Tokyo/Kyoto - Tsujiri 茶寮 都路里 - Green Tea Desserts

*Note: This post on Tsujiri will be split up into the Desserts, Savoury food and tea cos there's so many photos blogging it will be very difficult for me...Tsujiri is a well known restaurant specializing in green tea desserts. Their menu is pretty extensive, even including savoury foods such as cha soba (green tea soba) and cha udon (green tea udon). The green tea used here comes from Uji, which is quite little town south of Kyoto (see my later post for my visit to Uji) which is the oldest tea producing area in Japan.

In their cafe (both in Tokyo as well as in Gion, Kyoto [original outlet]) they serve their lovely green tea partaits - which have combinations of ice cream (green tea ice cream, green tea gelato, green tea yogurt ice cream), mochi balls (in red [limited to spring?], white and green, with or without a skewer), kaiten jelly, pound cake, red beans etc. The common thing is the generous swirl of green tea whipped cream right at the top. This is their signature Tsujiri Parfait (it's the biggest one in the menu) which I had to try. It's a whopping 1250 yen (about SGD$20) but it's really a monster of a parfait. Towering over all the other parfaits, it has green tea ice cream, green tea gelato, lots of thier famous green tea pound cake (which is really yummy so I bought some to bring home), azuki beans (red beans), mochi balls, green tea kaiten jelly (the glossy green cubes seen right on top), more ice cream, chestnuts and mandarin segments (which I don't eat).

The swirl of green tea whipped cream is really wicked - even though I don't usually like whipped cream, this one has such a strong taste of green tea in it that it's really palatable.The parfait with lots of green tea pound cakeThe variation of the pound cake with kaiten jelly (gelatinous green tea) Green tea yogurt parfait - it has green tea yogurt ice cream! The green tea leaf butter cookie is really yummy btw! It can be bought from the Tsujiri store (but it's sold in a packet with other kinds of green tea cookies)My limited edition Spring Parfait (I think it's some flower viewing parfait according to the menu?) which has sakura (cherry blossom) ice cream as well as hoji-cha (roasted green tea) ice cream. Both the ice cream flavours were very unique. They also have 3 different flavours of that bean thing (the flower shaped ones). (Btw, Toramon at Tokyo Midtown has much nicer tasting jelly, but it comes at an even higher price).

The sakura ice cream is very light tasting, and has a pale pink colour with little specks in it. Hoji-cha has a smokiness, very aromatic and has a nice complex taste. I'm such a sucker for limited edition stuff, especially if it's food-realated!

A slightly more traditional dessert - not too sure what this is called but you can have these jelly like noodles plain with a slice of lemon (that's the more traditional one), or with mochi balls and green tea ice cream (the modernized version to appeal to the younger, ice cream loving generation). I ordered this cos it comes with a choice of either brown sugar syrup or green tea syrup. I got the green tea syrup cos it's more unique. Taste wise, it's just like normal sugar syrup with green tea.The chilled noodle-like jelly thing was delicious nonetheless, and tasted pleasant when paired with the green tea syrup. The mochi balls are all so smooth and chewy.

This is the green tea kaiten jelly covered with kinako (roasted soybean flour). Actually, I'm not too sure if it's warabimochi (bracken rice cakes) or kaiten jelly but I think it's pretty similar to the kaiten jelly on top of the parfaits, just that it's covered with kinako.

The Shiodome branch of Tsujiri in Tokyo (nearest station is Shimbashi) can be found in the Carretta building (entrance near this weird turtle shell looking fountain)

The original Tsujiri in Gion is located at Shijo-dori, which is pretty near Kiomizudera (one bus stop away) and

And yes, I did go to both outlets - the Kyoto branch is slightly more charming feel than the newer branch at Shiodome Caratta, Tokyo but if you don't have time in Kyoto, the Tokyo branch is good enough. (But kyoto has more stuff on the menu for savoury food such as Cha soba with soy milk).

Tsujiri (Tokyo)

1-8-2 Higashi-Shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Tel: 03-5537-2217

Opening Hours: 11.00am-11.00pm

Website: http://www.giontsujiri.co.jp (In Japanese)

The nearest station is Shimbashi, or Shiodome.

Tsujiri (Gion, Kyoto)

573-3 Gion-machi Minami-gawa, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto
Kyoto, Japan
京都市東山区祇園町南側573-3

Tel : 075-561-2257

Hours: 10:00～22:00

It's quite well hidden on the second storey of Shijo dori in Gion, and it's on the opposite side of the street to Starbucks (but not that near Starbucks).

Ahhh I really hope someone brings Tsujiri to Singapore!!! So yummmmmmy! Missing it lots. Azabu sabo will never taste the same again now that my tastebuds have been spoilt by Tsujiri and Tsuen.

Took a monorail from Shiodome to Odaiba, to see the ferris wheel at Venus fort, as well as to see the Odaiba bridge at night.