Ritz Chocolate Flavor

 Went to check out another Asian Grocery store...

... I love doing that, you never know what cool import they're bringing in.  This time is Ritz with chocolate filling.  

These are normal size Ritz, and it comes in 2 sleeves.  Sorry, Thin Mints, you've been replaced!

Each cookie sandwich has the saltiness of the Ritz crackers and a hint of sweet from the chocolate.  Why didn't the American branch think of it sooner?!  This is a Japan import, so I can only hope that the store will continuing support and keep bringing this back.  

This is great as a little dessert, of course everything in moderation, so can't sit there and eat the entire sleeve, though I do want to.  Just packed a couple for dessert at lunch.  YUM!

Oreo Thins - Matcha figs

Here's another random find at the Asian Grocery store.

This time is Oreo with Matcha and fig filling on Thin.

Still enjoy the half pack that comes with the box.  Talk about portion control, this is a helpful way to do it.  You get what you want, but not like a whole slab of cookies where you work thru while you're bored.  It has a limit easily.

I definitely love the Oreo Thins, you can have that half and not feel bad.  The filing is definitely not anything we've had before.  It is matcha tea flavor, but it's not overly sweet.  I won't lie,  I really can't tell there's fig in there.  But it's a great quick snack.

I would say amongst the flavors, I'm still stuck on the double chocolate. But if there's more new flavors to try, I'm game. 

 

Salami Potato Chips

Here's another weird snack I found.

On a mail-order site, I saw that they're selling Salami Flavored potato chips.  As you know, curiosity kills the cat, so here goes:

So the inside look like normal bag of potato chips.  The flavor: it taste extra salty and there's a meaty after taste.  Is it something I'll buy again?  Yes probably.  Is it something I can eat over and over?  No, I would eat the seaweed one over and over, but not the salami.

Give that a try!

 

Gourmet Salted Egg Fish Skin

This week is going to be random snack week.

I saw this and had tried some version of this before, but was also curious what could cost $11.  Curiosity wins, so here we go:

Basically this is fish skin chips, sprinkled with salted egg.  To be honest, I cannot taste the salted egg.  I did like the crispy bit, and if you have congee, this would go great with that.  The pieces of chips are huge, and they do get messy because they break easier than potato chips. 

I will say this is messier than I had pictured.  It is better if it goes with a bowl of congee, but also good on its own.  I feel somewhat healthier because it's fish skin, but for the price of $11 is a bit high for a snack.  So maybe once in a while, not a regular thing? 

 

Japanese rice crackers

When you cannot chew with your front teeth, snacking can be a challenge. 

Not unless they come in small sizes and you can just munch bit by bit.

These are locally made in Japan by Senbei Lab.  They are shaped like flowers but they're actually salty.  Don't let the shape fool you.  The colors of these rice crackers are made from plum, shrimp, matcha, purple sweet potato, turmeric and chili pepper.  So, it's all natural, and it's very clever for them to use all parts of these ingredients to get the colors they want.

The Hello Kitty brand is a collab between Bokksu & Hello Kitty.  I've done Bokksu in the past.  While I do like to support mom and pop shops, the shipping and the cost of the box is not cheap.  What made me go back to it this time is truly because of the unique Hello Kitty product that they include.  You can check out their catalog here.  If you're not a Hello Kitty fan but appreciate different kinds of snacks, check out Bokksu's overstock.  They do have them for purchase outside of the box subscription.  Take a look see.

Hello Kitty Rice Crackers

Bokksu X Hello Kitty Collar

https://www.bokksu.com/pages/hello-kitty-and-friends-box-subscription

 

Ritz cracker with chocolate filling

Here's another round of random snacks I find in the Asian Grocery store.

This is Ritz cracker with chocolate in the middle.

I love how the Asian snack pack them into smaller packs so you're less likely to over-snack.

As you can imagine, it's 2 Ritz cracker with chocolate cream in the middle.  It is pretty dang good.  Move over Oreo!  I'm going to this from now on.  It has a bit of salty, a bit of sweet, not at all super rich and filling.   The packaging size is just right for a snack.  It got my vote!

 

Oreo Wafers

Here's another snack find at the Asian Grocery store.

Oreo Korea has a wafer snack.

One box contains 5 individually wrapped wafers.

