Meito Air in Choco Taiyaki - Japanese Snack

So, before going on our spring break road trip to Canada, my friends and I went to Marukai to pick up some snacks. I saw this little snack and I thought it looked interesting.

Meito Air in Choco Taiyaki

It is a taiyaki shaped cookie filled with airy chocolate. I love taiyaki, so I had to buy this because it was very novel. For those of you who do not know what taiyaki is, here is a little information.

What is Taiyaki?: According to wikipedia, taiyaki, which literally means "baked sea bream," is a fish shaped cake that is most commonly filled with sweetened azuki bean paste (red bean paste).

Taiyaki picture found online

Fillings: Other than red beans, it can also be filled with custard, chocolate, or cheese. There are salty/savoury versions that are filled with okonomiyaki (savory Japanese pancake), gyoza (dumpling) filling, or sausages. I have never seen these versions, but I would really love to try them.

Online picture of a broken open taiyaki - red bean filling

How is it made?: Use a regular pancake or waffle batter, which is poured into a two-sided fish-shaped mold. Place in the filling and close the mold. cook until golden brown. (You know, they make this sound so easy, but I am still afraid to use my taiyaki pan and try making this XD I am not sure why I am so hesitant about trying, but I don't really think it will be THAT easy.)

OKAY! And with that, I shall go on with talking about the snack.

Here is a side view of the package

I have to say, I was really excited about opening this package because I wasn't really sure what to expect other than a cookie filled with chocolate.

Taiyaki cookie

Feel: Light, almost like a foam cup.
Look: A fish...a buggy-eye'd fish.
Smell: Asian wafer cookie

ARGH! MY FACE!
Poor, delicious fishie

Taste: The outer cookie tasted like a wafer, thin and light. The chocolate inside was literally airy. when you bit into it and looked and the chocolate, it looked like there were little craters in it. It was like the AERO bars in Canada. Very tasty and light for a pretty obvious unhealthy snack XD

Overall, this was a nice little sweet snack. It is not real taiyaki, but it is still just as fun to eat (a eat the head first). The only thing I did not care for were the wafer crumbs left behind when I was biting it. Just seemed messy. If I ever saw this again, I would buy it.

OTTOTTO yakiniku

OKAY! So here goes my first real post. Today I will talk about this snack right here:

NAME: ottotto yakiniku flavored; it is a potato snack with the flavors of grilled meat marinade in the shape of sea creatures.

Thoughts on the packaging: The outside packaging is really cute (to me). How can you resist the little fin-less red whale wearing a little sailor hat floating above the water by a beach with its little sea creature shaped cracker puff pals? And the sun bathing squid? Need I say more?

The animals you can expect:

uni (sea urchin) , ebi (shrimp), maguro (tuna), tako (octopus), ika (squid), kani (crab), fugu (puffer fish), hitode (starfish), manbou (sunfish), and kame (turtle).

The package that lies within the box: contains 2 bags.


The morsels in the package:


Can you figure out what these are? (tako, kame, and uni). OH WOW! THEY LOOK EXACTLY LIKE THE PICTURES ON THE BOX!

Now down to the nitty gritty...

Smell: teriyaki sauce...or really similar to it.

Taste and Texture: A taste very similar to teriyaki sauce, but not exactly. Salty, yet sweet, but it does not taste like marinated meat like some might hope when they read YAKINIKU. The potato puff itself is almost cracker like. Like a thin goldfish cracker taste, but crispier.

Overall: I find this snack enjoyable. I used to buy the original ones when I was younger, which always reminded me of goldfish crackers without the cheese flavor.

Next blog entry: Sunfish.