Japan is known for its green tea, especially matcha, the processed green tea leaves ground into a fine powder. Moreless in every part of Japan, delicious sweets made with matcha are being served, but above all, mainly in Kyoto. However, there must be some who are looking for a new kind of matcha gourmet instead of typical sweets. Even if traveling to Kyoto is too much of a hustle and bustle, there are restaurants and cafes offering gourmets using matcha which is quite a novelty here in Tokyo too.
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01
From San Francisco to Japan
Mensho San Francisco in Shinjuku Mylord shopping center offers a rather bizarre bowl of noodles. Originally from the Bay Area and selected by Michelin for two consecutive years in 2017 and 2018, this award-winning noodle shop has boosted its popularity ever since it arrived in Japan in 2018.
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From seasonal to the regular menu, Mensho San Francisco offers different flavors of ramen including a Wagyu Shoyu Ramen that has one large slice of top-graded A5 wagyu beef. However, the creamy green-colored Matcha Ramen draws the most interest as its flavor is hard to imagine. This bowl of ramen is a white-chicken-based soup called Tori Paitan with matcha added to make the color green. The soup has a deep chicken flavor and is slightly dense with a hint of the bitterness of the matcha. It's rather chewy and thick noodles go well with the soup, but just like the menu recommended, adding a bowl of rice to make a risotto might be the best option.
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- MENSHOSANFRANCISCO
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- Tokyo Shinjuku-ku Nishi-shinjuku 1-1-3 Shinjuku Myload 7F
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- 0333495874
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02
Green Tea Curry, Not Green Curry
It may look nothing like the Thai green curry but it's actually a green tea (matcha) curry. The long established tea store, Itoh Kyuemon in Kyoto has made a rather unique gourmet that visitors can take back home. This prepared curry packed in a silver pouch is topped with small chunks of beef, carrots and potatoes, tastes more “matcha” than a curry than you imagine.
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This green tea curry is made with multiple spices such as fenugreek, coriander, and cinnamon. When you take a bite, the astringent taste of Uji green tea that comes after the spices in your mouth creates a taste like no other. Blocks of meat and vegetables go well with this bitter yet spicy curry and stimulate the appetite. While this product is only available at Itoh Kyuemon’s shop in Kyoto, it can be purchased online here too.
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Traditional Style Matcha Gourmet
Made by pouring hot green tea over rice with savory toppings, Ochazuke is a popular traditional Japanese dish. While in many cases, dashi broth is being used instead of green tea, this dish is nothing unique in Japanese culture. However, using Uji Matcha is quite a novelty. At Fujii Meien in Tokyu Plaza shopping mall, a unique ochazuke can be eaten. Unlike the traditional style of ochazuke using either green tea or hojicha tea that doesn’t collide with the taste of the savory toppings, Uji Matcha Ochazuke offered at the restaurant is completely different. By adding the dashi broth with the green tea, the strong bitterness of Uji Matcha becomes milder. The saltiness of the salmon adds extra salt in the well blended dashi broth with green tea and the cod roe popping in the mouth adds excitement in the mouth.
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