Gardetto's Snack Mix

The Gardetto Family Bakery started in Wisconsin in the 1930s, specializing in bread sticks.  Their claim to fame however is a snack mix that someone made from leftover bread sticks and other items in a special blend of seasonings.  The snack mix took off and became so successful that General Mills bought them in 1999.  Yup, the owners of another popular snack mix you may have heard of: Chex Mix.  Since I love snacks, I obviously have tried it.

The mix is available in several varieties, and other versions have existed over the years, but all follow an "authentic family recipe".

Original Review: June 2016

There is nothing really homemade tasting about this to me, nor did I really enjoy it.

Original Recipe.

I tried the "original recipe", which I quickly learned isn't really that original, as General Mills has changed it several times.

The spicing is a clever mix made from dried Worcestershire sauce (that is a thing?!), MSG, sugar, and corn syrup, plus salt, garlic powder, and onion powder.

Ah, now that explains it.  Sugar and MSG.  I sorta doubt the authenticity of the "dried worcestershire sauce" though.

Anyway, while there was some mild seasoning, I honestly didn't taste much sweet nor salty nor tangy.  The pieces weren't plain exactly, but, not nearly as flavorful as this mix would imply.

Original Recipe: Components.

The mix itself contains 5 different items.

The pretzels were, well, pretzels.  No real difference between the rods or the classic twists, and these items in particular didn't have much spicing.  I separated them out and dunked them in peanut butter, and enjoyed them much more that way.

Next were the little "bread" sticks, in two forms.  These tasted identical and were just hard little bread sticks.  They had minimal spicing, more than the pretzels.  I didn't care for them.

Finally, the rye chips.  These were almost good, and did have caraway inside for some actual flavor, but, they also tasted kinda burnt.  Still, my favorite of the items.

Update Review, 2019

Every holiday season, I eat way too much of my mom's chex mix.  The problem is made worse (or, better, really), by the fact that she's taken to making *custom* batches for each member of the family tailored exactly to our preferences.  My version does *not* have Goldfish crackers, but my sister's has extra.  Mine also has all sorts of totally non-traditional snackies in it - wasabi peas, corn nuts, plantain chips, fried chow mein noodles, and more.  My cousin who can't have dairy has a version made with soy butter.  The list goes on and on.  The net result?  I have TONS of Chex mix, with exactly the things I love in it, that is all for ... me.  Thus I have to eat it all right?

Once my stash runs out, I breath a sigh of relief.  Until, you know, two days later, when I crave it again.  And in those cases, I attempt to fall back on commercial versions, like the ones made by Chex, or, Gardetto's, which I've also reviewed before.  I've never been satisfied with any, yet, when the craving calls ...

Original Recipe.

I don't like plain snack pretzels.  Of course my custom Chex mix doesn't have regular pretzels, it only has Snyder's of Hanover Pretzel Nibblers (in whatever variety my mom has on hand, usually honey mustard though, since I like those), and it has sticks from Pretzel Perfection (a gluten-free company actually, but I really like their products!), because apparently once I told my mom "I'm only willing to accept plain pretzels if they are Pretzel Perfection brand".  Oooph.  But she took note.  So these pretzels, both rods and braids, are not my thing at all.

The pumpernickel chips I almost like, good crunch, decent flavor to the chips themselves, but ... not much seasoning at all.

And then the other blond sticks, one kind with ripples but otherwise seemingly identical.  They have seasoning, and, I don't like it.

Dear self: stop trying this.  It most certainly isn't mom's, but it also just isn't anything you like.

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Waffling Leftovers: Onion Rings

Yup, another installment of Waffling Leftovers, my never ending quest to put random leftovers into a waffle iron, and see what happens (you can read all about my previous adventures here!)

By now, you know I've tried waffling just about every class of leftovers, sweet, savory, main dishes, side dishes, breakfast, dessert ... I've done it all.

But somehow, I've never tried anything like simple french fries, onion rings, and the like.  I have no idea why.  I think I usually go for more interesting starting points.

