{"title":"New to Japanese food? Start with these.","description":"\u003cp\u003eThese are some of our easiest favourites to try first, with a full guide on each product page.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"bourbon-alfort-mini-chocolate","title":"Bourbon Alfort Mini Chocolate — Milk Chocolate on Wholemeal Biscuit, 12 Pieces (55g)","description":"\u003cp\u003eMilk chocolate on a crisp, lightly salted wholemeal biscuit, twelve little pieces in a blue box. It's sweet, but the salt keeps it from tipping into sugary, and the closest thing you'll already know is a chocolate digestive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf you've not come across it before: in Japan this is an everyday supermarket chocolate, not a gift or a special-occasion one. It's properly popular: the big share-bag version was the single best-selling confectionery in the whole country for four months running in 2025, and it's mostly adults in their thirties and forties buying it. That's the range, not this box. Office drawers rather than lunchboxes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eアルフォート, the name on the box, if you're matching it to something you saw in Japan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTaste\u003c\/strong\u003e: Milk chocolate over a wholemeal biscuit. Pay attention to the biscuit rather than the chocolate: it's lightly salted, and that's the bit Australians don't see coming.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTexture\u003c\/strong\u003e: The biscuit snaps; the chocolate is soft at room temperature and firm when chilled. Getting that balance right is the whole trick, and there's a name for it in Japan, the golden ratio.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHow much you'll eat\u003c\/strong\u003e: Twelve pieces sounds like several sittings. \"I'll just have a couple\" is famous last words with these: there's no resealable wrapper, because the box isn't built for one.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIn summer\u003c\/strong\u003e: It will arrive soft. That's normal for this chocolate, and it's a cosmetic problem rather than a taste one.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: Contains milk, wheat and soy. The same factory lines also run egg products. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf you see 59 g on another Australian listing, that's the old pack. Bourbon dropped it to 55 g in early 2025 and left the barcode unchanged.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTake one box if you're trying it for the first time; more if you already know you like it.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bourbon","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48155408204002,"sku":"SH-SNK-0001","price":6.5,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/bourbon-alfort-mini-chocolate-blue-box_897259a4-37e3-4ecd-8906-28600fcd8745.webp?v=1789258319"},{"product_id":"orihiro-konjac-jelly-white-peach-mango-grape","title":"Orihiro Konjac Jelly Pouches — White Peach, Mango \u0026 Grape (480g Bag)","description":"\u003cp\u003eA big share bag of Japan's everyday konjac jelly, about 24 little twist-open pouches in white peach, mango and grape. Think of it as Aeroplane jelly's firmer, bouncier cousin: you squeeze it straight from the pouch, and it's dense enough that you actually chew it. If you've seen konjac jelly going around online and wondered what the fuss is, this is the standard Japanese version of it, in the value-size bag Australian shops rarely stock.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eぷるんと蒟蒻ゼリー, \"purun to konnyaku jelly\", is the name on the bag, if you're matching it to something you tried in Japan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf you've been comparing this against the Korean konjac jelly pouches — the drinkable ones with collagen and vitamin C, ten 150ml pouches to a box — it's a different product. Those are sipped, and they're sold as supplements; these are chewed, and they're sold as food.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTaste\u003c\/strong\u003e: white peach and grape are made with real peach, apple and grape juice; mango is made on mango purée. They're sweeter than the fruit billing suggests, sweetened with sugar plus acesulfame K and sucralose, and you can tell.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTexture\u003c\/strong\u003e: springy, bouncy jelly with real bite. Konjac sets much firmer than gelatine, so it's closer to a soft gummy than to a wobbly jelly cup.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCount\u003c\/strong\u003e: packed by weight rather than by count, so the number in a bag varies — usually 24. Each pouch is a two-bite serve.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVegetarian\u003c\/strong\u003e: konjac is a plant root, so it sets without gelatine, and there's nothing animal-derived in any of the three flavours: no gelatine, no carmine, no shellac. That's us reading Orihiro's own ingredient list, not a certification.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: the white peach and grape jellies contain peach and apple juice; the mango declares none. Australia's allergen chart has no peach or apple category, so neither can appear in the pack's allergen box here — check the ingredients, not the chart; ours is the fuller list.