Out & About #206 | Tsujiri Tea House

Anything containing or infused with matcha has got to be worth the hype, am I right?

As soon as news circulated that the Japanese chain would be making its way to Toronto to open their first North American location - that's right, it landed in Canada first before heading south of the border!, I knew that I'd develop instant regrets for not trying out their creations in Hankyu when in Taiwan.

Revamping the narrow space of a dilapidated convenience store, the Tsujiri transformation was heavily comprised of woodsy elements and potlights giving off harsh incandescent illumination. Seating was limited to three 2-person booths built into the wall directly across from the cashier/bar area and a somewhat spacious, socks-only tatami group table at the back; along the outer perimeter of the shop were plastic renditions of food samples, validating the franchise's East Asian origins.

On their fourth (or was it their fifth?) day of operation, I decided to drop by to indulge in the matcha-ness. At 10:35 AM, the glass door was still locked, yet members of staff were abuzz within. There was little information visible from the outside beside an inspection pass and a six foot tall menu with almost illegible font; I took advantage of a delivery to stop and ask one of the workers and was told that their hours were 11:00 AM - 10:00 PM.

View the full album HERE !

Menu items were vast and diverse, despite majority being concocted from the same ingredients. Unlike Uncle Tetsu, Tsujiri was able to make 90% of the 40+ items listed on the menu; Tetsu would only notify customers upon ordering if certain items were seasonal or sold out.

Among the sundaes, floats, and lattes, it took me quite some time to narrow down an option that was worth its mindblowing markup. One of the girls recommended a yuzu-inspired beverage, nothing its refreshing properties, though I was leaning more towards their specialty: matcha.

Ultimately, I settled for a Tsujiri Shaved Ice and an O-Matcha Cappuccino.
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Shaved ice, or more commonly known as カキ氷 is a popular treat at summer festivals in Japan. Traditionally, blocks of ice are hand-shaven to achieve a layered, flaky texture and then layered with flavoured syrups and toppings such as anko (sweetened red bean paste). In the modern world where efficiency is key, it's more common to invest in machines with ice-shaving capabilities. Unlike Taiwanese snow ice, which is creamy and often takes the form of a pile of wavy ribbon, kakigori obtains its flavour by the consistent layering of ice and syrup.

The Tsujiri Shaved Ice combined kakigori with a 2-inch high serving of soft serve ice cream, a melonball-sized scoop of smooth red bean paste (I think it's called koshi-an?), two chewy shiratama balls (a firmer version of mochi), and a small yellow chunk of chestnut. Layers of sweet, flavourful iciness, this dessert was matcha heaven. It was quite pricey at $8.00 (or $7.50 if you'd rather stick with regular Vanilla soft serve - but why?), but well worth it.
The kakigori was notably delicious and well-textured, and possessed the right amount of matcha syrup in every spoonful. Rather typical of Japanese ice cream, the soft serve was on the melty side, and was nowhere near as intensely grassy as I had hoped. Nonetheless, the combination of the two were fantastic and made for a great post-lunchtime treat.

Exclusive to the Canadian location, I also opted to try the O-Matcha Cappuccino with Maple Syrup. Sadly, the girl at the cashier wasn't able to catch the second half of my order and presented me with a bowl of the deep green, maple-less beverage at just-below-scalding temperature. It wasn't particularly formidable, especially not for something priced at $5.25 (aka the equivalent of a real fruit smoothie or XL bubble tea slush at Gong Cha); I suppose it was rarely ordered, as the order slip had one of the girls profoundly flipping through a small notebook in search of the recipe.
The O-Matcha Cappuccino was successful in satisfying my matcha cravings, and also contained a proper depth of flavour. Though, it wouldn't be an item I would return solely for. Within closer reach is Nohohon, which embodies speedier service, allows the addition of matcha shots (if desired), participates in handy smartphone apps like Ritual and Vicinity, and embraces all forms of payment (credit, debit, and cash).

The entire experience costed me around one hour: a brief period of indecisiveness, the cashier running to the back to obtain more coins to make change, as well as the adoption of an assembly line-like food crafting process came together to form the most inefficient service system I've ever witnessed.
Given that the employees are just as new to the establishment as many of the customers, I should hope that their actions become swifter with the progression of time. In addition, it wouldn't hurt to add credit as a form of payment to prevent the tedious process of making change.

There must be some sort of lineup-inducing hype associated with the character "tsu" (つ). I mean, it essentially only took one week's worth of Instagram photos to engage matcha-enthusiasts into creating a cane-like formation at the shop's exterior. No more than fifteen people resided inside the beige-hued corridor on a lazy Tuesday afternoon, yet at lineups trailed outside during warmer weekend weather. Just imagine how painstakingly long the wait game would have been!

I took to conversing with the girl directly behind me in line as we gradually inched towards the cashier. It was also her first visit, in which she ordered a Tsujiri Milk Ice Blended. Despite being termed a "milkshake" in Japanese, it was resembled something along the lines of a Frappuccino (without the disgusting sugar-based green tea powder) and a chiller/slushie. A friend of hers joined the lineup later on and ordered the ever-so-popular Shiratama Sundae. Among their other options were macarons (featured in the album) and a Sakura Sundae that they had unfortunately ran out of at an alarming rate. Oh well, there's always next time!

Making my way back to the subway, I was amused to spot a nonexistent lineup outside Uncle Tetsu.
And apparently I wasn't the only one. A middle-aged lady dashed inwards just seconds before me to pick up one of the famed Japanese cheesecakes.

Also spotted were promotional cards for this year's headliners at Toronto Kpop Con: VIXX and GOT7! (Needless to say, I've already purchased tickets to both of these shows ehehe.)

Their cheesecake rusk cookies also happened to be in stock, and this time priced more appropriately at $3.57 instead of a whopping $6.00. Crispy and as creamy as cookies can be, the rusks proved to be a great on-the-go snack when munching on cheesecake isn't possible.

Did you know that MUJI now sells tiramisu mixes? This dusty, fungus-like foam figure displayed very little resemblance to the coffee liquor-infused dessert if you ask me though.

Infuse Cafe was the final stop of the day. While the cheesecake slices from the previous visit weren't totally thrilling, I decided to give Cecilla a second chance with her matcha variation.

Sadly, the pricier green tea version was even more disappointing than the Original and Chocolate flavours. Heavily slathered with buttercream and exuding almost not even the slightest hint of matcha, the five dollar slice was a huge flop. While I can comprehend the pairing of hot teas to offset creamy cakes, the frosting overload was completely unnecessary and did not compliment the fluffy qualities of Japanese cheesecake whatsoever.
​Sorry, but I'll stick with Uncle Tetsu. (There aren't even any lineups anyway.)

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