Shimbashi Soba - Teatime desserts to S t r e t c h your $

I really love eating desserts, and the best things about Shimbashi Soba is that they have a great tea time dessert offer, which is perfect since it's on even on weekends. With the exorbitant rental prices in town, this little restaurant is making every minute of their rental count.

Oh I just realized that I've never blogged about shimbashi soba desserts properly!! It's my fave Jap dessert place (during teatime).

I've been patronizing this place ever since it opened, and I was extremely happy when they had their tea time offer. $6++ will get you any dessert (except the Shimbashi Special Dessert Set) and a drink (green tea hot/cold, coffee, english tea). Best of all, the desesrts are super duper delicious! I'm feeling very greedy now, looking at my dessert pictures :(My most favourite dessert (as recommended by Jane's mother who always eats this) is the Matcha Tofu Jelly, which usually will set you back by $9.30++ at a normal dining time. My motto in life (and for food) is why pay more :D This costs a mere $6++ (it used to be $5++ before all the inflation) during teatime.

The Tofu Jelly is extremely soft, though it isn't soggy like pudding. The blocks of tofu jelly have a great green tea taste, and they're very silky. Best of all, it comes with a blob of vanilla ice cream, and when the ice cream melts, it coats each piece of jelly, making the combination of slightly bitter green tea and sweet ice cream incredibly delicious.


The little chips on the side are made from buckwheat, and are supposed to be very healthy. I think they're deep fried though. They are slightly sweetened and toasted sesame seeds are added for taste.

One of their newer desserts is the Soba Cha Pudding (usual $7.80++). I just ate this over the weekend and it's like a healthy version of caramel custard. This is pudding made from soba tea, served with brown sugar syrup. It comes with two chewy soba balls (which tastes like tang yuan skin).


Of course, being Singaporean, this is not really worth it economically, since you should get the most expensive dessert for the best discount. But for those people who like caramel custard, this is a less creamy version.

This is the Matcha Tiramisu (usual $8.20++). It's green tea tiramisu with vanilla ice cream. I don't quite like this because nothing really beat my Matcha Tofu Jelly. If you're a die hard tiramisu fan, this doesn't have coffee (or doesn't have as much coffee - I can't remember) and doesn't taste like normal tiramisu.
The Shimbashi Special Dessert Set (which can serve 2 people) is $10 during teatime (and comes with a drink). It usually costs $13++.

It comes with a soba crepe, which is filled with custard and drizzled with mango sauce, home made gelatinous cakes (the green stuff), soba balls (the tang yuan like balls, their biconcaved shape reminds me of RBCs, Red Bean Paste, Vanilla (or green tea, depending on the day) ice cream and sweetened fried soba.

I eat this when I'm feeling greedy (shared of course!!! >:O)English tea - I usually get the Iced Green tea though.

I've written about Shimbashi Soba in one of my first few posts, and there's a picture of the Cream Amitsu, which is pretty worth it since it costs around $8++ :D

For $6++, and a great place to rest your legs, the teatime desserts are definitely worth a try. Best of all, the serving sizes are same as the full price desserts, and the service is quick and efficient (all the time - I come here very often for desserts).

Teatime at Shimbashi Soba is from 2.30 to 5.30pm

Shimbashi Soba
290 Orchard Road

#B1-41 The Paragon

Tel: 6735 9882

Shimbashi Soba - Salmon Soba

I went to Shimbashi Soba last Sunday, at around 1.30pm and it was so crowded that I had to que for about 10 mins before I managed to get a seat. They're really doing a roaring business. Looks like Singaporeans are still spending on food despite the recession. Salmon Yukke ($9.90++)
I don't know why the salmon sashimi here is so ex, but it sure tastes really nice! For this little mound of tiny salmon pieces (not even proper sashimi cuts) it's already $9.90++. It comes with a slightly spicy (not so spicy till I can't eat) sauce, spring onions and a quail egg (which is already cracked, unlike Akashi's Cha Soba set, where I have to get my fingers dirty when I crack the egg).

