calbee croquette

If you are familiar with Japanese snacks, you'll know that Calbee makes potato chips.

Well, they recently teamed up with Hankyu Department Store in Umeda and started selling croquettes.

In Japan, traditional croquettes are mashed potatoes with bits of beef that are formed into oblong orbs and are deep fried. At the markets they sell these and other flavor variations too.

Anyway, before Golden Week, Calbee/Hankyu started selling these teeny snack types as well as regular sized croquettes.

And of course whenever something "new" appears, there are always krazy lines.

As you wait in line, they give you the "menu" so you can decide which flavors you want to get.

Then when you get closer to the glass case, they will give you tickets for the flavors you wish to purchase.

In front of the glass case, you hand over your tickets and someone readies your order.

Then you pay and go off with your purchases...pretty good system and the line moves quite quickly.

Luckily, this past Saturday while I waited for Satoshi to finish his German class, I was able to pick up some croquettes for us to try.

Their regular sized: plain, butter...we liked the butter one!

Snack type flavored like their chips: Nori shio (kelp & salt) and consomme punch (consomme)...we liked the nori shio one!

I'm glad we got to try these, definitely not something to buy everyday, but nice to maybe bring to a potluck party.