It turns out, a waffle iron works absolutely fine for this, at least, for onion rings ...

The Original: Leftover Onion Ring.

I started with, well, an onion ring.  The original was great, a fresh, crispy, greasy in the right ways, onion ring, from a local Korean place (yeah,  I don't know what was Korean about it ...).

Onion rings, for me, have about a 2 minute shelf life when fresh, and after that, I kinda dislike them.  Lukewarm, soft, soggy onion rings just have no place in my life.

But, I am always generally pretty happy reheating them in a toaster oven, although it takes effort, flipping them every couple minutes, making sure they don't over cook.  The window of getting them perfectly crunchy again vs way too crisp sometimes feels like 20 seconds.

So I decided to see how the waffle iron would do, potentially requiring less work (no flipping!), and less diligence, while still giving me crispy greatness.

Leftover Onion Ring: Waffling.

I started with a tester, alongside another experiment (not really a success, leftover autumn vegetable gratin, you can read about that here).

350*, and I did nothing to it, just threw it in.  Which, is exactly what I wanted.  No work.

Waffled Onion Ring!

It took only a few minutes, and when I checked on it, I saw visible char marks, and it felt crispy overall.  Well, that was easy!

I plucked it out, let it cool enough to handle, pulled out my favorite honey mustard and ranch dipping sauces, and eagerly dunked it in both.

The verdict?  Yup, that *totally* worked.  I loved the extra crisp bite where the waffle iron made contact, and the rest was crisp, but still moist.  Really, exactly what I was looking for, and I found that I liked the two crunch levels even more than a standard ring that is all uniform.

This was a big success, no question.  And so much easier than manually flipping and watching.  I've since done it a number of times, and been absolutely thrilled with the easy results.  100% recommend.

Next, I'm definitely trying french tries, I think they'd work just about the same ...

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IHOP, 2019

Another year, another annual visit to IHOP, home of what were once my favorite pancakes.  If you'd like to catch up on past reviews, see 2012 and 2013 where I got combos with Harvest Grain N' Nut or Whole Wheat Pancakes, more Harvest Grain N' Nut pancakes in 2014, Raspberry White Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Chip in 2015, Red Velvet and Double Blueberry in 2016, Cinn-a-Stack and more Double Blueberry in 2017, and Mexican Tres Leches and MORE double blueberry in 2018.

This visit was to the only location left in San Francisco, on Beach Street, which has always been ... on the disaster side of the service spectrum, just given the seemingly poor efficiency, the staffing who really don't seem to care, and the vast number of guests.  This visit was no different, and I was ignored much of the time.

Decaf Coffee. $3.19.

For the first time, I tried IHOP's coffee, decaf, since I had already had my morning cup of regular.

It wasn't bad, actually.  I won't say it was amazing, not complex nor particularly interesting, but, it was good, not funky, and better than average decaf actually.

Coffee at IHOP is bottomless, and I was provided my own little carafe, which kept it warm and plentiful, which I really appreciated.

I'm glad I got it, although the $3.19 price is a bit steep for average drip coffee.

Italian Cannoli Pancakes (deconstructed). $11.99.

"Three buttermilk pancakes rolled and filled with sweet Ricotta cream and chocolate pieces topped with crunchy cannoli pieces, chocolate chips and creamy whipped topping."

After much agonizing, I decided on the latest addition to the "International" line up, the Italian pancakes ... cannoli pancakes!  They are normally served rolled up, and stuffed with the cannoli filling, and then topped with more of it, and sprinkled with cannoli shell bits and chocolate chips.

I asked for it deconstructed for 2 reasons: 1) easier to save the leftovers if not covered in stuff and 2) if I hated the filling, I didn't want it to ruin the pancakes ... learned my lesson from the year I ordered the Cinn-a-Stack and truly hated it.

My server looked slightly annoyed when I ordered the toppings on the side, but it was actually no problem.

