Biscuit-y Vendredi
Takenoko no Sato (Matcha)
Kinoko no Yama (Framboise)
We’re back! I’ve been unable to do this feature for the last month at least because of little Mindy/Rex and also the onslaught of self-imposed deadlines in various activities. (Don’t misunderstand me, deadlines are good. But so are biscuits, I’ve come to realize)
Today we’re back to the Kinoko and Takenokos.
I think most of my friends prefer the Kinokos because they look rather cute. But personally, because there’s less chocolate/more biscuit for the Takenokos, I like them better. This week’s feature is focusing on the latest limited edition flavors of the two – Framboise Kinokos and Matcha Takenokos.
First the Framboise. I don’t really know why but on Japanese confectionery, raspberry is often called Framboise. Not that I mind really. But anyways, this Framboise biscuit is very very fragrant~! I could smell the fruit’s familiar scent once I opened the package.
The cream tastes exactly like Framboise and I loved it to bits initially. I had a problem. The chocolate part of the ‘mushroom’ is also very distinct. I think for those who like to have fruits with chocolate this would be quite nice. But personally, I couldn’t eat very much of it after awhile. I couldn’t come to terms with marrying the flavor of cocoa with Framboise. I know both are ‘French’ in different ways, and I really like berries but this just didn’t work for me. I do think that there will be fans of this flavor though, so do take my words with a pinch of salt. Pun not intended.
And then there’s my other favorite, Matcha Takenokos.
I didn’t eat both on the same day so I’m not biased. But I really did prefer this to the Framboise one. Although, I must add that this isn’t my favorite Matcha thing-y, and that I still prefer the big takenokos. This matcha isn’t as fragrant as the Fran one, and definitely not as appealing as the Picola one. (Note: There are two kinds of Matcha. The first one is the Fran Extra edition which you can see vaguely in the picture here. And the other one is the Milk version with is the same edition as the Banana Fran I think you will see more details of the second one next week.) I find the Takenoko Matcha a tad sweet and if it’s a little more ‘matcha’-ish I might like it better. The biscuits did have the scent of green tea, but it just didn’t taste as nice. I think it could do better. Comparatively, I do like this better than the Kinoko. I think the blend of flavors, plus the crunchiness of the biscuits, did help keep these as hits on my list.
No harm done though; these biscuits are in a relatively small package and hey, how would I know if they are nice if I didn’t try them right? They could still be in store so pick one up and try some if you find them 
Rating: 7 of 10
After Taste: I think they could do better really. As a fan of both berries and green tea, I think this came off as a little disappointing. There are good points about them though. Although I don’t like the chocolate/framboise blend, I don’t suppose it’s all that bad to some people I think. And the Matcha Takenokos are great flavor-wise. Just a little sweet that’s all.
Website: http://www.meiji.co.jp/sweets/chocolate/kinotake/
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