Review #18: The Original White Fran 「フラン：オリジナルホワイト」

17Apr10

Packaging:
The box is pretty, with it’s silverness, and the two フラン sticks raised in the air after being dipped in some yummy looking vanilla frosting. It’s a little plain, but still really pretty. And I love the checkered bagging. On the back of the box, there’s the description of the white frosting and the biscuit.  The thing is though, it wasn’t really the box that stood out to me, but the price. Of course, I’ve seen it around a few times before I purchased it. So I guess you could say I was interested. Wondering if it tastes good or not, or whether it’s similar to ポッキー.

The white cream part says:
ふわっとミルクがクリーミーに（something）けるホイップホワイト
Which is: Creamy Drifting Milk, Whipped White. (something like that…)

The biscuit part reads:
あとキレがよくおいしさ（something）き（something）つココアビスケット
Which is: Something about the biscuit being cocoa.

I accidentally read the back wrong and thought there was only one pack, so I was joyful when I opened the box and saw there were actually three packs. And then I was disappointed once again, to find out that there’s only four sticks per pack, making a total of 12 sticks.

Rating: A-

Cost:
This was cheap at Ichiban’kan, on sale because it was “close to the expiration date.” (it expires 05/2010…I bought it on the last week of March…it didn’t make sense, but oh well!) It was $.99!!! Buy it at jBOX for $3.00(but there’s only 3 in stock…as of now) or you can buy it on eBay for $3.50(and there’s more than 10 in stock), but they only accept payment by PayPal.  Or buy it at Marina Market for $3.35, but I think there’s a minimum $25 order…[sorry for all the “buts”]

Taste:
So after that disappointment-happy-disappointment episode, the actual stick is pretty thick. The biscuit is about the size of a YanYan stick(for those who don’t know…it’s about the size of your pinky if you flatten it, unless you have a humongous pinky). It has that sickenly sweet, vanilla frosting smell, which I like, but if you don’t, then I guess it would be a turn off.

The cream, is indeed very sweet. It would actually be a bit too sweet for me, if there wasn’t the bitterness of the biscuit stick to balance it out. So, the cream tastes like vanilla frosting, that’s in a “harder,” form, I guess you could say. The biscuit is chocolate, with a hint of dark cocoa taste. It’s either semi-weak coffee flavored or a bitter chocolate.

From looking, it seems as if there’s an equal ratio of biscuit to cream, but the biscuit is a bit crumbly, so it seems as if the vanilla frosting is more overpowering, not that I mind. In fact, I quite enjoy munching this snack, if only there were more sticks. This kind of tastes like a YanYan, only the frosting is pre-dipped, and it’s better tasting(maybe only because I usually ate all the biscuit sticks and use a spoon to lick the yummy frosting…xP)

Rating: A

An-chan’s Corner:
An-chan said that this snack was “okay,” but she didn’t particularly like White Chocolate, so the one she tried (before) was Chocolate, plain chocolate.

Overall:
I quite like this snack. It’s really sweet, but not too much. You could call it a thicker, sweeter version of ポッキー or a pre-dipped Yanyan.

Rating: A

Verdict:
I would like to buy this again, but it’s so expensive for the little amount you get. Maybe, if it’s (still) on sale.

Rating Scale:
A+ = I want all this snack in the world!
(A = It’s pretty great, but not amazing.)
(A- = Good, but a bit disappointing.)
B = Just good
C = Average
D = Bad
F = Inedible

Read Gigi-Reviews review(…wow) here.

Click here to watch 沢尻エリカ’s (Erika Sawajiri) CM on フランアロマティエ.

Okay, so I know it’s Fran “Aromatier,” so it’s different from regular Fran, but whatever.
I like this CM. The song, by Ken Hirai, is pretty good.
And I love Erika. She is absolutely amazing. I loved watching her two famous dramas, タイヨウのうた「A Song To The Sun] and 一リットルの涙 「One Litre of Tears]. Both dramas made me cry more than a litre of tears(:

As you can see, the actual フラン is whiter than the picture on the box. (they're the same size though!)

Filed under: Ichiban'kan, Meiji, Snacks   |  2 Comments