Episode 3 - Asian Food Week

This week we try a selection of snacks purchased at Tian Tian market in London. We also tie our New Bites section into the theme as well. Please email recommendations to snackswhatyouget@gmail.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Hello everybody. Welcome to Snacks What You Get, the weekly podcast where mother and son review snacks and discuss what they've eaten this week. I'm Chris, the son, and this is Debbie.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

The mum.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Welcome everybody. Welcome to another week of Snacks What You Get.

SPEAKER_02 0:23

Welcome back.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Yeah. We're both here. Um happy to be here. How have you been this week?

SPEAKER_02 0:28

Oh, I've been good, thank you. Yourself?

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Yes, not bad. We're having the kitchen done, so the house is a bit of a mess, but not too bad. Well uh it'll be done soon, and then uh when it's done, all will be good. Uh this week, are you excited? We've got a bit of a theme this week, haven't we?

SPEAKER_02 0:45

I'm very excited about this.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Yes, so we've gone for um it's an Asian foods week, partially because I went to London last week and um we went into a shop at Tian Tian Market, I believe that's how it's pronounced, uh, in Canary Wharf. And it was, yeah, it was really cool in there, lots of different interesting things. And I picked up a selection for us to try in the tasting grounds.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Yeah, you're excited? I'm excited. Good. And then for newbite, to be both slightly unintentionally, uh, but it's worked out well, have stayed on theme as well, haven't we? So we thought we'd uh brand the whole episode as as um Asian food week on here. Snacks from not just one or two countries. We've got I think everyone's from a different one, isn't it? So that's good. Uh one are from two are from the same brand, so they count, but the rest of them are all separate. So I'm much looking forward to that. So without further ado, I'm gonna be heading to new bites. So this week, what's your new bites, mum?

SPEAKER_02 1:52

Well, this week, when I was in Oldie, I picked up some topoki.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

Toboki, is that or how do you say what Topoki?

SPEAKER_02 2:02

It's um Korean rice cakes. Um, it's like a what can I say? Pot noodle type thing.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Oh yeah, add water to a pot and and like quick lunch.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Yeah, yeah, that's well that's what I bought it for to try it work. Cheese and spicy. So you have the pot, you and inside the pot is a packet of the Korean rice cakes, and there's another little sachet with which is a powder for the sauce. You put everything into the pot, add water, microwave it for two minutes, and then enjoy.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

Do you add cold water?

SPEAKER_02 2:36

You add cold water.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

That's quite interesting. A lot of like pot noodley things you would normally, you know.

SPEAKER_02 2:41

You would add boiling water.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Yeah, you would add boiling water too, so that's interesting, though.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

Yeah, this is cold water and then microwave for two minutes.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

And it looks, I would say, like a little bit on the small side.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

It is on the small side, but it once I would say it was three quarters full, once it I mean it's it's almost the size of a Ben and Jerry's ice cream pot, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 3:01

It it is, yeah, it just looks a bit smaller than the more traditional noodles in a pot type.

SPEAKER_02 3:05

Yeah, it is. Um but it it was three quarters full with the topaki, and um obviously it was covered in the cheesy spicy sauce. Um I'm not gonna lie, it was a bit of a fail.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:18

I didn't enjoy the texture of the topaki. When it says Korean rice cakes, I I had in my mind it would be crispy.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

I suppose in the UK or in England specifically, rice cakes are normally those dry um dry rice cakes, aren't they? And that that are very crunchy. So the idea of something that isn't like that when you hear rice cakes, unless you know, it's not necessarily going to be uh different, is it? In in your mind before you try it. So I would say that's probably quite a shock based on what they are.

SPEAKER_02 3:50

It it was for me, I'm not gonna lie, it was for me. Also, the cheesy spicy sauce was very spicy, and I didn't think it was very cheesy, so um I I didn't enjoy it. I uh it was I'm glad I only paid £1.59 for it from Liddle.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Okay, £1.59. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

I didn't think that was a bad price for a quick and easy lunch. I have seen Topocky on TikTok shop for a lot more money, so that was a good price. I'm glad I've tried it. I wouldn't be buying it again.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

So a bit of a buyer beware if you're not familiar with the texture. I'm sure there's plenty of people that do, and I've seen on Korean media that they they love it.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Um they're very popular on TikTok, and I was excited to try it, but yeah, I just couldn't get on with I I found it very chewy, and I just I it wasn't to my taste. Somebody else, I'm sure, would like it. You might like it.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

Well, I that that's the thing. The only experience I've got with that with topaki there is um my wife tried to make some carly made some one time, but it was very old, it had been sat in the cupboard for a long time, and also the recipe wasn't what I thought you did for that kind of thing. So again, it was a bit odd, we weren't very keen, but we do think that was a bit more of a chef's error on there, even if she admitted that afterwards. Um when we've seen it in Korean media um on there, it the ones we've seen have had like a thick tomato-y looking sauce on it, like a very red thick sauce um on there. So, again, that's not what we had, and I don't know how thick was it with yours.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

Um it wasn't very thick, but then that would that was user error by me because I put too much water in because it it overflowed the cup in the microwave, and I had to clean the microwave up. Uh, because the it says pour water in up to the waterline, there wasn't an obvious waterline, so I just poured water in to cover the topaki and the and the um past uh sorry powder mixture, and that was clearly too much water because after two minutes it had overflowed, so it probably would have been a thick sauce, but it it wasn't right.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

Yeah, it's a bit of a combination of user and design error because I I will say some of them are a bit less obvious than others. We've um had some where the the actual pot itself has like a nice ridge in it, which makes it very obvious, and then there's others where it is like a very drawn line, which I'm sure once you um once you've cooked and you've eaten it, it'd be very difficult to see after the fact because it might even be um hidden by the the sort of food that I sort of dyed onto it.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

It it it but yeah, I'm I'm glad I tried it. It's not for me, but I'm sure someone else would like it. Well what about yourself?