I can't remember what this is but there's salmon sashimi, tofu, mushrooms and cold soba. It's $17.90++, pretty pricey, but then I was quite hungry that day and I was craving for some cold soba. There's also a half boiled egg under the seaweed. Soba is supposed to be very healthy, lowers choleaterol blablabla but I'm eating it cos it tastes good :) I personally think the cold soba tastes better than the hot one, but the hot one comes with those crispy tempura batter (the batter which drops off when they cook the tempura, then they scoop it up and put into your noodles) so it's good if you like crunchy stuff.

As you can tell, I come here very often, especially for the $6 teatime desserts, but I try to avoid the place if it's right in the middle of dinner time cos I hate queueing more than I like soba. I think it's best to come here at odd hours, since they are open through the afternoon (dunno about morning tho, I don't wake up so early) and I usually come here for late dinner (after 8pm). The place is so small and you'll have a whole row of hungry people glaring at you from the que right outside, especially if you're unlucky and they put you at the 'outside' table.

Shimbashi Soba

290 Orchard Road

#B1-41 The Paragon

Tel: 6735 9882
(I didn't know that Paragon was called The Paragon - I got the address from hungrygowhere!)

Ah I have to slp early but my sleep cycle is screwed! I was just entertaining myself and watching xiaxue's guide to life omg you know chewing gum and eating lots of peanuts will make ur face look big! So funny right! you'll get big masseters! Like crocodiles. Last time I was watching this show on Animal Planet, called Under the Crocodile Skin (or something like tt) and they deskinned the crocodile, and they have humongous masseters! I suppose if you want a small face you should just eat porridge beancurd and pureed stuff all day so you'll get muscular atrophy.

Shimbashi Soba - Paragon

Shimbashi Soba is a tiny restaurant in Paragon. Its speciality is none other than soba - if you go past you will sometimes see the soba chef making none other than soba in the little glass container (it must be very hard cos everyone keeps peering in and taking photos of him, a bit like an animal display). But this shows that the soba here is really freshly made and hand made.

I usually eat here when I am too lazy, tired or hungry to think of where to go since it's
not so heavy or pricey.

The lunch menu is much cheaper and has quite a few sets to choose from. For dinner, it's about $23++ for the Set C, which you see below.

You can either have the soba warm or cold, and i think you have the option to change it to udon too. I like the soba (especially the idea that it's fresh and hand made, without all the preservatives).

Set C consists of soba served with sashimi, tempura and grilled fish and sweet egg.
Nice, light and un-oily noodles. I don't usually drink the soup cos I find it quite salty. Most authentic japanese soups are anyway. I guess it's a different taste from ours.
Grilled fish and egg.
Salmon sashimi. Yum :D
Tempura

This place gets pretty crowded during weekends dinnertime, and sometimes you may be seated on a table facing outside with very little privacy. Other than that, the food is refreshing and I usually come here if i can't think of anywhere to go.

Desserts 1

Desserts that i like - in no particular order. They're the highlights of a meal and there's always space - compartmentalise the stomach and always reserve space for desset.


Au Petit Salut

This used to be one of my favourite lunch places - though pricey (it's about $35 including taxes - more than what i would like to spend on the average lunch) the lunch sets have good food and great variety. About 5 different starters, entrees and lots of desserts. The desserts have yet to fail me even though i've been there quite a few times.

The speciality is the Souffles. The flavours change quite often, i've seen coffee, chocolate, mango, lemon etc. The picture is of a passionfruit souffle. You'll have to order it 20 mins in advance so it can be freshly baked and be sent wobbling to your table.

Brandied Cherry Tart
Actually i think its a brandied cherry tart i can't remember anymore! I ate it so long ago.


