Snakku – March 2017 Review

Snakku’s March box is all about Tokyo!  This is their second Tokyo box ever, and they’re focusing on snacks from boutique shops.

Snakku is a monthly subscription that delivers traditional Japanese treats selected from local snack shops and curated around a theme.  They offer two types of subscriptions: a smaller Tasting Box with 5-7 snacks, and an expanded Signature Box with two pounds of snacks.

This is a review of their Signature Box, which is $38.95/month including shipping.

Snakku recently relaunched their boxes, and now offer free shipping internationally as well!  The Signature Box is also available in 3 and 6 month prepaid plans with a slight discount.

The tasting box is available for $15.75/month including shipping, but it is still only available in the US.

Tokyo!  I loved this city when I visited.  It’s such a great combination of the modern and the traditional, and they certainly do have wonderful snacks!

Gouden Wafels

“Gouden Wafels” means “golden waffles” in Dutch, but it’s also perfect because these waffles also originated from the town of Gouda in the Netherlands.  These are crispy and taste of delicious caramelized sugar, with the perfect touch of smooth chocolate in the middle.  They remind me a lot of Belgian stroopwafels, but less maple-y and with chocolate!

Tokyo Pancake

These treats are based on popular Japanese langue-de-chat white cookie sandwiches, but they have pancakes instead of cookies and are filled with maple cream instead of vanilla cream.  The minute you open the wrapper, you can smell the delicious maple scent.  The pancakes are a tiny bit on the dry side, but they’re nice and sweet.  The maple comes through well and is (obviously) the perfect complement to the pancakes.

Nijushisetsu Flower

These are senbei (rice crackers) from Ginza no Akebono, a prestigious snack maker that has been in business since 1943.  These crackers use premium rice from Miyagi, and come in a variety of flavors!  I’m not sure what the flavor was that I received in the photograph, but the iris wrapper contained purple yam!  The crackers themselves were a little bland, but they had a sweet glaze that gave them a lovely hint of flavor.  These are very delicate and elegant senbei!

Tokyo Tamago

These tamago (eggs) from Ginza Tamaya have four layers: a white chocolate outside, two layers of sponge cake, and a mildly sweet black sesame paste.  These are very popular and are often sold out: I should know, they were instantly snatched up by my family before I could try one!  I was told they are very delicious though, and the sesame paste is not as sweet as traditional sesame paste so that it can balance the sugary cake and chocolate.

Odaiba Ring

Another family favorite!  This snack can only be found in Tokyo’s Odaiba prefecture.  It’s a banana-flavored chocolate crunch ring topped with white chocolate frosting.  I’m normally not a fan of banana, but this was subtle and not too artificial so I enjoyed it!  Chocolate crunch snacks tend to be quite dry, but this one wasn’t at all!

Black Thunder

According to Snakku, these chocolate crunch bars are very popular amongst school kids!  I’m not sure what’s in them, but they are certainly crunchy!  The chocolate was crispy and rich, and it was chockfull of nuts and other goodies!

Edamame Senbei

These senbei are lightly salted and infused with edamame (soybeans).  They have an interesting, characteristically soybean flavor, but combined with the light salt it tastes almost like seaweed.  The flavor is light and not too overwhelming, and it’s got a great senbei snap.

Hina Arare

These colorful mini senbei are traditionally eaten on Girl’s Day (March 3^rd).  Also called Doll’s Day, straw hina dolls are usually sent down a river on a little boat on this day, to represent bad spirits leaving.  These were salty and flavorful, and the pop of color is cute!

Salty Caramel

These are little sticks of Japanese caramel with sea salt.  I love salted caramel!  These are soft and chewy without being too sticky, and the hint of salt perfectly balances out the sweet.  They’re so good, I wish there were more in the box!

Sugar Butter Sandwich

These are crispy barley wheat puff cookies filled with white chocolate cream.  I loved the cream in the middle (I usually do), but the puff cookies weren’t really my thing.  They tasted delicious, like buttery caramelized sugar, but I don’t like the wheat texture in a puff cookie.

 

Overall, I thought this was a well balanced box.  There were plenty of sweet sugary snacks, but also some traditional salty senbei.  Everything was beautifully presented, too!  The Tokyo egg was cute and creative, and I loved the flower wrapper of the senbei and the chic packaging of the pancake cookies.  Even beyond flavor and taste, you can tell that each snack is high quality and thoughtfully made.  If you appreciate beautiful and delicious snacks from another culture, this is a great option for you!

 

PR sample.  All opinions are my own.  No compensation was received for this review.  This post contains affiliate links.