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDon't freeze them. Orihiro specifically warns that the pouch can tear and fire the jelly out as one hard lump, which is neither safe nor nice. And chew each one properly rather than sucking it straight from the pouch: konjac jelly is firmer than it looks, so young kids and older folks should have theirs pushed out in small pieces, with someone keeping an eye on them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne bag to try the texture; more if the household approves.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Orihiro","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48169125970146,"sku":"SH-SNK-0002","price":11.81,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/orihiro-konjac-jelly-party-bag-front.webp?v=1786955661"},{"product_id":"nissin-cup-noodle","title":"Nissin Cup Noodle Regular — Japanese Original Soy Sauce, 78g","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Japanese Cup Noodle, in its regular cup. It is a soy broth built on chicken and pork stock together, spiced and savoury rather than sharp, with five dried toppings sitting loose in the cup instead of in a sachet. In Japan this is the one people actually buy, in September 2025 the 78 g cup was the second best-selling cup noodle in Japanese shopping baskets.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eカップヌードル, the name on the pack, so you can check what arrives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is Nissin's standard Cup Noodle: the flagship recipe, not the lighter reduced-fat version and not the premium PRO line. Of its three sizes, mini, regular and big, this is the regular. You are buying one cup.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eA broth with two stocks in it.\u003c\/strong\u003e Chicken and pork together rather than one or the other, with spices behind them and a bamboo-shoot note underneath. There is no chilli in it. Nissin sells a chilli tomato cup as a separate flavour.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFine, wavy noodles with a slippery smoothness.\u003c\/strong\u003e That smoothness is Nissin's own word for them, and it is what makes the broth cling to every strand.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe \"mystery meat\", explained.\u003c\/strong\u003e The brown nuggets are a pork mince made with soy protein. Japanese customers nicknamed them 謎肉, mystery meat, and the name stuck so well that Nissin uses it now too.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFive toppings, already in the cup.\u003c\/strong\u003e Mince, egg, prawn, pork and spring onion, loose in there. There is no sachet to tear open and nothing to stir in first.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eOne cup is a light meal, not a big one.\u003c\/strong\u003e Plenty of people buy the bigger cup because this size leaves them wanting: if you eat like that, take the 103 g one instead. It is the same flavour but not quite the same recipe: in 2025 the bigger cup got a larger version of the mince and this one kept the standard.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: Nissin declares crustacean (prawn), wheat, egg, milk, sesame and soy, and it is made with pork and chicken. That is the maker's own declaration for this cup, and it is wider than the named ingredients. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf you have seen Nissin cups at Coles for about two dollars, those are a different product: made outside Japan, in flavours like chicken, laksa and tom yam. Neither Coles nor Woolworths ranges the original soy sauce; Coles carries five export cups and not one of them is it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDo not microwave it in its own cup.\u003c\/strong\u003e The lid has aluminium in it and Nissin warns of fire risk, so tip the noodles into a microwave-safe dish if you want to use one. You may have read that Cup Noodles became microwavable. That was Nissin's American arm changing its own packaging, and it does not apply to this Japanese cup.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe fill line is moulded into the inside wall of the cup rather than printed on the outside, so look down into it, about 280 mL of boiling water. Contains pork and prawn, so it is not halal, vegetarian or vegan.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Nissin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48245625651426,"sku":"SH-NDL-0004","price":4.85,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/nissin-cup-noodle-78g-hero.webp?v=1787297029"},{"product_id":"calbee-jagarico-salad","title":"Calbee Jagarico Salad Japanese Potato Sticks — 57g","description":"\u003cp\u003ePotato sticks in a cup: steamed potato mashed, pushed back out into sticks and fried, so they bite hard and then crumble rather than snapping the way a crisp does. Lightly salted, with a soft creaminess behind the salt and flecks of carrot and parsley through the sticks. If you want the everyday Japanese potato snack rather than a novelty flavour, this is the standard one: the rest of the line, cheese and butter and cod-roe, are all variations on it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is also the one Japan actually buys. In Calbee's own ranking of everything it sold at home in the year to March 2025, this cup came first, ahead of its cereal and ahead of its potato chips.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the pack: じゃがりこ サラダ (ja-ga-ri-ko sa-ra-da). Worth checking against the cup you had in Japan, because English sellers can't agree what to call it. Jagarico, Jagariko, potato sticks, potato fries, potato chips.