Oh, you thought I’d forgotten about Kit-Kat Densetsu? You thought wrong, dude. I’ve just been struggling to burn off some winter weight-gain lately and figured chomping on a candy bar probably wouldn’t serve the greater cause too well, you know? But I’m back down to my pre-Thanksgiving svelteness (and then some), so it’s time to continue the legend. The legend of Kit-Kat.
This time, we have a European Kit-Kat rather than a Japanese one. The principle here is the same — the makers of Kit-Kat hate America and reserve their most interesting flavors for Europe and Asia — but the flavor is decidedly, well, European. Europe loves hazelnut. I love hazelnut, too, but I have to import it if I want to enjoy it, because American confectioners approach this particular legume with the bewilderment of a nun in an adult novelty store.
Kit-Kat Hazelnut Cream is basically a chunky Kit-Kat, with all the crises that entails: the proportions of chocolate to wafer to filling are different that your usual “gimme a break” version. However! Because this chocolate is made in Europe, it’s a bit better than the sugary stuff you see in American and Japanese candies. Oh, also, it has hazelnut filling between the wafers, and hazelnut has been proven (scientifically!) to be the best possible complement to milk chocolate, so it tastes really good. Like… crispy Nutella. Yeah!
I picked this up at a convenience store in my neighborhood that inexplicably stocks mostly European versions of candies normally available in the U.S. Sadly, each one of these costs a buck-fifty. Even more sadly, I’m probably going to empty my checking account and buy them out. Then I’ll be poor and fat.
In summary, this is the worst thing ever.
Canada gets a lot of hazelnut chocolate bars. I’d bring you some for E3, but you’d probably hate me for it.
No, no. Happily, some sins are not unforgivable.
This sounds delicious! I wonder if it can be found here in Japan.
Also, not that it’s at all Kit-Kat related, but have you tried Black Thunder? It’s a Japanese chocolate bar (ブラック・サンダー) that is closer than any other to perfection. It is tiny, perfectly portioned for one serving. It is only a little sweet, and has deliciously satisfying Oreo-styled cookie crunch bits inside. Plus it’s only 30 yen!
In summary: I challenge any GS readers to name a better chocolate bar. (Note: impossible.)
Never tried Black Thunder, but for my money the best chocolate bar was Hershey’s Bar None. It was basically the chocolate equivalent of a supersaturated solution; I have no idea how they managed to cram such dense chocolate into bar form. I’m sad that they discontinued it.
Edit: And for the record, I’m talking about the version of the bar that came in the brown wrapper, not the dismal revision in yellow.
I’m currently living in a small city in Japan (Matsue, Shimane Prefecture), and when I moved here I looked forward to eating unusual Kit Kats like the ones I see mentioned here occasioanlly, but to my disappointment I’ve never seen any special Kit Kat bars, only white chocolate and regular chocolate. Do only certain stores in Japan carry the unusual flavors? If so, which ones are they?
You can always find them at airport duty-free shops, but I also have good luck at Lawson’s, 7-Eleven, Famima, Sunkus, etc. Don’t just look in the individual bar section, though; a lot of times the unique flavors are sold with the bagged candy an aisle over.
I’ll send you a big box of Kit Kats from the U.k. all I ask in return is lots of rare games (and I don’t mean Solar Jetman rare :-) )
You poor americans. I don’t know how you eat the chocolate over there. Cadburys just tastes too sweet, the same with nestle and mars. However the biggest offender is Hersheys which has an after taste of stale vomit. If I ever move to america I’m really going to miss the chocolate. Also your crisps or ‘chips’ are vile! Nothing beats a packet of Tayto cheese and onion.
I generally get Ghirardelli on the rare occasions I splurge for chocolate. The 60-70% cacao bars hit a perfect bitter-sweet-spot, and the “Sea Salt” and “Chili” varieties are simply divine.
Big brand milk-chocolate is almost uniformly too sweet, though. I can’t take it.
Must say I’m partial to Ghirardelli myself :)
I won’t argue, but I also wouldn’t be quite so pompous about it. Kit-Kat and M&Ms are the only mass-distributed chocolates I can stand, and those are only an occasional thing. Generally I buy European chocolate or smaller brands like Guittard.
I know it’s not all bad, there’s just something off about the mass produced stuff I’ve tried in america. Maybe it’s what I gre up with. I don’t like the taste of milk when I go abroad either and it’s defintiely down to that. Herseys though is just manky.
Damn, that looks good.
I wish I hadn’t read this one. That looks really good and I LOVE hazelnut and chocolate. Guess you came by that honestly. Think I’ll look for those when we go to Canada next month.
If they weren’t likely to melt in your mailbox, I’d send you some!