Black Thunder – Kaki No Tane
Perhaps I am just getting older, but I feel that more products and foods these days are turning to strange combinations that don’t seem intuitive, as a way to innovate. It makes sense, given that humanity has had food as an integral part of their lives since the dawn. I don’t mean from a survival aspect, but rather from a social aspect. It is only reasonable that after a while we turn to mixing traditional ideas to try and come up with something new. While I’m not exactly against the fusion and mixing of all sorts of things, I am sometimes hesitant. Hesitant doesn’t mean I won’t try it though, it just means I am a little more critical. But as anything, l will give it at least once chance.
In a prior review on the Tirol flavour that had a similar concept, I have to say that the combination is indeed quite counter intuitive. If you’ve had both of the snacks separate, you would most likely raise an eyebrow at a snack that combines the two together at the hip. Kaki No Tane is a popular rice cracker in Japan. It’s likely you’ve had a variation of it at some point, as they are the instantly recognizable, small, crescent/banana shape. They have a very distinct taste, and smell, and have a wonderfully crunchy texture. Chocolate is…well chocolate. I don’t feel the need to describe it. All I can say is if you haven’t had chocolate before, be it due to allergies or dietary restrictions, my heart goes out to you. Truly. My condolences.
I’ve done multiple reviews of Black Thunder products, and for the most part they haven’t failed me. They are a small, snack sized chocolate bar that is a nice light snack and usually quite inexpensive. As the title suggests, this one has pieces of rice cracker, or Kaki No Tane in the centre in place of all the cookie pieces of the original bar.
Similar to the typical bar, it’s covered in milk chocolate. The bar may be small, but it feels quite solid and dense, as the others also felt. It looks like it packs a lot of stuff in each bite, which is part of why I like Black Thunder. The chocolate does a good job masking the smell of the rice crackers in the middle. Let’s see what it does to the flavour though.
As expected, the bar does not disappoint, and does indeed pack a lot into a small space. There’s a lot going on, with the light and crispy rice puffs providing texture as well as the crunchier, Kaki No Tane giving a tougher but equally pleasant texture. Some Kaki No Tane can end up being too hard and cut you if it’s stale or you bite it the wrong way, but that wasn’t a problem at all. I would say that’s mostly because the chocolate helps to soften it’s edges, so you still get that nice crunch but it finishes a little smoother thanks to the chocolate. I should mention that a lot of Kaki No Tane is actually quite spicy, but this one is the plain, salty version. Much like salt added to chocolate these days, the salt from the rice crackers works really well against the sweetness of the milk chocolate. Black Thunder isn’t usually that sweet to begin with, so the salt helps add a little variety to the flavour then it does to try and balance any sweetness. I’m not usually a fan of spicy food or snacks, but I feel like a little bit of spiciness would work well here with the chocolate to smoother out heat to give just that little extra kick.
All in all, it’s a great bar. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I prefer this over the original bar, but I would say that if I could readily find this available near me at a reasonable price (like around $1 or less), then I would add this to my rotation of standard snacks. If you see these anywhere, grab one and give it a go. It gets a thumbs up from me.
