Pretz's granola snacks: close enough to the real thing
Before you get too excited, the new Pretz Granola (¥140) by Glico, which went on sale last week, are nowhere close to the Nature Valley granola bars sold in the United States. While the treat contains bran, cornflakes and nuts, it has a texture ...
Refuel and refresh at Japan's gourmet motoring rest stops
Whoever said it's better to travel than to arrive must have been traveling in Japan. Just ask the folks who hit the road earlier this month for the o-Bon summer holidays. Sure, the nightly newscasts were filled with horror stories of bumper-to-bumper traffic, but ...
A Cronut copy that's better than most
With all the convenience stores and bakeries coming up with their own variations on the famous Cronut from New York, there are too many to choose from, but the Croissant Donuts from the Heart Bread Antique stand outside of Seibu Shibuya department store in ...
Harajuku ice-cream shop adds a scoop of science with liquid nitrogen
Newly opened (and tiny) dessert counter 196° Ice Cream in Harajuku isn't making an empty boast when it says that it serves the freshest ice cream in the world. The staff blend raw mixture with cups of liquid nitrogen, and after a minute of ...
None more black: The new Doritos flavor rocks
The new Rock'n lineup from Doritos features coal-black tortilla chips flavored with pepper and rock salt (¥127), on sale in convenience stores until Aug. 11 with the name Rock'n'Black. The salt comes from the Andes mountain range in South America, but it's the pepper flavor ...
Nakamuraken: refuge from summer in a glass of shaved ice
With months of nothing but sun, Japanese summers can sap your will to live. Be grateful, then, for the arrival of kakigōri (shaved ice). In fact, it's about the only thing to look forward to between now and November. Nakamuraken is a cafe beside Kyoto's ...
Maple syrup goes with anything — even fried chicken
The staff at Soul Snacks in Ginza will politely recommend that you move the tiny chicken drumsticks out of the way before you cover your waffle with syrup and butter, but disregard that. As awful as it sounds, the chicken tastes best doused with ...
Refreshing summer drink repackaged as a chocolate
One of the best beverages to combat this sticky weather is Kirin Sekai no Kitchen's Salty Lychee drink, which is purported to replenish the minerals and fluids sweat out in Japan's horribly humid summers. And now, in partnership with Glico, Kirin has released a ...
Kitayama is five stops on the subway from downtown Kyoto, but it might as well be a million miles away for the tourists who trudge around the city in search of Kyoto tropes: temples, shrines, teahouses and geishas who are more than likely tourists ...
A chocolate ice cream dessert you may never forget
Eating Avalanche (¥1,350) at the Marunouchi Ozao branch of Belgian patisserie Debailleul is like falling in love. You can't get the treat off your mind and the silly grin off your face. As bitter hot chocolate is poured onto it, the spherical chocolate shell ...
A delicious treat, if you can find it
In the seven months since its release, over 3.45 million F Style Mochi Ponyo treats have been sold in Three-F convenience stores, and they have become a trending topic of discussion on Twitter. Mochi Ponyo are custard-filled sweets wrapped in soft pastry made of ...
The bread that thinks its a pancake
AntenDo bakeries throughout Tokyo are now selling what the company calls Hotcake Pan (¥210) — sweet bread in a baking cup filled with vanilla-bean custard and topped with a thick square of butter. The bread comes with a plastic drop filled with pure Canadian ...
