Saturday, March 30, 2013

Meiji Meltykiss - One of the Most Famous Chocolates in Japan Really Melts in Your Mouth not in Your Hand!!!

chocolate meltykiss, strawberry meltykiss, matcha meltykiss, macha meltykiss, green tea meltykiss
Meltykiss is a very famous chocolate across Japan created in 1993 by legendary Japanese confectionary and pharmaceutical company Meiji Seika which in turn was founded way back in 1916. The reason it is called Meltykiss is because it genuinely does seem to melt away in your mouth once you start eating it (like a kiss?). They come in many different flavours such as the regular chocolate, strawberry and green tea (pictured above) as well as ones like caramel, dark rum and meltykiss white chocolate. What is even more interesting about Meltykiss is that they are a "Winter Premium" product - meaning that they only hit the shelves in stores when it starts getting towards sweater wearing weather. The reason for this is very simple, those melt-in-your-mouth goodies would quickly become melt-on-the-shelf goodies if sold during the hotter summer months. 
Another thing they are famous for is their TV ads of which they have many, often featuring famous Japanese actresses like Aizawa Sayo (相沢 紗世). You can check out some of the popular ones here: 
and here: 

Well now you know a bit of background about this unique Japanese Chocolate, to see what we thought about Meiji Meltykiss - Strawberry flavour, check out our review below:

Check out all our reviews of bizarre Asian snacks, foods and drinks here: Crazy from Kong!
And you can check out my blog here: Spencer Douglass Blog

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Lotte Pepero Nude - The Most Famous Biscuits in Korea!

Lotte Pepero Nude
Pepero is an extremely popular Korean biscuit produced by Lotte since 1983, though it is actually a copy of the Japanese biscuit Pocky which has been sold by Glico since 1966. Pepero has become so popular in Korea that there is even a "Pepero Day"!!! This is basically the equivalent of Valentine's Day in other countries and consists of young people and couples Pepero Sticks, candies and romantic gifts. It's held on 11/11 every year and is said to exist because the date resembles 4 of the biscuit sticks. Lotte does about 55% of their Pepero sales for the year in November and all kinds of special versions are available at that time as you can see here: 
11th November Pepero Day Korea
Typically Pepero (and Pocky for that matter) is a long thin biscuit dipped in chocolate or flavoured chocolate. However, the Pepero we are trying today are "Pepero Nude" which as the name implies are a type of "naked" biscuit by Pepero standards, with no coating on the outside. Instead there is something quite unexpected about these particular Pepero. 
Check out our review video below to find out more: 


Check out all our reviews of bizarre Asian snacks, foods and drinks here: Crazy from Kong!
And you can check out my blog here: Spencer Douglass Blog

Monday, March 18, 2013

Meiji Yan Yan Yoghurt Cream Snack Review!

Crazy from Kong

Yan Yan is a pretty interesting kind of snack from Japan which essentially consists of a bunch of stick shaped biscuits and one or more types of a thick creamy frosting type substance to dip the biscuits into. The most common flavours are chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, though in this episode we are reviewing the yoghurt version. 

You can see what a Yan Yan package looks like inside here (I couldn't find a pic of the yoghurt version so this one is chocolate + strawberry called Yan Yan Duo):
Yan Yan Duo Chocolate Strawberry
The snack is made by Meiji Japan and has been around for some time, at least since I was a kid (I'm 38 now...) and is very popular throughout Asia. You can see how to eat this tasty snack here:
Yan Yan Strawberry Yan Yan Chocolate
To see what Arne and I thought of the Meiji Yan Yan Yoghurt Cream Snack just check out our review from Crazy from Kong below: 

Check out all our reviews of bizarre Asian snacks, foods and drinks here: Crazy from Kong!
And you can check out my blog here: Spencer Douglass Blog

Friday, March 15, 2013

Ebi (Shrimp) Burger - Our 1st McDonald's Review!!!

McDonalds Shrimp Burger
The Ebi Burger, which means Shrimp Burger in Japanese, was the very first ever Asian specialty burger from McDonalds that we ever got to review!

It was really fun getting to eat and then share our experiences and opinions on one of the wacky (yet often delicious) burgers that McDonalds release specially for the Asian marketing. Honestly you Americans, Canadians, British, French etc. really miss out! I know they do release specialty burgers in all countries around the world, but nowhere near as frequently as in Asia and nowhere near as crazy, wacky and fun. Of all Asian countries, Japan has by far the most crazy and the most frequent specialty McDonalds Burgers - Carbonara Burger, Idaho Burger and Shogun Burger - to name a few, but Hong Kong (where we are based) is not too far behind and we get some really weird and great McDonalds products out here. The last special burger I had was today; it was the McDonalds McCurry and it was fantastic!

