Chuang Jia Square Cookies

I must be very Americanized cause
this packaging doesn't excite me at all

The Attraction

I had a friend recently return from Taiwan where he was kind enough to share one of his favorite cookies from that country...Chuang Jia Square Cookies. Apparently there are pretty famous over there. Will my taste buds understand why?

The Review:
Although I am appreciative that my friend Eugene shared this snack with me, I can't say upon seeing this product that I was anxious to tear open the package and review it. To me, the branding seemed very ordinary. I never would have picked it up if I saw it at the grocery store, yet when I showed the little lady these cookies, she immediately recognized it and said how very famous they were in Taiwan. OK, now I am intrigued.

I open one of the sealed packages and was not quite able to decipher any smell from the biscuits, which made me even more curious. Would it be sweet? Savory? Why do these cookies have those brown spots on it?

...getting a little more excited

I pick up a cookie and it feels very light. Almost like a Saltine cracker. I go ahead and take a bite. Just as it felt in my hand, the cookie cracked and crumbled just like a thicker Saltine cracker, except it was sweet, not savory. Flavor-wise, it reminded me of something I've had in the past. It took me a few more cookies to put my finger on it. It tastes like a mix of a graham cracker and a coconut cracker like these Khong Guan Butter Coconut Cookies.

Most of the Western hemisphere knows what a graham cracker tastes like, but if you've never had a butter coconut cookies before, they are a light, crispy, slightly sweet cookie that is very tasty. I like graham crackers and I like butter coconut cookie, so does that mean therefore, I like these cookies? Well, yes, but it's not quite that simple.

What on earth will these taste like?

The Sweet:
Not too sweet tasty, crispy treat.

The Bitter:
Seems very familiar.

Conclusion:
These Chuang Jia square cookies are good, but they are also very similar to the other two types of cookies I mentioned earlier, so what does that mean exactly? If' you've never had a butter coconut cookie, then yes, it's worth you tasting these cookies. If you've had previously, like I have, it may just result in you thinking that these cookies taste like butter coconut cookies and how you wish you had those in your hand. How much you enjoy these cookies will probably be dictated by which camp you are in. Either way, you won't be disappointed.

Video of the Week

"Next week on Today, Molly Ringwald will be here

discussing her new career in the UFC" 

There are many great movies I remember from my childhood. Movies like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, The Three Amigos and The Goonies. Although after watching this performance from Corey Feldman last week, suddenly I think if One-Eyed Willy were here, he would poke out his other eye.....maybe even his ears too.

Galletas Puig Delicias Maria y Chocolate

This almost looks religious to me for some reason

The Attraction

What's better than free souvenir snacks from a foreign land? 

The Review:
In this week's case, a coworker brought back goodies from the land of Venezuela. The snack name translates to, "Maria and Chocolate Delights". How can anyone not love a snack with a name like that? The question I had immediately is what the heck is a "Maria"? More on that later...

I open the package to find something that looks like 2 giant chocolate coins. Well, at least one side of it. As you flip it over, you can see that the other side is a cookie or biscuit. I will say this, they are not cheap based on the size of this cookie. They are roughly the circumference of a top of a soda-pop can...and there are 2 of these in the package. (internal chubby fat kid giggles, which in turn triggers external chubby adult to giggle)

I pray to the chocolate gods

I take a bite and there is a nice resistance in the chew. The biscuit isn't too dry or crumbly and the chocolate isn't too sweet or overwhelming. It somehow strikes the right balance where each side makes an appearance, but doesn't overstay their welcome, unlike your cousins from out West with the baby that won't stop crying. It manages to do this sweet flavor dance in your mouth where you don't feel like it's too much or too little of either side. It leaves a clean finish without that overly chocolaty aftertaste.

After a few more bites, I decide to do some research and find out that "Maria" is the name of Galletas Puig's biscuit product sans chocolate. Oh, now it all makes sense! Maria y Chocolate! 

Let's flip for it. Call it, chocolate or biscuit?

