Tsujiri at Damansara Uptown: Restaurant Review

Kyoto’s Tsujiri tea house opens its first outpost in Malaysia this month, boasting a 150-year-old legacy originally pioneered by Japanese tea innovator Riemon Tsuji in the late Edo period of the 1860s.

Traditions of tea collide with contemporary culinary trends – customers can sip & savour the pure, simple pleasures of Uji-origin tea, or marry the flavours of matcha & hojicha with soft serves, parfaits & shaved ice desserts, emulating the Tsujiri experience that spans Japan, China, Taiwan & Singapore.

Japanese parfait

Tsujiri’s top temptations include Japanese-inflected parfaits – the roasted tea soft serve is endowed with endearingly aromatic nuances, well-matched with a warm slice of chiffon cake, red bean paste & cornflakes for an enjoyable medley of tastes, textures & temperatures (RM16).

Shaved ice

For these sweltering weeks, we might seek succour in Tsujiri’s mountain of shaved ice, soaked in green tea syrup, with a hidden treasure of mochi-like shiratama dango dumplings beneath the ice (RM21).

Green tea

But if you just need a drink, the O-Matcha with Yuzu Citron (RM12) conveys the distinctive dynamics of both green tea & citrus fruits, stirred together to shake out a thoroughly Japanese, tantalisingly refreshing hybrid.