Vosges Mo's Bacon Bar

I was on vacation for most of this week, so I haven't done a review in a while. Last night, I remembered that I still had this Mo's Bacon Bar from the last time I went to Whole Foods several months ago. I was worried that it would be bloomed (because these things are not cheap), but the airtight packaging saved the day and the bar was still in great shape!

I'm not a huge fan of bacon. I like it by itself or on a BLT, but I don't like it on pizza...or in chocolate. So I'm not really sure why I bought this. It was hard to pass up such a weird flavor combination, though, and my husband was interested in it, too.


When I opened this, it was hard not to notice the strong, overpowering smell of bacon. I could hardly smell chocolate at all. The chocolate has a great texture, as expected from Vosges. The taste was milk chocolate all the way, and for how much it smelled like bacon, I could hardly taste anything but chocolate. The bacon mainly added a weird texture and lots of saltiness.

It was good, but it smelled more like bacon than it tasted like it. That's probably a good thing. The aftertaste was very salty. My husband remarked that this must be what dog treats taste like for dogs. The bacon really didn't add much here, and I prefer the other Vosges bars I've tried.

C+

Vosges Haut-Chocolate

Nestle Hokkaido KitKats

Nestle Japan is out of control. Pictured above are two limited edition KitKat bars from Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's four islands. The flavors are Roasted Corn (above) and Potato (below).

That's right. I'm not sure why, but for some reason, these flavors seemed weirder than soy sauce flavor. But, I had to try them, so I ordered some online. My husband and I tried them right away.


Potato flavor seemed tamer, so we tried this one first. I had heard that it tasted like chocolate covered potato chips. The bar itself smelled like potato, and tasted like extremely salty white chocolate. It was very buttery, too, and had a light potato taste in the wafers. The main flavor seemed to be butter. I didn't really care for this one. At least it wasn't too sweet. C+


Seemingly the weirder of the two, we tried Roasted Corn next. It didn't really smell like corn at all, just white chocolate. The taste was again very buttery. It did taste like corn, but maybe just in the sense that some people put so much butter and salt on corn on the cob that you can hardly taste the corn anymore. It was hard to tell. But again, the main flavors were butter and salt. Still, I liked this one better than the potato. B-

These flavors were, obviously, for novelty. They certainly were fun to try, but I do kind of look forward to sharing them with friends because I won't have to eat any more of them. Plus, it should be funny to watch their faces.

KitKat Website (Japanese)

Tirol Strawberry Pack

A good friend in Kyoto sent me a bunch of candy, including a pack of Tirol chocolates called いちごがいっぱい (ichigo ga ippai), which means lots of strawberries. I suppose strawberry flavor is common right now, as one of the latest Japanese KitKats is also strawberry (review coming soon). There were three varieties of strawberry chocolates in the pack, so I'll review them one by one.


First up is Condensed Milk and Strawberry, and of the three, it had the most authentic strawberry smell and flavor. There was also a hint of cream in the smell, which was neat.

From the picture, you can see that there is a layer of condensed milk inside and WOW did it make this a sweet piece of chocolate. It was a little too sweet, actually, but the chocolate tasted really nice. There were even some strawberry seeds in the chocolate. I was surprised, but this was actually my favorite of the three. I would have rated it higher were it not for the intense sweetness of the condensed milk, but that is one of the sweetest things out there, so I wasn't terribly surprised. A-


Next, I tried Strawberry Jam. I thought this would be my favorite, but it wasn't. There wasn't much of a strawberry scent, but I could smell milk chocolate. The taste was similar in that the milk chocolate overpowered both the strawberry chocolate and the strawberry jelly in the middle. On a positive note, the strawberry center was really fruity and tasty.

Even though I was disappointed at how much the milk chocolate took over the flavor of this chocolate, it was better than the last jelly chocolate combination from Tirol (Christmas Soda), and it still tasted good, just not particularly impressive. B


Finally, I tried BIS Strawberry. "BIS" is short for biscuit, and I've always been a fan of chocolates like this (such as the Ritter Sport with the biscuit inside, and the regular BIS Tirol). This one also didn't have much of a strawberry smell, which was disappointing.

At first bite, I thought this one was delicious! I was all set to give it an A, but then the aftertaste kicked in. The strawberry chocolate here tasted a little soapy, and it ruined it for me. The biscuit was great, but I couldn't get over the soapyness. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't perfect. I wish it had the flavorful strawberry chocolate from the Condensed Milk and Strawberry. Oh well, it was still my second favorite. B+

I was really surprised that only one of the flavors packed a strawberry punch, but I can't say any of them tasted bad. In any case, I love Tirol chocolate and can't wait to see what flavors they roll out next! For another take on these, check out Japanese Snack Reviews.

Tirol Chocolate website (Japanese)

Tic Tac Chill Exotic Cherry

This little guy was a pain to open. It called to me at the gas station one day, so I bought it. It came in clear plastic wrap that was quite hard to remove, and even then, I couldn't figure out how to open it. Finally, I slid the front panel down (see photo below) and was able to access the Tic Tacs inside.

Later, I saw a commercial on TV that showed me that the top opens, too, like regular Tic Tacs (see photo above). A diagram or something on the box would have helped.

Both the box and the Tic Tacs themselves are larger than regular Tic Tacs. The shape is still the same, and, despite the fancy box, it doesn't feel like much has changed.


The Tic Tac felt really cold in my mouth, and had a slight cherry flavor, but wasn't too strong (or exotic). I don't know if it would be a great breath mint, but it tasted okay. I chewed it up after about a minute, and it was very sour, but not terribly cherry. It didn't really do much for me, but it wasn't bad.

Although it suffers from the same problem as orange Tic Tacs (as in it makes your breath worse), Exotic Cherry just didn't taste as good as orange to me, so I doubt I'll buy it again.

C

Ferrero Website

Nestle Muscat of Alexandria KitKat

I bought this KitKat when I was in Japan about two months ago, and I've been avoiding reviewing it. My husband took one of the packs inside and I tasted a little bit, and I really, really didn't want to eat any more of it. I finally mustered up enough courage to eat and review my half of the KitKat this morning.

Grape always makes me nervous. I love grapes, and like some grape candy (purple Skittles, grape Hi-Chew), but it just doesn't seem like a flavor that goes well in chocolate. My suspicions were confirmed - this KitKat didn't work.


The KitKat is a pale green and smells strongly of muscat grapes. I guess that's good, mission accomplished. The taste was a strong muscat with a fake aftertaste that lingered for quite some time. I could only eat one of the fingers in the pouch.

This was not a good idea. Chocolate and muscat grape do not go well together, at least not here. It was okay when I couldn't taste the grape, but even then, the white chocolate was overly sweet. It was the aftertaste that really pushed me over the edge. It wasn't inedible, but it was the worst KitKat flavor I've ever tried. Funny, you'd think that title would go to soy sauce flavor. Anyhow, this KitKat was not for me. My husband liked it more than I did, and Orchid64 at Japanese Snack Reviews didn't hate it, either. Please check out her review, or ZOMG, Candy for other perspectives.

D

KitKat Website (Japanese)