7-Eleven in ... Tokyo!

Update Reviews, 2019 Visit

During my last visit to Tokyo, I finally broke down and started trying all the items from convenience stores.  I was fascinated to say the least.

In 2017, my adventures at 7-Eleven focused on the savory items (see below), just like at Lawson, but this time I moved on to desserts (which I had before from Family Mart instead, like the puddings and taiyaki, and soft serve ice cream at Mini Stop).

Frozen Desserts

Unlike Mini Stop, 7-Eleven does not serve fresh soft serve, however they have a freezer selection with a fascinating array of products, from both other vendors, and their own private labels.

7-Eleven Shaved Ice?!

The kakigōri trend is very real in Tokyo, and even 7-Eleven has packaged shaved ice.  I'm pretty skeptical this could possibly be light and fluffy, but, at least it has condensed milk?

I didn't try this however, I was there for one thing: ice cream.

Seven Premium Gold Waffle Cone Milk Vanilla. 278 yen.

"This item is made with fresh cream and milk from Hokkaido for an improved milky flavor and richness. Now, even more delicious!"

"Ice cream: With its smooth texture, this ice cream really melts in your mouth. The milky flavor spreads throughout the inside your mouth.

Waffle Cone: Made using three types of butter blended together, for a rich flavor you can really feel." -- 7-Eleven Japan Marketing 

My love of ice cream, and soft serve, is very well known by readers of my blog.  Particularly in Tokyo, where the Hokkaido milk soft cream can be truly fabulous (e.g. at Silkream or Mother Farm Milk Bar, both sadly closed).  Seriously.  The put our soft serve to shame.

But sometimes ... I don't have time to seek out the best places in the city.  Or sometimes I get a lackluster dessert, and need a second dessert to cheer me up.  Which is what happened in this case.

After a disappointing liege waffle from Mannaken (albeit with good soft serve), I was left just wanting more awesome soft serve.  Which, yes, I know, should NOT have brought me to 7-Eleven.  But it did, because I've seen the frozen, packaged soft serve cones forever, and been very fascinated.

I'll admit, I was impressed with this, for what it was.  The packaging alone deserves a mention, as it perfectly protected both the cone and the ice cream, and was very appealing - I could see the beautiful ice cream through it!

The ice cream was ... well, it was ok.  It certainly had a slightly freezer burnt taste to it.  But underlying that was some of the "milk" flavor that I love so much in Tokyo.  It was fairly close to soft serve, creamy, lighter than a standard packaged novelty ice cream.  Better than packaged ice cream in the US, but I certainly wouldn't call it very high quality ice cream.

The cone was actually significantly better than expected.  A large sugar cone, somehow not soft at all.  Most frozen novelties wind up with soft cones, and this didn't even have a chocolate lining to protect it.  Not sure how this is possible.  Very sweet, very crispy, and better even than most cones at places serving fresh cones.

So, overall, above average, fun to try, but not a mind-blowing high quality item, and I wouldn't get it again.

Baked Goods

I'm drawn in by the baked goods every time I go into 7-Eleven, which I know sounds ridiculous, with so many great Japanese bakeries around.

Melon Bread.

I can't tell you how many times I've almost gotten the melon pan.  I love this stuff, but have strangely never been able to find a version I like in Tokyo, even though I've tried.  I even went to Sekai de Niban-me ni Oishii Melonpan, famous for its melonpan (granted, for its ones stuffed with ice cream).  I stumbled in to Pompadour, and tried theirs, only to find it extremely lemon flavored.   I also tried it at Family Mart, which I was told was better than 7-Eleven for the melon pan specifically.

It is only a matter of time before I actually get one at 7-Eleven.

Salted Vanilla Cream. 100 yen.

"A refreshing bun with a moist, softly baked dough sandwiched with salted cream. It is a cream made from vanilla beans and you can feel vanilla in both appearance and taste."

This was a brand new item, released on August 20, 2019.  Great timing on my part, as I was drawn in immediately by the salted vanilla cream.

It was shockingly, fascinatingly, delicious.

Packaging.

Like all the baked goods at 7-Eleven, it came in plastic wrap, not exactly looking like a fresh bakery item.  Yes, I had a moment of "really self? There are great Japanese bakeries all around, why oh why did you get this?"

It was shelf-stable, rather than refrigerated, even though it had "cream" in the name.

Still, I dug in.

White Bread.

The bread was soft, and very slightly sweet.  It was very familiar ... um, kinda like Wonder bread, but instead of a slice, it was a bun.  It was not stale.

A fairly plain vessel, but I did like the top half, the shiny top seemed to be where the sweetness was.  However, I purchased this for the filling, not the bread.

Salted Vanilla Cream Filling.

The filling you can see here (sorry, I took a bite already!).  It was spread on the bottom half, not to the edges, but it was a more generous amount than it looked.

The filling was great.  Hard to describe, but I'll do my best.  It was sweet and salty and vanilla flavored, all at once, as the name would imply.  I really did like it.  It was buttery in a way that reminded me of buttercream, not like a flavored whipped cream as I expected.

I found this quite enjoyable, but just eating it plain like this wasn't for me - the bottom of the roll i particular was a bit too boring.  I think if the bread was warm, or steamed, it could be amazing? But I didn't have facilities for heating it up.  Instead, I added some chocolate ganache to one part, and sweetened red bean mash to another. Both complimented the sweetened vanilla cream extremely well, and were definite improvements.

