Thursday, January 21, 2010

Anyhow walk in Japan - Eating green tea dessert in Gion

The huge red gate of the Yasaka Shrine, looking bright and magnificent in Gion.

The huge red gate of Yasaka Shrine

By the time we reached Yasaka Shrine, most stalls were closed except the one selling charms, and the shrine was pretty quiet.

Donated lanterns in Yasaka Shrine

At the popular Hanami-koji street in Gion, we were surprised to find a huge group of tourists gathered outside a building that we supposed is some geisha headquarters, waiting patiently to take picture of a geisha. But all I see are old uncles and aunties coming out of it (and getting blinded by the flashlights). One of the aunties actually scolded the crowd in Japanese! Hahaha...

Geisha waiting at Gion, Kyoto

Not interested to wait for a geisha like the rest, we proceeded to the famous 茶寮都路里 (Tsujiri) dessert store. I ordered the winter limited edition set consisting of a bowl of matcha soba and a scope of matcha ice-cream at 1155yen, S$18.

The macha soba was not as fragrant as I have expected, in fact it tasted quite tasteless. However the matcha ice-cream was a different story. Now this is what I call green tea ice-cream! The green tea flavor was so strong and fragrant that I felt as if I was drinking tea rather than eating ice-cream!

Matcha soba in Gion, Kyoto

Matcha ice-cream in Gion, Kyoto

My friend ordered 味くらべ which is 997yen, S$15, consisting of わらび餅, 白玉だんご and matcha jelly. The 白玉だんご tastes kinda like our rice dumplings, chewy and tasteless, but when you add in the fragrant red beans and sweet matcha sauce, the whole white balls come to life! My friend didn't quite like the matcha jelly, especially the matcha whip cream which has a very strong milky taste (as she is not fond of milk), but both of us agreed that the わらび餅 is to-die-for, chewy and refreshing kuay with mashed bean coating!

Rice ball and green tea dessert in Gion, Kyoto

茶寮都路里 (Tsujiri) - Take city bus to Gion and walk down the main street.

茶寮都路里 (Tsujiri) Official Website

Read more (in Chinese) on "Go Travel with Cloudywind"!

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