The Yonge and Sheppard outpost of Tsujiri, the 155-year-old purveyor of Japanese tea and matcha based desserts, has recently opened up its second floor with a new dine-in menu.
On the ground floor there’s usually a lineup for the matcha lattes, slices of irresistible cheesecake and soft serve. Upstairs, the new offerings include more substantial fare.
The menu boasts several dishes based on the popular tsukemen-style of ramen where the noodles are dipped into the soup instead of the two being served together.
The dipping soup that comes with the tonkotsu soy milk tsuke soba ($12.50) is rich and creamy, made with pork bone broth and soy milk and a small spicy sprinkling of chili oil. Traditional soba noodles are made with a combination of buckwheat and wheat flour. The Tsujiri take on these tasty noodles adds powdered matcha, which creates the vibrant colour and subtle green tea flavour.
Kitsune soba with unagi ochazuke.
The kitsune soba and unagi ochazuke ($13.00) comes with traditional soba noodles in soup with deep-fried bean curd and fish cake all garnished with green onion. Hot tea is poured over the bowl of rice on which succulent unagi rests.
The pancake platter with house-made ice cream.
No meal at Tsujiri is complete without the sweet pancake platter ($14). Made-to-order for maximum fluffiness, they are stacked, drizzled with brown sugar sauce, and accompanied by house-made ice cream.
A number of teas are available served hot or cold to go with your meal. Try the premium sencha tea ($4.50) for the full matcha experience, or try a houjicha latte (5$) for a delightfully toasty flavour (the leaves are roasted instead of steamed).
