Nestle Japan has opened a permanent made-to-order Kit Kat store in Osaka. The new specialty store is the first and only permanent location in Japan where personalised Kit Kats can be made. It offers customised creations chilled on-the-spot with liquid nitrogen, with customers choosing from three types of chocolate and nine toppings.
The store is located just outside Nankai Electric Railway’s Namba Station, a prominent Osaka sightseeing location, given the expected popularity of bespoke Kit Kats among tourists.
Japan has developed a reputation internationally for its unique Kit Kat flavours, which have proved popular with visitors to the country. The confectionery originally comes from the UK.
Nestle Japan says its made-to-order Kit Kats are sold from ¥702 (US$6.25).
Nestle has opened a pop-up bar in Tokyo to mark today’s release of its new sake-flavoured Kit Kat bar.
“Craft Sake Week @Kit Kat Bar” has been offering visitors a preview of the new Umeshu Plum Sake-flavoured chocolate bar paired with cocktails. The space is overseen by former soccer star Hidetoshi Nakata, now known for his work with more than 350 local sake breweries designing products to promote their rice wines both nationally and globally.
Two Ume Sake Kit Kat and cocktail pairings served in Milano glasses are the highlight of the pop-up. The cocktails, created by noted craft cocktail designers to complement the flavours of the new Kit Kat, are exclusive to the bar.
The pop-up, which runs to September 24, features other products both collaborated on and curated by Nakata to convey the beauty of traditional Japanese sake crafts, as well as a sake-tasting area.
Nestle released it first premium sake flavoured Kit Kat last year.
Kit Kat and Tokyo Banana have released a limited-edition chocolate wafer only at Tokyo Okashi Land, Tokyo Station.
The products combine milk chocolate and banana cream, recreating the flavour of Tokyo Banana. Chocolate boxes are also stamped with the distinctive Tokyo Banana bow logo.
The local market-only release saw customers queuing outside the store to buy a box of the confectionery.
The kiosk houses large screens showing the product and multi-lingual signage explaining the story behind it.
Despite being limited edition, Nestle assures fans the Tokyo Banana Kit Kat is supplied in sufficient quantity to meet the huge demand.
The product comes in two sizes, with packs of eight sold at ¥702 (US$6.24), and packs of 15 at ¥1296. The wrapped package includes a pair of chocolate wafer bars with a tiny banana mark, the words “Tokyo Banana” and bow logo on top.
The product will be Introduced later at stores including airports, train stations and highway rest areas around the Kanto region.
Chocolate wafer snack Kit Kat is to have a flagship store in Seoul, being launched by Nestle Japan in co-operation with Nestle Korea.
The Swedish snack company’s Japanese branch is known for its exclusive “chocolatory”, which offers special flavours and desserts. Flavours previously exclusive to the Tokyo store will be available at the store set to open in Shinsegae Department Store’s Gangnam location.
Nestle Japan’s Premium Kit Kat is one of the most popular souvenirs Koreans buy when visiting Japan. The exclusive flavours, launched in co-operation with pastry chef Yasumasa Takagi, borrow from local specialties such as Kyoto’s matcha green tea and Hokkaido’s melon.
In Korea, only the original milk and dark chocolate flavours are available. The Seoul flagship store, which opens next Thursday, will not only expand on this but also offer signature desserts.
Nestle Japan will open its first stand-alone Kit Kat Chocolatory store in Tokyo’s Ginza district on February 2 – and marking the occasion with gifts of special sushi Kit Kats.
Since the first Kit Kat Chocolatory opened in January 2014 as a specialty store offering premium and exclusive Kit Kats, the franchise has expanded to eight outlets across Japan, all within major department stores.
