エアイン チョコバー バナナ

The somewhat unwieldy name, Air-in-choc bar (エアイン　チョコバー) and the design by committee package belie the fact that this frozen confection is one of the best things to be found in the freezer cases of Sunkus and Circle K stores throughout Japan this rainy season.

Chocolate and bananas, a classic combo of New World and Asian flavors, far too often falls a bit flat. Under-ripe bananas coated in insipid chocolate are a staple at matsuri stalls. Even the frozen chocolate bananas on a stick from their supposed birthplace at Newport Beach, CA just aren't that good. So, it's a real pleasure to see theory and praxis come together, revivifying a dwindling belief in what should have been assumed.

It's even made me a bit less skeptical of the uses of food "technology."

Here's what makes this thing so good. A wonderful fondant of dark chocolate wrapping a thin layer of banana sorbet (using real bananas!), all around a core of the air-in-choco - a sort of cocoa-y crumbly frozen confection. There are a brilliant mix of textures, tastes and basically a lot of chocolate. It's great!

The Circle K (name licensed from the Canadian convenience store company, Alimentation Couche-Tarde)/Sunkus empire, a division of UNY Co. LTD, markets it under the UK+KACHIAL brand. It seems to be manufactured by Akagi, though there's no mention of it on their website. And God knows how many other corporate folks have their finger in this ice cream pot. But, God bless 'em this time around.