Tirol Chocolate – Kaki No Tane

Over a year ago, when I did one of my first reviews on Tirol, I mentioned that I was hoping to one day get my hands on the elusive spicy rice cracker Tirol. Well folks, like a well thought out, but poorly executed network television show, we have come full circle, and the time has finally come.

During my trip to Japan, I had scoured department store after department store, convenience store to convenience store, and never once found this particular variety of Tirol. I had to make a special trip to the official Tirol Shop in Tokyo to find it. Suffice to say, the half hour trip to get to this shop was worth it. I was a literal kid in a candy store. My only regret is that I didn’t have enough yen to buy more stuff. Boy was it a magical experience for me. Even if the store itself was tiny.

To give some of you a little more context, kaki no tane is a very common snack mix of rice crackers shaped like little crescents, and peanuts or some other nut. It’s a very common snack in Asia, and especially in Japan, where it’s a common bar snack as well. In this particular instance, there are no peanuts, and just rice crackers inside the chocolate. It seems that there are two varieties here, the normal, soy flavoured rice cracker, and the spicy flavoured one. As someone who loves rice crackers, I’m super hyped to dive right in.

Unlike a lot of other packages, this one doesn’t have a window for you to see what the pieces look like, and it also comes in a pack of 8 instead of the usual 7. I’ve always found it interesting how Japanese packaging can add eyes or faces to the most random inanimate objects, and turn them into characters or mascots. The rice crackers on the pack are so adorable I almost feel bad for eating them. Almost. But not really. I’ve come too far to stop now.

Cracking into the first one, I’m hit with the oh-so-familiar smell of soy and rice cracker. There is no doubt about what’s inside this piece. It also doesn’t hurt that you can see the jagged pieces of rice cracker sticking out all over the place.

As with most standard size pieces, it has that familiar pattern on the top. It looks like there’s a lot of rice crackers in there, cause it looks like their all trying to breach the surface.

Upon first bite, I am taken aback. Not because it’s bad or no good. No, quite the opposite. I am taken aback by how great this thing tastes, and how it defied my expectations. A year ago when I first heard about this flavour, I figured I would give it a try as a joke, since it struck me as just a simple novelty flavour. But for some strange reason, the combination of chocolate and rice cracker seems to have worked very well here. The saltiness of the rice cracker is such a familiar flavour, yet with the chocolate on the outside, it somehow balances it out and elevates it to an unexpected level. The flavour alone is surprisingly good, but then we move on to the texture. The texture is exactly what you’d expect of a crunchy rice cracker. It’s like taking a handful of rice crackers and biting into them, while throwing in a piece of chocolate. The chocolate almost feels like it serves to soften the crunch so you don’t hurt your mouth from jagged edges. Again, it doesn’t seem like it should work on paper, but somehow it comes together and creates something a cut above.

So that was the regular soy flavour. But what about the spicy flavour? The little mascot on the package gives me reason to be concerned, as I’m not a spice fiend and I don’t actively seek out spicy things. But I have to try everything at least once. For you, the readers.

Appearance wise, the piece smells and looks the same as the other. One I don’t know if it’s just my bag, but out of the eight pieces, only two were spicy, while the other six were the normal flavour.

Upon first bite, I am greeted with the same pleasant experience. Very quickly though, I am hit with the hot spiciness that feel like I licked some chili oil. The spice is the type that hits your tongue mostly, unlike Jalapenos that hit the back of your throat. As I finish the other half off, the spice is still going strong, and I am reminded of a childhood where the spicy kaki no tane looked virtually identical to the non-spicy ones. Maybe it’s the flooding in of bad memories of being fooled, tricked and deceived, but I am not a huge fan of the spicy one. It’s a good thing they only gave me two.

Was it worth the year long hunt that culminated in a special trip to Japan to get this bag? It’s hard to say. While I did make a special trip to the store, I wouldn’t have done so unless I was at least in Tokyo. That being said, all things considered I would probably do the same. Surprisingly enough, despite al the hype, expectation and build up, this flavour met and exceed said expectations. I don’t think this is very easy or cost-effective to try and obtain for most people, but for those of you who can, you absolutely have to try this one out. It’s well worth the effort!