SPEAKER_00 6:42

So this week I uh on the theme of the kitchen, uh we've been having a few more, we don't we never often would have like microwave meals or ready meals, but since our kitchen is uh unusable at the moment, we have a microwave. We have been trying them, and I tried the Wasabi Japanese Feast for One. Now Wasabi are a brand in the in the UK, I don't know if they're elsewhere. Um not it's not the paste itself, it's the brand, and they they do all sorts of uh Japanese, Korean, and general Asian uh ready meals and quick quick cook meals. And yeah, this Feast for Wam was very much what you see with that style of eating, where there's a it rather than just being one ready meal on there, where you might get like a rice and a curry. Uh, this one had four parts to it on there. Yeah, yeah, and it was very nice. And so uh the description is a Japanese-style curry sauce with char grilled chicken breast, cooked long grain rice, yaki sober noodles, and a teriyaki coated fried chicken breast pieces. So each one of those was in a separate little pot uh on there. Now it was £6.30, so it's on the high end for a ready meal for one, if you think, because if there was two of you, you're not sure, you're just shy of £13. Yeah. Um, which is high. I will say it was quite a um quite a filled, it was quite filling, it was quite a lot there. Uh they didn't it wasn't too much, and I definitely, again, it wasn't a problem, there wasn't too much at all, uh, but definitely you felt like you got more than you do with a standard ready meal type type thing there. Um the actual flavours and everything were really nice for for a for a ready meal, it was one of the better better ones I've had, and it was all microwaveable, so even the even the teriyaki um chicken breast pieces were all microwaveable in the bit there, so it was quite it was very easy to prepare, which again, while we've got no space at the moment, was much appreciated.

SPEAKER_02 8:46

You've also got no oven. Got no oven.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

Um, yeah, it was very helpful. We have been looking for stuff like that, and we have been caught out once or twice, but really, yeah, well, yeah, we won't go into too much detail on it, but we we had one. We assumed all the plastic ones in this row would be microwaveable, and the ones in tinfoil are not, and there was one a hunter's chicken from Morrison's that is actually oven only, despite being in the plastic container, which was a bit bizarre, but anyway, um back to the Wasabi Japanese feast for one. Uh, it says it's 550 grams, that seems to be a little bit bigger than a lot of some of the ready meals, but not that much. They're often not to be too specific, but four, five, four, four hundred and fifty-four grams in that range, between four hundred and five grams. I think a lot of them end up being um, yeah, between four and five hundred. So yeah, it's a bit bigger. I think the price, I would say it's justified. It was tasty, and it had a bit of a mixture, especially if you're someone who likes lots of little bits as opposed to like one big meal. Uh, they did do a Korean one as well on there, which Carly had and said it was very nice. Um, I can't remember exactly what you got uh with that one um in there, but said it was very nice. But it was the same principle of you got four items, slightly smaller than what you got on normal, but there was because there was four of them, and yeah, that was the same price. So, yes, I would um I'd recommend that. I thought it was very enjoyable.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

It's nice to have something different, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 10:15

Yes, yeah, just something something a bit different from the generic ready meals that you can get, like you know, plenty of spike ball and a spike ball and all or things like that. But no, it was nice to have something slightly different.

SPEAKER_02 10:25

Oh, good.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Cool. Well, I think we should uh move on to the tasting grounds. It's the tasting ground. The tasting ground is our main event, and as I said uh at the start this week, keeping on the theme from um from new bites, we've got four as is customary, four snacks from uh from Tian Tian Market. So these are all purchased there, they were. I mean it doesn't really say it on there, it's quite a nice bag that come in, but they it's an Asian supermarket in London.

SPEAKER_02 11:00

I am looking forward to this. I haven't tried any of these, so this is it's to try new things, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 11:08

It is, it's interesting to try new things, and they're not just things that uh are interesting to try, they're quite different from anything I think. I mean, one of them is not a million miles away from something you could that you could buy from here, but it definitely in general, they are definitely quite different. So uh I think you can now so without further ado with it, you can we've have some mochi, uh, some of these egg roll flavoured egg rolls and coffee candy. So coffee candy isn't a million miles away from candy you know you could get in the UK. It looks very similar to other ones that you could get. The egg roll thing is peach, and uh I've been informed by Carly that it's delicious.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

You see, when you say egg roll, I think immediately think something savoury.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

I know. I I was a bit confused as well. We think we were, it's just not something we we would have. Um but yes, and then mochi um is not something again that's really taken off over here in general.

SPEAKER_02 12:14

Well, the ice cream ones have, haven't they?

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Well, uh that's what I was gonna say. The only one I know that you can reliably get is by that little moons or moon something, mochi ice cream ones there. And they're quite pricey. They are when they're not on offer. I'm just checking it here, they're about five pounds for a pack of six.

SPEAKER_02 12:31

See, oldie did their own version of those, but I never got to try any of those because they always sold out. Yeah, I didn't guessing they're popular.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

Yes, so let's start. What would you like to start with? I'll let you choose.

SPEAKER_02 12:42

I'd like to try the egg roll first. Okay, let's go for the egg roll.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

So I'll give you I'll give you one to have a look at first.

