Dear Food Diary:
While taking a delicious stroll at Takashimaya Singapore‘s basement food court (food heaven) these cute set of Japanese shrimp crackers caught my eye. Who could resist the sushi like display of crackers!?  I just had to bring home a box. Yaraku – pack of “eight happiness”. They make me smile every time I open a pack.

The display alone would persuade me to buy, but most importantly, the sample taste of their signature Hime-Yakuri “shrimp cracker” had me sold. They were the best I’ve ever tasted. Loaded with 7 shrimps in each cracker and baked over charcoal, which explains its explosive shrimp flavor, think meat and all that roe from the head level of intensity. Super crunchy. The company has been baking shrimp crackers from traditional recipes for the past 120 years and rightfully so. They put every other shrimp cracker to shame, seriously (if you could even call those filler loaded ones that).

The Yaraku – pack of “eight happiness”
The crackers use sea and mountain as their  ingredients. Each just taste 100% what they are labeled as, no mistakes. Mini, crunchy goodness. I love the whole grilled shrimp, you can only find this kind of stuff in Asian snacks. Chewy, crunchy, savory, sweet and packed with natural umami, you gotta love shrimp to like this stuff. The black sesame is aromatic and stood out amongst the non seafood ones. Though each had its unique touch. That said, black bean was probably my least favorite, but that could be bias since I’m not a big fan of them in general.

Beautifully packed shrimp cracker gift boxes of all sorts of sizes. They make great gifts, specially to thy self! Healthy and tasty. Look at that whole shrimp!

If you’re ever in Japan or Singapore (their first store outside of Japan), I highly recommend a sample. You might get hooked like me.

P.S. Chubby’s Rating:

BANKAKU JAPAN

BANKAKU SINGAPORE
Takashimaya Singapore
391 Orchard Road, #B207-1-1
Singapore 238873
Tel: (65) 6789 2995