Kumamoto Strawberry

Strawberry from Kumamoto is the best one can get from Supermarket. It is so sweet and full of that sweet floral aroma. Love it, love it, love it.

Country of Origin: Japan

Where to get this: Don Don Donki

Gelatissimo - Nice Variety of Yummy Gelatos

Attracted by the sheer variety of interesting gelatos at Gelatissimo when I happen to pass by one of her stores at Shaw Centre, I decide to queue to try out the cool confectionery here.

I got Strawberry and Very Berry Cheesecake, and both are creamily good. Strawbeery is smooth and full of the tang and aroma of real strawberries. Very Berry Cheesecake's highlight is the laces of savoury nutty flavour of cheese that goes so well with the fruity taste of berry. But texture wise, Strawberry wins for its smoothness.

Thoughts: Great for a nice quick treat!

Rokkatei Strawberry Chocolate

 

The floral pattern on the cup is so pretty. Anyway, most important is still what's inside the cup. Freeze-dried strawberry is like a strawberry cookie filled with 100% goodness and sweet aroma of strawberries. And the sweetness and richness of white chocolate go so well with the tart taste of the strawberry. A very distinctive and unique sweet.

Country of Origin: Japan

Where to get this: Isetan Shaw Centre Supermarket or https://shopee.sg/product/302701096/16971883585?smtt=0.147269227-1668550049.9

Audrey Gracia Strawberry

 

Unbelievably beautiful wrapping paper, box, paper bag and of course, the cookies! Sure to impress if given as gift. I like the packaging so much that I took lots of photos of this as seen below lol. Also perfect for personal indulgence.

I love this sweet because of the half piece of freeze-dried strawberry adorning the cream. It is like concentrated strawberry goodness in cookie form due to its crunchiness. There is no other confectionary that is like this, I love it. The cream adds the creaminess and moisture while the thin cookie wrap is so crispy, yet has this melt-in-your-mouth quality. A very well-put together ensemble. Highly recommend to spoilt oneself with in the comforts of one's home.

Country of Origin: Japan

Where to get this: https://shopee.sg/product/357041381/20304983691?smtt=0.147269227-1668311402.9

Fukuoka Hakata Strawberry Kirara

 

Beautiful packaging and delicious cookie full of goodness of real strawberries. A real yummy treat that will appeal to almost all palates. I also love the crispy wafer bits added into the filling for extra texture and crunch.

Country of Origin: Japan

Where to get this: https://shopee.sg/product/857785396/19151867421?smtt=0.147269227-1668309317.9

Premium Cheese Blanc Strawberry

 

Subtle cheese, sweet strawberry filling and soft buttery pastry dough, this is a combination to please all palates. Everyone who tries it, including yours truly of course, loves it. Though they could have been more generous in adding the strawberry filling into the pastry dough. Just divide the amount of filling you see on the picture on box into half, and that's the reality. This pastry will get 100 points from me if they are more generous with the filling.

Country of Origin: Japan

Where to get this: https://shopee.sg/product/357041381/21401384555?smtt=0.147269227-1664351014.9

Hakata Sugar Butter Sand Tree

 

An unexpected good find on Shopee! Presenting Hakata Sugar Butter Sand Tree, Amou Strawberry version! I love it that the biscuit part is made of puff pastry biscuit, making this snack unique. And just one light bite on the crispy biscuit, it breaks into mouth and melts into buttery goodness.The light saltiness of the biscuit perfectly complements the sweet cream sugar filling. And the strong aroma of real Amou strawberries makes me love this creation even more.

Country of Origin: Japan

Where to get this: https://shopee.sg/product/640881509/19740236780?smtt=0.147269227-1663927036.9

Hakata Hiroko 5 colors story

 

Super cute chicks! Best to eat these with a cup of tea. My favourite got to be the strawberry one since it is full of strawberry aroma plus a bit of tangy flavour of real strawberries. Sakura is pretty good too.

Country of Origin: Japan

Where to get this: https://shopee.sg/product/640881509/19706765895?smtt=0.147269227-1661525173.9

Kele - Swiss Roll Bliss!