I was glad I tried the item, certainly worth the 100 yen price, but there are too many things to explore in my limit time in Japan to really consider getting another.

Original Reviews, 2017 Visit

Most people in the US think of 7-Eleven as perhaps a place to buy a soda or gum, but little more (of course, I do kinda like the coffee and love the cinnamon rolls).  You certainly don't go there for lunch, right?  I mean, someone must buy those taquitos near the door, but I'm not sure who.

In Japan though, things are very, very different at 7-Eleven (and other convenience stores).  It is a respectable place to get food.  The coffee is actually very good, ground to order, and they make iced coffee too.  The sushi is good, particularly the onigiri.  People love the sandwiches (with crusts cut off) and fresh baked (?!) breads.  Regular people do get food to eat there, and as packaged and scary as it looks, it is fresh.  They even have premium brands, Seven & I Premium and Seven Gold.  And its crazy cheap.

So you know me, always one to try things from silly places like this in the US, I was thrilled to do it in Japan too (plus, ZOMG, the snacks!)

And, spoiler, I loved it.

Seven Premium Deli Salad Pouches

"Seven Premium" products rigorously pursue these seven qualities: ① safety and reliability ② deliciousness ③ local flavors ④ best technology ⑤ universal design ⑥ healthiness ⑦ reasonable pricing."

First up for me, was bagged deli-like salads with Japanese ingredients.  I was beyond fascinated by these.  They also had more mundane salads in plastic boxes, with actual lettuce and the like, but I went straight for the crazy looking ones in pouches. 

Salad Pouch Feast!

The selection was huge, easily 15-20 different deli-like salads, all entirely in Japanese, except for the part telling me that the Seven Premium brand is always evolving.

These items all had pictures showing what was inside, nutrition stats on front, and were sealed tight, easy to open via a slit on top.   Each one cost about the equivalent of $1.  I was provided with chopsticks and a spoon by the cashier.

Burdock Root Salad Pouch.

First up, I went for the burdock root salad.

I would have never been able to identify it by the photo, but, luckily for me, Google translate on my phone was able to tell me this was burdock root.  I had no idea what else would be in it, but, at least I knew the main ingredient.

Burdock Root Salad: Inside.

Here you can see the contents for all their glory.

Since I wasn't bringing it home to plate up, I literally at it from the bag.  With chopsticks.  Just like this.  And it was glorious.

The burdock was crispy. Whatever it was in was really flavorful, perhaps soy based?  Lots of flavor, great texture.  What's not to love?

I might have gotten a tad bit sick of it by the last bite, but I still easily polished off the, uh, bag.

Potato Salad Pouch.

Next, potato salad.

I had no idea what the orange stuff would be (Salmon? Krab stick? Carrots?), but I knew it was potato salad from the translation, and that it was made with something from Hokkaido (perhaps the potatoes?)

Potato Salad: Inside.

Deli potato salad is obviously a fairly normal thing in the US, but I knew that 1) potato salad is really big in Japan these days, and 2) Hokkaido is known for food.  And, well, I like potato salad.

This was quite good potato salad.  Crazy creamy.  It seemed to have some potato that was sorta mashed into a paste with cream/mayo/something, which gave it an incredibly creamy texture.  The chunks of potato were nicely cooked, not too soft, but certainly not the al dente style I do prefer.

I never figured out what the orange things were though.  I think carrots, but I can't be certain.

This was very good, but yes, just potato salad, and I did grow sick of it, mostly because there were too many other things to try.

Onigiri

Next, snackable sushi -  onigiri.

Row of Onigiri.

7-Eleven serves 3 types of Onigiri:

"There are 3 main types of 7-Eleven onigiri. A type not wrapped in seaweed, a type wrapped in seaweed, and a type that is not wrapped in seaweed until right before it is eaten. They are separated into types according to the ingredients used in the center. Please give Japan's easy and healthy fast food "onigiri" a try.?"

The later are the ones I encountered on my previous visit to Japan, and was intrigued by.  The opening procedures are elaborate, but when they work out, its magic, crispy seaweed wrapper and all.

Wasabi Seaweed Onigir?

So that is the style I went for this time, but I failed at opening it properly.  I was able to cobble together a decent solution, but the 1-2-3 didn't quite work.

I really applaud the packaging though, as the nori was fresh and crisp, and really quite good.  The rice too was good, firm, fresh tasting, not mushy.

I'm not entirely sure what was in my onigiri, but I think it was seaweed, and it had some wasabi kick to it.  Flavorful for sure.

Overall, very good for a packaged onigiri, and better than most I encountered on my trip elsewhere.

Sandwiches

I mostly had Lawson (another very popular convenience store) on my agenda for sandwiches (in particular, the famed egg sandwich), but a dining companion grabbed a yakisoba pan because he had seen it in anime before, and was interested in trying one.

Yakisoba Pan.

I tried a bite.

It was ... well, what it looked like.  Noodles in a hot dog bun.  The bun was soft, and didn't taste stale, but wasn't exactly high quality.  The noodles were well sauced/seasoned, but I didn't like the sauce.

My companion enjoyed it, so, success.