Matcha

Bakery: Matcha Tea & Dessert
Address: 4076 Spadina Avenue, Toronto ON
Website: http://matchateadessert.ca/
Style: Japanese, Taiwanese
Price: $$$ 

At long last I have some cake tours to do! After a few weeks' long dry spell offering me no new bakeries to try, I landed exactly five new spots in one day -- imagine that! Oh, it's so wonderful to be able to update my little site and make my way to that hopefully-not-too elusive 150 Canadian bakeries!

Anyways, is it just me or did a whole bunch of new businesses just suddenly pop up on Spadina? I mean, it couldn't have happened all at once, but the last time I was there, it gave me the impression of it having come overnight. Where did they all come from? Most cater to the new generation of Chinese; they're chicer, more appealing than what gritty Chinatown is known for and offer more unique food options. Matcha is one such business (they share the space with a noodle bar). The name is, though not too creative, self-explanatory, though the mishmash of Japanese and Taiwanese tea comes as more of a surprise: matcha-based tea drinks along with Japanese-style desserts like cream puffs, matcha red bean Swiss rolls, molten matcha cakes, etc. A bit of standard fare and a few items that you won't find anywhere else.

 One item is the matcha cream puff ($3.99). At over $4 with tax, it has a pretty steep price tag, especially considering Japanese matcha chain Tsujiri a few blocks away sells by far the best matcha cream puffs imaginable at a fraction of the cost. In some ways, I went into this one a bit skeptical. More or less fist-sized, this has a crumble texture on top with a dusting of green tea powder. Inside, it's generously filled with intense green cream. And that cream is pretty good. The one thing they have over Tsujiri is that, whereas the latter features a mix of plain and matcha whipped cream, Matcha has pure matcha cream and that's a delicious, beautiful thing. Super flavourful, excellent texture for both the puff dough and dense filling, the only minus was that I found was that the matcha was kind of bitter and didn't have the smooth and sweet flavour I've tried elsewhere.

It's a bit of a splurge, but Matcha is tasty and a nice, welcome addition to the "new Chinatown".

Rating: ***