A must-try for swiss roll lovers! I only got to know about kele when I tried their mooncakes that my sister had brought for us. The special fillings of those mooncakes left a deep impression on me since it is like no others. I mean, where else can you can rose or avocado filling? So when I googled on this company and found that they sell swiss rolls with the same type of fillings, I know I got to get my greedy hands on them. But I do not have the time to go there despite my cravings. So imagine my surprise when I see kele’s booth at Yishun Northpoint, near the famed Tiger Sugar. And I hardly hesitate to buy three rolls at one go.

I love the cream to cake sponge ratio of this swiss roll, which is lots of cream in proportion to the cake sponge. The cake sponge of this swiss roll is pretty okay, but what seals the deal is the thick, rich dollop of cream with a ring of cake sponge wrapped around it.

Avocado Gula Melaka absolutely blows me away with the combination of the buttery goodness of avocado and the aroma of caramel in gula melaka sugar. It is so rich and favourful. Definitely a must-try of kele’s repertoire.

I like Rose Cream Cheese a lot too as I am a fan of rose desserts and this swiss roll is packed with the sweet fragrance of rose.

Strawberry Cream Cheese, made with real strawberries, looks so pretty. It has the tangy taste due to the strawberries added. I like it that it tastes natural. But it does pale in comparison to Avocado and Rose Cream Cheese due to the lack of novelty in taste. It works very well in mooncakes, but with cake, it is nice, just that I had tried lots of strawberry cakes, so it does not woo me over like the other two favours.

The swiss rolls here are probably one of the best, only rivaled by Chateraise’s Berry Rare Cheese Fluffy Roll.

Nearest car park: Vivovity’s car park
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Calbee Granola Rich Strawberry 4 times

Who would have thought that Calbee, the famous snack manufacturers, would come out with a healthy cereal product? Imagine my surprise when I see packets of Calbee Granola stacked onto the shelves at Choco Express. Coupled with the fact that freeze-dried strawberries, my favourite fruit, are added, I naturally feel inclined to check it out. After seeing several wholesome ingredients, such as oats, rye flour, brown rice flour, wheat bran, in the ingredient list, with no colour additives, I immediately buy a pack. Okay, I admit, the packaging also looks too pretty to resist.

This cereal is bursting with flavours of grains, held together by the caramel sweetness. And the strawberries give extra kick to the taste. Good to eat even on its own!

Where to get this: Choco Express
Country of Origin: Japan

Hirota Ice Cream Puffs

Every now and then, I can spot some gems in NTUC, not as often as in the case of Cold Storage though. Hirota ice cream puffs are one of them.

Generous big dollop of creamy flavourful ice cream wrapped in a thin puff pastry puff, it trumps over those generic custard cream puffs whose filling is made from custard mix instead of egg and milk. The matcha one is saturated with the aroma and slight bitter taste of matcha. In fact, the matcha ice cream puff is probably one of the few supermarket matcha products that really has the strong taste of matcha. Other matcha desserts and snacks mostly bear resemblance to matcha in colour only. So not surprisingly, the boxes of matcha puffs are snapped up pretty fast when stocked up at the ice cream section of NTUC Xtra. Strawberry and vanilla ones are good also.

Since I had seen this product and brought two boxes, I had went on to buy twenty boxes to treat others. Everyone in the family loves these puffs.

Country of Origin: Japan

Where to get this: NTUC

Fruits that one cannot get enough of

Some fruits are so good that they can be hailed as desserts, and I just simply have to list them down here. The good part is that now, those yummy premium fruits are available in big supermarkets.

The general rule of thumb is to buy fruits in season and preferably the first pick of the season since those are way sweeter. Though the first pick will be more expensive also.

Cherry - Rainier Cherries have milder taste—not as tart, yet have a more pronounced aroma than the dark red ones. In addition, the flesh of Rainier is slightly firmer so one can gets the shiok feeling of biting into the cherry and feels the sweet juices gushing out from the fruit. Japanese cherries, shown below, is the best of the bunch due to the fragrance and the right balance of acidity and sweetness.

Strawberry - I once had the best strawberry in the world during an omakase meal at Shinji.

I had tried a box of Japanese Sachinoka strawberries near the end of strawberry season, and they were disappointingly sour.

So what I am trying to say is that avoid buying strawberries at the end of season. The differences in taste are vast.

Honoka strawberries have very pale colour flesh, but the level of sweetness is pretty out of this world, for a strawberry that is. I highly recommend getting this variety of strawberries despite the steep price. It is worth a try.

The next best strawberries is Japanese Benihoppe and Kanagawa strawberries. The sweetness of this strawberry accentuates the nectar-like aroma. Ten can be gone in less than two minutes!