The Sweet:
Generous sized cookie / biscuit with just the right amount of both

The Bitter:
Stop me if you've heard this one before, but I'm pretty sure this is covered snack ground

Conclusion:
These are good cookies. I can't knock them for that, however they somehow seem very familiar. Like I've seen other variations of this milk biscuit / chocolate combo before. Was it these Petit Ecolier cookies or was it the Digestive Cookies with Chocolate? I can't recall if the flavor hit just the right balance like these Maria y Chocolate cookies, but what I will say is if you can't get the others in your area, these are worth a try. Do they carry the guilt and the fun reputation of other snacks? Probably not and even though that's part of the excitement of consuming snacks, taste is critical too. That is something Maria y Chocolate gets just right.

Video of the Week

Maybe I'll just wait for the next one...

On any given workday, one of the things that annoy me is how crowded the subway can be on my commute to and from work. Well, "crowed" is relative in my case and I also take for granted that I'm in a temperature controlled modern train that was made within the last 50 years. All options the folks in Mumbai don't have. Oh, and by the way, if you are a woman and don't like to get groped on the way to said job, you have to pile into a designated car just for women.....suddenly I feel a lot better about my commute now. 





Dongguan Hsu Fu Chi Strawberry Sandwich Cookie

I, too, can only understand Strawberry Sandwich Cookie.
That and 50% of something

The Attraction:
Knowing I had an upcoming holiday week ahead of me, I searched desperately to find a snack that I would hope I would like while I was home hibernating for the next few days. Last week I found myself at the Asian grocer again when I came across this. Look how delicious those strawberries look in the lower-right-hand corner. Even at that, it didn't really jump out at me, but it's OK. Like closing time at a bar, sometimes you don't get exactly what you are looking for, but what looks good enough for that moment. Hello, Ms. Strawberry Sandwich Cookie...

I'm hoping that says "Yummy stuff inside"

The Review
The Nestle company recently bought a majority share of the Dongguan Hsu Fu Chi, which in China, is the 2nd largest snack company next to Mars. I didn't know all that before picking up a package, but it did seem to give it some "street cred" after finding that out. Nestle has got to know a good thing when they see it, right? Let's find out...

Upon opening up the package, I find that there were single individually-wrapped servings within the packaging tray. Not unusual and it usually works out pretty well if a company is trying to maintain freshness in it's product. Next, I tear open the single serving wrapper and it reveals something that looks very similar to the famed Pineapple cakes from Taiwan; a crumbly shortbread exterior. For those uninitiated, think of a shortbread outside on a Fig Newton, but encased on all sides. Hmm...I'm not crazy about those pineapple cakes, but who knows if they taste the same?

 I finally dig in; the texture of the outer layer is the same of that of a pineapple cake. It's a drier and denser shortbread that yields to the thick strawberry gel inside. My suspicions were right, this is exactly a pineapple cake, but with a strawberry filling. Yay?

"What's up, shorty?"

The Sweet:
If you are a fan of Pineapple Cakes, but want to venture into different flavors, welcome to your Nirvana! The Hsu Fu Chi Company does a great job of recreating all the signature components of a Pineapple Cake; crumbly, dry shortbread on the outside and fruit-flavored filling on the inside.

The Bitter:
You have to like pineapple cakes or at least like shortbread. Although I recognize that I'm not a good person to review a product like this since it's so similar to another product I don't like, I do see how fans of these types of snacks could enjoy this. Just not "moi", as the folks at Nestle might say.

It does look rather like a Fig Newton, doesn't it?

Conclusion:
For me, shortbread is good on it's own. When you throw in a fruit jelly of some sort, in theory, one might think that would counter the dryness of the shortbread, but for me, this item just reminds me how dry it is....and I hate really dry sweet snacks.

Somehow, this makes me appreciate Fig Newtons even more. They use a moister exterior and wisely only encase the fig filling on two sides. Dang, now I want a Fig Newton....and if you are like me, maybe you should get one too instead of this product.

Update: Maybe I like these more than I thought. I polished off half the box already!

Video of the Week
In case you were wondering what to get me this year. I won't hold it against you if it's a little late.

Someone pinch me

Lander 77 Peanut Butter and Strawberry Biscuits

 I need to pay better attention before I buy

The Attraction:
I saw this little prize when I was in Taiwan quite a few months back. The thing that really caught my attention was the combination of peanut butter and strawberry! What? Holla! Except, again if I looked carefully, I would have seen two sets of cookies, not a singular cookie with both PB and Strawberry. You can imagine my disappointment when I opened the package to see two sets of cookies. Sniff, sniff

I may have eaten a strawberry one before this shot, I said may!

