G Mochi Ice Cream - Pistachio version [@NLi10]

 I’d seen luxury versions of these in the Asian shops, and then Aldi had a suspiciously similar version for much cheaper - win!

These are pre-packaged little rice balls with ice-cream in the middle and not much else 

And you get 6 in a box, but each portion really is one unless you are having a big pudding.

They look quite mumified when frozen

But soon perk up at room temperature and in the heatwave didn’t melt until required.

And biting causes them to squish!

The outside is standard rice ball, and the inside is luxury pistachio ice cream and it works surprisingly well if you like slimy things.

Green luxury puddings for all, hurray!

Mochi - Tiramisu & Creme from Royal Family [@NLi10]

 My nan loves a Tiramisu - I love weird snacks - this seemed like a decent combo.  But would it freak out a 99 year old to eat rice-balls?

They certainly look quite fluffy and fun

And while they are very exotic, they definitely only contain things she already likes.

They are individually sealed which I heartily approve of, less messy.

I wonder if the V means veggie - they do kind of look veggie from the ingredients.

And it was very easy to convince her that they are essentially 'Japanese marshmallows' but a bit heavier and with an odd texture 

They are pretty sticky inside - it took a chewing but she liked it - and kept one to eat later.

I was also a big fan of these - 12 in a pack (for £2.50) is a lot of one flavour - but they certainly will get finished.  I've promised a trip to the big store that has these to someone, so maybe I'll get to try more of them.

Cheltenham is a lovely place to eat! Kibou & Huffkins [@NLi10]

 We had a day out in Cheltenham yesterday for the Science festival - but you don't care about that part - what did we eat?!

First up before talk one we had a coffee and a cake at the lovely Huffkins on what I think of as the main road - it leads from the festival to the high-street and has two huge bookshops on it.

It also looks very English - especially if there is drizzle.

Partner had a carrot cake, but I had a double raspberry éclair.  Decadance.

Cut open, not piped while hot so the bake-off judges would be knocking off points, but the flavours and textures would win them back around.  Not too sweet, and not too fruity.

Between talks 2 & 3 we had a two hour slot for a proper look in the bookshops (and dinner) and I chose a Japanese place we've not spotted in other years called Kibou, purely on the wonderful aromas and lovely atmosphere.

Turns out they had the beer I like most

The perfect pairing of brewed liquids. Hitachino and Kikkoman!

I had the pork mazeudon and it was awesome.  Everything was exactly how you'd want it - melting pork, firm fresh udon noodles and a good mix of veggies and seeds/flakes to add texture.  I could eat here every day and not get bored.

We didn't have space for desert but the green tea crème Brule sounded amazing so plans are already in place to return.

We sat at the bar seating which added to our salary man vibes as we ate and ran to the final talk about genetics.  Despite the lovely beer I managed to not fall asleep too.

And there are so many other little independent eateries around I think we could have done all three days of the festival only eating in 5/5 places with no repeats.

Wagamamas New Choices - Vegan Katsu Udon Noodles (plus chicken) + Sakura Lemonade [@NLi10]

 I'm not a huge fan of Wagamamas - locally in Birmingham there are indy versions with smaller queues right next door - but when out it's a reliable choice for decent food.

And when they add new exciting choices to the menu it's an easy compromise to go in and get well fed.

First up we have their Rose Petal & Cherry Blossom Lemonade (which is basically the Sakura Lemonade) - it's an odd mix of potent botanical flavours, but if you are after an exciting drink to sip then this is great fun.  The way the petals cling to the ice-cubes at the end is quite pretty too!

For main I had this crazy concoction of Katsu Udon.  The stuff on top is actually crispy sweet potato!

The Udon was great as usual, with the katsu in the name presumably actually the kare sauce at the bottom. But - I did add the optional Chicken (default vegan meal here) so I did get a Katsu or Cutlet in my food 

Here the flavours were far too muted, I needed excitement so added a dash of soy sauce, but I think some kind of chilli flake or maybe even fresh ones was needed to make this pop. That said - it's pretty unique and decently filling so maybe I'd just add the chilli oil next time and give it a good mix.

Overall Wagamamas continues to impress me in that they provide a very acessible gateway to fusion Asian food across the UK, but if I'm in town I'm still going to choose Mt Fuji, or The Brummie Noodle Company over them for the authentic experience (even if it does mean missing out on the ace sweet potato noodle things here!)

Ltd Ed PRINGLES Passport Japanese Stir Fry [@NLi10]

 My partner likes Pringles, and I like to try new things - so here are the latest Pringles. Pringles Passport are a range of flavours from around the world, presumably it's a non-EU passport.

This is Japanese Stir Fry

MMM - uncooked rice with some onion and pepper - classic Japanese food.

The wok looks better, but where is your sauce?  Where is your meat!

Oh - it's just Pringle seasoning - same as usual.

They look and taste almost identical to the pizza pringles (which are nice) but the umami is stronger.  The bases are identical to normal - which with rice on the packet feels like a missed opportunity to make these a little jazzier.

So - if you fancy some Pringles and these are on special offer then go ahead!  Bring a drink though - these will make you thirsty.

Waitrose Menyu Japanese selection [@NLi10]

 I foolishly forgot to take pictures of the boxes for these before they went in the recycling, but luckily the Guardian talked about the original launch of this range from 2023.  

