Thursday, July 14, 2005

Dars Bitter

Name: Dars Bitter Chocolate
Brand: Morinaga
Place Purchased: Jbox
Price: $1.25
Size: 50 grams
Calories per ounce: unknown
Type: Chocolate

This was one of the purchases from Japan I was most worried about ordering through the mail because of the summer heat. Luckily it made the trip in perfect condition.

Morinaga makes excellent consumer chocolate and for a decent price. I’ve had their Hi-CROWN chocolate and liked it very much. This one is about half the price and still comes in a snazzy package great for sharing. (In fact, I shared about a third of this with others.)

Inside the box is a mylar sealed tray with an array of a dozen chocolate nuggets, each a diminuitive bite of chocolate. Because I ordered this directly from Japan, there is no English wrapper on it and I can only glean a few things from the packaging. One is that it’s 45% cocoa solids and the other is that it’s dark chocolate. I have to say, if they’re not putting a lot of sugar in it, and it’s only 45% cocoa everything else must be cocoa butter and that’s a good thing. This is exceptionally creamy and smooth dark chocolate with a wonderful smokey chocolate flavor with a slight cognac note to it. Not too sweet and not at all grainy.

Bonus to Morinaga for putting a freshness date on there too.

Rating - 9 out of 10 ... if only I could find it easily nearby

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:18 pm Tracker Pixel for Entry     CandyReviewMorinagaChocolate9-YummyJapan

Comments
  1. You’re in LA, right? Have you looked at Mitsuwa in Little Tokyo? They have lots of candies like this, though I confess I have not seen this one. (Haven’t been looking for it though…)

    There are several locations, including one in Mar Vista (intersection of Centinela and Venice) and one on Western in Torrance. Can’t think of the cross street there, sorry…

    There are lots of other Japanese grocery stores in the area. Look at Marukai in Little Tokyo (another in Gardena, I think) and another little store (whose name I forget!) in Little Tokyo.

    Comment by Bruce Anderson on 12/31/69 at 4:00 pm #
  2. Cybele's avatar

    Hi Bruce, yes, I love Mitsuwa Marketplace and have found lots of stuff there (including Morinaga’s Hi-CROWN Chocolate which is also excellent).

    However, for the Dars, I only saw the milk chocolate. I’ll keep trying though, as I know that some stuff sells out with them (and there are lots more varieties of Pocky I need to try).

    I know there’s another small market in Little Tokyo that’s in that plaza but I don’t remember the name of it. They also have a good selection of candy but not this particular one the two times I’ve gone through in search of stuff that’s on my Japanese candy wishlist.

    I also ended up ordering a lot of black sugar candy and will post about that soon.

    Comment by Cybele on 12/31/69 at 4:00 pm #
  3. Cybele, I was down in Little Tokyo today and I went in Marukai. They have got Dars, and I *THINK* they have these. There was dark, white and milk. $1.39 each.

    This is in Weller Court. I can’t for the life of me remember the streets, but that’s what Google’s for:

    123 S. Onizuka St., #101, Los Angeles, CA 90012.
    Phone: (213)893-7200

    Hope that helps!

    Comment by Bruce Anderson on 12/31/69 at 4:00 pm #
  4. I was completely certain that that was just a box of condoms for a moment.  You almost got me on that one.  Crazy Japanese candy.

    Comment by Kirsten on 12/31/69 at 4:00 pm #
  5. Good Afternoon,

    Today, I received my DARS CHOCOLATES (BITTER).

    I LOVE IT.

    But I would like to tast milk chocolate.

    Do you hav any in your store?

    Please let me know.

    Thank you.

    Jessica

    Comment by Jessica on 2/16/07 at 10:50 am #
  6. Cybele's avatar

    Hi Jessica - I don’t sell any candy, I just review it. I bought mine from JBox but I glanced and their site and noticed they don’t have it in stock right now. You might want to try AsianFoodGrocer or a local Japanese market.

    Comment by Cybele on 2/16/07 at 10:57 am #
  7. Please translate the nutrition information for this product.

    Comment by trams on 7/15/07 at 10:33 pm #
  8. Cybele's avatar

    Trams - translate it into what language?

    Comment by Cybele on 7/17/07 at 7:03 pm #
  9. I would like to purchase some Dars Bitter chocolate. How do I go about it?

    What is your address and telephone number.

    Please send my an e-mail at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

    Thank you,

    Jessica

    Comment by Jessica Henriquez on 7/19/07 at 7:00 am #
  10. when i went to japan for a vacation this summer, the only thing i ate everyday was Dars’ white chocolate. i fell in love at the first bite.

    Comment by Grace on 8/14/07 at 6:42 pm #
  11. I LOVE DARS!!!! We lived in Japan for four years and got addicted to the milk chocolate DARS! I have been trying to find a way to order them online.

    Comment by Lena Prince on 8/11/08 at 6:14 am #
  12. if you cant go downtown, just go to famima! or one of those asian convenience stores that seem to be popping up a lot recently. famima sells it for like… 1.69? but the convenience store sells it for like $2 lol.

    Comment by anon on 11/10/08 at 7:17 pm #
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