Taiwan, Part VII - Tsujiri

Another dessert place I tried was Tsujiri (Traditional Chinese only website). Yet another non-Western dessert place you'd say. Of course, would you be looking for the normal run of cakes and tarts in TAIPEI if you were me? ;)

Taiwanese love Japanese merchandise and food. Tsujiri is located on the B2 level in the brand new Uni Hankyu mall (Traditional Chinese only website) where the entire floor are restaurants, and dessert shops. This is by far the most popular dessert shop.

Normally, I'm not a huge fan of matcha. I like it as a flavor, but not as tea. However, since Tsujiri is known for everything matcha, I ordered Kinako Shiratama Set (NT$175) which included matcha tea and a plate of Shiratama (Japanese style sticky rice flour balls).

The tea comes in hot or cold. I went with a classic hot bowl of tea. It was really cool to watch the girl brushing the matcha powder to make the tea. The portion was small, especially compared to my  shaved adventure! There couldn't have been much more than 2 oz of tea, and 8 small rice balls. Oh well, I suppose one cannot compare the price of a "designer import" to a "food stand regular". =)

The Shiratama was perfectly soft and chewy. Touched by the matcha powder and soy bean flour, they were slightly sweet, a very comforting dessert for Asian taste buds. It would have been nice if I only had the Shiratama. The tea, on the other hand, was not my favorite. It seemed kind of thin, yet the bitterness of the matcha is almost intense. When I was little, I got sick often, so I drank countless bowls of bitter Chinese medicine - the ones you can SMELL the bitterness. Yet, I have very low tolerance for bitter food. (I do NOT eat bitter melon. No!) Maybe, subconsciously I associate bitterness to medicine. Who knows! Regardless, you can imagine I really did not enjoy the tea. I also found it puzzling how that little bowl of tea could cost NT$135 all by itself, even if it's flown from Japan.

However, there seem to be many matcha fans in Taipei. So don't let my opinion discourage you. If I ever go to Tsujiri again, Taipei or Japan, I'd order a sundae or shaved ice instead.

TSUJIRI 辻利茶屋
Address: 8 Chung Hsiao East Road Section 5, Taipei
地址：台北市忠孝東路五段8號B2（統一阪急百貨B2）
Hours: 11am - 10pm
營業時間：早上11:00~晚上22:00