Nakamura Tokichi Hong Kong - 中村藤吉香港店

Nakamura Tokichi, originally from Kyoto, Japan, is one of those new spots in town Hong Kongers are crazy about. The queue can be of one hour if you're lucky. We were extremely lucky (as I think we always are, thank God!) because we run into one of J's friend who had taken 45 minutes ago 2 tickets: numbers 92 & 99, in case her wife didn't make it for the first one, since he arrived early. The wife made it for the 92 and he gave us the 99, instead of the 122 we had taken ourselves! Awesome!!!

I was surprised by the beautiful Japanese decor and the amazing views of the harbour and Hong Kong's skyline.

Nakamura Tokichi is famous for its Matcha Zaru Soba (cold noodles), and for its green tea desserts. Since we went there for tea, we had two desserts. One (Kyo no Fukiyose) had cakes and matcha ice cream (best matcha ice cream ever!), and the other was a hot matcha sweet soup with rice balls and azuki (red bean). They were really yummy and I was glad we went, although I won't be going again if the queue continues to be as crazy as now.  

 

During our visit, a tea ceremony expert from Japan dressed in a kimono was there to teach a tea ceremony class in the tatami. From what I saw from Nakamura Tokichi's instagram, she flew in from Japan for three days exclusively to teach this class (three times each day I think). It looked really interesting, and was priced at $HK150 per person.

Visited on: December 24th, 2015

Overall Quality: 4,5* (venue is great; food really yummy; long queue is horrible (not their fault, though!)) I particularly didn't like the fact that one of their most coveted desserts, a matcha mochi kind of slices, was sold out when we went, and apparently is sold out early everyday. Why not simply make more?!
Price: pricey at around HK$65 for a matcha latte and between $HK80-100 for a dessert.
Value for Money: 4*
Would I recommend it? I do and I don't at the same time. I think the craze needs to ease down a bit, otherwise queuing for an hour and a half is simply nuts. There's other places in town with yummy matcha desserts like this one!

Nakamura Tokichi - 中村藤吉香港店

18/F, The One, Nathan Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui

Nana's Green Tea - Osaka, Japan

If you follow my blog closely, today you might have a feeling of déja-vu, as if I already blogged about this. You'd be almost right! I discovered this matcha desserts chain in Osaka, Nana's Green Tea, which looks EXACTLY like Hong Kong's Maccha House I previously blogged about. Now, as I mentioned in Maccha House's post, the chef and owner is a Japanese, and I now unveiled his secret! He copied the whole thing from Japan's Nana's Green Tea!!! The store looks the same, the menu is almost identical, the food they serve is one and the same... This time I got you "Mr. Maccha House"!

We ordered an Iced Green Tea Latte with Red Bean, and a summer special consisting of cookie, green tea ice-cream, glutinous rice balls and red bean. It was delicious, BUT, you can really get exactly the same in Hong Kong!!! Living in Hong Kong has this, though, it's such a cosmopolite city with so many great international cuisines available, sometimes you feel you don't really need to go traveling to try new stuff!

Let me know what you think about the resemblance of these two chains by checking out my post on Maccha House.... 

Maccha House - A Green Tea Feast Made in Heaven!

This time we nailed it. We found the green tea paradise on earth {in Hong Kong, precisely}. Anything "Green Tea" you can imagine, it's available at Maccha House, and it's to die for. If heaven does exist, I hope it comes with a Maccha House :D

Maccha House is a Japanese restaurant specializing in Matcha products {green tea}, and using premium ingredients flown in from Japan, and a Japanese chef from Japan too, who you get to see thanks to the open kitchen!

We arrived to Maccha House at lunch time, so we had some regular lunch first, which is also available at the restaurant. I had Teriyaki Chicken & Soft-boiled Egg Rice Bowl (HK$59), and J had the Spicy Tomato Ramen (HK$69). My dish was delicious, and apparently so was J's, but he warned me against trying it, because it was way too spicy!

For drinks we had a Matcha Latte (Hot) and a Maccha Latte with Azuki Beans & Rice-flour Dumplings (Iced). They were the best matcha drinks I've ever had. Since I particularly enjoy sweet drinks, for my taste the Matcha Latte could have been sweeter, which is why I'd recommend getting the Matcha Latte with Cream instead. The Maccha Latte with Azuki Beans & Rice-flour Dumplings was delicious, both J and I agreed it was the best green tea drink ever ever ever!

After lunch we ordered the dessert... We were a bit indecisive on what to order with so many choices and those tempting parfaits, but we finally went for the Maccha Azuki Bean Dorayaki (HK$44), and boy did I enjoy it! The Dorayaki was soft and warm, and it was a beautiful contrast to the cold Matcha paste. For it to be perfect, I'd rather have the whipped cream removed and have a bit more Matcha instead {who? me? addicted to Matcha?!}

One curiosity to note is I learned something interesting from visiting Maccha House. I was very surprised to see Matcha spelled as Maccha, so I did some research of my own... It turns out Japanese people spell it as Maccha, and may not even be aware of the English world using the Matcha spelling for this Japanese treat...

Visited on: January 13, 2012

Overall Quality: 5*

Price: HK$264 for two main dishes, two drinks and a dessert

Value for Money: 5*

Would I recommend it? Most certainly! I can't wait to go back!:

There's currently two branches of Maccha House in Hong Kong:

*Tuen Mun Branch: Shop 21, UG/F, Phase 2, Tuen Mun Town Plaza, 3 Tuen Lung Street, Tuen Mun
*Diamond Hill Branch: Shop 325, 3/F, Plaza Hollywood, 3 Lung Poon Street, Diamond Hill

 

A matcha party at Sinmei Tea

Sinmei Tea is a small tea shop located on the fifth floor of a commercial building in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Island. J and I visited Sinmei Tea on New Year's Eve, before taking the boat where we rang 2013 in. I'm a big fan of anything green tea, and since this cafe specializes exactly on that, I was thrilled to try it out! 

We ordered a Chai Chai {matcha powder, spices and milk}, and a Matcha Loaf Cake. To tell you the truth, I was disappointed by both. Both the drink and the cake tasted a bit too artificial, I guess due to too much matcha powder. The texture of the loaf bread was great but then it didn't taste as good. 

Besides, quality wise everything was overpriced, specially the drinks, which come in a small glass and cost HK$32. Certainly not a place I would recommend.

Visited on: December 31, 2012

Overall Quality: 2*

Price: HK$32 for a drink and HK$25 for a piece of cake = HK$57

Value for Money: 2*

Would I recommend it? Unfortunately not.