The 2025 versions are different - more refined - and more suited to a mix and match approach.

We had

Chicken Karaage

Mushroom Gyoza

The fabulous vegetable rolls

and rice!

We had the meat and mushrooms solo, and split the rest, which was a decent meal.

And the flavours and textures were very surprisingly similar to Japanese restaurants here in the UK.  The Karaage was flavoursome and crispy and the vegetable rolls had a lot more flavour and no sogginess at all.

I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that the Waitrose signature range for Japanese food is authentic and affordable, but I do worry sometimes about the flavours we get sold.  Here I'd be happy to try more in the range - if any has survived to the 2025 refresh.

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.

ISO Sushi - Japanese food in Walsall [@NLi10]

We had a mini family get-together and fancied something other than Pizza so had a look on the usual apps then ordered directly from the ISO Sushi app (20% off!) as I'd not seen decent Japanese food in Walsall before and that kind of thing should be encouraged.

  Link here - there are actually a few in the UK by the looks of things.  Wolverhampton too which means when I'm in the remote office I can pick it up...

This meant that it was around £80 for 7 of us including driver tip.  We tried to do delivery but it wouldn't accept the postcode, but as we'd filled it in like that the restaurant phoned us to see if we did want a delivery and it all worked out.

I had the Chicken Yakisoba which came with Udon noodles (unexpected bonus) and it was great - nice deep flavour and a hint of spice to keep things interesting.  Most everyone else had variations on the Katsu (although the youngest had the Ramen)

I also added a drink - a little expensive for what it was but that's typical of the mangajo style drinks

The sharp lemon was a refreshing contrast to the spicy sauce so I was more than happy that I'd added it.

I also added these lovely Biscoff Gyoza! BUT - everyone was too full after their generous mains so I took them home then ate them solo for lunch the next day (pic at top)

The inside is almost like a Baklava - sugar syrup infused Biscoff crumbs and general awesomeness.  If you like this sort of thing then a sweet gyoza is definitely a new flavour sensation and makes a change from endless (but lovely) deep fried bananas.

It was the first time some of my family had tried Japanese food (!) so they were pleasantly surprised and also very full too.  Great value for money and somewhere I'll definitely order from again should I find myself with family again.

Hitachino Nest Red Rice Beer [@NLi10] & Piccolini Pizza - Iceland

It's a big wrestling weekend in the UK - Money in the Bank was in London! I mean - it wasn't in the big arena, that's to come in Aug. But it was big enough.  It's a busy time of the year for me so I decided to let other people have this one - but it didn't mean I couldn't join in.

I picked up three of my favourite beers - the Hitachino Nest ones - recently, but had two new flavours to try.  The first of which is this red rice beer.  It's fruity, and it's certainly got a strangeness to it - but it's very much in line with the original White one that I usually have.

And to accompany it - a nice spicy pizza from Iceland. Part of the 3 for £10 Italian range I've not really had this before - we tend to go for the meals instead. 

And it's certainly lush.  Now they've stopped doing the Lewis Capaldi pizzas this is probably the most deluxe one they have.  All the meats are good, and the variety of cheeses are very Italian and not like a lot of the frozen brands.

Not too filling unlike the Chicago town ones too - this is so much lighter and fluffier.

Perfect for a projector size wrestling show!

Plant Kitchen No Chickn Gyoza (@NLi10)

 Japanese food is great - and it’s even better if everyone can join in. That makes veggie/vegan versions superb.

Here we have some V approved not Chicken Gyoza

All sealed up and ready to fry - so what are they - are they veggie or fake meat?

Well it certainly looks like meaty contents- not great for fans of just vegetables. But nice for those that want a healthier version of chicken gyoza.

Kit Kat Mini Strawberry Pop Choc (Candy Mail) By @cinabar

I got these super cute Kit Kat Mini Strawberry Pop Choc from an import shop. To be honest, the packaging is in Japanese, but they look like Pop Chocs, a product that Kit Kat makes and the pink and the fruit on the pack lead me to strawberry as a flavour.

Inside the bag are cubes of wafer covered in chocolate, they are in a resealable bag, but I’m not sure if Kit Kat understands how much I can munch in one portion.

I gave them a try, but I have to admit the flavour wasn’t as sweet as I had expected. The strawberry flavour is quite sharp and zingy, which was a good contrast with the creamier milk chocolate. They tasted good, and I liked the flavour combination, even if wasn’t that sweet strawberry cream flavour I’d been expecting. I wish we got bags like this Kit Kat Mini Strawberry Pop Choc in the UK as they are such a nice idea for gazing on during the day.

Pokenori by Yakinori - delivered Pokebowls (@NLi10)

Last week,  no one really fancied cooking so i bravely looked on Uber eats for something that wasn't too unhealthy - and found that our good friends at Yakinori now had their own range of pokebowls for delivery.

Luna is quite excited too!

This is the veggie option, it has aubergine in and noodles underneath

.

This was mine - chicken with some avocado stashed in 'off menu' on some really tasty rice.

and both were amazing.  We'd been meaning to visit their Birmingham store since they opened on New Street - but then their landlord had a flood in the flat above and it's been closed ever since.

This was a great, healthy way to sample their fantastic food without visiting the store, and a much healthier option to pop on the regular delivery schedule.