SPEAKER_02 12:50

Well, it's quite light, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

So it's nice and light. So the packaging is great. It's a it's very bright pink, it's got some peaches on it, and it's got a very cute bunny.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

It's definitely appealing to the kids, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 13:06

Well, yeah, I mean, it definitely in more western, I probably would say that is appealing to kids because it's quite cutesy, isn't it? Yeah, quite cute, and um, yeah, it's a nice pink box um with the writing. Now, this is made in China, it's a product of China by a Chinese company. Okay, um, and it's a double flavour egg roll. It says peach, and then there's no other flavour on there, so I'm not sure it's the flavour, surprise flavour. Yeah, two colours and two flavors egg roll on there. Yeah, made by a Chinese company. They look nice but interesting. So inside the box, you get nine in the box and nine for let me get um here, uh £3.50. Nine for £3.50. They are about six inches long, or you know, like a short ruler long on there. Um and they come individually packaged inside the box. So inside the box you get nine individual packets. Each packet is a nice pink with a print of the or picture of the actual egg roll itself that's inside, um, on the front of it.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

Yeah, it looks a bit um wafer-like, doesn't it? On the picture, anyway. And then as you open it up, yes, it is quite wafer-like like.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

It's a little bit like a brandy snap in some ways, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 14:29

It's hollow.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

Yeah, it's hollow. That's what I mean. It's a little bit like a brandy snap looking thing, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 14:33

Yeah, I did. I thought it would have some sort of filling in, but it it is actually hollow.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

It's hollow, very crumbly, very crumbly, very crumbly, and I can't it's not a bad thing. Um, on there, but yeah, very intriguing again. Egg roll just sounds very um savoury when you say it.

SPEAKER_02 14:50

It does.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

But yes, £3.50 for nine. I mean, just thinking about that, it doesn't seem too bad on there. I mean, I'm sure there is a premium that we're paying for them to be able to get it over here. Yeah, it's got the uh extra labels on it, so it's clearly not it's clearly not imported by the company to sell here. They've they've Tian Tian Market or some wholesaler is bringing them in because they've got the extra stickers over. This is clearly a um Chinese or Asian market branding all over the box. So yeah, should we give it a go?

SPEAKER_02 15:24

Yeah, I'm looking forward to this. Cool. Very crumbly, not bad, not bad. Never had anything like that before. The nearest thing I can think of is those um chocolate wafers you buy in tubs to put in ice creams.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean. Yes, yeah, yeah, I know the ones you mean. Now I I agree. Um, I would say I I did quite like that. I thought it was very nice, very crumbly, very crumbly. Um dry, but I didn't find it drying in my mouth. Um, I thought it was very nice. The flavour is very subtle, and I don't know what the two flavours thing is about.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

No, I got a little bit of peach. Peach. I couldn't say what the rest of it was.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

The peach was nice, but yeah, I don't think unless the other bit of the flavour, and we just don't know from the translation, um, not being translated. Uh the unless the other flavour is just plain wafer kind of flavour or what they would call egg roll, but yeah, unless that's the flavour, then fine. Yes, there is plenty of that flavour. Uh quite liked it, quite liked the texture, and I think the packaging's nice as well.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

Yes, packaging's very pretty. And you know what? They weren't too sweet, were they? Because no, that's things can be quite sweet, but that wasn't, and that that that was very nice.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

And the pizza was quite light flavoured, like not just subtle, but you know, what it was it doesn't hang about a lot. It's quite a nice yeah, yeah, quite a light flavour, I think.

SPEAKER_02 16:47

So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

Okay, what would you give it out of ten?

SPEAKER_02 16:51

I think I'm gonna go seven.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

Oh, not quite high then. I was I was gonna say about seven myself as well. I'll probably go seven point five. I did it, I did really enjoy it. Um they're hard to get round here. You can we've seen online because uh Carly really enjoyed them, so uh we we have looked, and there are a few places, and they seem to be about the same price, so that seems to be the right thing, but yeah, the um that they're not easy to get around, at least I'm not aware of anywhere near us that we can get them, uh, but price I think was is fair for them. Again, I'm sure there's a bit of a premium we have to pay to get them in this country, but I think price was fair.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

Um, it's out at about 39p per peg roll.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 17:38

And that's not even bad, is it?

SPEAKER_00 17:39

No, especially with the size of them. I didn't think they were small. I do agree that you know it'd be interesting, maybe it'd be classed as fusion at that point to pipe some cream or something into the middle of it, or as you say, put it on top of an ice cream. Um, but yeah, very nice, very impressed.

SPEAKER_02 17:58

Yeah, not bad at all. Interesting because I really thought egg roll would be savory.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

You're not a fan of eggs, are you though?

SPEAKER_02 18:05

I'm not a fan of eggs, no, but I I I still think an egg roll would be savory, so that was the first sweet type.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

Yes, and in the UK, often if you were to get an egg roll, it would be at a British style Chinese restaurant, and it would be basically like a spring roll, wouldn't it? An egg roll or that type of thing. So I guess it is when you think about it. So that's so that is savory, but I guess you can think about it, is that kind of crispy, um almost batter, but not batter, kind of um rolled and then fried kind of texture a little bit, but this wasn't quite like that. And as you say, the first one I've tried that's sweet either. So yeah, no, I was impressed, very nice. I think they do looking online a couple of other flavours um as well, so that would be intriguing. But no, I enjoyed the peach one, as you say, not too heavy, not too sweet.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:54

Right. Next, we'll move on to having the mochi on there. Um, this is by we've got two flavours of mochi here. So we'll try, we'll we'll pick the open one first. So, but this is by a company called Royal Family, so Royal Family Mochi. We've got maple pancake and tiramisu and cream.