The Creme Brulee is fantastic i usally order that but i haven't got a picture. The Choux Pastry is good too and there are other desserts such as sorbet etc

Blk 44 Jalan Merah Saga #01-54
Tel 64751976

Azabu Sabo - Marin Square, Near Billy Bombers

This place has ice cream specially imported from Hokkaido - the green tea icecream is fantastic! my favourite green tea icecream comes from here. In fact, it was only after i tasted green tea ice cream from here that i started to like green tea ice cream. Prior to that, i believed that green tea only tasted good in tea form - and hot tea only.

I don't know the name of the dessert - but i have it nearly 90% of the time when i go to Marina Square. It comes with a scoop of green tea icecream, a vanilla soft serve icecream, and two mochi things, fruits and jelly. There's also red bean and green tea inside. The soft serve icecream will melt slowly and then form a nice green tea milkshake.

Kuriya - Raffles City

Tea time (2.30-5.30pm) special with desserts going for just $5 and comes with a drink (different japanese teas, orange juice etc). I tried the grilled icecream and it was stunningly presented skewered over a bamboo with a bed of ice.

Shimbashi Soba - Paragon

This is affiliated to Kuriya and there is also a tea time dessert special. My favourite is the Matcha Tofu. It comes with a dollop of red beans and vanilla icecream. The brown stuff on the plate is fried buckwheat flour. Shimbashi Soba specialises in none other than Soba. The fried soba is slightly sweet, and has seaseme seeds. The cream Amitsu is my next favourite dessert - there are dumplings (mochi?) and it comes with a jelly and brown sugar.
The dessert tea time sets comes with either english tea or coffee, mugen cha (barley tea) or green tea. And it's only $5.

These desserts are avaliable during lunch and dinner but will cost you about $8 and do not come with drinks.

Marmalade Pantry

Sticky Date Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream and Caramel
Apple and Rhubarb Crumble with Vanilla Icecream

It's obvious which dessert's mine. The ice cream's really delicious and its a nice generous scoop too! My first time eating sticky date pudding. It's full of dates and a bit sweet for my liking but then it went well with the icecream.

The apple rhubarb crumble was really good - big chunks of rhubarb, slightly tart, and lots and lots and lots of crumble. In fact, the crumble kept spilling over the dish =/


Menotti - Raffles City

This was the 50% off the price cos i got it after 10pm. I didn't like the dome shaped one cos it had orange - the one thing i absolutely do not eat. The one with the fanciful design and cornflakes was some hazelnut thing. It reminds me of a nicer tasting kinder bueno with crunchy corn flakes and hazelnut cream. The one with the strawberry is some cheesecake thing? and i can't remember what the greenbrown one is :(

I've been back twice since then - the Cannoli is really good - but you can't take that away cos the ricotta cheese will melt and flow out and the Cannoli won't be crunchy anymore.

The Warm Chocolate cake isn't really to my liking - too sweet.

There's this one which is called Catalana or something like that - i can't remember the spelling but it's creme brulee with brandied cherries. But i didn't get a picture cos it was too dark and i was rushing.
The desserts cost about $5-$6 and are half price abter 10pm.

La Strada - Shaw Centre (Lido Cinema)

This is on the other side of Shaw, near the entrance of the carpark, facing Pacific Plaza. Its italian and i went there for lunch. The tiramisu is very good - a generous portion for about $8 and it comes in these cup/bowls which is really big - much bigger than those tiny tiramisu that some restaurants give you and charge like $6. Its a bit watery at the bottom other than that, i think it's one of the bigger cheaper better tiramisus that i've eaten

Indulgz - Tan Quee Lan Street, Opposite Bugis Junction.

Chocolate mousse and Panna Cotta

OrganiCafe - Novena Square (Velocity, facing Harry's Bar and next to Pepper Lunch)

Other than the fact that the whole place reeks of Pepper Lunch, the food is good. I've been there twice and the food hasn't dissappointed.
The organic youghurt costs $2.50 and comes in 4 flavours. From Right to left - Mango and Lemon, Raspberry and Nuts, Konyaku Jelly and Mixed Fruits. The last flavour is the Blueberries and something i can't remember what but it was good. All four types come with organic honey.