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe flavour, plainly\u003c\/strong\u003e: salt first, then a soft dairy creaminess from skim milk powder, with dried carrot and parsley worked into the stick itself. Savoury, never sweet, and mild enough to finish a whole cup without tiring of it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eYou hear the first bite\u003c\/strong\u003e: hard resistance first, then it turns crumbly and floury as it breaks up. Expect hard and crunchy rather than crisp: it is not a crisp and it does not behave like one.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt also turns into a bowl of potato salad\u003c\/strong\u003e: a Japanese trick, not the instructions; you eat it dry, straight from the cup. But if you want to: tip the sticks into a heatproof bowl (never the cup itself, which Calbee warns is not heat-safe), add 115 ml of hot water, cover for three minutes, then mash and stir mayonnaise through.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt is genuinely hard work\u003c\/strong\u003e: a whole cup is a lot of chewing, and it will leave you wanting a drink. Have one beside you.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains milk and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA few things worth knowing before you order. \u003cstrong\u003e\"Salad\" is the flavour's name, not its contents\u003c\/strong\u003e: there is no lettuce and nothing fresh in it; the seasoning is built on carrot, parsley and milk powder, and the name has been catching English speakers out for years. It is not a chip and not a fry: the potato is cooked, mashed and re-formed into sticks, which is why they break the way they do. Jagabee is a separate Calbee product, not another size of this one. And you do not add water to eat it. It is ready as it is, and the hot-water version is an optional recipe rather than the instructions. \u003cstrong\u003eIf you do try that recipe, tip the sticks into a heatproof bowl first: Calbee warns that the cup is not a heat-safe container.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Calbee","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48258620850402,"sku":"SH-SNK-0010","price":4.59,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/calbee-jagarico-salad-cup.webp?v=1787493210"},{"product_id":"meiji-apollo-strawberry-chocolate","title":"Meiji Apollo Strawberry Chocolate — Triangles, 46g","description":"\u003cp\u003eLittle triangular pieces with a sweet-tart strawberry top sitting on a slightly bitter milk-chocolate base. Meiji has made them the same shape, with the same two layers, since 1969, and there's a game in the box: some boxes contain one piece shaped like a star instead of a triangle. It's a children's-shelf staple in Japan rather than a grown-up chocolate, and it's the cheapest thing on our chocolate shelf.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eアポロ, the name on the box, if you're matching it to something you saw in Japan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTaste\u003c\/strong\u003e: Strawberry on top, milk chocolate underneath, and the two are meant to be noticed separately. Plenty of people roll a piece around their mouth to split the layers apart before eating them; there's a playground superstition that if the strawberry comes away cleanly, the day will go well.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe lucky star\u003c\/strong\u003e: Meiji mixes a star-shaped piece into some boxes. It has done since Apollo's 50th birthday in 2019 and has never announced an end. \u003cstrong\u003eWhat Meiji does not publish is how often\u003c\/strong\u003e, so anyone quoting you odds is guessing. Some people have found several; others have never seen one.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eWorth knowing what it is\u003c\/strong\u003e: there is more vegetable fat in it than cocoa, and the ingredients list says so in that order. The pink layer gets its flavour from real strawberry powder, plus added colour and flavouring. There's no juice or fruit pulp in it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHow big it actually is\u003c\/strong\u003e: 46 g. These little Japanese cartons photograph much larger than they are; it's a handful of small pieces, not a block.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIn summer\u003c\/strong\u003e: It will arrive soft. That matters more here than on a solid bar, because a partial melt runs the two layers together and the shape is most of the point.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: Contains milk and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA few things worth knowing if you're matching a memory. The pink layer is strawberry chocolate, not white chocolate: several overseas shops describe it wrongly. This is the small 46 g box, not the twelve-bag family pack that's often sold under the same name. And if you remember it as 48 g, you're right. Meiji dropped it to 46 g. Searching \"Apollo candy\" in English will find you an unrelated Korean sweet, so the box to look for says meiji and アポロ.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne box is a small handful of pieces: the sort of thing that rides along with a bigger order rather than travelling on its own.