SPEAKER_02 19:14

Oh, so they both sound delicious, they sound lovely.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

So we'll stick, we'll go with the uh Royal Family. Uh sorry, the maple pancake first, proudly made in Taiwan it is. So this is um made in Taiwan. I know mochi is often associated with um Japan, but this yeah, made by a Taiwanese company in Taiwan. Um so yeah. Very intrigued on this because I've never tried mochi, and as we were saying, as we were saying before, the only ones that seem to be regularly available, at least while we are, are the ice cream uh mochis uh by Little Moons, I think it is, and they're quite expensive at about I think we looked it up, five pounds for a pack of six. Now these both are packs of twelve. Okay, and they're £3.19 for a pack of twelve.

SPEAKER_02 20:07

£3.19 for £12.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

£3.19 for £12.

SPEAKER_02 20:10

Doesn't sound too bad, does it?

SPEAKER_00 20:12

No, compared to um, like I say, the little means where it's a bit more expensive. But yeah, this is Royal Family Mochi Maple Pancake Flavour. Now they come in a packet that's a little bit like um trying to think what like protein powder almost, isn't it? That that kind of packet there and uh with a rip top, and then inside they're all individually wrapped. It's something I've noticed in general about a lot of um Asian foods is that they're often individually wrapped inside a lot of snacks, anyway.

SPEAKER_02 20:41

Uh all of these ones are ideal for lunch boxes again, then yeah, it would be perfect, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

One or two in the lunchbox on there. Um, but yeah, 12 pieces of mochi there. Um the packaging, other than the colour, I'm not the biggest fan of orange. Um, so these ones are orange, and they have uh picture of the mochi on the front, a cross section, and to illustrate the flavour, a stack of pancakes with maple syrup.

SPEAKER_02 21:09

It's quite striking, isn't it? The packaging. But I don't mind orange, you see, and the orange and the yellow, I think it looks good.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

Yeah, I don't think it looks bad. For me, orange, yeah, it's always a bit of a not sure, but uh this isn't offensive. I quite like it on there, and yeah, quite pleasing. And then the individual packets inside, of which we will have one each, are nice little orange ones um on there, with again a cross section and a picture of the actual mochi itself, uh, and on the back it's partly clear as well. So that's in intriguing.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

They're smaller than I thought they would be.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

They are they are a bit smaller. Again, I haven't tried any other ones to know if this is a regular size or I guess I'm th thinking of the ice cream ones.

SPEAKER_02 21:53

The ice cream ones are a bit bigger than these.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

Have you had the ice cream ones?

SPEAKER_02 21:56

No, I've just seen them.

SPEAKER_00 21:57

Have you seen them in real life though, or just the Picture that's on the front of the box.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

Oh, I have to be honest, I've only seen the picture on the front of the box. Yeah, I suppose.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

I mean it's not the biggest box, but yeah, I guess you're right.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

They they were if they were this small, they really would be um so these work out at um rough just under 27 pence each.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

27 pence each. Okay. That's not I don't think that's too bad. Again, it's something that I mean, these are I'm gonna take a bite out of them so I can get more than one, but they are really they look like a bite, don't they?

SPEAKER_02 22:34

They look like a mouthful, yeah. If I if I'm gonna be honest, they're not even quite a mouthful, really.

SPEAKER_00 22:39

No, not a mouthful, but they are one bite. However, I will do two to be able to appreciate the flavours. Yes. Uh it just wouldn't be my normal go-to. But yeah, should we give it a go?

SPEAKER_02 22:49

Yes, please, yes. As soon as I opened the packet, I could smell the maple syrup.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

It was very maply straight away, yeah. Lovely smell. And I know we've talked about it before about artificial flavour. Actually, it smelled like real maple syrup, didn't it? It did. Um, I know in the UK, real maple syrup can be quite expensive, and not sure about the rest of the world. Uh, you often get maple flavoured syrup and things like that, but no, that smelled like maple syrup.

SPEAKER_02 23:15

No, it did. It's it's a very strong smell from a little packet. I was surprised.

SPEAKER_00 23:20

Yeah, same as well. Uh it was a very little packet. Now, the first thing I noticed, sorry, the second thing I noticed, the texture in the hand, they are not I've never had moji before held it or anything like that. That was not what I was expecting to touch.

SPEAKER_02 23:36

Very soft and squidgy, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_00 23:38

Soft and squidgy, very like a jelly sweet in some ways, but not like it, like if it was made really light and wasn't like a whole dense one on there, which was very unique, and then the texture was again like a really, really, really soft jelly sweet.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

Very soft jelly, with a the filling had a different texture to the outside. So the outside was jelly-ish, and I thought the filling was a bit more marshmallowy.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

Yeah, so it says it's a sweet, glutinous rice cake with a maple butter flavoured cream in the middle. Now I see what you mean. Almost like that marshmallow fluff kind of stuff kind of centre. It was a bit like that, which I guess you can get from like you could almost call a cream in some ways, couldn't you? And uh the way you get to it. And yeah, no, I was I was impressed. I'm not sure I'd have loads of them.

SPEAKER_02 24:31

Um not overly sweet, but there's a definite strong maple flavour to them, definite strong maple flavour. Yeah, I don't think you could eat too many of them.

