I love going to Chinatown and picking out and trying new, exotic candies. Even better, sometimes, than actually eating the candy is exploring the packaging graphics and the awkward and sometimes mistranslated English.
… shining in colors of the cheeks of a snow-country child …
Please have a fun time with this strawberry gummy.
Shower Candy: Taste of Sweet Candy Brings A Pleasure
Kasugai Peanut & You
Let’s enjoy the new marshmallow generation!
New Jersey!?
Is this how Americans are viewed? Blond hair, blue eyes, saying “Oh!” at a sour lemon candy?
Also, Bon Voyage to Jeannette & Yvan, who leave for China today. I wonder if they’ll see some really obscure candy there. (hint, hint if you see this before you leave!)
Those are hysterical ! ha ha !
man, those fruit gummy things look good!! hook it up!!
Where did you go? The Aji Ichiban (aka Munchies Paradise) store on Mott? That’s one of my favorites. For reasons I can not yet mention I need to get a bunch of individually wrapped asian candies tonight or tomorrow.
mmmm. candy is my favorite thing about chinatown. i love those giant boxes of pocky…aesthetically, i mean.
don’t forget engrish.com.
Wait a sec… you’re from Wisconsin and don’t know that Jersey milk refers to the breed of cattle that produces the highest amount of butterfat in their milk? I am, like, soooo disappointed.
joe.. i have to admit that my first instinct was “new jersey!? wtf!?” but after a few minutes i realized they meant jersey cow. still.. it’s kind of weird that it says “jersey” and not like “cow” or “milk”
just for the record, all those candies are japanese (i’m not positive about the super lemon though). us chinese people speach very good engrish.
Calvin… finally moves from creepy lurking status to commenting status. .
I knew that some of the candy is Japanese, which is why I titled the post “Candy From Chinatown” as opposed to.. say.. “Chinese Candy”, but I didn’t realize they were all Japanese.
there’s something disturbing about that cow. i dunno, maybe it is the lack of udders…
well, calvin is very creepy, so i think he’s just a creepy commenter now.
rachelle, ways to differentiate asian writing (well, chinese, korean, and japanese). obviously my over-simplified personal description. korean looks like a bunch of lines and circles, japanese looks like a bunch of chicken scratches, and chinese is pretty much everything else.
time for a slurpee from seben ereben.
I’ve laughed at those gummies during every late night drunken trip to the bodega. The best is the grape, which describe the flavor as the same as a
“graceful lady”.
The best place, now that Pearl River is all legit and upscale, is Kam Kuo. Look for the litchi gummis–the best–and the milk candy with the bluish-green and white design on a whitish, matte, almost translucent bag. The second best. Also, the ginger candy with the black-and-white checked wrapper, the kind with the dusty, gooey ginger inside of wax paper, is super super, the third best. I that ginger for cough drops: gets right in there and makes everything unclog and unplug.
The Kam Man Market is good too. I’ve gotten my 7-year-old niece in WI hooked on all of this candy! I send it home often. I don’t think I’d like that ginger candy .. I don’t really like ginger. One other one I don’t really care for is the rabbit candy.. the one with the translucent wrapper that you eat. ew.
it should be noted that all the “kam” stores are under the same ownership. at least they were at one point. not sure if they still are.
well, i think it’s rice paper…but i can’t confirm that.
oooh. the rabbit candy is my fav. i love the rice paper. unfortunately, a few years ago i ate an entire bag and now thinking about them makes me feel sick.
ginger candy…Mmmmmm
Hey Rachelle… I have a collection of fun fun Japanese packaging that I put up here. http://www.jasonzada.com/special/japanesedesign/
Also, we have http://www.Rawfish.tv for more stuff. But it never gets updated. I love those packages you posted.
jason- i love your collection. i have a few of those (i didnt photograph them all). your sound effect on the “next” button was cracking me up!
Jason, I was browsing through your site and came across the Holiday Record-O-Matic. Very cool.
the record-o-matic is so cool. i’d been meaning to link to it on the right sidebar but kept forgetting. thanks for the reminder.
rachelle, why didn’t you buy “litchi gummy” … it’s delicious. i also saw apple and pear gummy. i was in chinatown today.
i got the apple & strawberry because i’d never had them before.
just came across this on davezilla.. i remembered seeing it a few months ago.
hey dude – am in the hong kong airport waiting for a flight to bangkok.
glad i checked your site while i was gone! (it was #3 after yahoo mail and my isp webmail – are you flattered?) i will make sure to bring you back some bizarre asian candies, ok?? i already tried some hello kitty chocolate-covered strawberry gummy things (weird).
but in thailand, i will try to look for some durian candy for you. (the scent/eating experience of durian has been likened to eating ice cream on the toilet)
hugs!
-j
You’ll say “Oh!” when you try one of those sour lemon candies! SOUR is the operative word. I tried one today and it was pucker city.
jeannette – can’t wait for you guys to get back & to hear your stories & rip into that candy!!!! good luck, have a good trip.
litchi gummies are my favorite! LH used to bring them back from hawaii for me.
Hi i would really like to try some of these exotic candies and i dont know how to get them ive been searching on the web but no luck if you could help me out i’d really appricate it. thanks
laura
p.s. sorry about the spelling
Can you tell me Chinatown where? Ive been to Philly’s & DC’s.
Thanks!
this was in New York