The pancakes were good enough, average buttermilk IHOP pancakes, not undercooked like I've had before.  It did make me realize how spoiled I am at my office now though, we have great pancakes on campus now, which made these not quite as special.  Still, they were hot and fresh, and not bad.  I did want more buttermilk tang, and loftier cakes though.

The cannoli filling was ... kinda awful.  I expected to taste more ricotta, but it was very mild, and that is me being generous.  I couldn't really taste ricotta.  It had a few chocolate chips in it, but only ... maybe, honestly 4 (?) in the entire little bowl.  The real issue was the consistency, sorta like cannoli filling, rich, thick, but grainy and just odd.  The mouthfeel wasn't good.  I'm sure the texture would be better in a cannoli, but it still just wasn't very good, and had no real ricotta flavor.

The cannoli shell bits and chocolate chips were tasty though, although not particularly interesting.

Syrups.

As always, I wanted to try all the syrups, and went into my tasting knowing that I randomly seem to prefer a different one each time.

IHOP hasn't changed their syrups at all, and in addition to the standard four table syrups, I also asked for the SF syrup, since I sometimes love that, and butter, since my pancakes didn't come with it (cannoli pancakes certainly wouldn't need it).

I was pleased that none of the syrup containers were sticky like usual, and, they were all full.  This is honestly the first time I've ever dined at an IHOP and not had sticky syrup bottles.

Sampler Platter.

I took my sampling seriously, cutting off perfect little triangles, and trying each syrup plain and with butter.  

My preferences were clear.  I loved the Butter pecan most of all. Rich, buttery, sweet flavor, and the perfect compliment to the pancake.  Fine with butter, perhaps a bit better with butter, but it wasn't necessary.  Hands down favorite.

The regular Old Fashioned was fine, but not special, and did best with butter added, as it needed additional richness.  Surprisingly, or perhaps because they changed vendors again, I didn't care for the sugar free version at all, and sometimes I really do like that.  I'm not sure what brand it was this time, as they just brought me a little cup of it, not the bottle like normal.

The fruity syrups are the ones I sometimes love, and sometimes hate, and this visit was no exception.  I liked the strawberry syrup, although I know it isn't exactly real fruit.  It was nice to have as a different style than the butter pecan.  But the blueberry? I hated it this time.  Just, didn't care for it at all.

So, Butter Pecan a clear winner, Strawberry or Old Fashioned fine, and Blueberry and Sugar Free clear closers.

And the perfect little cannoli bite I assembled?  Fine too, but, given the lackluster cannoli filling it obviously couldn't shine, and, honestly, the texture and flavor weren't right for a pancake topping.

The one thing I was really missing though was whipped cream, not normally included with cannoli pancakes, and I really wanted it, particularly with the strawberry sauce bites.

So much food waste.

This was my neighbor's table ... after they left. 

I know IHOP portions are ridiculous, but the food waste kinda broke my heart.  The pair of diners did a decent job on their omelets, but literally didn't touch (!), like, literally, you can see they are entirely untouched, butter and all, the stack of 3 buttermilk pancakes.  I actually just can't imagine not even trying a single bite of them!!!

They at least tried the crepes, which, they got MY FAVORITE CREPES, the dish I used to get at IHOP in grad school all the time (but isn't eligible for my free birthday pancakes for this visit, since its just for pancakes not crepes), the Swedish pancakes.  It comes with 4 crepes - 2 are still sitting untouched on the big plate, and one of the two people actually served himself the others, but took only a bite and didn't eat more. They didn't even touch the thing of lingonbutter that comes with them (my favorite!), but the guy at least tried the lingonberry jam on his bite.  This made me very very sad, as I love those crepes and those toppings!!!!

A friend told me I should just switch tables and go take their pancakes, extra crepes, and lingonbutter, since I knew it wasn't actually touched, lol.   Don't worry, I didn't actually do this.

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Moku Moku, Tokyo

I spent my recent trip to Tokyo seeking out incredible soft serve ice cream.  And I did have some incredible soft serve, mostly from places I researched in advance.

And then I had some "eh" soft serve, the result of impulse buys, when I was too worn out to seek out something I really wanted.