Korean Maehyang strawberries considered the best among the readily available, not so expensive varieties. While the fragrance is not as pronounced, the sweetness makes them a great treat.

Yantai's strawberries are not bad since they are not sour though not as flavourful as Japanese and Koreans ones.

Apple - I always feel Royal Gala is better in texture than Fuji, and oh boy, I found out how misguided I was when I tried the Fuji apple from Japan. The Japanese one is way sweeter than the others of the same cultivar. Just when I thought that no apple can be better than Japanese Fuji, Shinano from Japan proved me wrong.

Crispy yet slightly powdery apple flesh is packed with sweet juices imbued with floral fragrances, plus the very thin skin, Shinona is a very blissful treat for fruit lovers.

Jonagold is pretty good, but it pales in comparison to Shinano and Fuji since the aroma is not as pronounced and has a slight tart taste, which does not match with the typical fragrance of apples.

Japanese apples aside, for more wallet-friendly alternatives, there are France and Brazil Royal Galas.

Asian Pear - Japan's Honsui pears are the best, hands down. These pears are crispy and exceedingly juicy. And the sweet aroma of this variety of pears is very strong. It is almost like biting into honeycomb to enjoy the refreshing honey.

China's Nam Shui pears are great alternatives since these are sweeter than Korea's Shingo pears. But take note that the pears sold at end of season do not have that distinctive sweetness and flavour.

European Pear - I have always preferred the round Asian pears over the European gourd-shaped ones since the European pears I had in childhood are harder and drier in texture. It is only recently that I discovered that there are gems among this fruit. And the Australia Bosc pears can rival the Asian pears in terms of taste and texture. The flesh of this variety is firm yet soft, so this is winning points with me already. While the cells are not packed with as much juice, it is juicy enough to be a refreshing treat. The best part is the intense sweetness and robust flavours of this pear. No wonder Bosc is the "aristocrat of pears".

Abate Fetel from Africa is pretty good too. Wait until the skin turns yellow, and the flesh of the pear will become sweet, intense, smooth while retaining some of the firm texture. It tastes a bit bitter when it is green.

I had tried a number of other varieties of European pears after this, and none can match up to the Bosc and Abate Fetel—I need to emphasize that I have not tried all kinds of pears.

Tangerine - Again, Japanese fruit takes the top spot for this category. I always dislike the sharp, offensive orangey smell of oranges, tangerines and mandarin oranges. The mikan from Japan turned me into a fan of tangerines. The smell is muted, and the fruit is very sweet with just a hint of tangy taste. Too bad, the season of Japanese mikan is the only time I will eat this class of fruits.

Mango - The Indian mango is unrivalled in terms of texture and taste. Smooth, juicy, intensely sweet, not fibrous flesh makes this mango a gem. The Benishan mango is so sinful to bite into, and this gets snapped up in supermarkets pretty fast, to the point that I used to think these are not available in local supermarkets. Indian Apple Mango is good too, but Benishan wins due to its exceedingly smooth flesh.

Next best variety is the Australian mango.

Grapes - Japanese Kyoho grapes taste like wine, and coupled with the sweetness, it is pure indulgence to have them as decadent snacks. But go for the first pick because those on sale at end of season are quite sour.

Taiwanese ones are the cheaper version. Though not as flavourful, they still bursting with the aroma of the wine. I always go for these when in cost saving mood or I am not sure if the Japanese grapes on sale are the first picks—Japanese kyoho is too expensive for me to risk buying a box of less-than-heavenly grapes.

The main issues I have with the Kyoho variety are that the skin is very thick and the flesh is soft.

This is why I consider the beautiful jade-green Shine Muscat from Okayama as the best grapes of them all. The texture of Shine Muscat is absolutely perfect with thin skin and firm flesh. Even the taste is perfect—amazingly sweet and very subtle touches of flavours of wine, melon and flower. 

Aurora Black grapes from Okayama are great choices also since the taste is very similar to that of Kyoho, minus the seeds and bitter skin.

Other more readily available good options for delicious, crunchy, sweet grapes with very thin skin are Autumn Royal and Black Ardor black seedless grapes.

Blueberries - For sweet blueberries, check out African Blue from Morocco. Best enjoyed in spoonfuls.

Here are some of good finds I got from the supermarkets