It’s time to chow down on all of the pastries inspired by Fujiya’s famous brand of Milky candy and its little girl mascot, Peko-chan.

Perhaps no other candy holds as special of a place in Japan’s national consciousness as Japanese sweets company Fujiya’s longtime best-selling Milky candy–a soft, chewy, milk-flavored confection that serves up equal parts happiness and nostalgia for many adults. Fujiya’s mascot since 1950 has been the pigtailed, overalls-wearing girl Peko-chan, whose lip-smacking visual is instantly recognizable to all ages in Japan.

Those who adore both the candy and the girl will be pleased to know that a second Peko-chan Milky Time Cafe just opened on March 13 in the LaLaport Kashiwanoha shopping complex in Chiba Prefecture. This cafe joins the original one inside of Aeon Mall Urawa Misono in Saitama Prefecture as a place where you can enjoy drinks and sweets that were inspired by the hit candy. Naturally, we took this opportunity to check out the new offerings for ourselves.

Upon arriving at the third-floor dining area in LaLaport Kashiwanoha, we made a beeline to the new cafe and were surprised to see that there was already a long line forming at the entrance despite being officially open for only one minute at this point.

Listening in, we could hear the surrounding people chatting about how they were fans of Peko-chan, liked Milky candy, or wanted to get their hands on some of the special merch at the cafe.

At least we could check out the pastries as we slowly inched closer to the cashier. Donuts, muffins, and pastries galore teased us from inside the glass case.

The seasonal-limited matcha chocolate Milky donut looked especially pretty.

We were particularly intrigued by the assortment of mini pies (from left: soy bean “meat” pie, anko pie, apple pie)…

…and the banana-flavored Milky muffins, so we made a mental note to order them.

We also passed a sign for Drinkable Milky Shakes based on the flavor of the candy and seasonal sakura drink offerings.

There was even a variety of Milky-flavored soft-serve ice cream. How could anyone ever choose with all of these options?!

Importantly, we saw a poster advertising special Peko-chan Donut Sets (versions with five or 10 donuts)…

…as well as rare Peko-chan Milky Time Happy Bags (2,525 yen/US$15.80), both to commemorate the new cafe’s opening. We decided to spring for one of each.

Even though we had spent only 15 minutes in line, it felt like an eternity. We finally made it to the front, however, and grabbed a seat in the communal dining area to take a brief rest.

We had ordered an iced Drinkable Milky Ikeda Hojicha (450 yen) and decided to drink it while we were there. It was described as combining the fragrance of roasted green tea and the sweetness of the full-bodied Milky flavor, but how would it really stack up?

Our first reaction was that it was sweet–perhaps a bit too much so. However, that feeling changed as we kept drinking and were able to appreciate the balance of contrasting flavors. At the very least it definitely was not sickly sweet.

After finishing the drink, we headed home to check out the rest of our haul. First up was the commemorative five-piece Peko-chan Donuts Set (1,000 yen).

It contained one plain Milky donut, one white chocolate Milky donut, one plain Milky cream donut, one Kanagawa Prefecture-sourced yaezakura (a kind of cherry blossom) Milky cream donut, and one almond chocolate ring donut. We thought that the similar naming of the Milky donuts and Milky creme donuts might cause confusion for some customers while ordering.

The plain Milky creme donut came in a cute wrapper reminiscent of the kind that the candy is wrapped in.

It had a gentle flavor, with fluffy dough and a Milky cream-flavored center. It was also less sweet than we had imagined, and we finished the whole thing easily.

After sampling the other four, we concluded that the almond chocolate ring donut was our favorite.

It was unfortunate that some of the almonds had fallen off while in transport, though. We were also surprised that this one wasn’t as sweet as we had imagined.

Moving on, we were curious about the soy bean mini “meat” pie (345 yen) and the banana-flavored Milky muffin (222 yen).

The filling of the pie was densely packed within the pie crust. We probably would have thought that it was real meat if we didn’t know otherwise.

It turned out to be a perfect savory morsel between the slightly sweeter rounds.

Meanwhile, the muffin was moist with a light texture.

We noted that the banana flavor wasn’t as strong as the overall Milky flavor.

Finally, it was time to open the Happy Bag. This limited set included an original tote bag, free donut coupons (labeled as “tickets”) for in-store use, a bag of Milky candies, a bag of Milky rusk, a Peko-chan Milky Time mug, and two Peko-chan Milky cookies.

Oops! We hadn’t realized that the Happy Bag came with the cookies because we had bought a couple of them on the side.

Oh well–we couldn’t really complain. The cookies were soft, sweet, and had a strong Milky essence.

The donuts coupons made the set a great value, but it was a little disappointing that only one could be redeemed at a time. That rule would make it inconvenient for anyone who doesn’t live near one of the cafes.

We were impressed by the size and design of the mug and started using it right away.

All in all, we were pleased at the contents and understood why some customers had been purchasing more than one of them.

By all counts, Chiba’s new Peko-chan Milky Time Cafe opening was a big success. We were surprised by how many people had eagerly lined up on its opening day, but now we could see why. There were also more Milky-flavored pastries than we had anticipated and many of them were less sweet than we had imagined.

For some of the other deals that Fujiya has offered up over the years, see the all-you-can-eat cake buffets at select branches and this frozen sweets vending machine in Tokyo.

Cafe information
Peko-chan Milky Time LaLaport Kashiwanoha / ペコちゃんmilkyタイム ららぽーと柏の葉店
Address: Chiba-ken, Kashiwa-shi, Wakashiba 175 Mitsui Shopping Park LaLaport Kashiwanoha 3rd floor community dining area
千葉県柏市若柴175 三井ショッピングパーク ららぽーと柏の葉3階 コミュニティダイニング
Open: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. (weekdays), 10 a.m.-9 p.m. (weekends)
Website

All images © SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
[ Read in Japanese ]