Snack Review: Beard Papa’s Godzilla Cream Puff
When I first came across the ad I knew I had to try out this fun sweets collaboration between Beard Papa‘s cream puff pastry mastery and the most legendary kaiju monster Godzilla. What I wasn’t expecting was the dedication the team had to recreating Godzilla in a cream puff form and the pleasantly balanced flavors it brought.
The Beard Papa team had three key elements in mind when taking on the monumental task of recreating Godzilla in a cream puff form:
- Reimagine Godzilla‘s scales with striking jet-black dough.
- Create a fun gap contrast with a vibrant and flavorful strawberry cream filling.
- Launch a special website and create a unique experience to commemorate the release of the Godzilla Cream Puff.
They used their Crunchy Dino Egg Cream Puff as a base and reimagine it as Godzilla‘s scales which took a lot of workshopping that ultimately resulted in a cookie dough mixed crust made with bamboo charcoal. The end result is a very convincing jet-black crunchy cream puff pastry that is nearly identical to Godzilla‘s scales.
The next task for the team was deciding on the right filling for the cream puffs. Their first attempts at highly acidic creams weren’t panning out and they went back to the drawing board and contemplated the true essence of Godzilla next. Godzilla is not just the King of Monsters but a beloved classic icon around the world that possesses not just overwhelming power but also a romantic duality that captivates peoples. This charm was something the team decided they wanted to express with a sort of depth only their sweets could do and they paired sweet and sour notes into their strawberry cream and packed it with a generous amount of fruit pulp to complete the filling.
In the end, it took roughly a year to develop but the end result truly does justice to Godzilla. It was really enlightening to read about the development team’s story and you can feel the passion in this project. Great job to everyone over at Beard Papa!
There was actually a small gacha element to the Godzilla Cream Puffs too. There are three different designs for the wrapping paper but they all look great so it feels wrong to make a gacha luck scale since they’re all winners in my book!
We picked up our Godzilla Cream Puffs from the Beard Papa located within Ikebukuro Station right next to New Days conbini convenience store near the Tobu Mall and across the way from the Seibu Mall. This location is a bit out of the way since you have to basically get to the middle of the station to reach it but it’s a nice spot that’s completely indoors and easy to pickup in the middle of a commute.
The little Godzilla on the top left says “My face may be scary but I’m full of strawberry cream on the inside!” which was really cute. I appreciated the stickers that encouraged people to post online about the cream puffs it’s always nice when there’s clear transparency on that stuff these days.
It was nice to not have to fight to the Godzilla Cream Puffs as there was virtually no line and they were fully stocked which is amazing because we went on a Saturday at prime tea, coffee, and snack time in Japan. It helps that Beard Papa locations are just pickup windows so we got our cream puffs to go in no time and headed home to enjoy them!
We picked up three different kinds of cream puffs in all that totaled 900yen. Since the Godzilla Cream Puff was originally based on the Crunchy Dino Egg Cream Puff we had to get one too and to round off the little taste test we got the Basic Custard Cream Puff.
Just for funsies here is the size and shape comparison of them all. As you can see the Godzilla Cream Puff is slightly bigger but the same shape as the Crunchy Dino Egg Cream Puff and both are bigger than the normal cream puff.
I couldn’t resist grabbing my Godzilla cup and topping it up with some milk to create an extra themed drink for our afternoon snack. The front and back of the Godzilla Cream Puff wrapper were so nicely designed. The back has a QR code so you don’t have to go to the trouble of looking up the special collaboration website and can just snap a pic and sync up to it instantly.
We cut each cream puff in half to share on a platter and got to taste test each of the three cream puffs. Don’t mind the oozing custard fillings in my opinion they added to the visual experience.
Starting with the Godzilla Cream Puff the initial crunch of the jet-black charcoal bamboo colored cookie dough crust was very pleasing. When I bit into the strawberry cream the sweet and sour notes lined up surprisingly well with the pastry crust making the flavor a bit less sweet than the pink color of the filling would have you believe. The lighting in my pictures doesn’t do it any justice so I have to show the official ones because it was a lot more vibrant.
The Crunchy Dino Egg Cream Puff had almost the same taste and texture as the Godzilla Cream Puff‘s dough in my opinion but of course lacked the striking color visuals and might have been just a smidge less crunchy too. After eating the custard filling I have a feeling that the crust was less crunchy because the custard was so rich but also a lot more untamed and overflowing compared to the strawberry pulp and cream mixture in the Godzilla Cream Puff.
Finally, the Basic Cream Puff lived up to its name and while it was still very delicious the experience was a lot more muted in comparison to the other two cream puffs.
My preference ended up being the order we tried them. The Godzilla Cream Puff was my favorite, followed by the Crunchy Dino Egg Cream Puff as runner up, and the Basic Cream Puff was good but not the best of the three by a long shot. I’ll be sad to see it go since it’s only a limited flavor until the end of the month but at least we have its predecessor on their permanent menu. They were a perfect chilled snack on a hot summer’s day and we 10/10 recommend to everyone to try out if you like cream puffs or Godzilla and especially if you like both!
Have you tried the Godzilla Cream Puffs from Beard Papa? How did you like them and how did they compare to their other menu items? Share your thoughts and experiences in the the comments!
Useful Links
Beard Papa Official Website: https://www.beardpapa.jp/
PR Times Article: https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000426.000007024.html
