Bokksu is a themed premium monthly box of tasty gourmet snacks and teas straight from Japan. Each box has a different theme, and contains a carefully curated selection of tasty artisan foods.
The cardboard packing contains a lovely presentation box.
It is arranged and packed beautifully.
This month’s theme is New Year Festival.
As you’ll see, the contents this month certainly have a lot of these colours and flavours!
The menu card is excellent. It has a full list and description, and even includes an allergy guide, which is very useful for me!
First, three Hoshu Tea bags. Hoshu tea is made from the best quality sencha tea leaves, and the menu card includes precise instructions to prepare it.
These little packages are called White Bake Chocolate. They look like tiny little white chocolate cupcakes, and come in a little cupcake wrapper.
They are white chocolate with a crumbly, crispy texture. Despite their size, they are extremely rich! My daughter and I shared one, which was actually totally fine. Seriously sweet and delicious.
Fuku Fuku Tai Chocolate looks like a fish, but is actually a delicious wafer and chocolate snack! It is designed to look like a Taiyaki, but instead of read bean paste it is filled with chocolate. The chocolate filling is bubbly and light (rather like an Aero or Wispa). The red and gold packaging is gorgeous too.
Another snack disguised as a fish, these Ottotto Crackers in Salt Flavour are little salty baked morsels, and come in a whole bunch of marine shapes. As well as eating them on their own, you could also put them in soup for a little crunch.
Yet another fishy snack! Except again, they’re not fish. Red Snapper Crackers are crunchy fish-shaped puffs. They have a light caramel flavour, rather like Japanese caramel corn.
Incidentally, Red Snapper is considered to symbolize good fortune, and is traditionally eaten in Japan at New Year.
These Daruma Rice Crackers are very seasonal! They are tiny senbei (rice crackers) in different flavours, shaped like tiny daruma dolls. Daruma dolls are another New Year tradition, considered a talisman of good luck.
(These would go nicely with the Daruma plushie in this month’s YumeTwins box!)
Hakata Spicy Shrimp Senbei are light crisp rice cakes.They are probably delicious, but I can’t tell you if they are because I’m allergic. Oh well.
This wagashi (traditional Japanese confection) is called Kibidango. It is a soft chewy mochi (rice cake) and is covered with a paper-thin edible rice paper wrapping. It has an association with the Japanese folk take of Peach Boy.
Strawberry Tartlets will be very familiar! They are basically jam tarts or biscuits, which every child has made and eaten at some point. They are definitely better presented than the average kid’s effort, but they taste very similar. There is a lovely biscuit base with a blob of jam in the middle. The strawberry jam is quite sweet and strong, but I was reassured to see strawberry seeds in it! While they aren’t the most interesting snack in the box, I can say for sure they are much nicer than anything you will get in a UK supermarket.
The last snack in the box is like nothing I’ve had before. Kinako Mochi are not like regular mochi. They are covered in Kinako, roasted soybean flour, and so unbelievably light and fluffy they melt in your mouth. The menu quite correctly describes them as being like clouds, and they certainly are!
My daughter and I shared a bag, and my god, they were delicious. Her first comment (after ‘mmmmmmm’) was that they taste like peanut butter. (And when I say peanut butter, I mean the good stuff that’s only made with peanuts, not the crappy brands that are full of sugar.) I think this is a pretty good description of the flavour of kinako: savory and slightly salty but with an underlying almost-sweetness. Anyway, amazing. I wish there were more!
Well, that’s the end of my little New Year feast.
As I’ve said before, there are many Japanese snack boxes, but Bokksu takes it to another level. This is a rather sophisticated range of different flavours and textures, around a seasonal theme.
There is incredibly useful information in the menu, including the region each snack was produced.
The thematic references are lovely: the various fish-shaped snacks, and all the mochi (which are traditionally made and eaten at New Year). The strawberry tarts, while they don’t have a particularly Japanese taste, certainly are very red!
Balance-wise, of nine different snacks two are savory. Ideally I’d like at least one more (especially as I can’t eat the shrimp senbei!) but the others are splendidly varied.
I love the cloud mochi, I really hope they bring those back soon as they’re wonderful! (I’ll even forgive them leaving a few little greasy marks on my paper backdrop.)
This box is definitely the most fun I’ve seen. I’ve been introduced to yet more delicious flavours and textures, and items like the Daruma senbei and fish wafer add a little humour! Everything about this box, the packaging, presentation, tasting guide, makes this very much a premium experience.
Happy New Year!
*****
Click here to read more Bokksu reviews.
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Here’s some blurb for you:
Bokksu is unlike any other Japanese snack box. We are totally in love with Japanese snacks, which is why it is our mission to craft authentic Japanese gourmet experiences for our Members around the world. We source directly from artisanal producers in Japan, so you won’t find our delicious snacks and teas anywhere else.
Classic Bokksu will take you on a gourmet journey through Japan each month. From Hokkaido white chocolate butter cookies to Kyoto handground matcha to Kyushu mango chiffon cakes, get the experience of tasting authentic Japanese snacks delivered right to your door. Each box comes with:
- 20-25 delicious Japanese snacks and a tea pairing curated around a cultural theme
- Our Tasting Guide that explains the story and flavors of each product in your box
- The option to pause or cancel anytime
- Free shipping worldwide
Payment is made upfront for the subscription period. The price starts at $39 (around £29) for a month-to-month subscription, and the monthly cost is reduced the longer the subscription! You can find more details here.
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A different version of this review was first published on allsubscriptionboxes.co.uk.
A different version of this review was first published on allsubscriptionboxes.co.uk
