A few years ago we were at the Phoenix Zoo, and as we were going through the gift shop at the end of our visit, I realized I was starving. The only thing I could find to eat was a chocolate bar, so I bought it. Maybe it was because I was so hungry, but the chocolate was delicious! I was amazed at how good it was.
That gave me a tasty idea: whenever we go on trips and visit touristy places, I should start buying their chocolate bars and comparing them. I could even write a blog post about it. So I started doing that. However, it didn't take long to discover that none of the gift-shop chocolate was any good. I remember buying a "prickly pear" chocolate bar someplace else in Arizona that was just terrible. It probably was hunger that made the zoo chocolate so good. I was disappointed and gave up on the idea.
A couple of weeks ago, Wendy and I went to the Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford. We had been there once before, 20 years ago, but didn't remember much about it. It's a beautiful place and has a really good restaurant as well.
On our way out, we stopped at the gift shop, where I found a book of Japanese ghost stories I couldn't pass up:
They also had some fancy-looking chocolate bars made by a brand called Deux Cranes. I picked one that was milk chocolate with ginger, sesame, and buckwheat. I forgot to take a picture, so here's one from the official website:
I have to say that I really liked it (and I wasn't starving when I tried it). The combination of flavors was really unique. If I had a fancy culinary vocabulary I could use more words to describe it, but since I don't, I'll quote from the product page on the website which describes it as zesty, savory, and nutty. I also liked that it was formed into little geometric designs that made it easy to break off small pieces.
Wendy got the Hōjicha Caramel Milk Chocolate bar, which is based on a roasted Japanese green tea. It's also good, but I like the other one better.
These bars easily win the prize for best gift-shop chocolate that I've tasted so far. You can read more about Deux Cranes on their About page, which concludes with this line:
We strive to elevate the chocolate and confectionery tradition in the US by combining our rich heritage as Japanese women to present our new interpretation of this historic industry.