Not Your Average Grape Lollipop

This might be one of the most unique lollipops I've eaten recently. As far as I can remember, no one has mixed grape with a creamy flavour. The possible exception might be raisins, but I feel like grapes and raisins are worlds apart when it comes to flavour and texture. While this is a unique flavour (to me), I recently realized that I actually enjoy real grapes with a certain type of cream on a regular basis. Grapes are one of my favourite fruits to add to yogurt. There's something very satisfying about this combination, particularly the fact that the flavours don't actually blend together until you take a bite. While this grape cream lollipop was pretty good, I'm wondering if anyone in the candy world might be able to simulate the joy of eating grapes in yogurt.

Check out this unusual grape and cream lollipop review.

When Vegetables Collide

When I come across a snack like these Lay's cucumber potato chips, I wonder. I wonder if snack companies come up with their ideas on paper, or in the kitchen. I wonder if someone writes down all of the weird ideas they can think of when it comes to flavour combinations, or if a food professional taste tests millions of ideas only choosing their favourite. I feel like the creative team at companies like Lays might be made up of more writers than cooks. It's not that I didn't like these chips, it just doesn't seem like something a sane person would develop in a kitchen.

Check out why these chips are so weird by reading my latest review.

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If you want to check out my Patreon you'll get all kinds of bonus stuff too.

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It's Another 10 Second Kitchen - China Town, Singapore

I could watch machines making food all day long.

If you want to see all of our 10 Second Kitchen videos, check out our Candy Map.

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10 Second Kitchen - Tim Horton's Shanghai

This is a shot of the first Tim Horton's kitchen in China.

Check out the Candy Critic map to find out exactly where it is.

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Doing Disney and Shanghai

Our trip to Shanghai consisted of two parts... sort of. The first part of the trip was a brief morning and afternoon in Shanghai proper. Our flight landed at 5am and our hotel at Disneyland wasn't going to let us check in until 3pm. We could have headed straight to the Disneyland park if we wanted to, but we had two more full days planned for them, and we knew that we would be getting off of our flight exhausted. We decided instead to focus the first part of our trip on exploring the city of Shanghai a little. We started in the Bund, because it was the only thing open that early in the morning.

On our way to the Bund from the train station we stopped at McDonald's, Allison got a coffee, and I sampled one of the pies (as I usually do on trips abroad). The specialty pie in China appears to be a taro pie. Taro is basically purple sweet potato. This was a great pie to start your day because the taro filling isn't overly sweet. It was also nice that it was deep fried, since most McDonald's in other parts of the world bake their pies now. This was the perfect start up for our day of wandering around Shanghai.

For the most part our adventure that day was just wandering around various neighbourhoods. If you're in Shanghai and you're looking for a place to pick up traditional treats and snacks, one neighbourhood we discovered is Yuyuan Market. It's a traditional looking market with many traditional and modern Chinese desserts and snacks. It's not only a great place to find snacks, but it's also a great place to just wander around since the building are all traditional and exactly what you would expect from a classic Chinese market.

One interesting find was at a local Chinese grocery store. As you know I love to check out local grocery stores in every place I visit, and I was not disappointed in Shanghai. There were a few Chinese treats to choose from, but most interesting was how they kept their western candy. The chocolate bars were each found in protective security boxes. I imagine that there was a theft problem in the past, and it must have been such a problem that drastic measures had to be taken. While the bars were pricey, they weren't much more expensive than what I find in most Asian countries, and I've never seen this kind of security for chocolate bars before.

After a bleary eyed day of walking around, we stopped at Tim Horton's (you can read the full review of that exspirience here) and headed to Shanghai Disneyland for two days and three nights of fun.

The park itself is very nice. I'd heard rumors on the internet about how poorly this Disney park was maintained and abused, and saw none of that at all. It may not have been as clean as some of the other Disney parks, but it was pretty close. It also has two of the greatest rides in all Disney parks (we've been to all except the two in California) Tron Lightcycles and their version of Pirates of the Caribbean. I won't say much more about the parks in general, but if you're a Disney parks fan it's well worth a day or two.

Meal wise, Shanghai Disneyland is not really as full as the other Disney parks. Florida and Tokyo have become food destinations, but this Disney parks doesn't really go for that at all. There is only one sit down restaurant in the whole park, it's expensive but the food was okay. The best place to get a meal in this park is actually outside the gates in Disneytown. There you'll find a nice range of restaurants that including a Cheesecake Factory and a Wolfgang Puck's restaurant. The park had a few less formal places to eat, and they were okay, but nothing that spectacular.

