I'm Going to Eat That

I'm not a huge fan of mango. I don't dislike it but I don't find mango, as a fruit, particularly pleasing to consume. It's a little slimy and the taste is just...odd to me. However, on my quest to try all the new flavours I see in the grocery store that does mean that...when I saw a mango flavoured Strong Zero I had to purchase it. I wasn't expecting great things. The last time I tried no citrus strong zero I was disappointed. Kiwi is a terrible Strong Zero flavour.  However....I was very impressed with this beverage! This had a lovely fruity flavour. The mango complimented the alcohol quite well. There was not an overwhelming  bitterness to the drink. The alcohol was subtle. There was a pleasant aftertaste of mango that remained on my tongue. It was lovely. It was, by far, the best mango flavoured thing that I've ever had. One 355mL can contains: 186 calories.

Asahi does quite a few varieties of high alcohol chu-hi drinks. It's always hard to tell which ones are new or not though because they seem to do mostly citrus combinations. On top of that, Japan has a plethora of citrus fruits outside of the ones I'm familiar with. Bushukan, bunkan, haruka, etc. There's so many it can be dizzying. This one was orange and lime. A combination I hadn't ever considered before. I've done lemon and lime but never orange and lime. It was really good. There was a strong orange flavour at the beginning. The hint of lime came at the back end of it and left a pleasant tingle on your tongue. It was overall pretty sweet. One 355 mL can contains: 193 calories.

I like strong drinks. Kirin's new lineup has been doing incredibly well in satisfying my taste buds. I've tried their cola flavour and lemon and they've been delicious. When I saw they had a ramune flavour I knew I had to try it. Ramune is a flavour of Japanese soda. It's kinda like a bubble gum mixed with a bit of citrus. It's very, very sweet and not something I ever really seek out drinking. Ramune flavoured candy is pretty good but (once again) sickeningly sweet most of the time. I knew what I was getting into here but I hoped the strong alcohol content would cut down on the sweetness. I was partly right. It was indeed VERY sweet but the underlying alcohol taste did cut through the sweetness. The bubbles were very small and tingled pleasantly on the tongue. It was very good overall. I think I still prefer the cola flavour more but this was a nice one to try. A 355mL can contains 186 calories.

It is no secret to those who know me that I have a *slight* addiction to Diet Coke. Back in Canada I typically drink a can a day. I like fizzy drinks in general, I find the bubbles keep me from drinking it quickly and I can savour the drink over a longer period of time. During the summer, when the Summer Drink Days promotion from McDonalds happens, I drink even more Diet Coke. It's not something I'm particularly proud of but when it comes to vices...I figure it's not so bad. There is no Diet Coke in Japan so I've switched to Coke Zero. It, and Sprite Zero, are some of the few zero calorie sodas in Japan. I like the bubbles, I don't need the extra calories. Though my family will be proud to know that I've reduced my drinking by a lot. While I used to have a can a day I now go through a large bottle every few weeks and I don't drink it daily. For the summer I noticed they had a special Coca Cola drink though....Coca Cola clear! It's lemon flavoured, ...

Another ramen review! This time some Tantanmen ramen. Tantanmen is a noodle dish that originated in China as dandan noodles. It's supposed to be very spicy but that isn't typically part of Japanese cuisine so Japanese versions of this dish tend to be vastly less spicy than the Chinese original. The texture of these noodles was much like my first review of the tonkatsu ramen, thinner and less chewy. I liked them a lot. They were a nice noodle. The sauce packets were a powder and also an oil packet. The oil packet was supposed to be spicy...it wasn't spicy. I like spicy food a lot. I enjoy a lot of Korean foods that are spicy, including Korean fire noodles. So I was hoping this tantanmen ramen would be spicy but it was just...a hint of spice. Just a hint. The tiniest of hints. I was disappointed with that. The powder packet had little bits of meat in it which left the broth feeling a little chunky. It was nice but still oily. I padded out the recipe with some ba...

Kit Kats are very popular in Japan and there are tons of seasonal flavours. We all know this. Unique Kit Kats are one of those Japanese snacks that are very well known. I have already tried several flavours like sake, sweet potato, ice cream, orange, even throat lozenge etc. Though now that it's summer there are some nice flavours to put in your fridge. This particular flavour is cookies and cream ice cream flavour. I'm pretty sure they're meant to be kept in the fridge or freezer. Why? Well, outside of the images on the packing I tried a couple from inside my kitchen cabinets and they were really soft. Even normal Kit Kats have a bit of a crunch at room temperature. The chocolate was very soft. After putting them in the fridge and freezer I had MUCH better results. They're a white chocolate with bits of cookie in them. They were pretty good, non-offensive cookies and cream flavour. I enjoyed them quite a bit. Like other kit kats a single snack bar h...

I enjoy Asahi's strong chu-hi drinks. They tend to specialize in citrus ones and that works in their favour. Citrus goes so well with strong alcohol flavour. Lemon, lime and grapefruit tend to be the norms for most chu-hi drinks because of this.  I saw this limited edition, new, flavour in my store and had to wonder...how does freshly grated grapefruit compare to their normal grapefruit? How did it taste? Pretty much like normal grapefruit chu-hi. I wasn't blown away by the flavour when I compared it to previous ones. I think it was good and I definitely enjoyed it. But I wouldn't say it's anything special. A 350mL can contains 193 calories, 2g carbohydrates, and 67mg of sodium.

Another look at some Maru-Chan ramen. This time the Shoyu (soy sauce) flavour. I enjoy shoyu ramen because it's got a less oily texture in comparison to tonkatsu ramen. This was no exception to that rule. It was definitely less oily than the previous ramens. It had a nice soy flavour to it. The noodles were thicker and I enjoyed their firm texture. They had a nice chewiness to them. I dolled up my bowl of ramen with a hardboiled egg, boy choi, carrots and bean sprouts. I split the noodles and broth in half to make two meals from it as I typically do. One package is a bit lower in calories than the previous ones. A package is 340 calories, 66g of carbohydrates, 4g of fat, 10g of protein and 2,300 mg of sodium. Instant ramen is always going to be high in sodium which is why it's important to be mindful and not eat it frequently. Also to dress it up with as many veggies and good things as you can!!