Food Review: Hattendo, A Chilled Cream Bun Like No Other

Located in the heart of Paranaque is the office of C3 Premium Partnership Inc., the people responsible in bringing in to the Philippine market this remarkable food item of Japan – Hattendo Japanese Chilled Cream Buns.

Hattendo Japanese Chilled Cream Buns is one food item of Japan that is rich in history – 33 years of history that is!  What started out as a small family business is now a big business slowly reaching out to other soils to win the heart and tummy of the people – still family owned though.

These manually crafted and packed buns are all processed in Japan and shipped frozen to Philippine soil.  Nothing is made here in the Philippines.  The only thing done here is the thawing process of each batch to be sold.  Thawing process is done in a slow and controlled process resulting to the ones readily available in the two kiosks in Megamall and Mall of Asia.  Each batch thawed has a shelf life of 24 hrs for consumption unless kept cold immediately upon purchased which would extend life for another near 24 hours.  Best placed in the chiller and not in the freezer.

With the strict conditions set by Japan, you are assured that what you get to purchase are the freshest thawed batch.  If items thawed are not sold by end of the day, then it is disposed accordingly and not sold the next day.

Flavors made available in the Philippine market are the following:

                Whipped cream

                Custard

                Azuki Sweet Beans

                Chocolate

                Matcha

                Mangoes

                Chestnut

My favorites are Azuki Sweet Bean and Chestnut while my partner prefers the Custard and Whipped Cream.

 The beauty of this chilled treat is that you can pair it off with your regular coffee brew, tea or even another cold drink.  C3 Premium Partnership Inc., along with The Big Difference Communication, held a bloggers day event last August to let bloggers experience this chilled treat.  Held at Tokyo Bubble Tea in Megamall,  everybody gets to try out the different ways to enjoy this cool treat.

MY REVIEW:

The product is good!  The filling is spread evenly in each bun and is smooth.  The bun is soft that it basically melts into your mouth – comparable to a very delicately made sponge cake that is crossed with a meringue. The flavors are also rich and true to taste and their name.  The chocolate is something near to a delicate semi-sweet milk chocolate bar.  The mango, azuki, matcha and chestnut are true to their original source.  The custard is light similar to that of the whipped cream but whipped cream is still lighter – lighter than that you see used on your favorite frap. With the flavors available, you can have your own favorites and discover ways to eat them.

With calorie content similar to eating two cracker pocket packs, this not bad at all.

My only concern is the monetary value of each piece.  True that everything is manually made which makes it priced so, but with the buying power of the local currency, there is a challenge that I see here.  That is my only concern.

The service given by each kiosk personnel is apt to the standard set by C3 Premium Partnership based on the basic service custom of Japan.  With white as its based color (kiosk), there is no reason for you to miss this store if you are looking for it.  The material that they use somehow reflects the light making it shine.  Think of snow hit with lights.

Try Hattendo Japanese Chilled Cream Buns and know that eating something chilled or cool is good the whole year round.

*all images used were personally taken by me during the various events that Hattendo-Phil was part of.