Five second food reviews and other weird stuff from Japan.
Ukon
Many people may not realise that Japan is actually not as reserved as you might think - alcohol is a massive social lubricant and pretty much everyone will have a glass of something if there's an event on. Combined with legal public drinking 24 hours a day and beer vending machines scattered around the place, you could imagine just how often you'll see someone with a can of something in their hand...
Lipton Tea, Sparkling (mixed berries).
I've seen a lot of carbonated drinks, but I've never seen carbonated tea... and there's a good reason - it's kinda crap.
I love tea, and I love carbonated drinks, but together it's not great, and the accent "mixed berries" flavour just doesn't do enough to really save this. It's really hard to describe the taste as well - it's iced tea... but bubbly, and not delicious. I think they were trying ...
Aloe vera pouch yoghurt.
They say that real men don't each quiche nor yoghurt... but I'll happily eat both without question. I dunno what that says about me, but I can tell you that Japan loves yoghurt. The variations of yoghurt itself or yoghurt flavoured food is infinite.
I think this thing was one of the first "what the hell?" foods I found when I moved here - Aloe vera yoghurt in a pouch.
Yes, aloe vera. The sam...
Melon Fanta.
It's amazing how when you travel, you come across brands that are generally available in your own country, but with regional flavours that you'll never see back home.
Case in point, Melon Fanta: Japan's greatest contribution to modern society.
This stuff is fantastic. If you like rock- or muskmelon, you'll love this. It tastes exactly like melon, except fizzy and full of sugar, although it's...
Taiyaki (fried bream)
These are one of my favourite all-time foods in Japan - Taiyaki, or literally translated "Bream, fried". The short explanation is that its pancake batter with a sweet filling stuffed into a metal fish mold. The outside goes a little crispy, the filling gets rocket hot and in winter there is nothing better to nom on whilst walking somewhere.
Most of the time, they're filled with a sweet bean p...
Peach Fanta
Fanta is available in most countries, but in Japan, it's all about the limited edition flavours: apple, fruit punch, cider, and of course the Summer Fanta, peach.
I dunno why it has travel graphics and "Italy" on the side and frankly I don't care, because I love this stuff and I never look at the bottle from afar for too long.
The taste isn't like peach nectar but it's definitely not a bad f...
Cratz
The longer I stay (and eat) in Japan, the more convinced I am that the entire country wants to spend its days and nights drinking beer and eating whatever goes best with beer. Even main meal foods seem to be purpose-made to go well with beer.
This goes double for snack food, and Cratz are *fantastic* with beer. Made of almonds and a baked bread “tube”, salted and flavoured, they’re far too moreish. There’s only a few flavours at the moment: cracked pepper, bacon, and cheddar cheese.
The only downside is that the baked things tend to get a bit gluey and get stuck in your teeth but otherwise if you see these, get them.
Price: About 150Y a pouch.
Availability: Year round, god bless ‘em.