SPEAKER_00 24:41

Yeah, and that's the thing, then the the actual like mouth taste wasn't too sweet, but you are right, there's definitely a flavour hanging about in there. Again, it doesn't taste particularly artificial, it's just that it's it's there. You're not getting that weird bitter aftertaste, but maybe that's because it's not sweet in the first place or overly sweet.

SPEAKER_02 24:57

It's a lot of flavour for a little sweet, I thought.

SPEAKER_00 25:00

Yes, I agree, I agree, yeah. A lot a lot of flavour for a little sweet. Um, very interesting to try. And overall, what would you score it?

SPEAKER_02 25:11

Um I'm gonna go another seven. I enjoyed it, the texture was different. I'm not gonna say I'm the biggest fan of that texture, yeah. That's it. It was nice, um, but yeah, I'm gonna give it a seven because the flavour was very nice.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

Okay, and I'm gonna join after 7.5 for the first one. I'm gonna go seven as well for this one. Uh, I did prefer the egg roll on there, and again, I think it is the texture, as much as the texture wasn't bad, it was not what I was expecting, which I can't really mark it down for. It's just not my favourite texture of dessert.

SPEAKER_02 25:44

Yeah, no, I agree.

SPEAKER_00 25:46

Um, I would, yeah, other textures I prefer. So having that is definitely an option, and I like it. And if it was more readily available, I'd definitely pick some more up at it another time. But yeah, I'm not gonna go hunting it out, I don't think, on that. At least not that flavour. We'll see what happens with the tiramisu and cream because I do like tiramisu uh on there. But yes, okay, sevens from both of us, which is good. I think very respectable scores. Yeah, just something something that we've just not tried before. And yeah, like I say, very intriguing uh when you first touch it. If you've never held mochi before, yeah, I urge you to find some. Not the little moon's ice cream one because I don't know what that's like, so I can't comment on those ones. But yeah, if you find I urge you to find some and just try it because some people, I'm sure that'll be their favourite thing they've ever tried. That that texture, um, that softness and lightness will they'll love. But for other people, it might be a complete no-go. So that, yeah, very intriguing. I liked it.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

Yeah, it was something very different, something I've never had before. But I I'm not averse to having it again.

SPEAKER_00 26:52

Yes, and well, that's lucky because you're about to. Yeah, so the second bag of mochi we've got is uh Royal Family again, same brand, made in Taiwan. Um, this one says tiramisu and cream. So this is a yeah, this one's sweet tiramisu flavoured uh glutinous rice cakes with a twenty with a milk flavoured cream filling.

SPEAKER_02 27:15

Oh, I see. See, it's getting me again with the rice cake thing. I in my head, again, I'm expecting crunchy, but I know this isn't gonna be crunchy.

SPEAKER_00 27:24

No, uh definitely not crunchy. Um, but yeah, you're right. I I do agree. The again in the UK, the rice cakes are used quite a lot, as in people know them, a lot of people would know them. So maybe that does put people off a little bit. I'm not sure. Well, when I saw rice cakes on there, to me, I didn't think rice cakes like in the UK, but I also have seen people have these a lot, like as desserts. I've just never myself until now tried them. Um, this one is a yellow colour with instead of orange with yellow top and bottom bits, this is a yellow colour with the about dark brown, not quite black, but a dark brown band at the top and bottom, a picture of a tiramisu and a picture of the mochi itself, one with a cross section, and bizarrely, some raspberries next to it. Oh interesting. No hint that there's raspberry at all in there, um at all. Obviously, it told it said that it was it's you know, it's a sweet tiramisu flavoured glutinous rice cake with a milk flavoured cream filling. I so bit you know, bit unsure of that design choice. Why? Uh I don't hate it, it looks very pretty, but yeah. And it's again, this is a bit more simple than the the previous one, the packaging, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 28:39

The yes, it is, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:41

And it's a bit more adult. The other one was quite cartoony, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 28:44

So yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:45

But no, don't don't mind the packaging at all. On that, this was the same price, which what did I say? No, I'm gonna £3.19. £3.19 for 12 for a pack of 12. So that's good. Um, yeah, so should we give these these are individually wrapped as well. Yeah, individually wrapped in a small yellow packet to match the outside with it on and the clear section. And yeah, should we give these a go? Yes, looking forward to this. Well, that was interesting, and not in the same way as the last one. I I think it it's firstly we'll heat you with the smell, was quite artificial. It was, and it wasn't it didn't spring tear and two to mind. I didn't to be honest, I didn't even get coffee when I when um no I smelt it, no, uh, on there. I will say one thing Mochi has going for it is when it's in your hand, you just want to play with it. Yes, you do.

SPEAKER_02 29:39

It does, it is it's a very pleasing texture, it's squidgy and pluyable, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

It's very pleasing to play with in the fingers um on there. I know they tell you not to play with your food, but yeah, that's there. But no, it was it wasn't very tiramisu uh smelling.

SPEAKER_02 29:54

No, it wasn't, and it it wasn't it didn't taste like tiramisu. I don't know. It was I have to say, this one had a very artificial flavour to it.

SPEAKER_00 30:04

Yeah, the flavour was quite artificial, and again, didn't taste like tiramisu, at least no tiramisu I've tasted, and I've had quite a few in my in my lifetime. So yes, I I I don't yeah, I don't tiramisu was not anything that I would use to describe that. It was a bit confusing. I still I didn't really get any coffee flavour in it um at all, and the cream in the middle just had no taste to it either. There was no differential taste, like to say uh that's the chiron sou flavour, and that's this cream and the the milk cream in the middle. Um so I was quite disappointed with that one, to be honest.

