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taste test (Page 85)

We chow down on new cheesecake ice cream bar made with real cream cheese

Evie Nyan
Jan 30, 2016
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It’s cold and frosty in Tokyo! Perfect weather for taste-testing the newest frozen cheesecake ice cream bar!

Japan
(Cheesecake • ice cream • sweets • taste test)

We try McDonald’s Japan’s new, as-yet-unnamed, Hokkaido hot potato burger

Jamie Koide
Jan 29, 2016

We got a sneak peek at McDonald’s Japan’s upcoming menu item: a burger topped with Hokkaido-grown mashed potato, cheese, and onion soy sauce.

Japan
(burgers • Burgers in Japan • food • Hokkaido • McDonald's • potato • taste test)

We try new yakisoba noodles with chocolate sauce (Spoiler: it’s awful)

Mike
Jan 21, 2016

Food manufacturer Myojo recently released a special version of their popular Ippei-chan instant yakisoba noodles that includes a chocolate sauce topping. We tried it… so you don’t have to.

Japan
(food • Noodles • ramen • taste test • weird • weird food • yakisoba)

Eat like a big kid at this Kyoto cafe with their “Kids’ Special” just for grownups!

Evie Nyan
Jan 20, 2016

Want to eat like a big kid, only with more grace and style? This restaurant in Kyoto offers a “Kids’ Special – for Adults”! Naturally we had to go and scoff—er, try—it for ourselves…

Japan
(food • Japanese food • kids lunch • Kyoto • Restaurant • taste test)

The Osaka taste sensation that no one in Osaka has ever heard of: Coffee & Raw Egg 【Taste Test】

Master Blaster
Dec 25, 2015

Japan’s Fuji TV recently branded the majority of Osakans as people who love putting raw egg into coffee. Not wanting to be left out, we gave it a try.

Japan, Korea
(coffee • food • Osaka • raw egg • taste test • weird)

The rice-less gyudon restaurant is here to serve your beefy needs

KK Miller
Dec 19, 2015

If you are on a low-carb diet, or ever thought your beef bowls could use more beef and less rice, then this is the restaurant you need to try in Nishi-Shinjuku.

Japan
(beef plate • Gyusara Iccho • restaurants • taste test • Yoshinoya)

Does kangaroo meat work with Japanese seasonings? 【Taste test】

Casey Baseel
Dec 17, 2015

There’s a new take-out place in Tokyo selling kangaroo bento boxed lunches, so we hopped on over to try them for ourselves.

Japan
(bento • food • Harajuku • kangaroo • restaurants • taste test • Tokyo)

We pig out on tonkatsu at Marugo, the Michelin-approved breaded pork palace【Taste Test】

Evie Nyan
Dec 14, 2015

Our reporters made pigs of themselves at Marugo, a pork cutlet restaurant featured in the 2016 Tokyo Michelin Guide.

Japan
(food • Michelin • pork • Restaurant • review • taste test • Tokyo • tonkatsu)

We try the latest crazy chip flavour from Japan: Strawberry shortcake 【Taste test】

Oona McGee
Dec 10, 2015

Japan now has a new crazy potato chip flavour, and it tastes just like a Japanese Christmas cake!

Japan
(food • Meg • potato chips • snacks • strawberry shortcake • taste test • weird)

How good is the world’s first Michelin-ranked ramen restaurant? We find out! 【Taste test】

Casey Baseel
Dec 8, 2015

Come quickly! We’re tasting the (ramen) stars!

Japan
(Michelin • Michelin Guide • ramen • restaurants • taste test • Tokyo • Tsuta)

Does mint ice cream really taste like toothpaste and breath mints? RN24’s Meg finds out 【Video】

Casey Baseel
Nov 12, 2015

Our Japanese-language reporter Meg sets out to defend the honor of her favorite ice cream flavor by eating a breat mint sundae, and also makes her English RocketNews24 video debut.

Japan
(breath mints • crazy • ice cream • Meg • mint • taste test • toothpaste • video)

We ordered a box of koi-shaped sushi to see if they taste as good as they look 【Taste Test】

Scott Wilson
Oct 13, 2015

Last week we saw the amazing koi-shaped (carp-shaped) sushi created by one sushi shop in Japan. While they were certainly beautiful and life-like, one question was on our mind: How do they taste?

To find out, we ordered a box of the koi-shaped sushi and gave it a try. Does the fish-shaped sushi’s taste live up to its appearance? Read on to find out!

Japan
(beautiful • cool • fish • food • koi • sushi • taste test)

We try civet poop coffee【Taste Test】

Jessica
Oct 1, 2015

Human beings are endlessly inventive when it comes to food. From curried cicadas to snake soup to lemon and mint Pepsi, we never stop inventing new ways to follow the evolutionary imperative to stuff our faces with calories. And while I’m generally a cultural relativist when it comes to “weird” foods, sometimes there is a concept so out-there, you can’t help but say it’s bizarre.

