Before you think this is a post about awek orang puteh , I am sorry to disappoint you. Continuing my series on souvenirs from Japan, this post is about a very popular confectionery loved by tourists called Shiroi Koibito 「白い恋人」[1]. It is made by a Sapporo confectioner called Ishiya Co., Ltd.

I actually only came to know about it from a friend when I was in Japan earlier this year despite having visited the country before. Shiroi Koibito is a cookie-like confectionery called a langue de chat (which is cat’s tongue in French). The similarity to said anatomic part is its shape, although I initially thought it was also due to the rough surface of the cookie. It is obvious that in this case, the only similarity the Shiroi Koibito has with the traditional European cookie is everything but its shape.

Each cookie comprises two square langue de chats sandwiching a thin layer of white chocolate. The white choc filling does taste somewhat creamy/milky in my opinion but it’s just gorgeous. I remembered seeing the souvenir shop staff having to go to the back and fetch boxes of the stuff to replenish the rapidly dwindling shop front stock, thanks to rabid tourists.

A standard box has 24 cookies, and I can tell you I savour them in small numbers as I don’t get to go to Japan that often. Heh.

There is another version of the Shiroi Koibito and it comes in a brown wrapper instead of the usual blue. This one has regular milk chocolate as its filling as opposed to the usual white. It’s just as gorgeous.

If you wanna get them, it’s best buying them at the airport duty free. And if you really wanna try them and you aren’t going to Japan anytime soon, you can try your luck on sites like Amazon Japan or Rakuten.

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[1]Shiroi – white, koibito – lover.