Each wrapped one has one insides, which is great so you don't over-eat. 

Inside the wafer is the Oreo flavor, just thinner layers in between and dipped in chocolate on the outside.  

This is a good option if you like the taste but don't want to have too much sweet.  Even though this was dipped in chocolate the sweetness level is minimal.  It's like just enough to proof it's a sweet dessert but not enough to have a sugar high.  Perfect for a cup of coffee.

 

Oreo - double chocolate

Found this neat Korean Oreo package.

Mind you, I have no clue what it said, but it looks to be chocolate and figured I can't go wrong on that.

I love the Asian packaging, they encourage you to not over indulge, like you're permitted to do it, just don't over do it.  I much appreciate that.

One pack has 6 cookies, since these are not the thin ones, they are the normal size.  The middle is chocolate which to me is double chocolate since the cookie itself is already chocolate flavor.  Don't get me wrong, no complaining here, just appreciate the variety.

You can find these at H-Mart.

 

Random International Snack

Here's a random international snack. 

This is Lays potato chips but with the Sushi Seaweed Flavor.

I will say that I like the size of it.  It's cute and tiny, so when you have half a pack, you don't feel super guilty about it.  That said, the texture of the chip is definitely not like the natural potato chips texture.  It's more like the olean texture.  Then, the seaweed flavor is definitely saltier but it is also mixed in with someone else.  The flavor overall tasted more artificial than a normal bag of Lays potato chips.  Probably won't try this again, but glad I tried it and found out.  If you tried this before, what did you think?

 

Ovaltine cookies

You read correctly, this is the Ovaltine you know and love. 

Who knew that outside of the country, they are making these varieties that we've never heard off, but just as delightful.  

Basically, this is Chocolate Waffle cookies made with wheat.  The 'chocolate' portion of the program of course came from Ovaltine.  The texture is is like a waffle cookie, not too dense and not too dry.  Not too much of chocolate flavor to speak of, but definitely not like you have vanilla style, which is sweeter.  

A box like that comes in 2 medium size bags.  Seeing how small the cookies are, with added air to protect the crunch and the cookie from being crushed, there is a lot in the box.  It is good with coffee or hot cocoa.  

 

International Snack - Tomato Harvest crackers

Happen to see them on the shelf as I was walking by.

As usual, curiosity kills the cat.  I was curious... 

So they came up to be pretty small, maybe a wee bit bigger than a quarter.  So there are a lot of these in a bag.  I tasted butter more than I tasted any tomatoes, even though that's what the flavor is supposed to be.  Overall it's not a bad snack for on-the-go, especially when you want something salty.  This is not too salty, but definitely help cure the snack craving after that.  Good to have in the kiddos backpack or in purses for kids snack.

 

Oreo Thin Bites

Unlike the Oreos I've been talking about.  This kind of thins are not like the others.

First of all, these are mini Oreos dipped in fudge.  

It's tiny, and this is what they look like, especially in Texas heat, where they melted together. It still taste like Oreo inside, with chocolate on the outside.  Each back is 100 calories.  You can find that at HEB

 

International Snack - Jaga Choco chip

This is my second time to have this.  This is what we've been dreaming of in our twenties: potato chips dipped in chocolate. 

I love the cute little cup that it comes in.  Make sure it won't get too stuck and melty in the Texas heat.  The other Japanese company has it in a bag, so it's free for bouncing about.

Now granted, there's room to bounce here too, but it looks pretty protected to me.  

The quality, let's face it, it is fully dipped in chocolate, so it's not as crisp as you'd imagine.  But luckily it's not super soggy either.  The chocolate you can tell is milk chocolate, and it's not super sweet because of the potato chips.  I can tell that the potato chips weren't salted, I mean, what's the point, right?!  Anyway, I was super grateful that the chocolate didn't melt in this heat and it came out nice and crisp.  If you see it, definitely worth a try.  The other company that sell something like this, is Royce Chocolate.  Check them out.

 

International Snack - Oreo part 3

Feel like I've been on a quest of the best non- regular, International Oreo here. 

This time I found Mint Creme Oreo.  This one is not the Thins that I found, this is the regular size Oreo referring to the thickness of the cookie.  The filling is Mint Creme.  I immediate associate that with Thin Mints GS cookies.