Snack wise this park has a few interesting treats. We found ourselves eating at the bakery a few times and generally found the baked goods to be pretty good. The white chocolate doughnut and cheesecake were surprisingly good. I would think that just about every baked good would probably taste fine, at least we didn't find one that we hated.

It seemed that waffles and flower flavoured ice cream were also fairly popular. We had a few waffles and they were fine, although most of the time they were served cold. We also saw a lot of Mickey ice cream bars around the park. They come with both vanilla and chocolate ice cream inside. They also have Minnie ice cream bars with white chocolate on the outside. While I was tempted to pick up an ice cream bar, I couldn't find myself paying the 8 dollars it cost.

Shanghai Disneyland is a fun place to visit, but it really isn't a foodie destination. You will find plenty of Chinese food options, and plenty of western options, but I don't think you'll  find anything exceptional. What they lack in food however they do make up for in fun. We had a great time, and I'm glad we got to check out this Disney park.

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We Always Start The Month Off With Some Thoughts.

On this months episode of Chris's Monthly Morning Breakfast Thoughts I talk about our trip to Shanghai, fake meat, and other Disney fun times, live from downtown Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Click here to read the article about Shanghai Tim Horton's.

Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to keep up with all our adventures.

You can also follow us on Patreon to get a few extra bits.

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It's A New Episode Of Junk Fud On The Road (With A Disneyland Twist)

It's been a little while since we've posted a new episode of Junk Fud On The Road, but we're back. In this episode Chris and Allison talk about their latest adventure to Shanghai, China. The focus of the trip was to check out Shanghai Disneyland, but there were a few bonus adventures along the way, including a stop at Tim Horton's.

You can find older episodes of Junk Fud On The Road here, you can also follow us on Youtube or Soundcloud.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to check out some more of our travel photos.

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Tim Horton's, China Edition

A few months ago, Allison and I decided that we would plan a trip to Shanghai, China. Since we're living in Asia right now, the distance wasn't too far, and we had a long weekend to use for just such an adventure. The focus of our adventure was going to be Shanghai Disneyland (you'll be able to read more about that later), but with an early flight into the city, we decided to spend our first day in Shanghai proper.

We didn't know what we were going to do on this day. We would have just got off a strange midnight to 5 am flight, likely with little sleep. The only thing we knew for sure is we wanted to walk along the Bund. Other than that we had nothing planned until we checked into our hotel in the afternoon at Disneyland. We asked a few friends about what we should see, and got a list of fun neighbourhoods and sights to check out. Then it dawned on us, we had heard rumours that there were Tim Horton's opening up in China, and Shanghai would be the perfect city to do this. We did a little research and were delighted to find that this was the case, and that the one location (two more have opened in the last few days) was well within our touring plans.

While it would have been great to make Tim Horton's our first stop in Shanghai, geographically it didn't make any sense. We decided instead to start with the Bund, and work our way into the city towards the People's Square (where the TIm Horton's is located). The day pretty much happened as expected. We wandered around Shanghai finding a few snacks and treats to sample along the way, but we always kept a bit of room for some Timbits (and whatever else we might come across at Tim Horton's). It was a fun day seeing the sights and enjoying the vibe of  the city, and it wasn't until after lunch that we finally came to the doorway.

When we came to the door it was as if we were back in Canada. The sign is perfect, even slightly understated (very Canadian). There were a few advertisements stuck to the window as well promoting things that seemed very Tim Horton's and the might have even been recognizable (it's been a little while since I've been back in Canada). But the outside is where any similarities to a regular Tim Horton's stopped.

Once you walked into this place the decor took a drastic change. There was a lot of wood and heavy tables and chairs. There were also neatly stacked mugs and bags of coffee stacked for sale in an elegant display in the middle of the store. The decorations were much more modern than one might find at a regular Tim Horton's, but most interesting was the employees uniforms. They were all wearing bright red plaid lumberjack shirts. Stranger still was the lack of any kind of doughnut rack. Instead there was a glass display case with the various doughnuts available displayed under glass. I'd never seen Timbits displayed on a slate black stone plate before, fancy to say the least.

The look was a bit jarring, but the menu did have a few things to make you feel comfortable. It was a little odd to actually see a book style menu as well. I'm glad the menu was there though because there were a few different items available, and these menus provided a good way to communicate with the people taking your order. My favourite part of the menu was the full description of what a Double-Double was and how to order it. While a few menu items tempted us, we thought that Timbits and coffee would be the prudent thing to order. We also thought it would be quick, and just in case we couldn't get a table, something we could carry outside if necessary.  Did I mention that the place was packed, it made me happy to see so many Chinese people celebrating Canada.

