Puku Puku Tai, Cheesecake Flavor

This was one of the bits I was most looking forward to that I had received from OyatsuCafe, so I've been waiting to eat it. Ya see, I'm a bit of a hoarder of snacks, Exhibit A. Today was particularly gray and horrible, the first in what is sure to be a long series of them this fall, so I needed some cheering up.

And who wouldn't be cheered up by a grumpy looking fish-cookie stuffed with cheesecake? Nobody I'd like to meet in dark alley.

The packaging shows a very accurate illustration of the biscuit, and it is extremely shiny. I can't imagine many people walking by this snack and not at least taking a second glance. It's made by Meito, a company in Japan that I hadn't heard of before that has a particularly horrible website. Looks like the cheesecake flavor is no longer available in Japan, but strawberry and chocolate are still going strong.

This is an unbelievably cute fish. Looks like at any moment it's just going to say 'Harumph!'

I was surprised at how strong the smell of cheesecake was - it smelled like cheesecake the way lots of Japanese cheesecake and 'cheese' products do: Sweet lemon & cream.

Looks like an Aero bar, doesn't it? Well, I suppose it looks like all of the bubble-ized chocolate. The texture was sort of a firm mousse - like an Aero, but it melted a bit more in my mouth than Aero, which can leave a bit of a coating & just sit around on your tongue. I really liked the crispy wafer, it wasn't at all stale tasting and had a great crunch rather than a powdery or otherwise crummy texture. It cleaved apart like a very fresh waffle cone, not like some of the cheaper wafer chocolates I've had.

It tasted like lemon cheesecake, and was very easy going down. The combination of a wafer 'crust' and inner 'mousse' made me feel like I was eating an actual dessert, not just a snack. Really a great combination, I'd happily eat these more often. I'd like to try a green tea version, if it ever existed, or the chocolate variety.

(OyatsuCafe so kindly provided me with some products for review, but all opinions are just my own!)