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Meiji","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48270460551394,"sku":"SH-SNK-0023","price":5.49,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/meiji-apollo-strawberry-chocolate-box.webp?v=1787984883"},{"product_id":"meiji-almond-chocolate","title":"Meiji Almond Chocolate — Whole Roasted Almonds, 79g","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhole almonds roasted over an open flame, sealed in a milk chocolate built to carry the roast rather than cover it, so the first thing you taste is the almond's dry, hard snap. If you know chocolate-coated almonds from an Australian supermarket, this is the same idea with the balance tipped towards the nut. It is an everyday box in Japan, off supermarket and convenience-store shelves rather than a gift counter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the pack: \u003cstrong\u003eアーモンドチョコレート\u003c\/strong\u003e (\u003cem\u003eaamondo chokoreeto\u003c\/em\u003e), simply \"almond chocolate\".\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt won't wreck your hands.\u003c\/strong\u003e These don't come off on your fingers. You can eat them at a desk, or one-handed in the car, without reaching for a napkin.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCheck the weight against what you have seen here.\u003c\/strong\u003e This is the 79 g box. Meiji cut it down from 88 g, and several Australian listings still show the old size.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe shine is shellac.\u003c\/strong\u003e Each piece is polished with a glazing agent: shellac, a resin from an insect. It is what makes them gleam, and it is worth knowing if you avoid insect-derived ingredients.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe honest bit: this is not quite the recipe it was.\u003c\/strong\u003e Meiji has cut back the cocoa butter and raised the vegetable fat, when cocoa prices climbed. It touched around forty Meiji products, and regular buyers in Japan noticed and said so plainly — you should hear that from us rather than find it later.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains milk, almond and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA few things worth knowing first. There is no resealable zip on it: the inner tray closes over but nothing seals, so it is a box to get through rather than one to keep half-open. It is still chocolate in an Australian climate: it handles better than most because of that coating, but keep it somewhere cool, which is Meiji's own instruction too. And if you are weighing it against the other two Meiji boxes, the difference is texture and coating rather than quality: this one is crisp under plain milk chocolate, the macadamia is soft, and the matcha is this same almond under a green-tea coating.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Meiji","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48289821458658,"sku":"SH-SNK-0027","price":6.03,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/meiji-almond-chocolate-pack.webp?v=1788098089"},{"product_id":"glico-bisco","title":"Glico Bisco Milk Cream Sandwich Biscuits — 15 Biscuits","description":"\u003cp\u003eBisco is a small cream sandwich biscuit Glico has been making since 1933: two crisp, lightly sweet biscuits around a milk cream with a faint yoghurt-like tang. It is mild rather than rich, and it is not a very sweet biscuit, which is most of the reason a box disappears. Everyday supermarket confectionery in Japan, not a gift-tin product. Buy it if you want something small and mild to keep in a desk drawer or a bag; if you are after something rich or chocolatey, this is the wrong biscuit.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eビスコ: \u003cem\u003ebisuko\u003c\/em\u003e. The red box with the boy on the front.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eA tang you won't be expecting.\u003c\/strong\u003e The cream tastes more like a yoghurt sweet than a custard cream: there is a real acidity behind the sweetness, and it is the first thing most people notice.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCrisp and clean-melting, not dry.\u003c\/strong\u003e The biscuit snaps rather than crumbles and clears the mouth quickly. You won't need something to drink alongside it, which is not true of every biscuit this size.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe cream is the reason the biscuit is a sandwich at all.\u003c\/strong\u003e Glico's founder wanted a live yeast culture inside a biscuit, and the yeast he wanted died in the oven, so he built a sandwich and put it in the cream instead, which is never baked. Glico still puts the cultures in the cream today, so the shape is doing the same job ninety years on.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt looks like a children's snack and isn't one.\u003c\/strong\u003e The boy has been on the box from the start, but this is what a Japanese adult keeps in a desk drawer.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFifteen small biscuits in three sealed packs of five.\u003c\/strong\u003e They are small, and the three sachets are why the last five are as crisp as the first.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe honest one: the sachets are stiff.\u003c\/strong\u003e They take a moment to tear, and a small child may not manage one on their own.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains \u003cstrong\u003emilk\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003ewheat\u003c\/strong\u003e. