Product Review: Picola, Pocky & VEIL – Winter Edition Candies

During the winter season some exclusive candies always pop up in Japan. In this review you’ll find three of these winter edition snacks. One kind of Picola from YBC, one kind of Pocky from Glico and a kind of VEIL from Fujiya.

YBC – Picola Chocolate Cookie Sticks: Winter White
Price: ±€2,-

Upon opening the packaging a strong vanilla scent escaped. The main flavour here is vanilla wafer cookie, although inside seems to be a thin layer of white chocolate as well. I expected a clearer chocolate flavour, but I still enjoyed this wafer roll as it was. When it comes to texture the chocolate layer adds a creamy element to the crispy wafer roll. They fit the winter theme very well, both in colour and when you look at the cute packaging.

Glico – Pocky: Rich Cocoa Chocolate “Kuchidoke”
Price: ±€3,-

Having reviewed quite a number of kinds of pocky before, this one met my expectations. The packaging suggest a layer of cocoa powder, which is present on these pocky, but it is a light dusting. The cookie sticks seem a bit on the thicker side, but don’t have any specific extra flavour added into them. The chocolate layer is pretty thin and tastes a little bitter. Overall a crunchy cookie stick with creamy, slightly bitter, chocolate outer layer. The snowflakes on the packaging added a nice winter touch.

Fujiya – VEIL: Winter Deluxe
Price: ±€3,-

These candies, or rather wafer cookies, were different than the packaging suggests. The filling is less molten, more solid chocolate. The outer layer consists of chocolate and bits of wafer cookies. The center of the cookies consists of a creamy chocolate layer. When it comes to flavours this snack has a rich chocolate flavour to it, but also quite a bitter chocolate flavour. Or maybe moreso a bitter cocoa flavour to it. I also tasted a hint of alcohol, I thought, but that might just be the bitterness from the cocoa. Although the flavour is quite strong, I definitely didn’t dislike it. They don’t seem to have a very uniform shape, some are a bit misshapen. The packaging definitely fits a winter edition, given the icy look.

These were all purchased around October/November and are only available for a short period of time.