I originally wanted to type “Kansai” instead of 2018 in the title above, but considering the choice of omiyage (souvenirs) bought at KIX earlier[1] last month, I thought it would be a tad embarrassing. No wagashi from Kyōto – especially when I actually visited Arashiyama again even for a short while? Then again, wagashi is prolly better eaten on the spot. Oh well.

大阪の恋人
I can’t believe they did an Ōsakan version of the (more famous) Hokkaido Shiroi Koibito.


The packaging was somewhat familiar – although more of a white with black and red trim, instead of white and blue. It’s pretty much a nice tasting langue du chat confectionary, but for some (obvious) reason not as good as the original. The confectioner that made it wasn’t Ichiya, or remotely linked to it. I even found an online post wondering how the Ōsaka version did not get sued by Ichiya. Had to get it because of the novelty.

Tokyo Banana (again)
Well, I found two variant products from them at KIX this time that I had to try. The first was a kasutera (castella) version.

A kasutera is pretty much a soft vanilla sponge that’s pretty sweet. I have had better kasutera before but this was pretty good. A good alternative choice if you are used to enjoying the usual Tokyo Banana cakes they make.

This, on the other hand, was a slight variant of the usual banana-shaped cakes Tokyo Banana makes.

The banana cream filling was lightly coffee flavoured and the cake had a cute sea otter motif on it. Not a fan of, err… eating “cute” things but I try not to think about it.

ROYCE’ Chocolate Wafers
With Royce’ being widely available when I go home to KL, their chocs weren’t top on my list but this wafer caught my eye. Kinda like a cross between a Cadbury Mini Roll and wafer biscuits, but more luscious.

They had the choc crisps but I thought better get this first. Will be a bit more adventurous on my next (whenever that’ll be) trip.

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[1]I will do a short write-up on Ōsaka soon as alluded at the beginning of my previous post. 😛