This is the part where things kind of fell apart a little. First of all they don't offer Timbits the same way that most Tim Horton's offer Timbits. It appears that you could only order Timbits in batches of six. We asked for assorted (since the example Timbits in the glass case didn't mention what flavour was available), when we said we wanted assorted, the girl helping us looked at us strangely. It seems like the only way one can order Timbits in this location is to buy a box of six different Timbits. It worked find for us, but if you had a craving for a full box of chocolate dipped you might be out of luck.

This is what you get if you order 1 Timbit... how cute.

Remember that they didn't have doughnut racks, so that meant that the donuts had to come from the busy kitchen. The thought was that they had racks, but they might be in the back, out of the way. As it turns out, this might not have been the case. We waited a good 20 (or 30) minutes for our Timbits to be prepared. I was peeking into the kitchen and I spotted an employee carefully preparing our Timbits, one at a time. This did turn our quick Timbit grab into a longer adventure, but a table opened up in that time, so it worked in our favour. I'm not sure if this slow Timbit issue is just a kink to be worked out, so I'm willing to give them a pass on that. I'm particularly willing to give them a pass because of the quality of the Timbits we finally got.

We ordered 12 Timbits, and we each got a box of six, the math works I guess. In each box were 6 carefully decorated Timbits that were frankly beautiful. Two in particular were absolute masterpieces (one was a little too strange for Allison). There was a maple iced Timbit that was covered so carefully with just the right amount of maple icing., but the real hero was a Timbit that was coated with chocolate icing, and then sprinkled on top was some kind of amazing chocolate powder/milk chocolate. These two doughnuts were just amazing, well beyond anything I've ever seen at a Canadian Tim Horton's.

The chocolate glazed, sprinkled, and cherry powdered Timbits were pretty close to what you might get at home with one exception. In the case of all of these doughnuts, they were far less sweet than what you find in a Canadian Tim Horton's. I imagine that this is a change made to deal with Chinese tastes, and it was a really nice twist. It helped the flavour of these Timbits come through a little bit better, and if you're like Allison, the lack of extra sugar is a plus.

The last Timbit was truly the strange one in the mix, and most certainly the one geared towards Asian tastes. It was a cheese filled powdered Timbit. It wasn't cream cheese though, it was a creamy version of something I would describe as similar to cheddar. While this seems like something out of left field, cheese doughnuts are actually pretty common in Asia. While it wasn't my favourite, I'm glad I had the chance to taste it.

All it all I would say that we had a pretty good visit to Tim Horton's in Shanghai. It didn't really fill the nostalgia hole I was hoping, but it was fun to see. A friend asked me later if it felt like I was in a Tim Horton's in Canada, and I'd have to say that the answer is no. It felt more like I was in a Tim Horton's themed restaurant. It was a little bit too fancy and complicated to feel like a Canadian Tim Horton's. There was also a lot of Canadianana being thrown in my face from all angle. The lumberjack shirts, the wood everywhere, and the general Canadian iconography all over the place (hockey sticks as door handles) made it feel like it was trying so hard to be Canadian. I would by no means call this place a failure, but for Canadians looking for a taste of home, it's a little strange.

Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up with any of our travel and snacking adventures.

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My Opinions Of Unicorns Is Unclear, My Opinion Of These Gummies Is Very Clear - Gummy Unicorns

I missed posting last week's Monday review because I was in China. More specifically I was in Shanghai and my focus was Shanghai Disneyland. If you check out our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, you'll see that we've been posting a collection of foods we ate a Shanghai Disneyland that are shaped like Mickey Mouse. Some of them are pretty normal, a few are pretty weird. We'll be posting more throughout this week. We'll also be posting a couple of blog posts about our adventure in Shanghai and what foods we came across in the next little while. It was a short visit, so it won't be too in depth, but we certainly saw a few interesting things.

As for our review today, it was something that I hopped would be magical, but as is most of the time falls flat. These gummy unicorns are an obvious attempt at cashing in on a food trend with no real thought about making something tasty.

Click here to read the lackluster candy review (the review is fine, the candy is lackluster).

Also remember to follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram because we have more adventures in store in the near future.

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Candy In the Media - Cotton Candy Dreamin'

This guy takes the art of cotton candy flowers to the next level.

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Happy Chinese New Year

I was wandering through my local market when I came across this really strange thing. The sign in the store had the words “mochi” on it. Mochi is a popular Asian treat made from pounded glutinous rice. Since this was a grocery store and it said “mochi”, I assumed it was some kind of treat in a really creative package. I took it home and filmed this video.