Vis-a-Vis (Opposite Beauty World)

Chocolate souffle. I can't remember how much this was but it was very good too, Comes with brandied cherries and burnt caramel ice cream.



Corduroy Cafe in Vivocity

Granny Smith Apple and Almond tart - my fave i think i've more than 10 of these so far. But it tastes much better when eaten in the afternoon than late at night cos the pastry will go soggy - especially if you take away. The almond part (the pinkish layer) is really good. It tastes a bit like cheesecake, which i like! but the apples are a bit sourish and balances the richness of the almond layer. Its about $6.80 if i'm not wrong, pretty ex, and thats without taxes and service charge.





Apple and Rhubarb crumble in the back. It's not bad - lots of vanilla custard but i still like the apple almond tart better.



As you can see the 2 pictures are different - no prizes for guessing which one i ate :P

Smart Strawberries - costs about $1.90 each. Didn't eat it but then since they're unique i took a picture :D

Corduroy & Finch, Bukit Timah Branch

I nearly missed a really good place to have dessert cos of the bad reviews i heard from most people who tried this restaurant. Though i have nothing to rave about the main courses (which i personally think are rather weak), the desserts are really impressive.

The dessert platter costs about $15 (somewhere there, but not exactly $15) and comes with 5 to 7 desserts. But it was really impressive. My favourite one has the vanilla icecream (comes with real vanilla beans too!) and some almond-ish thing inside. It reminds me of an un-cheesecake like version of the grannysmith apple and almond tart. It was a mad rush to eat the vanilla ice cream - it was melting over the sides of the narrow glass. And i don't eat melted ice cream.

There is a brandied cherry and whipped cream, a light mousse cheesecake (i think? with a mango sauce layer), chocolate mousse cake (reminds me of the nice sweet secret cake), and a marzipan cake. It also comes in portions for 2 people which will cost $26 and three people.

The chocolate platter costs $15 and comes with a chocolate mousse cake, chocolate pudding, another chocolate cake with crunchy corn flakes inside, a cookie topped with a chocolate chip chocolate ice cream, and yet another type of chocolate cake.

It is rather unwise to attempt to eat BOTH the chocolate and dessert platters between two people even though they're for one person each. 1+1 dessert portions do not = to 2 people can share.

Corduroy & Finch Pte Ltd

779 Bukit Timah Road 5 3/4 m.s.

Tel 67620131

Tokyo/Kyoto - Tsujiri 茶寮 都路里 - Cha Udon and Cha Soba

I've eaten lots of cha soba (green tea buckwheat noodles), but never tried cha udon. I was pretty sad that we didn't manage to try cha udon at Uji cos it's one of their more famous foods, cos we were all so stuffed from eating at Tsuen (tea house with 850 year history in Uji, which I will blog about later when hopefully, but unlikely, I am free-er).

I had the cha udon (980yen, about SGD$15.50) from Tsujiri, which comes with leek, spring onions, thinly sliced carrots and a pork broth. I didn't like how the porky taste in the broth masked most of the green tea taste from the cha udon. I'd probably would have ordered the cold cha soba but it was such a chilly day so we felt like having something nice and warm. I prefer the firmer texture of the cha soba to the softer, chewier cha udon, but I ordered udon cos it's quite rare to find it in Singapore.

The cha soba from Tsuen definitely has a stronger green tea taste than Tsujiri, but if you don't have time to to go Uji (cos it's quite out of the way, south of Kyoto), Tsujiri's cha soba and cha udon is not bad. Though I would say their desserts outshine their noodles.

A bowl of cha udon or soba by itself is 901 yen (about sgd $13) and if you get it with dessert, it's 1251 yen (about $18sgd).

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).

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.