SPEAKER_02 30:39

Still, the it was the same texture as the other one, so and still the texture was quite pleasant. It's just the flavour let you down.

SPEAKER_00 30:48

It did, but I I would say for me that this was a case uh similarly where things working together or not. So in this case, I think the texture added to the oddness of it because it all personally I was a bit like, oh, this is all all a bit different, a bit odd in a way that I wasn't overly keen on. Whereas the other one, the texture I thought worked really well with that flavour.

SPEAKER_01 31:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 31:10

And so um, yeah, with this one, I I I was just very disappointed because I like tiramisu and coffee.

SPEAKER_02 31:17

Yes. Yeah, it it it it didn't bring tiramisu to my mind at all.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

No. So with with that in mind, what are you uh what are you gonna score it?

SPEAKER_02 31:29

I'm gonna go I'm gonna go 4.5 if I'm honest, because 4.5, wow. The the the flavour was that artificial and disappointing, and the smell was nothing I could recognise from it. The texture, like you say, I didn't mind the texture because it was the same as the other one, but there was just no no discernible flavour to it.

SPEAKER_00 31:53

No, there was there was a flavour, but I don't know what it was, yeah, exactly as you said there, and it it it wasn't very particularly pleasant either. No, no, so I I'm gonna score it 3.5 on that one on there because I really think when it doesn't work, that showed that that texture really does amplify the sort of not very niceness, I don't know how to the best to describe it on there, but it just they compounded on each other the flavour and the texture to make each other worse. And I liked the texture with the first one, but yeah, with that one 3.5 because again, I maybe this is a separate rant for another day, but can people stop making tiramasu things and just make tiramasu? I'm fed up of it because it's always disappointing on that. Tiramisu is great, we don't need tiramisu flavor. Tiramisu is it's like saying, Well, it's just it's a cake, it's a layered thing, it's a thing in itself to say tiramisu flavour, which is a a variety of flavours mixed together already, is already a hard task because which bit of the tiramisu is it flavoring? Because if you don't get the whole bit in a mouthful, it's different. So I find it very annoying when they say tiramisu flavoured, and then it leads me on to I find it very annoying that everything's a tiramisu these days, or a raspberry tiramisu, or I've done this pistachio tiramisu, which I've tried, and I'm like they're nice layered desserts, they're not tiramasu. They're not tiramisu, and yeah, it's very it's just a fad, and I wish it would go away and leave tiramisu to be what it is, which is tasty and coffee-based and deliciousness, and delicious, yeah. It's just coffee-based deliciousness.

SPEAKER_02 33:30

I feel like you're being very harsh, Mark, in this because you're very disappointed.

SPEAKER_00 33:34

There's probably that there, but I stand by it, and um, I I like coffee as well, and it just doesn't taste like coffee. That's the other part of it, is that it just doesn't taste like coffee either. And so, therefore, it does score harshly in my world because I like coffee, I like tiramisu, and yeah, it's not really either of those in flavour, and the texture is definitely not any of those, so yeah, quite extreme with me. 3.5 one, 7.5 another, and it's weird because the texture takes plays a big part in both of those scores, one positively, one negatively.

SPEAKER_02 34:05

The texture is something that I've never tried before. No, I think no no English sweets that I've had or any sweets that I've had have that sort of texture.

SPEAKER_00 34:15

No, trying to think of how to describe it is like we've said the soft jellies, but it's more like a soft jelly cross with a cake almost, isn't it? Like the way it's kind of it's very, very different. It is very different, and but really fun when it's in your hands to play with. It feels really nice.

SPEAKER_02 34:29

You you just you do just want to play with it, you want to roll it around and swidge it.

SPEAKER_00 34:33

Yeah, yeah, you do. And I would say other flavours, again, I think I think it could work, but that one quite artificial. I just yeah, for me, that's that's a no. So yeah, 3.5 for me on that one. Okay, so that's that's the mochi done. Our final item is uh copico, I think it's pronounced K-O-P-I-K-O. Kopiko coffee candy.

SPEAKER_02 34:59

Coffee candy because I've never heard of that before either.

SPEAKER_00 35:01

No, so this is actually made in Indonesia. This is an Indonesian uh suite. Um and I like coffee as and you don't get many coffee sweets uh in the UK. You do see them occasionally, occasionally, yeah. On there, and I'm very intrigued with this because often a lot of coffee sweets fall fowl. Well, there's only really two ways they can, but one of them is they go overly dark, bitter kind of coffee flavour that isn't that pleasant, or they go incredibly sweet and incredibly sweet ones. I've quite a sweet tooth, so I don't have as much of a problem with those, but I do understand that they're not a particularly favourite of the the coffee community.

SPEAKER_02 35:44

Packaging, it's quite says does what it says on the tin, kind of it's quite dark, it's quite simple, it's yeah, big big banner with uh copico banding on, and then just coffee candy underneath.

SPEAKER_00 35:56

Yeah, and a picture of it with a coffee bean. Now, I would say it's reminds me of the reasons packaging a little bit. Yes, yeah, if anyone knows that, yeah, it it reminds me of that.

SPEAKER_02 36:08

Oh, it does, yes. I when it says candy, and this is where I could be wrong, where it says candy, you're I'm thinking, and there's a picture of a square little sort of sweet on there, it's gonna be hard candy, coffee flavouring.