Like kopi luwak, coffee made from beans that have been through the poop shoot of a tree cat. We’ve all heard of it, and it sounds revolting, but have any of us ever actually tried it? Why, yes, actually…

SE Asia
(coffee • Indonesia • kopi lowak • poop • taste test • weird)

Are Japanese rice cookers really better than Chinese ones? We test it out and get some surprises

Scott Wilson
Sep 22, 2015

Whether rightfully or not, Chinese products are much maligned for their supposed lack of quality. Even the Chinese people themselves are often critical of their own country’s products, criticizing everything from Chinese news to rice cookers.

But are they really that bad? Our Japanese reporter Meg recently went on a trip to China and brought back a Chinese rice cooker to test it out. She had a couple of surprises along the way, involving everything from getting the rice cooker to even work, to the taste of the final product, so read on to see how it all turned out!

China, Japan
(cooking • food • Meg • rice • rice cookers • taste test)

Does the new Space Tea from Japan’s Village Vanguard actually taste like space?【Taste Test】

Preston Phro
Sep 16, 2015

Village Vanguard is one of Japan’s more unique stores, selling everything from inappropriate T-shirts to Attack on Titan curry to more inappropriate T-shirts to whatever this is. Some of the food products they stock sit squarely on the border between delicious and “gag gift,” but perhaps the most intriguing of those items is the new Space Tea.

But does it really taste like space? Naturally, we were skeptical…but also curious enough to run out and buy a can. So, come along with us on a journey into the depths of spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace!

Japan
(drinks • Space Tea • taste test • tea • Village Vanguard)

We try unagi cola with genuine eel extract 【Taste Test】

Oona McGee
Sep 10, 2015

Just last month we brought you news of its arrival and now it’s finally here! It’s the delicious/disgusting-sounding Eel Cola, made with real eel extract.

If the thought of drinking it makes you shudder, never fear: your intrepid RocketNews24 reporters have done the tasting for you. All the details after the break!

Japan
(Coca-Cola • Coke • Cola • eel • taste test • unagi)

Kurand Sake Market opens Asakusa branch, Mr. Sato and Yoshio imbibe to their hearts’ content!

Krista Rogers
Sep 4, 2015

On September 2, Kurand Sake Market opened a new shop in the Asakusa district of Tokyo. This location is a sister branch to the original Kurand Sake Market which opened earlier this year in Ikebukuro, where sake lovers can sample 100 varieties of sake for 3,000 yen (US$24.64) per person with no time limit.

The Asakusa branch invited curious members of the media in for a sneak peek before its grand opening to the public, so we promptly sent our sake-loving reporters Mr. Sato, a veteran of the Ikebukuro shop, and Sailor Venus-cosplaying reporter extraordinaire Yoshio to check things out. But rather than write their opinions for each of the 30 individual brands they sampled, which would undoubtedly become tedious after a while, they decided to create a handy visual guide so that you can gauge their reactions to each cup with a picture, thus eliminating any language barriers in the process. Let the sake festivities begin!

Japan
(all you can drink • Asakusa • bar • Kurand Sake Market • Mr. Sato • nihonshu • sake • taste test • Tokyo • Yoshio)

Our English writer rates 15 teas from Japanese conbini, is fully hydrated for the rest of summer

Meg Murphy
Aug 30, 2015

Walk in to any Japanese convenience store, and you’re bound to be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choices at your fingertips. Even taking a stroll through the drink aisle will leave you open-mouthed as you stare at the myriad interesting flavors and varieties to be tried.

Of course there’s green tea, barley tea, roasted tea and more, but how do Japan’s black and flavoured teas measure up? We decided we needed an expert’s opinion, so we turned to one of our English writers for help. With a sampling of 15 different teas, we put our parched taste-tester to work.

Europe, Japan
(conbini • food & drink • ranking • taste test • tea)

We head to KFC in China to chow down on a pretty pink rose-flavoured burger【Taste test】

Evie Nyan
Aug 19, 2015

Here at RocketNews24, we’ll eat pretty much anything. But we especially love wrapping our smackers around limited edition burgers in a variety of hues and consistencies. We’ve eaten black burgers, red burgers, sloppy burgers, and crusty burgers, but what our little lives have been missing all this time is a pretty pink burger! Luckily KFC China has complied with our wishes and rolled out their brand-new rose flavoured chicken burger.

We sent our lucky reporter Meg all the way to China just to try one of these fancy and feminine chicken sammidges.