The Review
What's great about many snack items from Asia is how many of them are individually wrapped. This is to help preserve the flavor and the item itself (due to heat and humidity in many parts of Asia) as you eat. This item falls in line with that mindset. I dive into the strawberry biscuit first and as I open the single portion, it's clear that it looks like a sugar wafer essentially coated with a what looks like a white chocolate coating. With the first bite, it's clear that it's more of a yogurt coating than a white chocolate coating. Not bad, but I come to discover that the biscuit itself is just a strawberry-flavored wafer with yogurt coating. No strawberry filling or jam. Boo...

  

Before                                                                 After

OK, onto the peanut version...

At least this cookie has an actual chocolate coating. Despite it being slightly melted, (which confirms why the other held up better because of the yogurt coating and this actually melted because it's real chocolate), it doesn't taste bad, but it's the same deal. Chocolate coating over a peanut butter flavored sugar wafer. I don't think there are even nuts in this sucker.

 

Before                                                                After

The Sweet:
I dig the individually wrapped pieces. I know it's not environmentally friendly, but I can only imagine what the heck the inside of this packaging would have looked like if it melted all over the place and created one giant melted cookie. The wafer itself is crispy and that contrasts always works well with chocolate (at least for the PB part section). If you love sugar wafers, but are bored with the common varieties available, I can see this being a new and exciting twist on on old favorite.

The Bitter:
Here's the thing for me; I'm not a fan of sugar wafers. I don't hate them, but I don't find them particularly exciting. Given the choice, I would pass on the common ones you see at the supermarkets. What may have redeem this item for me and saved it from "Yawn, it's a sugar wafer" land is if it had some strawberry jam /jelly or actual peanut butter. My mind may have been blown if it was as I had hoped and the two flavored were paired together in one happy marriage of a cookie, but like Nick and Mariah, it wasn't meant to be.

Conclusion:
I feel like I say this a lot, but unless you love sugar wafers and are looking to spice it up with some variety, this one is a very "ho-hum" product. I will say that I've had other Lander 77 products and some come closer to hitting the bulls eye, but in the case of these peanut butter and strawberry biscuits, it's very pedestrian and not worth the extra hour at the gym for throwing these down.

Video of the Week
I should have posted this one last week, but in case you didn't catch it, the awesome folks at VICE shot a brilliant video on how to properly eat sushi as told by Chef Naomichi Yasuda out of Sushi Bar Yasuda in Tokyo.

"If you ask for a California Roll, I will bitch slap you"

To think all these years I've been eating it like a barbarian. I wonder why the Chinese and Mexican sushi "chefs" at the Japanese restaurant I go to never corrected me?

Man Mi Bakery's Wal-Nuggets

Man Mi Bakery's Wal-Nuggets

It was just another ordinary day at lunch when all of a sudden my friend Grace whips out a container that she wants me to try.


"Wal-Nuggets?" I read on the box
"Yes. It has a weird name, but it's good!" she replied


The Attraction
It was free, it was in front of me and I was curious.

The Review
Upon first inspection, these "nuggets" remind me of these other freshly made pastries that I've had in the past that are usually filled with strawberry cream inside and are also freshly made. The pattern on the pastry is that of a shell of a walnut, which the product cleverly derived it's name from. The first bite into the cushiony pastry reveals a red bean paste filling with (surprise) some walnuts pieces inside. The walnut pieces actually does a nice job breaking up the consistency of the nugget by adding some resistance to the filling and presents a nice contrast to the smooth, creamy bean paste (think crunchy peanut butter).

The Sweet
A soft, spongy exterior that gives way to a not too sweet red bean paste interior makes the Wal-Nugget an easy snack to enjoy. I'm not a big fan of red bean, but the filling with the addition of some walnuts bits had just the right consistency and it wasn't too long before the container was empty. For about $2-$3 a box, this snack won't break your snack bank.

The Bitter
You have to be at least OK with red bean paste. In addition, I believed many other Korean bakeries offer a similar product, but this particular version can only be purchased at Man Mi Bakery in Flushing, New York.

I think the "make it or break it" for any food item is if you would purchase the item if you just so happen to come across it. There are some items that you would go out of your way to have and others that you would clearly avoid, but as in life, not everything in the food universe is that black and white. Where does the Wal-Nugget fall in the wide spectrum of gray that spans between the two? The white space that I call my grocery basket.