Geisha bar and pätkis bar - Ikigai, Leamington [@NLi10] @ikigai.uk

 Leamington Spa is an unusual place, lots of older buildings and new ideas crammed into a network of always busy roads. This mix does allow for some fantastic small businesses to flourish - and we bumped into one the other day.

The shop is called Ikigai and is full of treasures from Japan - so naturally I gravitated towards the snacks.

The helpful shop owner informed me that I’d actually found Finnish snacks - which is great as thats probably even rarer - but designed to appeal to that unique connection that the two nations have.

Geisha is a pretty little bar, with a fresh chocolaty smell, and the contents are a slightly crunchy hazelnut praline.

Not as sweet as a Nutella, and with a sublime texture this is a hit. As ever, I wonder if there are fruiter versions.

Next up is the less pronounceable pätkis bar - which was £1 and had a mysterious vibe to it that begged to be taken home.

This is not a crispy roll as I’d thought - but essentially a kind of peppermint fudge.  It has a different texture which I appreciate, not too chewy and not too crumbly, which makes it a really good snack.  Again - the flavours are strong and you don’t need much of this to be happy.

Very glad that neither had fish or liquorice in them (or bean paste!) as is often the case with regional snacks.  I wonder what international people despair that England uses too often - maybe vinegar?

Www.ikigailiving.co.uk

Anyway - the shop is well worth a visit (both in person and online) and I can’t talk about the other things I bought as they are gifts :) I’m sure we will go back at some point.