Fujiya LOOK A La Mode Chocolate

Today’s item was actually a freebie the vendor threw in, so it wasn’t like I actively chose to purchase this. It just so happened to be there. It’s good though, since I see them in my local asian grocery stores. I only ever “look” though, since they usually go for $4 or even $5 bucks which is a little too rich for my taste. This particular variety has Banana, Almond, Strawberry and Pineapple. From what I remember, the other varieties tend to come in a similar package of 12 pieces, with four different flavours. I’m most curious to try pineapple, since that’s not something I see in chocolate very often.

I don’t have much context or backstory to this. I know that Fujiya is the same brand that does the Milky candy line (along with that creepy mascot). I will say that I find the packaging quite eye catching. I guess it helps that the brand is called LOOK. I gotta give props to them for being direct. As a guy who has dealt with a lot of ambiguity of the female persuasion, I can appreciate how upfront they are. None of that “maybe”, or “I have no preference” garbage, no subtext, no interpretations required, just “LOOK”. Anyways.

Opening the box, I can tell them put a lot of thought into the box. There’s not much empty space and almost every inch of it is adorned with some art or text. I also appreciate how clearly labelled the flavours are, so you know which one is which, assuming you’re not a savage and mixing up the chocolates. Then again, who does that? What are you, an anarchist?

But seriously, you’ll probably want to keep them in the order they came in, otherwise things can get very confusing. They all look virtually identical on the outside except for the markings on the top, but that doesn’t help you tell which piece is what flavour. Similar to DARS, they come in a nice tray which is likely to keep them from going all over the place, and keeping them in order. A nice touch. Let’s take a look at each of these one by one. Before that though, some general thoughts.

Opening the foil, I am hit with all these various smells. It’s like going to the fruit section of an asian grocery store, and then having an old lady throw milk chocolate at you while you take a good whiff of all the fruit nearby. To be fair, you probably deserve it. Sniffing fruit is creepy and unsanitary. The most overwhelming smell is the banana and the pineapple. It got to a point where I couldn’t really tell the banana or pineapple apart on smell alone. In terms of size, they are very close in both shape and size to the DARS chocolate I reviewed earlier.

First up is pineapple. The insides of this one look pretty much how I expected; it’s got a light yellow tinge in the centre, and has a strong smell of pineapple/banana. Again, they smell so similar it’s hard to tell them apart. Taking a bite, I can taste the pineapple pretty well, and it’s very obviously pineapple. Because the chocolate is so smooth, it kind of reminds me of drinking pineapple juice. Due to the nature of pineapple, I feel like it doesn’t mix too well with milk chocolate. This would have been better in a dark chocolate shell. That being said I like this so far. Let’s continue.

Second is the strawberry. This smells, and looks exactly how I would expect. Similar to the pineapple one, it’s smooth and has a nice melt to it. As far as strawberry flavour goes, it’s nothing spectacular or fantastic. It’s exactly average, as far as strawberry chocolates go. I’m not crazy about this flavour. I didn’t have high hopes for this one though, so I haven’t exactly been disappointed. I am indifferent to this one.

Third is almond. This one is very weird for me. I’m not sure what they were going for. Were they trying to emulate almond paste? Roasted almonds? Candied almonds? Well, it smells nothing like any of those. I’m not quite sure how to describe the smell of this one. This was largely due to how faint the smell was, and how overpowering the banana and pineapple nearby was. Tasting this was even more confounding. I really cannot grasp what they were going for. It just kind of tasted like a fluffier chocolate in the centre. I didn’t get any hint of almond from it. This one left me feeling cheated. Like when someone says they’ll be your secret squirrel, only to share your deepest, darkest thoughts with anyone willing to listen. Sadly, I think a squirrel would have had more flavour than this one.

Finally, we have the banana. This one definitely smells the strongest. The inside is more of an off-white than it is yellow. This one is similar to strawberry in the sense that I got exactly what I was expecting. Unlike strawberry however, I kind of enjoyed this. The banana on the inside isn’t too sweet, but captures the essence of banana quite well so it gets a thumbs up from me. It’s a bit on the sweet side, but I contribute that mostly to the milk chocolate shell. This would have been twice as good if it had dark chocolate.

In these variety packs, you’re usually going to have a loser or a dud. It’s like how girl groups and boy bands can get away with having so many members. The more members you have, the less each one has to stand on their own. That’s why the really good ones end up on successful solo careers while the others just kind of flop. The almond flavour is definitely the AJ McLean of this variety. Surprisingly, the pineapple flavour was the Justin Timberlake of the pack. I could see them selling just the pineapple on it’s own. It has enough character to be a unique offering, and stand out from all the other, more common ones like Nick-err…I mean strawberry.

If I were to rank these flavours, it would go something like this:

1. Pineapple
2. Banana
3. Strawberry
4. Almond

Would I purchase this? Probably not if it’s going to cost me $5. If it were under $3, I might consider it assuming that it, A) did not have almond in the variety, and B) had dark chocolate shell instead of milk chocolate. Overall, I do like the filling, but the milk chocolate is a bit on the sweeter side so it takes a bit away from the whole experience. Obviously your mileage may vary, but I think we can all agree, the almond is a no go.