Doritos Gourmet - Clam Chowder

Doritos Gourmet - Clam Chowder

Just when you thought Frito Lay Japan had run out of flavor ideas they spring another at us. Fortunately, for my sake, they chose New England over Manhattan style clam chowder as a flavoring. I long miss those lunches at Tim Horton's in Canada where my creamy clam chowder was served in a bread bowl. I hope the flavoring here comes close to that eating experience.

With Doritos I can usually tell if I am going to enjoy the flavor after a few seconds of opening the bag. This golden-brown foil bag contains 75 grams of classic triangular corn chips, however the corners may be more rounded than you are used to. Also, these Gourmet edition Doritos are thicker and double fried for maximum crispiness. A definite "clammy" aroma drifts from the bag however it is not a strong sickly seafood smell. There is more cream present in the fragrance which indicates to me that these will be rich.

When testing a Doritos flavor for the first time I always like to lick the seasoning off one side of the chip to test for accuracy. Each chip is dotted with parsley and onion bits along with fine salty flavoring powder. You can really notice the heavy fry these chips received as there is almost a shiny appearance on parts of each morsel. Surprisingly the lick did not release much of the flavor as the ingredients seem to be sealed into the chip. Sure enough, after munching on the first chip an incredible amount of creamy clam chowder soup flavor, with a emphasis on clam, was released into my mouth. The crunchiness added to the experience since it reminded me of crushed crackers. This is probably one of the most accurate and delicious Doritos flavor I have tried in some time.

Now the nutritional value alert. This personal sized bag of Doritos carries 412 Calories, 24.9 grams of fat and 503 mg of sodium. Not the healthiest snack ever made but it is worth giving in for at least one day. I ate these without a beverage since I didn't want to lose any of the flavor profile but I can see these going well with beer, wine, or cola. Why not wait until November and order a new Japanese Strawberry & Milk Pepsi Cola to wash them down with?

We always carry a bunch of fresh salty snacks in a variety of flavors. Whether it is Cratz, Pringles, Pretz, or Cheetos you are after, we encourage you to click on the links to see what is in store. We ship to most countries in the world and always keep up to date with the current confectionery releases. Until next review....

Happy Snacking!

LOOK Chocolate - Pudding Parfait

LOOK Pudding Parfait Chocolate Bar

Outside of Japan little is known about a wonderful sectional chocolate bar simply named LOOK. Manufactured by Fujiya, one of the oldest confectionery companies in Japan, this brand is released in about a dozen different flavors each year. Half of the releases are variety packs containing three or four tastes. Today I will review a mono-flavor pack of Pudding Parfait.

LOOK is usually sold in a thin, resealable, sturdy box wrapped in a foil packet and ordered neatly on a cardboard tray. There are always 12 pieces in the box (3 rows of 4 chocolates) and each piece has a letter, either L, O, or K carved into the face. This is useful for variety packs as you can determine the filling based on the letter. I should also note that there are two O variations, one with a double circle for differentiation. But on this day, all 12 pieces are the same pudding parfait flavor.

The packaging is well thought out and very protective

The presentation of LOOK is something I really admire. Fujiya goes to greater lengths over similar makers to provide actual individual pieces rather than a sectional bar. Each piece (2.5 x 2 x 1 cm) is extremely smooth and cut perfectly with no imperfections. This gives it a very high-end appearance. Even when I used a knife to cut the chocolate it broke cleanly in half to exhibit its two-tone center of parfait cream and caramel sauce. The sauce was a nice liquid consistency and sat above the whipped creamy icing. A strong sweet caramel, almost butterscotch, aroma filled my senses.

The 2 flavor filling is scrumptious

When I bit into the morsel I was surprised by how much it tasted like Japanese pudding. If you haven't tried this caramel topped yellow pudding before I am sure you will recognize it on the front of the box. Basically, it has a custard cream flavor with a strong, nearly burnt caramel sauce topping. We do sell the mix HERE if you want to try the actual pudding dessert.

LOOK pudding parfait is very addicting and I had trouble stopping after consuming 6 pieces. Fujiya's milk chocolate is second to only Meiji in my opinion when considering mass produced sweets in Japan. You can try freezing them too for a different eating experience. Whatever way you enjoy them I am certain that you will come back for different flavors in the future. napaJapan will have all of those for you as they are released.

If you want to use the chocolates as spelling blocks it is very limited. This is the best I came up with (OL meaning either old or office lady - really, OL is what women are sometimes referred as):

Ol' Kool Look, OK? ... I am sure you can do better.

Here are a couple other recent LOOK releases (click on the title to see in store):

4 Flavor Classic LOOK A LA MODE

Tiramisu with Rilakkuma!

Happy Snacking!