Which is what lead me to Moku Moku a shop in the Midtown mall, attached to my hotel.  I had walked by several times, saw that they offered soft serve, and on a rainy night, when I was grumpy and wanted a treat, I wound up there out of convenience.

Soft Serve Signs.

I was drawn in by the signs.

Moku Moku clearly had soft serve, in a cone, or as a sundae.  The translate app on my phone confirmed that the choices were strawberry, caramel, or lemon.  I wasn't sure if this meant parfaits, or just a sauce, but, I was willing to gamble.  I had some fabulous soft serve parfaits in Tokyo, and I hoped this would measure up.

Cute Store.

The place really was cute, with a setup much like a country farm store, selling assorted goods like jam and breads.

Counter.

They also sold bento boxes, um, pizza, and deli items.  It was a bit confusing, actually.

I was able to order easily, just pointing at the caramel soft serve.

Caramel Soft Serve. 420jpy.

My sundae was made quickly and handed over.  It looked ... ok.

I was a bit sad to see that it looked like just some caramel from a bottle squirted on top, but the cone-dish looked appealing.  I didn't care for either.

The cone-dish was extremely boring - no flavor, no sweetness.  But it looked nice.  The caramel with thick, cloying, and clearly not housemade, as I feared.  I wanted to scrape it off.

The soft serve was fine.  It wasn't nearly as good as the soft serve I had at Ciosof the day before, nor as good as the soft serve I had from Milk Cream Craft Cafe two days before that, but those were both exemplary in their creaminess.  It was smoother than Ministop at least, not icy.  The flavor was decent, milk flavor.

I salvaged this by not eating the bowl, removing as much caramel as I could, and adding my own toppings, but it was still highly lackluster, and not worth the 420 yen price.

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Panini'ing Leftovers: Chocolate Filled Churros

As you may know, I utilize my waffle iron for reheating nearly everything.   It is my most common way to prepare food.  You can read all about my adventures waffling all sorts of items in my master post.

My waffle iron is a Cuisinart Griddler (highly recommended!), which is actually a grill and panini press, that has additional, removable, waffle plates. I always leave the waffle plates in it, and thus call it "my waffle iron". I basically forget about the other 5 functions it has.

But sometimes I am lazy, and fail to clean my waffle plates in a timely manner, or they are in the dishwasher (did I mention, best kitchen appliance ever, they go in the dishwasher!), so, I need to resort to using the panini plates instead.

Which is what happened in this case, when I had a leftover batch of churros to heat up.  For this adventure, I suspected panini plates would be just fine.  I knew that  donuts worked well like this, so, why not a churro?

Leftover Cocoa Cream Churro Transformation.

This one was an easy success, which I expected.

Simple re-heating, no mess, perfect result.

The Original: Mini Cocoa Cream Churros.

"Mini churros filled with chocolate imported from Spain. Pre-fried."
The original was a churro, mini size, stuffed with a chocolate filling, from a vendor called White Toque.  They are a frozen product, for food services, and baked off by the purchaser.

I had them at an event.  They were ... fine.  Not really as crispy as I wanted, no "fresh fried" feeling to them.

Leftover Cocoa Cream Churro.

I wasn't really into my cup of churros at the event, so I saved them, thinking mostly that the method of serving was the issue.

I heated one up in the toaster oven later, and it was *considerably* better that way, hot, melty chocolate inside, crispy exterior.  I dunked it in whipped cream.

But, I knew I could do better.

Leftover Cocoa Cream Churro: in the panini press.

I planned to waffle it, but alas, my waffle plates were dirty, and I was lazy.

So, panini plates would need to do.

325* grills, and in it went.

Cocoa Cream Churro: Getting Crispy!

I checked after a few minutes, and I could tell my plan would be an easy success.  The exterior was getting nicely crispy, and I could see the chocolate filling getting molten.

After a few more minutes, it was time to extract ... and, turn into a creation of course.

The reheating process was one of the easiest I've ever done, and, no cleanup at all, just a quite whip down of the plates.

