Yummy Bazaar November 2015 Subscription Box Review – Mini Holiday Box

Instead of a destination this month, Yummy Bazaar is celebrating the holidays around the world!  Yummy Bazaar delivers gourmet food items to your door monthly.  The items for the Destination Food Club are carefully selected from a different single country every month.  With the Full Experience you’ll get 6-8 full sized gourmet items from your destination for $35.95.  There is also a Sampler subscription that sends 6-8 sample sizes for $9.95.  We already reviewed the Full Experience box for December, but also received the Mini box for November as well, which is a totally different subscription!

Everything in the Mini box.

There was a card that noted the stops on our trip around the world!  Like the Full Experience, we sampled treats from France and Italy.  Instead of Germany and Spain, however, we visited Japan and Taiwan.  This box was nominally the November box, and it gave a nod to the upcoming holiday season without having explicitly holiday items.

The info card details the products.  The origin of each item is provided — while most sourcing was self-evident (Pocky from Japan; madeleines from France), the green tea from Italy was a surprise in a box including Japanese and Taiwanese items.  Ingredient information is provided for each item.

All the products in this month’s box.  The selections were nicely balanced, but most were sweets ready to be eaten!

Sapori Delizie Toscane Fichi E Noci – Cake with Figs and Walnuts:  This sweet bar was so tender and moist that it was surprising to see it called a cake.  The texture was similar to lemon bars we love to make for the holidays, but filled with gooey fig and walnut.

Marinella Brand Spaghettata Aglio, olio e Peperoncino:  There is always one full size item in every box, and this one is it.  This dried spice blend makes a spicy and garlicky pasta sauce.

Traditional Taiwanese Vegetable Soda Crackers – Scallion:  Actually fairly sweet and very pleasant, these crackers are as much a cookie as a cracker, with great veggie flavor.

Alce Nero Tè Verde – Organic Green Tea:  I thought this selection would best be pared with the crackers.  An organic tea sourced from India.

A l’Ancienne Chocolat en Poudre – Hot Chocolate:  The French are renowned for their indulgent take on hot chocolate.  This powdered version is pre-sweetened with non-refined cane sugar.

Armor Délices La Madeleine d’Armor:  Made with real butter, this madeleine cookie has the characteristics firm exterior and moist, rich interior that has made the cookie famous.  This was not heavenly, but a good rendition, particularly being packaged.

Nestle KitKat – Green Tea:  This western classic appears in many unique flavors in Japan, with this matcha version being among the most popular.  White chocolate is used instead of milk chocolate to create a more receptive palette for the matcha.

Glico Strawberry Pocky:  The quintessential modern Japanese snack.

This was a nice sampling of items, but I didn’t get overly excited.  I’d like to see more adventurous choices for some of the items (e.g. Pocky), as I’m sure most have tried them.  At $10, the price is good for someone wanting some interesting culinary products and treats from abroad, but we still prefer the Full Experience to get the truly unique and classic items. However, if you’re looking for treats/snacks instead of cooking ingredients, this one may be preferable.

Visit Yümmy Bazaar to subscribe or find out more!