In Short: Matcha Ya in Sydney’s Darling Square brings together the traditional Japanese flavours of matcha green tea with playful creations that provide endless possibilities for the serious matcha lover. Tip: Try the Matcha shiratama parfait. Not only is it delicious, but it won’t hurt your IG feed in the process!
If you’re a Japanophile like me, then any time a new local Japanese café, restaurant, store, or even just a dish or drink arrives on the scene, a giddy rush of excitement is not far behind!
With the debut of Sydney CBD’s Darling Square precinct, there’s cause for plenty of excitement with the opening of the much-anticipated Match Ya in Steam Mill Lane. Matcha Ya is bringing its own take on the traditional green tea flavours of Japan, with a range of matcha lattes, sundaes, parfaits, floats, waffles, soft serve, and even matcha chips!
Since this is our first visit to Matcha Ya in Sydney, we brave the crowd that stretches out the door and head right for the tried-and-true warm matcha latte. The distinct matcha flavour is in abundance, but the lattes silkiness smooths away any bitterness. The warmth on this chilly Sydney winter’s afternoon is beyond perfection.
Having thawed out with Matcha Ya’s matcha latte, it’s time to get a little adventurous and we up the ante with the towering Matcha shiratama parfait. I mean wow! Just look at this ode to matcha-dom! With the crowning fishy pointing the way to the good stuff below, we dig in to reveal a topping of matcha soft serve, chewy rice balls, sublimely sweet syrups, and crunchy bits throughout. All this yum is sprinkled with edible flowers that make this magical matcha moment even more special.
From their sundae section, we tried Matcha-ya’s Matcha Shiratama Sundae. In a red bowl, we got a scoop of silky smooth matcha soft serve, a couple of chewy addictive shiratama balls which is fashioned out of rice cakes, anko red bean paste and squares of soft matcha cake with brown sugar syrup, decorated with a mint leaf and a crunchy waffle cone. I loved the diverse flavours and textures. While many sundaes can be sugar fests, the shiratama sundae plays nicely between sweet and savoury.
If you want to supercharge your sundae offering, you should go all out and order a Matcha-Ya’s anmitsu. It has all the similar ingredients as the sundae but with additional items like the matcha jelly, chia seeds and honeycomb sugar. Because we tried the Fruits Shiratama Anmitsu, we got freeze dried fruit and seasonal fresh fruits as well.
This is just our first visit to Matcha Ya, so check back here again to see what other treats we explore at our newly discovered matcha lovers mecca! This place needs to be on your list, and pronto!
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