I know what you're probably thinking. Oh, Anjali, you're sighing, really. You've been in Japan for over a year now. Surely you can resist the urge to buy a candy just because the name looks like "ass."
Unfortunately, my friend, the answer is no. No I can't.
It's easy to spot foreigners new to Japan; they're always pointing out the spelling mistakes and unintentional jokes on all the signs written in English. "Look! That hair salon says parm instead of perm! I'm gonna take a picture!" It seems like it'll never stop being funny, like that time in ninth grade when my best friend and I decided our Spanish teacher looked just like the lead singer of the Spin Doctors and we kept cracking ourselves up by whispering "What TIME is it?" to each other, over and over for a week straight. (If you watched 120 Minutes in 1994, you may be familiar with the song. It's not good.)
But -- like our Spanish teacher, who turned out to be totally pervy -- it stops being funny.
It takes a lot for me to point out bad English now, but something about Asse just struck a chord and I had to try it. Maybe it was my memory of Collon, I don't know. I wasn't expecting much -- but Asse is good!
I suppose I should point out here that the correct pronunciation of Asse is "assay." But whatever, I'm still calling it "ass."
So ASSe is a thin piece of milk chocolate filled with what can only be described as the substance that fills a 3 Musketeers bar. It's a good balance of fluff to chocolate and the chocolate itself is decent and not overly sweet. Asse is also packaged nicely, the rectangles of chocolate laid out neatly in their compartments, displaying the cool art-deco-esque patterns printed on their tops. Really, it's one of the best-looking candies I've eaten in awhile.
This is a limited-time, winter candy, but I hear there is a year-round Asse available. I'll keep you posted.
...Okay, I'm finding it difficult to not end this review with a bad pun, but I promised myself I wouldn't. Feel free to leave your own in the comments, though!
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Comments (12)
That stuff in 3 Musketeers, and many other candy bars, is called nougat. "Nougat" is one of my favorite words.
Posted by Daniel | November 3, 2006 11:09 PM
Hey, nice asse!
Posted by rachel | November 4, 2006 12:06 AM
hhmmm, i wouldn't really call the stuff in 3 musketeers nougat. nougat is harder and more dense and generally not chocolate.
funny.. when i saw this post the japanese part of my brain immediately said "assay", though i definitely saw "ass" in there :) this is what happens when you learn another language enough for it to be de-mystified.
it certainly looks delicious!
Posted by gleek | November 4, 2006 12:42 AM
Mind if I have a bite of your asse?
Posted by persephone | November 4, 2006 1:00 AM
i can read most of what's on the box! and you owe me an e-mail!
Posted by sonya | November 4, 2006 2:01 AM
That's a nice-looking piece of asse.
Posted by Joanna | November 4, 2006 7:09 AM
Yeah, the 3 Musketeers site doesn't use the word "nougat" -- they say "whipped up chocolate." Someone needs to make up a word for what that stuff is.
Keep the puns coming!
Posted by Anjali | November 4, 2006 8:31 AM
The filling would probably be a ganache, the same stuff that one can make truffles from. Can easily be made at home. Bring 1 part of cream to a boil, add 1, 2 or 3 parts of chocolate, flavour it if you want. Cool down, keep in the fridge for approx. 2 hours. Whip up well, then make little truffles, roll them in some confectioner's sugar or kakao, voilà. Hope, the instructions are clear, my English isn't good enough to write up recipes...
Posted by Christine | November 4, 2006 6:20 PM
I like to think it's pronounced "ass-y".
If you go to the 3 Musketeers website's faq, it says that the filling is chocolate-flavored nougat. Their old tv ads used to say it was nougat "whipped up and up" (whatever that means).
Posted by Petula | November 5, 2006 8:03 AM
If you can find it, there is a short animated film about nougat by Tibor Szakaly that is HILARIOUS. So good.
Also, my father used to wake my brother and I up on the first day of school with "What TIME is it?" at 4:30 a.m. It stopped being funny when we started to be homeschooled in third grade.
Posted by Cirilia | November 5, 2006 1:05 PM
I love to give this to friends with a note that says "I knew all you really wanted for your birthday this year was a nice piece of asse." Never stops being funny.
Posted by molly | November 5, 2006 8:12 PM
The photography is exceptional - I want that candy!
Posted by Moda di Magno | November 9, 2006 7:24 AM