Karashi mentaiko — spicy, salted Alaska pollock roe  — is a specialty product of Hakata Ward in Fukuoka that’s right up there alongside Hakata style ramen. Originating from the Korean dish myeongnan-jeot, in Fukuoka it’s common to find fishes like mentai cream pasta or mentaiko senbei, and of course, this Glico Pretz Hakata Mentaiko.

These were mini boxes, so each box contained one purple bag rather than the usual two.

Each box contained ~16 biscuit sticks that are a pale pink-orange colour and dusted in a white seasoning containing 1% mentaiko from Hakata.

The Pretz have a pungent fishy aroma much like dried squid. Upon tasting, though, the flavour was much more mellow, starting out savoury before a deep seafood flavour — much like the pronounced savoury marine flavour of fish roe — developed in the body followed by a gentle spiciness in the finish that builds with each biscuit but without leaving leave a burn, much like mentaiko itself.

This Glico Pretz Hakata Mentaiko contained 23 g. It was produced in Japan and purchased in Saitama, Japan in 2018.