Tirol Chocolate – French Bakery Mix
Oh boy am I excited about this one! Tirol is one of those snacks that I will pay a premium to get my hands on, especially the unique, limited time flavours from Japan. It doesn’t seem to be like the more popular or established brands that get imported to this frigid tundra, like Lotte, Glico and Meiji. It’s a shame, really – Tirol is so unique and are cheap enough they could be sold in bulk. It’s not a premium product by any means, but they have enough varieties to keep things spicy. In some cases literally. There’s apparently a spicy rice cracker flavour that I’m still trying to get a hold of…
Today’s variety is a take on some well established french pastries. The packaging alone was enough to catch my eye. The art and marketing team at Tirol deserve a tip of the hat from me. It’s eye catching and adorable enough to make me want to see what the little pastry chef is all excited about.
Ganache Chocolate Cake is the first one. I like my chocolate ganache cake with a nice cup of milk, because it tends to be very rich and having some milk to wash it down makes for a perfect combination. This one is interesting because I love dark chocolate, and this one hits me right away with that strong 60 – 70% cocoa smell. Based on the smell alone, I feel like I am going to enjoy this. This one cuts apart quite messy, but the inside reveals what looks like a dark chocolate biscuit, and a very small pocket of ganache that is hard to discern from the photo.
Popping a piece into my mouth, it’s exactly what I expected. While it’s nothing spectacular, I love dark chocolate so this is a winner. I feel like removing the biscuit and having a little more ganache in the centre would have elevated this to the next level, but I like the chocolate outer shell so I’m satisfied.
Creme Brulee as a dessert is not something I usually go for often. Unless I’m at the restaurant specifically to try it, I usually opt for other options. It’s nothing against the dessert, I just prefer cakes and things that feel more substantial. That being said, I can appreciate a good creme brulee. This one looks pretty normal so far, and has a two tone colour to it. The top looks like normal white chocolate, while the bottom has a darker, almost light brown colour to it. It isn’t until I cut this open that I get that strong caramel smell that is supposed to simulate the burnt sugar layer like an actual creme brulee. This one was also quite fragile, and I was surprised at how much caramel liquid was actually inside.
Biting into this one definitely reminded me of a nice creme brulee, when you crack that top layer and get a nice spoonful of that nice sugary layer along with the soft centre. It also gets that texture pretty well too, with what I believe is a layer of toffee. That, along with the liquid caramel and the chocolate makes for a very unique combination. The only thing I would say is it’s a bit sweet, but I imagine it’s hard not to given that they have such a small shape to work with. I like this one though, and I’m actually tempted to crack open another one to try it again.
The last one is the Eclair. I’ve never been a fan of eclairs, if I’m to be completely honest. I think a big part of it is my prior experience with eclairs. To be fair, I’ve yet to have a good one, but that’s largely due to having a lot of bad ones and assuming they’re all that bad. I can’t do that fake, canned whipped cream. Maybe I’ll come around some day, but today is likely not that day. Anyways, this one is looking like it’s dark chocolate on the outside. This one also has a white bottom, so I’m guessing the bottom is a white chocolate base.
Ok so this one is quite interesting. As you can see from the picture, there’s a few things going on. There’s what appears to be a marshmallow inside, with a little section for a liquid that I’m going to assume is supposed to be custard (based on the colour) and a biscuit looking base. Putting it altogether, it’s kind of…busy. There’s too many things going on that don’t really enhance each other. All I really end up tasting is something akin to a chocolate Pocky. I can taste the chocolate and the biscuit, but it overwhelms the custard and the marshmallow, which end up adding only slightly through texture. This one was an ambitious attempt, but I’d say it’s nothing to write home about.
In terms of how I would rank these, I’d say Creme Brulee, just for its creativity and ability to capture the essence of the dessert, followed by the Ganache for being a safe choice. The one I liked least would be the eclair, which was a bit ambitious, but ended up clashing in a way that detracted from the experience. I would consider getting this again if I can find it more readily available. The creme brulee is good enough that it can carry the somewhat lacking eclair flavour. Plus, who doesn’t love that adorable little pastry chef?