The Ebi Burger also has a big brother, the Mega Ebi Burger, which is a double patty version. You can see what one of the real burgers looks like here:
McDonalds Shrimp Burger
By the way, this was the first review where we added a short humourous piece to the end after the credits. This has become a little feature of our show since then, as we always try to find an amusing outtake or scene to put at the end. So make sure you watch it all the way through!

I really want to tell you exactly what it tasted like, but then that would be giving away the game... So to see whether the Ebi Burger was good or not, you'll have to check out our Crazy from Kong review below:


Check out all our reviews of bizarre Asian snacks, foods and drinks here: Crazy from Kong!
And you can check out my blog here: Spencer Douglass Blog

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Our 3rd Review - Red Bean Cake !

Adzuki Bean Cake
For those of you who live in the West you have probably never eaten this sweet snack before, but it is extremely popular in Japan and other forms of it are also eaten throughout Asia, especially in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. You can see another more traditional version of red bean cake which is popular in Chinese territories, as well as Japan here: 
大福餅
All red bean cakes are essentially made of a different type of outer layer usually either a modern sponge cake like covering or the more traditional glutinous rice based cake and then a filling of a type of thick "red bean jam" made from Azuki beans and sugar. 
Adzuki Bean Paste

The concept is not too dissimilar to the idea of a "Jammie Dodger" in England (a kind of jam filled biscuit) or Jelly Donuts in the States. But in this case instead of being made from a naturally sweet fruit based jam, the filling is produced from beans which would typically be used for making savoury dishes in the West.
To find out what we thought of the Japanese Red Bean Cakes we ate, check out our review below:


Check out all our reviews of bizarre Asian snacks, foods and drinks here: Crazy from Kong!
And you can check out my blog here: Spencer Douglass Blog

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Ramu Bottle - also known as the world famous Marble Soda!

Ramune Soda Metal Bottle

Our 2nd ever review was a special version of the world famous Ramune soda (also known as 'Marble Soda') which comes in a metal bottle. In Japan metal bottles are very common and often feature heavy design elements as above. The original Ramune became famous because of the marble used to seal the top of the bottle, which you have to hit into the bottle to be able to drink it. 

The drink itself is supposed to be a type of lemonade and have a lemon-lime taste, but in reality I think it tastes a bit more like a sort of mild bubblegum.

Check out all our reviews of bizarre Asian snacks, foods and drinks here: Crazy from Kong!
And you can check out my blog here: Spencer Douglass Blog

Monday, March 4, 2013

Self Freezing Coke, Wasabi Kit Kat, Green Tea Sprite, McDonalds Batman Burger & More - Crazy from Kong Reviews!!!

Japan Korea Hong Kong China Taiwan Malaysia Singapore Food Reviews
So what exactly is Crazy from Kong ? It is a review show where myself (Spencer Douglass) and a couple of other characters, Arne Venema and Joe Fiorello, head out around town in Hong Kong to find weird, wacky and awesome snack and drink products to eat and review!
Is it fun? YES!
Is it awesome? Hmmm... you will have to be the judge of that...
What are some of the products we've reviewed? Well check out this short list below (can click on the titles to link through to the reviews):

Japanese McDonalds
Baby Crabs
Kimchi Chocolate
Japanese Wasabi Kit Kat
Special Japanese 7up
MOS Burger Hong Kong
Dragon Ball Z
Hope this short list of some of the awesome and crazy products we've reviewed has caught your attention! Check out the reviews and our channel by clicking here: Crazy from Kong




Ginger Ale Kit Kat - Weirdest Kit Kat in the World!

Japanese Ginger Ale Kit Kat


Well it all started with this one!
Arne and myself (Spencer Douglass) were in This Music Studio in Hong Kong working on some behind the scenes videos for a music recording project for a local artist called Race Wong, when we all got a little thirsty. I decided to head down to the local 7 Eleven and get some drinks and snacks for everyone and when I got there something caught my eye from the bottom shelf - Ginger Ale Kit Kat ! I immediately bought it and took it back to the studio to show Arne. After the initial laughter and surprise when he and the others saw this bizarre Kit Kat, he said he had the perfect idea, that we should film ourselves eating it and our reactions. And so Crazy from Kong was born!

This is what Ginger Ale Kit Kat looks like inside the package:
Japanese Ginger Ale Kit Kat
Hope you enjoyed the review. 
Check out all our reviews of bizarre Asian snacks, foods and drinks here: Crazy from Kong!
And you can check out my blog here: Spencer Douglass Blog