Japanese Food Haul| Japan Centre

Good day lovies, 

Today I have a food haul for you which is super exciting since I haven't done this sort of post on the blog before! A couple of weeks ago I went to London with my friend for his birthday and we literally spent the whole day nerding out over anime related things and eating Japanese food, which by the way is the best way to spend any day. I told him about the Japan Centre and he was totally up for going (yay for me because I wanted to stock up on some pantry items... no personal motives involved I swear). 

Obviously I HAD to get something from the bakery section because Japanese patisserie and bread is just heavenlyyy. I also made sure to get some snacks because you know snacks. 

In the picture above are the items bought from the bakery section, a 'Melon Pan' for mum (because those are her faves) and no it does not taste of melon if you were wondering ^^, the other two were a 'Totoro Bread' (ADORABLE OR WHAT?!) and a 'Chocolate Melon Pan.' I'm salivating thinking about them now

These goodies include probably one of my most favourite childhood snacks 'Lotte Koala Chocolate filled biscuits' which are bite-sized biscuits with a chocolate filling and a cute koala print on each, as tasty as they are cute- however they are very addictive, you have been warned.
I have always been curious about soy milk flavours and have never tried anything other than regular soy milk which I find quite savoury. When I saw Coffee flavoured soy milk I had to get it and it just so happened to be low calorie too- win win! The final thing I got was 'Calorie Mate' which is an energy supplement block really popular in Japan. To be honest the main reason I wanted to buy this was because of the advert, it has stuck in my brain since going to Japan (about 2 years ago!) so I had to put it to rest and finally try these. I'll set the scene for the advert: A beautiful Japanese lady sitting under a tree...in what I guess is in the safari. It then skips to a scene where the lady and a cheetah are running through the sandy grass of the African landscape (the message bascially being the Calorie Mate bars have given her the energy and potential to run with/at the same pace as the cheetah). It then cuts back to the first scene but with the cheetah now laying on her lap and purring...with the slogan 'Calorie Mate o.' best. advert. ever. 

The Totoro bread was similar to a bread roll texture with the stomach of Totoro being slightly more like a traditional Melon Pan (sticky and soft). The inside had a thick custard filling (a bit like creme patisserie) which was slightly sweetened and complemented the bread really well. I also like the chocolate detail because it adds to the cute factor. 

'Showa Pancake Mix' is such a popular pancake mix in Japanese stores, I have seen multiple youtube videos of people using this and my impulse buying made me pick it up to save for a lazy weekend. I have yet to make these so I will save that for another post and review how they taste!

This is the 'Chocolate Melon Pan,' the same sticky and soft texture of a regular Melon Pan but chocolate. Who doesn't like chocolate? The inside had a chocolate custard filling too, so there was double chocolate going on, this was my favourite flavour wise because it was a delicate chocolate flavour while still keeping its Melon Pan-ness. I RECOMMEND.

This was my Mum's traditional 'Melon Pan'- I didn't get a taste so you will just have to take my word that it's still yummy, it didn't last very long so I think that's a good sign~

'Marusanai Coffee Soy drink' was better than I expected, Soy milk has quite a pungent flavour but this was more subtle and I thought I was drinking regular milk flavoured with coffee! It has less calories than the normal flavoured soy milks although it does still have a sweeter in it, although if it didn't have any sweeter I reckon the soy flavour would come through a lot more. The coffee flavour was just right, it didn't taste artificial (but hard core coffee drinkers might disagree I reckon).

Of course, these were as good as I remember. Addictive, crunchy little koala morsels with a soft chocolatey filling. My only complaint is that there needs to be more chocolate filling, they only seem to be half stuffed and I like my Koala's fully stuffed. LOTTE if you are reading, don't hold back on the choc! and the packet size too while your at it...probably a good thing they are smaller portioned actually.

These Calorie Mate bars are chocolate flavour, there was a choice of fruit and cheese. I thought chocolate would be the safest bet. The fruit one I will try next but I don't think I will ever be brave enough to buy the cheese. As far as health bars go these were not bad, they were actually quite tasty. They have not got a huge amount of flavour, the chocolate in them is very very subtle. But as I said these are health bars so I was impressed that they tasted like a mild flavoured regular chocolate biscuit. The texture was good too, considering texture is very important. It had the texture of a shortbread biscuit, crumbly and slightly soft when you bite into it. I will definitely buy these again and it will be much better getting my sugar or chocolate fix this way rather than grabbing a Kit Kat chunky or the Koala's.

Overall, these were very good purchases and I enjoyed them all! I would definitely buy these again. I would highly recommend the Breads but if you are more health conscious the soy milk and Calorie Mate Chocolate bars are a treat ^.~