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf you have seen Bisco sold as a long-life emergency ration in a sealed tin, that is a different product from this one: a different pack, made to sit in a cupboard for years. This is the ordinary box. The front of the pack makes a good deal of the cultures in the cream; treat that as part of what Bisco is rather than as a reason to buy it, because we are not making any claim about what it does. And if you are buying it for a child, Glico's own guidance is from about one year old, with an adult watching.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Glico","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48293743231202,"sku":"SH-SNK-0037","price":4.39,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/glico-bisco-milk-cream-box.webp?v=1788164028"},{"product_id":"glico-pocky-chocolate","title":"Glico Japanese Pocky Chocolate Sticks — 2 Packs","description":"\u003cp\u003eThin wheat biscuit sticks under a real chocolate coating, with a snap you can hear: the biscuit underneath is toasty and faintly salty, which is the half worth paying attention to. This is the Japanese-made box, and its ingredient list names cacao mass (ground cocoa beans), cocoa butter and fermented butter. Buy it if you want the Pocky you remember from Japan; if you just want a cheap chocolate stick for a lunchbox, the supermarket carries one for a fraction of this and it will do that job fine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe pack reads ポッキーチョコレート: \u003cem\u003epok-kee choco-rey-to\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNot the same recipe as the supermarket box.\u003c\/strong\u003e The Pocky Australian supermarkets sell is made in Thailand: every line of it that states an origin says so on Coles' own product pages. On the export pack whose full panel we could read, the coating is not called chocolate at all but \u003cem\u003echocolate flavoured cream\u003c\/em\u003e, built on palm and rapeseed oils with no cocoa butter in it. This one is made in Japan, which is what a returning traveller is noticing.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe recipe changed in September 2025\u003c\/strong\u003e, for the first time in ten years. It is still argued over in Japan, and people divide sharply over whether the result is better than what they remember. Worth knowing before you decide your memory is wrong.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChill it before you eat it.\u003c\/strong\u003e Cold chocolate goes hard and snaps instead of smearing, and the pack does not tell you. It is the one piece of handling advice worth having with these.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt will not enjoy a Sydney summer.\u003c\/strong\u003e Glico's own instruction is to keep it below 28°C, and there is chocolate on the outside where the heat reaches it first. In hot weather expect to want it in the fridge, and expect a hot-day delivery to arrive softer than it left.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains \u003cstrong\u003emilk, wheat and soy\u003c\/strong\u003e. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is a biscuit stick, not a pretzel in the salty-knot sense. Glico prints プレッツェル on the box, meaning the thin baked wheat stick, not the twisted bar-snack kind. It is not Pepero, which is a Korean lookalike made by Lotte, and not Mikado, which is what Glico calls Pocky in Europe. Inside the box are two sealed packs rather than one open tray, which is what makes it easy to take somewhere and open one.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Glico","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48296513863906,"sku":"SH-SNK-0040","price":5.1,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/glico-pocky-chocolate-red-box.webp?v=1788499355"},{"product_id":"meiji-takenoko-no-sato","title":"Meiji Takenoko no Sato Chocolate Cookie Snack — 63g","description":"\u003cp\u003eA crumbly little cookie wrapped in two chocolates, a cocoa-forward layer and a milkier one, shaped like a bamboo shoot. It's the cookie half of Japan's most famous snack pair: it crumbles softly where its mushroom rival's cracker snaps. Buy it if you want a proper cookie under your chocolate; if you're after a crisp, drier bite, or you need to avoid egg and nuts, this is the wrong box, and Kinoko no Yama is the one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the pack: たけのこの里, \"Takenoko no Sato\".\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMeiji has run three national elections asking Japan to pick between this and its mushroom sibling. This one won two of them.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eYou buy this one for the cookie, crumbly and buttery-tasting, with the chocolate wrapped right around it rather than sitting on top.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe box is 63 g. If you remember a bigger one, you're right. Meiji cut it from 70 g in 2025.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIn an Australian summer it travels soft. Keep it under 28 °C, and a spell in the fridge brings it back: the chocolate firms up and the crumbly cookie reads sharper against it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: egg, milk and wheat, plus almond, soy and macadamia: there is almond paste in the cookie. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Meiji","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48307132137698,"sku":"SH-SNK-0047","price":5.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/meiji-takenoko-no-sato-box-front.webp?v=1788506037"}],"url":"https:\/\/shintop.com.au\/collections\/start-here.oembed","provider":"Shintop Trading Australia","version":"1.0","type":"link"}