For the grand opening of its stand-alone store, the company has created a set of three Kit Kats shaped like sushi – a combination of Kit Kats and rice puffs coated with white couverture chocolate. The maguro (tuna) version is topped with a raspberry-flavoured Kit Kat, the uni (sea urchin) version is made with a Kit Kat with the flavour of Hokkaido melon with mascarpone cheese, while the tamago (egg) version features a pumpkin pudding flavoured Kit Kat.
Actually, the idea of a sushi Kit Kat was shared on social media by Nestle Japan as an April Fool’s Day joke last year, but the response was so huge the company decided to make it a reality. There will be 500 sets of the three sushi Kit Kats, with a limited number being offered each day to customers spending more than 3000 yen (US$26.50) or more at the new Ginza store.
There are also plans to open a cafe on the second floor of the store in the next several months where customers will be able to try special items such as baked madeleines made with Kit Kats, or even make their own Kit Kat creations using toppings of their choice.
Kit Kat, trusty purveyor of cocoa-coated wafer bars, has swooped in with the break you never knew you craved: chocolate sushi.
The unimaginable “sushi cut kits” debut Thursday at Tokyo’s first-ever street-facing Kit Kat specialty store, according to former Gawker property Kotaku and Japanese media. The treats reportedly come in three flavors: “Maguro” (tuna), “Uni” (sea urchin) and “Tamago” (egg).
Maguro consists of raspberry flavor Kit Kat on puffed rice.
If those sound unpalatable, take heart: There’s no real fish involved. The “tuna” variety is actually raspberry-flavored Kit Kat on top of a white chocolate rice puff; “sea urchin” is Hokkaido melon and mascarpone cheese-flavored Kit Kat encased in seaweed; and “egg” is a pumpkin pudding-flavored delicacy, also wrapped in a thin band of seaweed.
Tamago is pumpkin pudding-flavored.
The sushi kit sets will retail for 3,000 yen (just over $26) at the so-called Japanese “Ginza shop” from Thursday to Saturday.
Japan, evidently, has a thing for the shareable Nestle-produced confections: The country has sold more than 300 flavor varieties since the brand first went on sale there in 1973, per a 2015 report. And the candy’s name sounds fortuitously similar to the Japanese phrase “kitto katsu” — meaning “you will surely win.”
Uni features Hokkaido melon and mascarpone cheese-flavored Kit Kats.
Chef Yasumasa Takagi, who whips up gourmet delectables for the Kit Kat Chocolatory in Tokyo, says, “The challenge is how to make something handmade out of an industrial brand.”
“The KitKat has three perimeters: the chocolate, the wafer and the cream. The chocolate and cream are where we can be most creative,” he told the Telegraph. “For me, my goals are the same as in my work as a patissier. I want to surprise people, I want to make them happy and I want to somehow create an emotional reaction.”
The Japan Kit Kat store Chocolatory is selling the ultimate indulgence this Christmas: chocolate bars wrapped in real gold.
And yes – they’re safe to eat… which essentially means consumers will quite literally end up flushing gold down the toilet.
Nestle’s Kit Kat Chocolatory boutique store stocks a constantly changing array of flavoured Kit Kats produced for the fickle Japanese market, including at times strawberry, green tea and wasabi.
The gold bars are essentially aimed at the Christmas gift market – but its release coincides with the one millionth customer of the single-brand store.
The special bars – a limited run of 500 – will also be sold at eight selected upmarket department stores in several Japanese cities.
Dubbed Sublime Gold Kit Kat, it will sell for 2016 yen (US$16) per finger. It is described (apparently without irony) as having “a rich, bitter chocolate taste”.
“We have made it a luxury product,” said Nestle Japan spokeswoman Melanie Kohli.
“Not like you probably remember from your childhood. It’s a special occasion, to celebrate the end of the year.”
The bars come wrapped in a super thin layer of 24-carat gold foil.
It’s not the first time gold has been added to foodstuffs: several limited edition alcoholic beverages have been marketed with gold flakes inside, including cinnamon schnapps Goldschläger.
Gold is harmless when ingested, passing through the body undigested.
