Snakku March 2020 Tasting Box Review
Snack subscriptions are my guilty little pleasure, so I always await their arrival with excitement – even more so during the COVID lockdown because I’m totally a stress-ester. Snakku March 2020 Tasting Box arrived later than usual, I’m guessing due to all the mailing service disruptions throughout the world. The snacks inside still tasted fresh though! March selection explored popular local offerings from snack shops in Tokyo, including some that have been around for generations.
HOW IT WORKS:
Every month Snakku subscribers receive a selection of hand-picked artisan-made snacks from Japan. The boxes come in two sizes – Signature Box and Tasting Box. Signature Box contains an assortment of 20-25 snacks and costs $38.95, it also ships worldwide. Tasting Box contains 5-7 seasonal snacks, costs $16.95 and ships only to the US. Click here to check it out.
SPECIALTY SNACKS:
These specialty snacks were sourced from local shops and are hard to find outside Japan.
Sugar Butter Sandwich
1 // Sugar Butter Sandwich – According to Snakku, Sugar Butter Sandwiches like these are a huge hit in Tokyo. Made with barley puff cookies filled with white chocolate cream, these little cookies were perfectly crispy and sweet. The texture kind of reminds me of graham crackers, and they crumbled just as easily so I had to be careful not to make a mess. This snack was really delicious!
Tokyo Tamago
2 // Tokyo Tamago – These unique dessert “eggs” are sold by Ginza Tamaya shop in the best traditions of Japanese snack making with a modern twist. Each of these eggs has a white chocolate outer shell, a thin layer of castella sponge cake, and sweet black bean filling. People often buy these eggs as souvenirs from Tokyo, and I can totally see why – I’ve never seen anything like it before! The flavor was great, too – not too sweet or too bland – it was just right.
Odaiba Ring
3 // Odaiba Ring – This was the snack I was excited to try the most. These round cookies are sold exclusively at Odaiba – an artificial island in Tokyo Bay that was built for defensive purposes in the 1890s. The island will also host several activities in the upcoming summer Olympics in Tokyo, but I digress. The cookie is made with chocolate crumble and held together with banana-flavored white chocolate. Chocolate and banana is one of my favorite dessert combinations, but I rarely see them used together in modern snacks. The cookies were incredible – crunchy and sweet, perfect to have with a bitter drink like coffee or green tea. I wish I had more in the box!
POPULAR SNACKS:
These snacks are popular in Japan and abroad, and are much easier to find at Asian markets and online.
Milk Country Candy
4 // Milk Country Candy – I have a soft spot for Japanese hard candy, especially the milk varieties. Japan prides itself on its high-quality dairy which is especially delicious in the Hokkaido region where these candies were made. The milk there is extra flavorful and doesn’t even taste like the same thing we get at the stores here. There’s a very famous agricultural university on Hokkaido that studies dairy science and helps perfect the flavor of Hokkaido milk.
Happi Turn Senbei
5 // Happi Turn Senbei – Pretty sure I bought these on Amazon before, but in bigger packaging. These sesame crackers were very flavorful and had the perfect balance of sweet and salty flavors. I also loved the strong umami flavor from miso or some other soybean condiment added to the coating. These are some of my favorite senbei!
Baka Uke Sesame Crackers
6 // Baka Uke Sesame Crackers – These twice-baked sesame crackers were thick and crunchy, almost like a rusk. They come in many flavors, and mine was flavored with soy sauce and toasted sesame seeds. I generally prefer single-baked senbei, but this one was enjoyable too.
Pocky Cookies & Cream
7 // Pocky Cookies & Cream – This was probably the only snack I didn’t care for in my Snakku March 2020 Tasting Box. I generally like Pocky but these were kind of bland and didn’t taste much like anything. The idea of cookies & cream glaze is good, but it was majorly lacking flavor.
This was the box where I wished I ordered the large version instead. There were seven!! other snacks included in the Signature Box, plus multiples of the ones we received in the small one. Too bad I didn’t get to try those Almond Cream sandwiches they advertised in the promo email for March, I bet those were amazing. I do have a big box coming to me later this month because Sakura-themed April boxes have been incredible several years in a row now – I knew I didn’t want to miss out on that one for sure!We don’t know what the theme is for May yet, but depending on the spoilers, I may splurge on another Signature box. 😉
Click here to get $5 off your first Snakku box.
Have you tried Japanese snacks before? What are your favorite international snacks?
