FamilyMart is a Japanese convenience store chain. Running behind 7-Eleven as the largest chain, it has been expanding in East and Southeast Asia, and even in the United States.

To be honest, I’m unimpressed with the FamilyMart here in the Philippines and even in Taiwan. I have yet to visit Japan and try it there before I make a conclusion (doing a Japanese convenience store crawl is in my travel goals!). But I think I had a glimpse of it because of FamilyMart Malaysia, which has items similar in Japan.

I first noticed it when I dropped by the FamilyMart in Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). When I saw the sando (sandwich), which is a famous product in Japanese convenience stores, I instantly decided to visit FamilyMart again. I was fortunate that a branch is just a few minutes away from my Airbnb in Malacca (see my Malacca food trip here). So before I left for Singapore, I used all my remaining ringgit and did a FamilyMart splurge.

I tried items that are also found in Japan, as well as items that are exclusive to Malaysia:

Black Forest Sando

Desserts sandos or sandwiches are common in Japanese convenience stores. They normally have real fruits and whipped cream as filling. The Black Forest Sando is filled with cherries, sandwiched in 2 chocolate “bread” slices (but I think it’s more of a denser-than-usual cake shaped like a triangular sandwich bread).

GLICO’s Cendol Pocky and Cendol Pudding

Cendol (also spelled Chendol) is my favorite dessert in the Malay Peninsula. It’s a shaved ice dessert topped with pandan-flavored, worm-shaped noodles/jellies and sweet red beans. Then santan (coconut milk) and gula melaka (palm sugar) syrup is poured into it.

When I saw some cendol-inspired items in FamilyMart, I knew I had to get them right away. I got Glico’s Cendol Pocky, which is a biscuit stick covered with cendol-flavored coating. I can’t quite explain the taste of the coating. I guess it’s already a mix of coconut, palm sugar, and pandan.

Glico’s Cendol Pocky and FamilyMart’s Cendol Pudding (MYR4.90) — Glico’s *Cendol* Pocky and FamilyMart’s *Cendol* Pudding (MYR4.90)

The other item is Cendol Pudding. It’s just a “jellified” version of the dessert.

Hawaiian Cheese Turkey Sandwich

Here’s a personal rule: If there's pineapple in it, I get it! LOL. This is a typical (turkey) ham and cheese sandwich, added with pineapple slices. Nothing special.

Nescafé Ipoh White Coffee

Ipoh White Coffee is a popular drink that originated in Ipoh, a city in the northwestern part of peninsular Malaysia. in the Ipoh-style, the coffee beans are roasted with palm oil and margarine. Then is ground, brewed, and served with condensed milk, making the drink white. While the drink originated in Ipoh, it’s consumed throughout the country. Even the instant coffee giant Nescafe made their own canned version. The Nescafe version is nicely strong and sweet.

Melon Pan

Literally “melon bread”, Melon Pan is a famous bread in Japan. In spite of its name, there no melon filling or even flavor in the bread. Rather, it’s shaped like a melon.

The bread is soft and has a crumbly exterior. It also has a filling, which I believe is made of custard.

Spaghetti Napolitan

This is an interesting spaghetti. It has huge slices of sausage and…drumroll…topped with slices of boiled egg! I thought it would be weird. But interestingly, the egg complimented well. This pasta reminds me of Pancit Malabon (a variant of pancit, a Filipino noodle dish) because of the egg.

The sauce is nicely sweet but it’s unlike Filipino-style spaghetti sauce. The sausage tastes good.

Strawberry Sando

Of course, I can’t miss out on the Strawberry Sando. I watched Strictly Dumpling’s Mike Chen eat this in his Japanese convenience store mukbang. Since then, I’ve been wanting to try it. I never thought I would do so in Malaysia.

The “bread” is nice and fluffy (like the Black Forest Sando, it’s “cakey”). The filling is made of strawberry slices, which is tart and unsweetened, covered in whipped cream. I can’t remember if there’s custard as well.

I still would want to try the strawberry (or any other fruit) sando in Japan. Unlike the one in Malaysia, it has bigger strawberries (they’re halves, not slices) and the whipped cream is more generous.

I enjoyed this “glimpse” of Japanese convenience stores. If the items were this good in Malaysia, how much more from where it originated? I have to fast track my visit to Japan!

Which FamilyMart Malaysia item have you tried or would want to try? Comment them below!

PS I did a series on my Kuala Lumpur (KL) Food Trip. Feel free to check them out: The Amazing Local Food of Kuala Lumpur | The Search for the Best Nasi Lemak | The Street Food of Jalan Alor Night Market | Starting the Day Right with Breakfast

PPS And I wrote about my Malacca Food Trip as well. Check it here.

FamilyMart Malaysia: With Items Like Japan's