Deep-fried 'Let’s just be friends' chocolate tempura appears in Japan for Valentine’s Day

Sometimes, cooking is like an alchemic symphony, a mixture of science, art, and a touch of something else that simultaneously feels like part of both those categories yet somehow separate from either one. Great kitchen creations are often a delicate dance on the taste buds, finding room to surprise even as they fulfill fervent expectations.

There are, however, also some very straightforward paths to gastronomic ecstasy, and two of the most time-tested are to deep-fry your ingredients or to add chocolate…so why not do both? And if you’re going to deep-fry chocolate at this particular time of year, why not use Black Thunder, Japan’s premier brand of “I’m giving you Valentine’s Day chocolate, but I only like you as a friend” sweets?

Thus Japan now has Black Thunder Tempura.

Offered as part of a collaboration between Black Thunder maker Yuraku Confectionery and noodle restaurant chain Hanamaru Udon, Black Thunder Tempura is exactly what it sounds like: a piece of Black Thunder chocolate coated in tempura batter and deep-fried to an airy crispiness.

▼ Regular Black Thunder shown for reference/immediate snack break justification purposes

Like pretty much all udon restaurants, Hanamaru’s menu includes a variety of tempura pieces you can add to spruce up your bowl of boodles, such as shrimp, chicken, mushrooms, or vegetables. Chocolate is something they usually don’t offer, but until February 14, it’s an option at the 10 Hanamaru branches below, which will be cooking up Black Thunder Tempura.

● Aeon Mall Sapporo Hiraoka (Hokkaido Prefecture)

● Sendai E-beans (Miyagi)

● Akasaka Hitotsugi-dori (Tokyo)

● Tsurumi Eki-mae (Kanagawa)

● Aeon Mall Nagoya Dome-mae (Aichi)

● Senba Shinsaibashi (Osaka)

● Aeon Mall Ayagawa (Kagawa)

● Takamatsu Hyogomachi (Kagawa)

● Matsuyama Takehara (Ehime)

● Aeon Mall Nogata (Fukuoka)

The addition of tempura coating promises to crate a contrast that enhances the sensation of sweet and bitter chocolate, and in keeping with Black Thunder’s image as both delicious and inexpensive (hence the “but we’re not a couple” vibe when given as a gift), Black Thunder Tempura is only 100 yen.

However, while getting a piece won’t take a lot of money, it’ll take some devotion, or at least some planning, as each of the 10 participating Hanamaru branches will have a limited quantity of 30 Black Thunder Tempura per day to sell.

To celebrate the team-up, Hanamaru and Black Thunder are also giving away a pair of Black Thunder Tempura-style Blanket in Cushions, with an exterior that looks like the deep-fried dessert and a chocolate-colored blanket stored inside. To enter the lottery for them, you’ll need to follow the official Black Thunder or Hanamaru Twitter accounts and repost the tweets below, with each company randomly selecting one winner.

▼ The Black Thunder account giveaway winner will also receive a supply of 320 pieces of Black Thunder…

▼ …while the Hanamaru Udon account winner will also get 10 free bowls of udon.

With Black thunder having bits of cookie inside of it, it’s already been proven that its chocolate goes great with starchy elements, but the Black Thunder Tempura is meant to be eaten on its own as a dessert instead of being dunked into the bowl of broth and eaten concurrently with the udon noodles. You can also order your Black Thunder Tempura to go, and Yuraku says it makes a good Valentine’s Day present too, but we have to wonder if the rarity might sort of muddle the “Let’s just be friends” message the brand is known for.

Source: PR Times

Insert images: PR Times, Hanamaru Udon