ZenPop Ramen + Sweets Mix Pack is a monthly subscription from Zenmarket that sends unique Japanese ramen + sweets handpicked by their staff in Japan.
This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About This Box
The Subscription Box: ZenPop Ramen + Sweets Mix Pack
The Cost: $24.50 a box with free worldwide shipping. Save with longer commitments.
The Products: 2-3 variations of noodles and 6-8 Japanese snacks, candies, or goodies
Ships to: Worldwide
Our Review
This box comes with an info sheet that explains everything included! This month’s box has an overall energy drink theme.
Glico Cream Collon
These snacks have a creamy filling and a light (but crunchy!) exterior. They come in a tiny pouch perfect for putting in your car’s cup holder. I wasn’t a fan of the cream, as it was heavy and had a tofu-like texture, but I loved the wafer fragments I poured into my mouth!
Glico Pretz Cheese
Oof! The smell when I opened this bag was a very pungent, moldy cheese smell, but the taste was oh-so-good. These Pretz are extremely thin and have a creamy biscuit flavor with a nice tang of cheese. Lucky for me there were two packs in the box!
Morinaga Bake Chocolate
The info sheet suggested baking these small chocolate cookies. Best. Ever. When they’re warmed, these chocolates turn into mini lava-cake style cookies, with a molten fudge center and a still-crunchy exterior. I loved how these weren’t as sweet and had a slightly bitter cookie part.
Maruta Mini Bottle Sugar Candy Powder in Lemon Soda
These mini bottles of soda powder instantly dissolve in your mouth into a light, sweet syrup. They’re almost like Pixy Stix in yeast-like form. Subscribers could receive any of lemon, strawberry, or original ramune flavors.
Soy Sauce Rice Cracker
These were easily the best snack of the box—the charred rice flavor combined with the sweet yet salty tang of soy sauce? Yes, please! This salty and savory snack is made from rice from Hokkaido, one of Japan’s main islands known for its natural hot springs (onsen).
Sweet Potato Yokan
Yokan is a thick, jelly Japanese dessert typically made of agar. It is usually in a blockish form and eaten sliced. This yokan has a hint of roasted yellow sweet potato and was an interesting treat to try. You can see yokan in Korea (usually in red bean paste flavor) too, usually for elders who lost their teeth and can gnaw easily on the jelly. I was surprised this jelly could contain so much of the natural flavor!
Strawberry Whistle Candy
Whistle candy is a staple in Japanese dagashi and candy! They always come with a tiny toy—this time, I received a green rhino. The candy is fun the play with; it brings a sharp dog whistle-style sound when wet and blown through. The taste is not your typical artificial strawberry taste but is actually sour. I went through these fast!
Wakame Soup Ramen
I was at first surprised there was no soup packet, but the soup had already been sprinkled in the dry noodles—convenient! Wakame is seaweed in Japanese, but this soy sauce-based soup was definitely more than just seaweed! There was a strong chicken broth flavor (I put in more water because it was so salty) and there was so. much. seaweed!! In Korean foods, there is a lot of seaweed, so I was happy to see so much (also it seems healthier that way 😉). I loved this ramen!
Asakusa Style Yakisoba
This ramen was a multi-step noodle! The drain pictured above was for pouring out the water after the noodles softened. The sauce packet was basically Worcestershire sauce; mixed with the slightly thicker noodles made the best yakisoba! Typically, you’d have stir-fried chicken and sliced green cabbage—they were a bit stingy with the vegetables.
The Verdict: I loved this month’s ZenPop box! I think the seaweed soup ramen and soy sauce rice crackers were the best part and I loved the helpful instructions (especially for the yakisoba noodles!). I liked there was a wide variety of snacks available—sweet (with that staple Japanese soda candy) and salty + savory.
This box contained two noodles and seven sweet + savory snacks for $24.50 with shipping. I think the box value is actually quite fair since you get a discount for longer subscriptions as well!
To Wrap Up:
Can I still get this box if I sign up today? No, but sign up for the October box here!
OCTOBER SPOILER:
October’s Box will be a theme of Green Goodness—to enjoy the power of vegetables in ZenPop’s collection of noodles and snacks! There will be extra servings of vegetables and crunchy snacks in vegetable flavors. Treat yourself to sour gummies and strawberry flavored cookies!
Value Breakdown: This box cost me $24.50 + free shipping, which means each of the 9 items in this box costs $2.72.
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