Last week I decided to replenish my chocolate stocks with this Meiji selection bag that contains 8 of the most popular and simple Meiji products in single-serving packs.
Takenoko no Sato
Of all the candies in this selection, Takenoko no Sato is probably the only one that conveys any sense of ‘Japaneseness’, as the small, bullet-shaped bites resemble takenoko (bamboo shoots) – a popular ingredient in traditional cuisine.
A nugget of crumbly biscuit with a dense and buttery consistency is partially covered with milk chocolate molded into a layered design similar to a pine cone.
The biscuit is slightly salted, with helps to offset the sweetness of the chocolate. The chocolate is fairly thick in parts, so each bite feels substantial and fulfilling.
Kinoko no Yama
These charming mushroom-shaped snacks are similar in concept to the takenoko, but the ratios are rather different, with one solid piece of chocolate balanced atop a thin biscuit stem.
Also, the biscuit is drier and less salty, with a light malted flavour and the chocolate has a smoother exterior. Both Kinoko no Yama and Takenoko no Sato are available in a wide range of seasonal flavours, most recently including pumpkin, chestnut and strawberry.
Marble
Marble is basically Smarties by another name: sweet milk chocolate in a sugar shell. There are seven different colours although there is no actual variation of flavours, but the crunch of the shell is nice and crisp. Marble is also available in strawberry.
Meiji Bar
The most basic item in the assortment, this is a milky and sweet bar with a good creaminess.
The sweetness could be a little cloying in a larger portion, but the tiny serving – three or four bites at the most without resorting to rodent-style nibbling – is not too sickly. A very ordinary and admittedly rather cheap-feeling bar.
Strawberry
This miniature bar consisting of two squares, is made with the same milky sweet chocolate as in the Meiji bar.
The bubblegum-pink filling tastes like strawberry yoghurt, with a distinctive note of sour cream, and is a little grainy, as it contains some freeze-dried strawberry.
McVities Milk Chocolate Digestive
I was interested to try this pack, of which the selection contains only one, to see if it varies from the digestives available in England. Although it says milk chocolate it was less sweet than I was expecting, the kind of odd twilight zone between milk and plain that you normally find in cooking chocolate. The biscuit was a little drier and less grainy than usual digestives.
Pucca
I’ve never tried these before but I can see that they are a close relative of Koala no March: cute-shaped crispy wafer shells, which house a thimbleful of chocolate cream.
For me, this was the most disappointing item in the selection; the biscuit was very dry and the filling was oily and sickly.
Almond
Roasted almonds covered in sweet milk chocolate, what could be simpler?
The nut could have been more thoroughly toasted, I found it a little soft and oily. The serving size of three pieces seemed a little stingy, I think four of five would have been just right.
I liked that there were so many different varieties in this assortment, most selection packs I’ve come across contain only two or three different items. The strawberry bars and marble candies were good but on the whole the chocolate was a little too sweet for me. This would be great for a children’s party but it’s worth investing in something a little pricier for yourself.
6/10
Meiji Selection Bag
The Sweet Japan Blog 