Panini Pressed Cocoa Cream Churro a la mode, plus whipped cream, toffee bits, sprinkles.

As I expected, it worked great.

The exterior was crispy.  The chocolate inside was hot and melty.  Definitely better than the original, and, I thought slightly better than simple oven reheating too, as I liked the even crispier nature of it.  And of course, the toppings were perfect.

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Roasted Coffee Laboratory, Tokyo

Coffee culture is pretty legit in Tokyo.  And no, I'm not referring to the prevalence of vending machines with canned and bottled coffee, nor to the fun drink lineup at Starbucks or other chains.  And no, not even to the slew of San Francisco bay area companies who now have establishments there (yes, Blue Bottle, Verve, and more, all with a presence in Tokyo ... its ... odd, really).  I just mean in general, coffee seems to be taken fairly seriously, and it is clear that some care is going into sourcing and roasting.

Roppongi Storefront.

Like a Roasted Coffee Laboratory, a local roaster in Shibuya, with shop locations around town, including the one I visited in Roppongi inside the mall.  The location is not alongside other food vendors on the lower levels or level 6, but rather, on one of the middle levels, alongside clothing stores.

I would have never found it, if I hadn't been seeking it out.

Signage.

But why was I even seeking it out?

Not because I knew anything about the company.  I'd like to pretend that I know anything about the company, but alas, I don't.  And I wasn't even there for the coffee.

I was there because of this sign.

See that image on top?  Yeah, that is soft serve ice cream.  Presumably coffee soft serve ice cream.  With toppings.

Ice Cream!

And I was on a 2-a-day minimum of ice cream eating in Tokyo, and my jetlag was causing some energy lags, so ... yeah, coffee ice cream sounded worth following signs for, even without knowing anything about the place.

I knew I was in the right place when I saw the oversized plastic ice cream cone on the counter.

Menu.

 I did quickly look at the menu, full of all your standard coffee and espresso drinks, teas and lemonade, plus some rather ... interesting items, including grass-fed butter coffee (eh, that's a trend, not totally novel) and tapioca milk coffee (ok, also kinda a trend?), but also ... a lemon olive oil latte?

And then there was  the food menu, which had exactly 5 items: a hot dog, a cheese dog, a triple cheese sandwich, a burger, and ... french toast.  An amusing lineup, really.

Aww, Sweets!

The sweets menu did look pretty good, in addition to the soft cream, there were shakes, the french toast, cakes ...

Grab n Go Cakes.

Additional, already packaged, cakes were waiting in a display case, and I'll admit, I was pretty tempted to grab one of these "for later" as well.

Baked Goods.

And don't get me started on the maple nut bread and glazed cinnamon rolls, again, I almost grabbed, for later ...

But I didn't, I stuck with my plan, and ordered just my ice cream.

Seating.

The location has a small amount of exclusive seating, a few stools along a counter on one side, and two small tables on the other.  Back out in the mall though there is plenty of other seating nearby.

Coffee Soft Cream. 420 yen.

The soft cream comes in one size, one style only.  No cone option, no different toppings option, not even a description of the toppings that do come with it are provided.  The menu simply says "Coffee soft cream", and if I hadn't seen the other image, I wouldn't have known it was actually a sundae.

It looked picture perfect.

The soft cream was intensely coffee flavored, and I quickly worried about how much caffeine I was consuming.  The style was basically no different from soft serve I get in the US, which was a bit disappointing, as I was expecting the creamier, richer, and milk forward flavors I have come to love in Tokyo.  It was slightly icy, but still fairly smooth.  The flavor was good intense, but, it was just coffee soft serve.

Drizzled over it was coffee syrup, totally unnecessary given how intense the coffee flavor was already, but it sure made it look even more lovely.

Then, one side is coated with cocoa nibs, which added the perfect crunch, and another bitter compliment to the already intense soft serve.  The nibs really did make a nice difference.

