemon Pure R

I will admit without hesitation that I purchased these Kabaya lemon gummies purely because Hello Kitty was on the package. I am a fan. But, according to my past experience, Kabaya does gummies quite well. Pure R is a line I've never tried before, and according to the Kaybaya site, the current flavors are grape, strawberry, and ruby grapefruit. This lemon flavor doesn't seem to be available anymore.

These were a little old when I purchased them, but not expired. However, the website shown on the package, advertising a Pure R/Pureal and Hello Kitty cell phone campaign, is no longer working. I'm not sure how to romanize the name of this candy, and it seems Kabaya isn't sure, either because this package says Pureal but their website says Pure R.


At first, I was worried, because the open package smelled like lemon cleaner. Thankfully, the gummies themselves (which were pretty big) didn't taste like lemon. They were nice and sour, and with a fairly authentic lemon flavor.

Where these got interesting was the texture. There was a somewhat hard shell (which can be seen in the photo above) around a soft, sticky gel center. The shell reminded me of a skin that might form over pudding if it sits too long. It didn't detract from the flavor, but it put me off a little bit. These were addictive, but not as good as other Japanese gummies. My husband couldn't get enough of them, and loved the flavor and texture.

B+

Kabaya website

Kabaya Matcha Pakiri

Normally, I don't go for Pocky or Pocky-clone snacks, but the lure of matcha made me buy these. Unfortunately, they were a little melted (as I suspect they were shipped during summer to the store from which I bought them), but I don't think the taste was affected.

Kabaya is a big snack company, but this snack is definitely a Pocky-clone. According to the package, these are extra crunchy sticks, and should make a "snap" noise when eaten (paki, in Japanese onomatopoeia).


The scent of matcha was very strong when I opened the package, which is always a good sign for me. The flavor of the matcha white chocolate coating was also strong, just how I like it. However, they were not kidding about these being crunchy.

The stick part was very hard, crunchy, and a little tough on my teeth. It also had a distinctly salty flavor that I didn't love, but didn't hate. The saltiness was especially apparent in the aftertaste. So, even though I loved the matcha flavor, the stick wasn't to my liking.

I should mention that I wrote those notes about the crunchiness the day I opened the package. After a day or two of being opened, the sticks seemed a little softer and I liked the Pakiri better. However, if you like crunchy snacks, eat these right away.

B-

Kabaya website

Kabaya Watermelon Gummies

It's Labor Day weekend in the US, and that means a three day weekend for many people. My husband and I did a little destination eating and shopping, and here's one of our spoils: watermelon gummies. My husband wanted to try them so badly that he took this picture for me so he could open them.

Both the bag and the gummies themselves were super cute. Although I've never tried watermelon with salt, I know it's common, and these gummies were supposed to be slightly salty. The yellow/green candies were sour watermelon, and the red/green ones were regular.


The open bag smelled a lot like alcohol, especially a sweet cocktail. I wasn't sure what to make of that, but I started with the sour one. It was tart like the fruit just before the rind of the melon (my favorite part) with some citrus notes. The sweetness was balanced by the saltiness, and I enjoyed the sour flavor.

The regular one was much sweeter, but it had a very realistic watermelon flavor. I didn't detect any chemical taste, which is rare for watermelon flavor. The saltiness, again, helped to offset the sweetness. The gummies both had a great texture; they were soft but still gave a bit of resistance when bit into. These were great, especially for watermelon fans.

A-

Kabaya website