SPEAKER_00 36:24

So I first thought that I was the same. Looking at that picture though, it does remind me of a reason like on there, which has that has like a chocolate with a treacle toffee inside. Um, but I'm not saying it is that. If you read one packet, you might get a better idea.

SPEAKER_02 36:39

But interestingly, on the back, it says your pocket coffee anytime anywhere.

SPEAKER_00 36:45

So is it trying to emulate having like an espresso shop instead of it could be, yeah. It does say that Capico, your pocket coffee anytime, anywhere, yeah. Um, on there. Actual coffee extract is 4.9%. Oh, I couldn't comment if that's a lot. It feels like it. Often there's very low percentages for any kind of flavour uh on there, and it says it's got coffee extract um on there, which is on there, but is it proudly a big sticker, although it's a bit a bit subdued because it's um like a gold colour on a dark brown. Yeah, does a coffee extract on there?

SPEAKER_02 37:19

I think it's quite stylish packaging there.

SPEAKER_00 37:21

Yeah, the packaging is quite nice. I think the the only thing is the big stripe that says Capico on it is a little bit jarring against the rest of it, but you've got to get your brand out there. So I don't think you deduct points for that packaging, but it's not it, you know, it's not super eye-catching. Uh, but it does it does tell you what it is and it is quite clear. Um, so yeah, should we give this one? Oh, in inside, I'll do it on the front, it shows you a picture of the individual packets inside again. Each one seems to be individually wrapped, so yeah, again, interesting. All right, we'll give it a go then.

SPEAKER_02 37:55

Okay. Well, that was strong.

SPEAKER_00 37:59

Yes, it was definitely um out of all the coffee sweets I've tried, I've probably had the most coffee flavour to it.

SPEAKER_02 38:06

Definitely. It was it was as I expected. It's a hard candy, not as big as I thought it was gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 38:12

No, quite small.

SPEAKER_02 38:13

Yeah, it doesn't. When you open the packet, you don't get an immediate hit of coffee. It's when you start when you put it in your mouth and start sucking on it, you it's quite a strong, sweet, strong, sweet black coffee, I would say.

SPEAKER_00 38:25

Yeah, so the um that that you're exactly right. I think you don't get an immediate hit of smell. If you smell the actual sweet itself, it smells like sort of coffee-ish. But yeah, the flavour is where really where you you're getting hit with the coffee um on there. And I would say, I wouldn't necessarily say black coffee myself on there. It's very str it is quite strong, sweet, but I think if you as you get through it, there's a bit of creaminess now. Now you have to spill yours out because you're quite caffeine sensitive, aren't you?

SPEAKER_02 38:53

I I I am I am caffeine, and you'll be up all night, probably now. Yeah, I felt if I ate that entire sweet, I would be up all night. That's how strong the coffee flavour was.

SPEAKER_00 39:01

Yeah, so turns out 4.9% coffee extract, quite a lot. Uh says that in there, um, on there. And I I do think that the marketing, which suggests that it's you can't get to an espresso machine or you can't get to a coffee machine, have one of these instead. Um, feels like that. I mean, I'm not saying it would completely satisfy the craving, but it does feel like you might get some of the caffeine boost effects.

SPEAKER_02 39:26

I think you would, yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 39:28

Yeah, no, so you're right, it is it's an individual wrapped one, it's a bit like in in the UK, size of a Werther's original, but it's a square block, almost like a brick, isn't it? Yeah. Um, or a gold bar kind of um block. And yeah, it was very shiny, very smooth. So, like I say, like like a Werther's original.

SPEAKER_02 39:45

Nice flavour. Uh, I do think it was a nice flavour.

SPEAKER_00 39:48

Yeah, I'm as someone who likes coffee. I I think it might have been a bit like a uh an Italian macchiato if you added sugar, which obviously you wouldn't do. Which so for those who don't know, uh Starbucks have changed the macchiato, but an original one is just an espresso with a little dollop of milk on the top. I think it's milk foam or something on there. Um, originally just stands, I believe like marked coffee or marked something, which is if you had a roll on the thing, you'd see the one with the dob of milk foam on the top or milk. Yeah, um, because there was a little bit of creaminess in there, but there was no which did help with the slight bitterness of the coffee, and then the sugar comes in. So, yeah, I'm not a coffee connoisseur, I just like coffee, and I would say if you're a coffee connoisseur, you you might think that tastes like cheap coffee, and it probably does, but I quite liked it. Well, yeah, I'm sure it is cheap coffee. Yeah, I quite liked it.

SPEAKER_02 40:42

I thought it was um I thought the flavour was nice, and if I wasn't caffeine free and thinking I was gonna not sleep tonight if I ate that screen, I I think I would have enjoyed the flavour that for that I got was very nice.

SPEAKER_00 40:56

So this packet, which like I say it's all individually wrapped ones, is where is it? Doesn't have a weight oh yeah, 100 grams the packet. Seems like there's fairly a few individually wrapped ones in there, and it was £1.59.

SPEAKER_02 41:15

That's not bad. Which means ideal for on a long journey if you drive in.

SPEAKER_00 41:19

Yeah, in the car. If you if you're not someone who suffers too badly with caffeine crashes, yeah, I think they could could help. Uh because I I'm I I could eat those. I would try because I probably could just eat them. I would um have to be careful not to have too many if Kevin Fat. I'm not overly caffeine sensitive. I can have yeah, you know, I can have a cup of tea quite late in the evening, a coffee I can have in the afternoon, um, and I'm okay. But yeah, if you are caffeine sensitive, definitely worth uh being cautious with these ones.