The other side though is where the magic was.  This view sadly doesn't capture it well, but, coated cereal flakes.  They seemed to be coated in perhaps a light layer of milk chocolate? They were extremely crisp, extremely flavorful, and I really loved what they added.  As the soft serve melted, I had visions of the best breakfast ever, with that totally inappropriate cereal and coffee milk rather than regular milk ... oh man.

Overall, this was a nice little coffee sundae, fine quality everything, and intensely coffee flavored.  The toppings definitely made it standout.  I likely would not get it again, as I was really hoping for something with a different type of flavor and texture, but, still recommended, just with the correct expectations.

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Soft Serve from Ministop, Tokyo

Update Review, September 2019

I said that when I went back to Tokyo, I'd return to Ministop, and I'd get the plain vanilla soft serve cone.

So I did.  My first full day in Tokyo, when it was sticky hot after lunch, and I wanted a soft serve cone.

Although, I'll admit, I was drawn in by the summer specials, several versions of halo halo.  But I stayed true to my recommendation to myself.

It was served quickly, as it was just a simple cone, unlike the elaborate mont blanc I had before.  I wished they had sprinkles or toppings, but, they do not (of course I had my own sprinkles, so, not really a big deal).

My ice cream was handed over without napkins, and there were none available.  I sadly had emptied my bag out to travel, and didn't have any myself.  This, um, became a sticky problem fairly fast.  Note to self: always have napkins, and a little trash bag, with you in Tokyo!

Vanilla Soft Cream.

The creation was better than the mont blanc, but, it wasn't actually very good.  It was about ... what you'd expect from a convenience store?

The texture of the ice cream was pretty icy.  Not very smooth, not creamy.  In a country filled with incredible soft serve, it seemed like such a waste to use one of my limited soft serve outings on this.

The flavor of the ice cream was good though, a vanilla-like flavor.

I did like the style of the cone, it looked pretty, and seemed practical at first glance, almost like it would catch falling things (like, the sprinkles I was adding).  But it actually didn't work well at all, ice cream ran right out the pockets, and thus, the aforementioned mess.  I think it was far messier than a normal cone, AND the base didn't hold integrity and broke through, leaking everywhere, before I finished.

I was a fairly disappointed sticky mess after eating this.  I probably wouldn't bother trying more of their creations.  But hey, points for having easily accessible soft serve, for ~$1.50.

Original Review, December 2017

Tokyo is a land of many wonders.

One of which is incredible soft serve ice cream.  Seriously, Japan is obsessed with "Soft Cream", crazy high quality, and I'm not complaining.  I had some truly fantastic soft cream during my visit, like the Cremia, made with 25% whipped cream (!) at Silkream, the creative Mont Blanc parfait (with jellies and cocoa crispies in it!) at Mother Farm Milk Bar, and a very creamy version coated in praline from Zaku Zaku.

Another of which is convenience stores.  These are nothing like convenience stores in the United States.  The food quality is high.  There is often seating.  There is serious competition in this space.  People actually seek them out as a place to eat lunch or pick up dinner.  Which of course, I did.  I visited 7-Eleven for tasty salads and onigiri, Lawson for the famed egg salad sandwich and fried chicken, and Family Mart for great pudding.

But on my last evening, I discovered a wondrous place that combined soft cream and convenience stores: Ministop.  A smaller chain of convenience stores, with a huge soft serve sign out front.  The sign drew me in.  Ministop can be found in Japan, but also in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Phillippines, and South Korea.

After a few quick moments of internet research, I found out that Ministop is known for the soft serve.  How was this never on my radar before??!

"Soft-serve ice cream is one of MINISTOP's flagship products. 

We use raw milk produced in Hokkaido for the ingredients, and are confident in their high quality. 

Vanilla is the classic flavor, but you can also enjoy limited-time flavors or soft-serve mixed with vanilla."

What's a girl to do, when walking back to her hotel at night, feeling like she needs "just one more treat"?  Yup, I had no choice.  I had to get soft serve.  From Ministop.