The packaging was really unique and I had an interesting time opening it up for this movie. You’ll also notice that each mochi were individually packaged. What I didn’t expect was the texture of the mochi. Normally mochi is very soft and sticky, this on the other hand was hard and plastic like. You’ll see that I cut one in half for the video, it was no easy task. After shooting the video I took a bite of one, and I couldn’t sink my teeth through it at all. I’m not convinced these are eatable.

I think they might be fake mochi, in a really ornate package, to give as an offering for a shrine. Unless someone can convince me otherwise, I don’t think I’ll attempt to eat them again.

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It's A New Episode Of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! - Preserved Plum Seedless

In this episode of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! Chris (that's me) eats some really disgusting plum candies we got in Hong Kong. It's funny that preserved fruit is where modern day candy originates from, yet so may preserved fruits are pretty horrible.

Click here if you want to check out more episodes of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!!

You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with all of our shenanigans.

Also make sure to check out our Patreon page to learn how you can get even more involved with Candy Critic.

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Friday Candy Video

Of all the candies in the world, who would have thought you could make art out of cotton candy.

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Friday Candy Video

I love watching street vendors make candy.  Even when they're not as artistic as the one above, there's something mesmerizing about watching people heat up sugar and turn it into beautiful shapes.

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Friday Candy Video

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to all my Chinese friends out there.  I'm not really that familiar with all of the details of this festival, but I am familiar with the Mooncake, or at least I thought I was.  I've tried one or two varieties of this amazing Chinese sweet treat, but I had no idea that there were so many other varieties out there.  While this video is a great guide to the many varieties of Mooncake, I think tasting them all would be much more helpful.

I found this video here.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Chocolate Mooncakes - Godiva - What better way to celebrate any cultural holiday than with a traditional snack covered in chocolate. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Candy News

What would you pay to have a one on one conversation with Warren Buffett?  What if I threw in a tour of a candy factory?

Next Thanks Giving, look for a giant floating chocolatier in the Macy's Day parade.

Guess which country eats the most chocolate?  I'll give you a hint, they make some of the best.

Planning a trip to China anytime soon?  You might want to check out "Shanghai Chocolate Happy Land".

Wrigley's is looking to break into the vitamin gummy field, maybe they should focus on making their gum's flavour last for more than 10 seconds instead.

Have you ever tasted a Cherry Ripe in Australia, I don't really get why they're so popular, but they are.

So you think that S'mores are simple, well they don't have to be.

The new owners of Hostess are really bragging about how awesome Twinkies are, they're even comparing them to Elvis.

The dangers of hard candy... Remember, it's for the children.

Apparently if you eat food accompanied with a particular ritual it actually improves the taste, that's why I always do a little dance before I eat a chocolate bar.

Here's a shocking story about a kid that got kicked out of camp for eating chocolate, I never went to camp for these very reasons.

If you like sitting down with a tub of ice cream and your favorite book, here's some perfect combinations to make your day.

If you want to keep up with all of the daily candy news that we come across as it happens, follow us on Twitter.

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Chinese Chocolate

A few days ago I posted an article about chocolate quality and how we perceive it.  In the article, a lesser chocolate was often described as a chocolate made in China.  As it turns out there might be a reason to think that Chinese chocolate is a lesser quality.  According to several articles I've read on the subject, the Chinese chocolate market is pretty low.  For the most part, culturally, Chinese people really don't like the stuff.  So it would make sense that their taste in chocolate probably doesn't fit with the European or North American taste.

Click here to read more about the chocolate industry in China.

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Chocolate Companies Seem To Fear China

It's not that they don't like the Chinese people, it's just that China is apparently more partial to salty snacks over sweet ones, or so this article leads me to believe.  So what can the candy industry do to sell candy to make money with China's new economic growth?  Well it can adapt a little.  I mean this industry spends billions of dollars on developing new candy and they're worried about people who want something a little different?  It's kind of sad that candy companies feel they have to push their own agendas rather than just making snacks people might like.

Click here to read more.

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Crazy Chinese Popcorn Maker

The video doesn't give this much justice, so I'll give you a little description as well.  The machine that the guy is turning is full of popcorn kernels.  The kernels are sealed in that thing he's spinning around.  As they heat up they don't explode, because they're sealed with no air going in or out.  He heats them up to a certain temperature (or in his case for a certain amount of time) and then he puts the sealed container with hot kernels into a bag.  He then opens the container in the bag, allowing the kernels to expand, and every single kernel pops at the same time in a massive explosion.  This is so cool.

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