Konbini Kinyoubi: Family Mart Waffle Taste Test

Welcome to Konbini Kinyoubi, where every Friday (Kinyoubi) we visit our local convenience store (Konbini) and buy something delicious. This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please read our affiliate disclosure.

I’m a man who enjoys a good waffle. One of my favorite cities in the world is Brussels mostly because you can buy Belgain waffles on the street for one Euro. I was once at a Waffle House in Florida when the chef loudly quit and walked out after lighting a cigarette on the stove burner, forcing the waitress to ask my friends and I if we’d do the cooking (a story that also involves the police, Australians, and a big fight, among other things). Although savory waffles are not as prevalent in Japan, Eriko and I even managed to find chicken and waffles in Osaka one night.

Most waffles in Japan are sweet waffles, small Belgian-style treats of various flavors eaten on the go without toppings. They aren’t quite as good as the ones in Belgium (he said like a total snob), but there is a Manneken in Kobe that has some quality stuff.

Waffles are always better fresh, and the prepackaged ones can be a gamble. Sometimes they’re really sugary and delicious, and sometimes they’re so dry you have to choke them down. Eriko likes sweet waffles so much that she buys frozen ones in bulk and has one as a treat every single day. Despite my love of konbini pancakes, I’d never really tried most of the waffles, so this week, we bought three kinds of waffles from Family Mart and had a good old-fashioned taste test throw down.

We heated up each waffle in the microwave for around 25 seconds so they’d be a little warm but not piping hot.

Up first: a Famima Cafe & Sweets Waffle made with French lactic butter. Maybe it’s just me, but the word “lactic” is not the most appetizing. It had a strong scent and was evenly cut, looking how a precision-crafted waffle should look.

I don’t know if the lactic butter is the cause, but it was certainly fluffy and soft. It was buttery, but not super sugary, resulting in a rich taste but lacking in sweetness. I would say this one is definitely high-quality, but since I was seeking something sweet, I wished it had a little sugar of some kind on it; by itself it was a tad bland and could have used something to liven it up, perhaps some speculoos spread.

Eriko’s response, said with a big smile on her face, was “Warm and Eriko comfy.” She liked it.

Next in the queue was the Famima Cafe & Sweets Almond Waffle, which is made, I gather, from almonds. It had a strong nutty scent that made it very enticing.

It tasted good, almost like candied nuts. I’m not a huge almond fan, but I appreciate their taste when used in things like this. However, it was a bit dry, and though not overly sweet, it felt a bit heavy to eat, especially compared with how light the first one was. I would say this one smells better than it tastes.

The final pick from Family Mart was a Rizap Coffee Waffle, which Eriko tells me is from a fancy personal gym brand for people who like fancy things. It boasts of “56% off,” which I believe is in terms of sugar, making this the healthiest option.

Honestly, this waffle had very little flavor at all. The lack of sugar was apparent. There was a sort of coffee smell to it, but not really. Definitely the most cardboard-like of the bunch and without a doubt the weakest waffle. Yes, it’s healthier than the others, but the taste just isn’t there, so if you want to be healthy you might as well just not have a waffle at all, though I would recommend staying pudgy and eating sweets for the good of the economy.

Though we’d tried all three Family Mart waffles, we weren’t done with our taste test. We had to have one of our standard frozen waffles to see how well they stacked up against these “fresh” ones.

Ah, Belgian Sugar Waffles, tempting me from the freezer like the seductress you are. These babies require a bit more heat to get them soft than the non-refrigerated kind, but once softened up, they smell like a waffle should.

In addition to a nice texture, the pockets of crunchy sugar make these by far the sweetest of the bunch. I love these. They’re delicious. Tried and true. I want one now.

I know the other waffles we tried were technically more fresh, but they’re not that much more fresh. The French lactic butter one had a nice buttery texture, but if we’re not pairing this with anything, I want something sweet. I’d still go with the frozen ones any day of the week, and I shall. Sweet is good.

Eriko wavered a bit, unable to choose, before finally saying “Butter or this,” which means she was fine with slamming the almond and coffee ones but didn’t want to hurt the butter waffle’s feelings. Less sugar can be fine sometimes, but if you’re gonna eat packaged sweets, might as well get the most sinfully sugary of them all.

UPDATE: Eriko now says the butter waffle is her favorite upon reflection. Sometimes she is capable of making a choice.

In conclusion, if you’re at Famima, buy the French lactic butter kind. If not, buy something else. Eat waffles. That’s the message. 15/10 the end.