SPEAKER_02 41:49

I I think so because the flavour is quite strong. Nice flavour, nice sweet. Just I think for me who doesn't have caffeine, it's a little bit strong, which is a shame, but they are a nice flavour.

SPEAKER_00 42:00

Yeah, okay, and with and with that in mind, taking into consideration everything, price, all that, uh what would you score it?

SPEAKER_02 42:07

I'm gonna go six point five because the flavour was nice, the price is alright. It's just me personally, I can't have caffeine, so that's fair.

SPEAKER_00 42:15

I'm gonna go for a seven. Yeah, I think because um I did really enjoy it. I do like coffee, and even though it's a little bit like having a cheap cup of coffee, I'm not that much of a snob. I'll have a cheap cup of coffee, and I just like flavours in that ballpark, yeah. And it it it really is, you can tell it's coffee flavoured. Unlike the TM2 one where we were struggling to uh any flavour from that, this one was very on the nose of like a a cup of coffee with sugar. Yes, definitely. Yeah, and I really enjoyed that, and you don't get many of those in the UK, it feels like no, it's it's an unusual flavour, especially for a hardboiled suite like that. Yeah, definitely in the hardboard suite. I think it suits it to be a hardboard suite um on there. So I'm glad it exists. And again, £1.59 with what I imagine that's got the premium of having to get it imported of some form into the UK. That that I think that's pretty good price. No, it's not, no, not at all. Um, but yeah, brilliant. So that's the tasting grounds done for this week. Another week, another tasting grounds done. So that leads us into our final segment, which is Debbie's Fun Fact. Debbie's fun facts. So, mum, what have you got for us this week?

SPEAKER_02 43:30

Well, keeping in mind we're doing an Asian-themed week, I thought I'd do an Asian fun food fact.

SPEAKER_00 43:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 43:37

And this week, and this one really shocked me, but you'd already heard of it, but Yeah. Um, eating Kentucky fried chicken for Christmas dinner is a massive national tradition in Japan.

SPEAKER_00 43:49

Yep, it's something that you mentioned, and I was like, it it is interesting. I might have heard of it before, but it's still very interesting to know.

SPEAKER_02 43:56

It it completely shocked me. Um, apparently, millions of people order their festive bucket weeks in advance.

SPEAKER_00 44:02

Yeah, I saw that because if you think in the UK, if you order your turkey from a butcher's or from a farm or anything like that, think we've seen some of the videos, but you you think of the queues you're in to pick them up, usually Christmas Eve or the day before, depending on what you've ordered. If you ordered a crown from the butchers, it might be Christmas Eve. If you've ordered a full goose, it could be a few weeks before. But generally, if you go near Christmas, you see the cues, and then you see the videos of the people in Japan going to pick up their KFC. It's the same thing, it's like they're queuing at the butchers for their way. It's long cues, and to be fair to KFC, they do seem to make it like festive themed, like the buckets are festive themed. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:45

Do you know what? Fair play to them. It's a lot less work on Christmas Day, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 44:50

Well, and it's almost it's all contained in there. Yes, there'll be some plates. Yeah, plates to go in go in the dishwasher. But yeah, there's there's no big cooking utensils or anything been used, is there?

SPEAKER_02 45:00

I think it's a genius idea, to be fair.

SPEAKER_00 45:03

It does surprise me because I believe, and it can be fact-checked by anyone and and let us know if we're wrong, believe it was a KFC advertising campaign years ago, and it really caught on.

SPEAKER_01 45:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:15

And I'm surprised more companies haven't tried the similar thing in in other countries. Or maybe they exist, please. If anyone knows of any other countries that have a what would be considered different to English sort of food standards, like Christmas Day traditions, because it'd be fascinating to hear about ones from around the world because that would, yes. Because it's not just that it's KFC and like fried chicken, it's the fact that it is KFC the brand that they all go to on there as well, which you just don't think of brands these days being as associated with sort of like the family fair. They try to be, but everyone's aware they're just mega corporations who don't really care about people. But it really feels like they've ingrained themselves into that culture, and yeah, you don't you just don't think of that being a thing, do you?

SPEAKER_02 46:01

No, not not not at Christmas, but fair play, well done.

SPEAKER_00 46:04

I mean, I wouldn't disagree, I like KFC on there.

SPEAKER_02 46:07

So do they do a festive bucket over here? Do you know?

SPEAKER_00 46:10

I don't that's a fair point. We'll have to check it out, we'll have to we'll have to look into it and uh and this year have a have a look. But I don't I don't think they do it like that, like pre-order for Christmas Day, because I I just wouldn't imagine. Because I imagine you've got to pick it up on Christmas Day.

SPEAKER_02 46:23

Oh, yeah, it's gonna be Christmas, didn't it?

SPEAKER_00 46:26

Exactly, yeah. One person be sent to the like being sent to the shops for milk or so. There'll be one person there and they'll all be queuing up. Yeah, um, just one person from the family. But yeah, I I think it's um it I think it's a good idea. As you say, like I I like the English roast dinner style Christmas dinner, but I really like uh fried chicken, so I wouldn't be complaining about uh a KFC Christmas dinner. Yes. Well, that was a fun fact, and I thought it was quite fun. It's interesting to hear. And if anyone's got any others around the world, please do uh do email us. The email address will be in the show notes. And um, thank you everybody.

SPEAKER_02 47:08

Thanks for listening, everybody.

SPEAKER_00 47:10

Yeah, thanks for listening, and we'll be with you again next week.

SPEAKER_02 47:13

Bye.