I used to lament at the shortage of authentic and quality Japanese dessert
places in Singapore. Hoshino? Maccha House? Nana? Well, even though they
originate from Japan, the standards belonged to the average cafe quality and
nothing much outstanding.
But now, I can finally rest my worries as I have found the One and only--Matchaya,
a humble tea house that specializes in desserts and beverages of various flavors
besides matcha. It plays around with houjicha
(roasted green tea), goma (black sesame) and even Hokkaido milk. After the successful opening of its first
outlet in Tanjong Pagar, it has recently opened its second outlet (a sit-in
cafe) at The Cathay, with an expanded dessert menu that include kakigoris,
fondues and Warabi mochis. The concept is almost close to those established tea
brands in Japan such as Fukujuen, Nakamura Toikichi, Gion Tsujiri, Morihan,
etc.
These big boys use the tea from their tea farms to produce desserts of
standards that sit above national average. Land-scarce Singapore doesn't
quite allow that to happen but the team at Matchaya works directly with tea
farmers and sources the best ingredients from prefectures all over Japan to
present the uniquely "Matchaya" tea dessert experience
It might sound like a whole truck of big words but I
was instantly convinced after trying the desserts. Their signature soft serves
were smooth yet refined, creamy but not buttery. I'm not sure if our local
weather helps but I couldn't recall any soft serve in Japan which can match
Matchaya's excellent texture. The Matcha soft serve struck a beautiful balance
between sweet and bitter. This is actually highly tricky because being too
bitter-rich can be dull and disconcerting but try toning it down could make it taste
like white chocolate easily. Don’t get me wrong. I love those intense rich ones
like Far East Bazaar but I don’t want every single matcha soft serve to taste
like that. The black sesame was gratifyingly intense but could be better if it
was less sweet.
While much has been raved about the matcha and black
sesame, our unanimous favourite was the Houjicha which we had as a parfait from
the Matchaya specialties ($10.90) exclusive to The Cathay outlet. The taste was
exceptional. For those new to houjicha, it is virtually bitterless with a
pleasant roasty, caramel-like flavor. Somehow,
there is an inexplicable depth to houjicha desserts just like kuromitsu and
kinako that appeals to me strongly. The flavor in the parfait was enhanced with
red bean, brownies, rice puffs and even some chewy tea jelly at the base. If
you haven’t try one before, Matchaya is a good place to start with.
It was a delight to find Kakigori on the menu but there’s
still some issues to be tweaked. The Hokkaido cream espuma was airy but the
shaved ice was coarse and too icy. The
respective sauces (matcha, houjicha, black sesame) could perhaps be weaved into
the espuma to fortify the profile of each kakigori. The price is considerably
steep at $18.90 and thus the soft serves ($5.90 each/+$1 for mixed flavour) would be a more rational re-investment.
I heard that they are going to introduce other
flavors such as genmaicha. But before that, I need to return to try their
Kinako-Kuromitsu and Hokkaido Milk.
Best Japanese soft serve in Singapore? I
can’t think of a better place than Matchaya.
Matchaya
The Cathay
Level 1 1pm-10pm daily
Tanjong Pagar
#01-72 Icon Village, 12 Gopeng Street
Singapore 078877
Singapore 078877
Daily 12pm-8pm
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