I found out later that Ministop uses 20% fat in their soft serve, not as high as the Cremia at 25%, but, much higher than the 3-6% found in most US based soft serve (sometimes it goes up to 10%, but I've never seen higher).  Vanilla is Ministop's signature offering, but they always have a seasonal flavor as well.  When I was there ... yup, like everywhere else, it was chestnut.  Well, not just chestnut, Mont Blanc.

Unfortunately, I didn't like my pick, but, if I were in Tokyo longer, I'd actually try again, as I think I just poorly ordered.

Ministop Cafe Menu.

The picture menu made it fairly easy to see the offerings.  Vanilla soft cream in a cake style cone.  What looked like a mont blanc creation in a huge chocolate (?) waffle cone.  A mix of the two.  There were also assorted fruit parfaits with soft serve layered with dragonfruit, mango, and more, shakes, floats, potatoes in every form (that really did look good), corn dogs (!), and more.

The hot items were all displayed near the register, and really looked better than the ones from the competition.  Again, why hadn't I found Ministop before?

But I was a bit stumped by the soft serve.  Did they really have a soft serve machine?  Some of the other convenience stores also sorta had soft serve ... it was packaged ice cream in the freezer that somehow was quasi soft.

Soft Serve Machine!

I almost walked out, but there was so much signage about the soft serve, I just couldn't give up.

And then I spotted it!  In the back corner, behind the register.  There *was* a soft serve machine!

Packaged up To Go.

When I ordered, I was asked a question I didn't quite understand.  And then my cashier disappeared for a long time to make my soft serve.

From the picture, I knew it wasn't going to just be soft serve in a cone, but I didn't quite expect it to take quite so long to prepare.  Then again, the last time I ordered a Mont Blanc soft serve (at Mother Farm Milk Bar), it ended up being a many layered creation with jelly and rice crispies in the bottom, so, I really had no idea what I was getting.

The answer in this case?  I think I said I wanted it packaged to go, rather than to eat there.  And, um, wow.  They package soft serve to go!!!!  In seriously elaborate packaging.

My cone was placed into a cardboard holder, which did indeed hold it upright.  It had a protective dome over the top.  And then it was carefully set into a bag.

I've never seen something like this before.  Which, I guess, is true for many things in Japan, but wow, they've innovated on soft serve packaging too.

Premium Wakuri Mont Blanc Soft Cream: Top View.

So, under that dome, what did I have?

Chestnut flavored soft serve, with some kind of chestnut gel layered around it sorta like a Mont Blanc.  The obsession with chestnut, and the Mont Blanc form, just doesn't cease to amaze me.

The dome lid ruined the presentation slightly, but it wasn't a big deal, I was still quite impressed with the whole thing.

That said, I didn't actually like it.

In particular, I hated the chestnut gel stuff.  It had a bad flavor, and a worse consistency.  I tried to scrape this off, but then I just wound up with tons of it on my spoon.

The soft serve itself was quite creamy, a great texture, light brown color.  But ... I didn't like the chestnut flavor.

My companion said, "you don't like chestnut, why do you keep ordering chestnut?", but I reminded him that I do like chestnut.  I really liked the one at Milk Bar, and I had been eating the candied chestnuts off danishes at breakfast every morning.  (Side note: The next day, I'd also make a chestnut based impulse order, and it too would go similarly poorly).

Premium Wakuri Mont Blanc Soft Cream: Side View. ¥330.

The cone was a waffle cone, a dark color.  I thought at first it might be chocolate, but I think it too was chestnut?  A different cone than the one they use for the other ice cream, this one specially branded for the Mont Blanc soft cream.  (Side note: There regular cones actually say "Ministop" in the cone itself ... no standard Joy cups here!).

It was crispy, not stale, and decent enough I guess.

Also, this was a massive creation, served with a spoon like other soft serve sundaes in cones we saw on the trip.

Overall, I didn't like this.  But, I could tell the soft serve quality was high, I was amazed by the packaging, and I'm thrilled to see offerings like this in the first place.  We need more soft serve, and more soft serve sundaes-in-cones!

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