The thought of buying food from MUJI never crossed my mind. I usually only pay a visit to MUJI to restock on my favorite stationeries and containers for organizational purposes. I was always skeptical with their food products because no one raves about MUJI food like they do about the goods they are known for, but today, I took the risk and bought a few items.
As I made my way to their food section, I was amazed at their selection; it almost felt like MUJI had a mini supermarket in their store. The selection of food was endless and not only did they have classic Japanese and Western orientated snacks, but they even had drinks, tea bags, instant food (curries and pasta sauce), and baking ready-mixes.
Since I love to snack, I decided to just try and review a few of both their sweet and savory snacks.
1. Matcha-Flavored Mochi Daifuku
This bag of bite-sized mochi daifuku is a fun snack to bring on the go. The mochi does not have an overpowering matcha flavor. Rather, it’s slightly sweetened and well-complemented with the inside bean paste.
2. Syrup Coated Corn
This product caught my attention because it didn’t look like the typical popcorn everyone is familiar with. These corn snacks definitely taste better than they look, though. They actually have a similar texture to western popcorn, but I enjoyed the syrup coating the most. While not as sticky-sweet as kettle corn, these bite sized kernels will fulfill your popcorn fix.
3. Small Bean Jam Pancake With Chestnut
Also called “Dorayaki,” this is a traditional Japanese snack. It’s best described as a pancake sandwich with some sort of sweet filling. This particular dorayaki is filled with a red bean and chestnut paste. While the paste itself is quite sweet, the pancake bread complements and balances out the sweetness.
#SpoonTip: Snack on these with a hot cup of green tea.
4. Corn Snack
I also wanted to see how good MUJI’s savory snacks are. These cracker type snacks resemble Cheetos with their crispy yet airy texture. My initial reaction when trying this snack was how it tastes and smells like another popular Japanese corn snack called “Umaibo”. Not too salty, these snacks were addictive and I couldn’t stop myself from finishing the entire bag in one sitting.
5. Matcha Candy
This hard candy has a rich matcha flavor, reminding me of matcha candy I used to buy locally when I lived in Japan. These candies are extremely sweet but the slight creaminess will keep you craving more. What I love about this candy is the authentic matcha taste you don’t get in other matcha flavored snacks nowadays.
6. Mixed Seafood Snack
Growing up eating all sorts of shrimp and rice crackers, I was pleasantly surprised with the one’s from MUJI. In this assorted pack, MUJI included the classic shrimp and seaweed flavor, as well as squid, sesame, and soybean flavors. I enjoyed the shrimp, seaweed and sesame crackers because while they all tasted like the listed flavors, neither of the crackers were too salty, nor did they taste artificial.
Overall, I was very impressed with the quality of the food and I highly recommend people trying it for themselves. A lot of MUJI food is Japanese but they also have other Asian and Western food and snacks such as animal cookies, chocolate candies, and cakes. MUJI food is definitely underrated and it also may be your new favorite place to buy food and drinks.