March 16, 2008: Tokyo treats - Korean kim chi chocolate

The first of the Tokyo treats given to us by Matt were these little chocolates. They're not actually from Japan at all - Matt picked these up on a recent holiday in Korea. I was pretty skeptical about a savoury cabbage-based delicacy going anywhere near chocolate but I was willing to give this small sample a go just for fun.

These were surprisingly good! The smooth paste in the centre gave no hint of cabbage and was just as creamy as the milky, melty chocolate. But whoa, did these have a spicy kick! Far stronger than any other chilli-chocolate dessert I've eaten (though admittedly I never managed to try the chilli-chocolate cupcakes at Inkari). I rather liked this explosive little package, and was even a little disappointed that I couldn't detect a shot of vinegar.

Comments

  1. kathrynMarch 27, 2008 at 12:52 AM

    It's probably no understatement to say that in my house, we are addicted to kim chi. Richard eats it straight from the tub. While every time I'm in the City there's a specific Japanese noodle place I go to, because of their kim chi.

    But kim chi chocolates . . . I'm really not sure about that! They sound very intriguing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Duncan | Syrup&TangMarch 27, 2008 at 3:50 AM

    I admit to gasping in horror at the title food... but by the sounds of it this was kimchi by association, rather than reality. Phew!

    ReplyDelete
  3. CindyMarch 30, 2008 at 8:21 PM

    Kathryn and Duncan, I initially recoiled in just the same way! But the producers of this novelty have thankfully prioritised taste over a loyalty to kim chi in its natural state. :-)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

October 13-15, 2007: Peanut butter and jelly drops

Image
On Saturday night, Kerrie and Daniel invited a gaggle of refugees from Queensland to their home for a housewarming and movie night. They invited us all to bring a DVD to share and challenged us to team our movie choice with some thematically appropriate food or drink. Much as I love a theme, I found this one a particular challenge. The DVDs I wanted to share didn't have memorable eating scenes at all! I decided to go ahead and take Press Gang (a favourite TV series from my tween years) regardless. This series was set in a newspaper office run by high school students and featured reams of snappy dialogue, but was most compelling for the love/hate relationship between the highly strung, very English editor Lynda Day and the American wise-guy sometime-journalist Spike Thompson. So why not find an edible clash of England and America? This proved to be perfect Nigella territory. I was keen to try making her jam doughnut muffins, but they didn't really allow for early preparat...
Read more

The Alley

Image
June 3, 2017 A couple of friends alerted me to the opening of The Alley four months ago. Touted as a vegan burger spot, I imagined late Saturday nights on Brunswick St. Far from it! The Alley operates from a St Kilda Rd office block, primarily for lunch, and is closed on Sundays. Nevertheless, it's got the look - the bright yellows, millennial pinks, neon lights and line drawings remind me of Hobart's Veg Bar and just about any fro-yo bar you could name. The menu takes the healthified, superfood-infused approach. There are chia puddings and acai bowls for breakfast, macro and taco bowls for lunch; noodles are made from seaweed and spaghetti is made from squash. Fries are actually air baked and instead of shakes there are smoothies shot through with coconut water, almond milk, pea protein, macca and (they've hit me with a new one!) camu camu. Air-baked fries ($6.95) lack crispness but are beautifully fluffy on the inside. The almond parmesan and crispy kale crowning the pot...
Read more

Grand Trailer Park Taverna

Image
October 4, 2016 Almost every time Cindy and I eat in the CBD we wind up heading to Shandong Mama or Shanghai Street , so we were delighted when Hayley suggested a pre-movie meal at Grand Trailer Park Taverna. Melbourne's obsession with dude-food is getting a bit tiresome, but even the most committed dumpling-heads need a change sometimes. Grand Trailer Park Taverna exploded onto Melbourne's burger scene a few years back, with queues out the door and inordinate amounts of buzz (see the blog round-up below). Things appear to have mellowed slightly, and we had no trouble getting a table early on a Tuesday night. It's a beautiful setup, with tables nestled inside wooden caravan cut-outs and little cabins, chandeliers on the ceiling and a bright, cheerful vibe. The menu is a glorious paean to junk food, featuring ridiculous boozy milkshakes, a selection of burgers, loads of fried sides and mad dessert dishes like an ice-cream donut sandwich or the menacingly titled 'chocop...
Read more