My Summer Tradition ― Tsujiri
When it comes to famous matcha dessert shops in Kyoto, Tsujiri would definitely make it in the top five. When you walk past the front of the shop, you’ll notice lots of people lined up waiting for seats. It might be due to the fact that the first time I visited Tsujiri was in summer, but every year I start wanting to go to Tsujiri, and so it happened to become a summer tradition.
Tsujiri has various menu items, but their most famous is their parfaits. When I first went several years ago, I didn’t think to order anything other than a parfait. Among their parfaits, their most popular one is the “Tokusen Tsujiri Parfait” (“Specially Selected Tsujiri Parfait”). It’s a generously sized parfait full of ice cream, gelatin, castella cake, chestnuts, and shirotama (rice flour dumplings).
The second time I went, I chose an item other than a parfait--Tsujiri Goori (Tsujiri Shaved Ice). You may think that matcha shaved ice is a menu item that you can eat at many other places so it’s not that special, but this tea specialist shop’s shaved ice is different. Although it’s ice, the tea flavor is very strong.
And so, since I had already tried the parfaits and shaved ice, I chose an item called Matcha Muusu (Matcha Mousse) the third time I went. It was a new experience as it was the first time I tried a matcha dessert like it.
Finally this year’s summer came around, but I only stared at the menu and couldn’t decide on what to order this time. So I ended up ordering the seasonal shaved ice item Himuro (which means “ice house” in Japanese). On top of the matcha shaved ice was piled high three different types of ice cream (matcha sherbet, yuzu sherbet, salt ice cream), and two types of gummies (strawberry, yuzu). There were so many different colours and flavours to this single shaved ice item that I felt that I had eaten several different types of dessert.
When I think of all the desserts that I’ve had at Tsujiri, I always chose the matcha flavour… there’s no doubt that I’m a matcha fan, but I also like houji-cha (roasted green tea). Despite the fact that Tsujiri has a number of houji-cha flavoured desserts, why have I never eaten a single one? Alright, I’ll try a houji-cha item next time!
株式会社KINSHA