Also came in the small packs, and each pack is 107 calories, which is great for on the go snack.  Just throw one in the purse. 

This is what the cookies look like.  I will say, it is definitely not Thin Mints.  The Mint Creme here is the cool mint.  So after you ate the cookie, you feel the mint going down.  No complaint, it's good, just never had that in a cookie before.  I've had that in a mint - mint.  So that's a new sensation for me.

The other one I found is The Strawberry Milkshake.  Back to the thin version, and to look for that, look for the box says Oreo Crispy.  Those are the thins!

Again, cute pack great for on the go snack, for 99 calories per pack.

Hooray for the thins.  The creme is definitely not something I've had before.  You can taste the strawberry and as artificial as I know them to be, the taste really resembles a real strawberry.  In that, it has its sweets, tang, and zest.  There's bit of sweet and bit of sour, which is very much unlike the artificial strawberry flavor anything that is sweet through and through.  That was interesting.  Don't worry, the zest and tang is so subtle it's unconscious but since it's different for me, it was neat to try.

I'm still in search of the Famous Sakura, if you see them, let me know.  I would say, having tried the several, the Chocolate Brownie is still my top one.  Otherwise, you can get these at several Asian grocers in the Houston area.

International Snack - Compare and contrast of the Oreos

So the last time I found some thin Oreo from Japan.  This time I found more and had to share.

This is the Chocolate Brownie Thin Oreo. YUM

Again, it comes with a tiny 'tube', which is great for portion control.

You see how thin these are.  And the chocolate filling is packed with flavors.  You don't feel that the Oreo cookie and the filling was too much sweet and sugar.  It's nicely balance but your brain definitely identify that you're eating chocolate.

The other one I found was green tea.  They do green tea in all snacks and dessert.  So I know they'll do a good job here, there's too many competition out there.

Again, cute little tube, which if you consume its entirety it's 98 calories.

Again, you can see the matcha cream, and it does taste like green tea.  

I think that's one great thing about the Japanese is that they will make sure flavors will show up and yet not over powering what it's supposed to be.  Don't get me wrong, not all makers are good at this, I think with Oreo being an international brand, they have to show well.  That said, this is a great product.  I hope I find more to try.

International Snack - Millecrepe

Last time we saw Chestnut Cake, this time we saw Millecrepe. 

This is also found in the frozen section.

It is like a legit Millecrepe, look at those layers.  Of course given that it's been frozen, the taste is not as full as other Millecrepe I've tried.  Unlike the Chestnut Cake which knocked it out of the park, this cake came up a tad short.  If I get the choice, I'd stick w/ the Chestnut Cake.  

International Snack - All Raisin

Another find I saw at the Asian Grocery store.

This looks like a thin cookie with raisin flavor on the package.  In reality, it's thicker than a regular cookie and every bite has a little bit of chewy raisin.  It's pretty amazing for a small little pack to have a lot of pretty decent flavor and size cookies.  I'd definitely get this again.

International Snack - Boba Pops

Here's a compare and contrast of Boba Pops.

So, on my friend's feeds on social media I saw people posting about these Boba Pops.

This is a Korean Brown Sugar Bubble Tea Bar - Babambar.

So, it is actually smaller than I'd expected, but that's ok, I don't need that much.  So, after many bites, I finally got to what I thought would be boba, which is towards the bottom.  It tasted more like grass jelly than boba.  

Then, here we have the Brown Sugar Milk Tea Boba bar.  It is so popular that even the Chicago Tribune wrote about it.  Made it Taiwan's Xiao Mei.

You can quickly see the difference. There is definitely the whole brown sugar thing going.  This is definitely different, you basically get a bit of boba when you first bite into it.  And through out the bar, there are bites of boba.  It is a tad sweeter than the other one, but I think the boba balanced it back.

So, the cost for both are about the same, it comes out to be about $2 per bar, each box comes with 4.   Some may think that's a lot but think about it: if you were to get a real boba tea, it is upwards of $4.  If you get a popsicle by itself at a convenient store or ice cream truck it is at least $3.50.  So, either way, you win.  I do blame my friend for turning me on to the Brown Sugar Bar, it is so good that I kept going back for it, except it's so hot that it's often sell out.  You can try your luck at any Asian Grocers.