Similar to the Dars I reviewed recently, Look (made by Fujiya) consists of a slim wallet-sized box of 12 individual chocolate pieces, but unlike the uniform flavour of Dars, there is an assortment of two to four flavours. The seasonal chestnut-based desserts mont blanc and kurikinton are the inspiration for this addition to the Look range, which features six of each variety, in four different designs.
The inner plastic wrapping is helpfully illustrated with cute pictures that indicate which flavour is which and it opens along the top, making it easy to slide out the cardboard tray inside one row at a time and slip it back in again to close the box and save some for later if you like.
Inside the shiny gold and silver wrapping, the appearance of the chocolate is equally attractive: the compact chunks embellished with simple line motifs have a nice lustre to them and the Look logo is perfectly imprinted on each one. On the left are the pieces based on my all-time favourite cake, mont blanc (or monburan, as it becomes in Japanese), a mountain of delicately piped marron cream concealing a centre of fresh cream and whole chestnut, all perched on a spongecake base.
The heavenly roasted chestnut scent of the mont blanc chocolates is very much like the real thing, as is the lovely pale cappuccino colour of the filling. The tiny crunchy toasted sugar fragments in the center create a very different consistency from the moist smoothness of the puree and cream in the actual confectionary but the brittle sugar works well with the rich, creamy chestnut-flavoured filling. As for the kurikinton, these candies represent a traditional Japanese sweet made from mashed chestnuts and sugar, which has a slightly stodgy, concentrated sweetness like that of marzipan. Beneath the milk chocolate coating is a buttery golden center that gives off a nutty maple aroma. It is a little sweeter than the montblanc and has a liquid filling that blends with the smooth chocolatey components, when sucked, to create a creamy syrupy consistency as it melts. The syrup is harder to detect if you simply bite into the chunk, as there is only a drop in each one, and will probably be completely drowned out if you eat it in one go.
Look’s ‘chestnut desserts’ reproduces the colours, flavours and scents of the originals in a new form with a new variety of textures. Both pieces were delicious but the creamy mont blanc was particularly good and I would happily buy it as an individual product. Although the box doesn’t state that these are a limited edition, I’d get hold of them sooner rather than later, while autumn is still in the air.
8/10
Fujiya Look Kuri no Dezato 279kcals
The Sweet Japan Blog 