Thursday, June 08, 2006

After-afternoon-tea tea

Omotesando Hills is this huge luxury mall thing in Omotesando, near Harajuku and Shibuya. Inside are an assortment of stores that I cannot afford and posh little desserteries like R-style. After our little afternoon tea at the non-descript little cafe, we came here. It is well known for it's shaved ice and rice desserts.
Japanese people really know how to play with colors and shapes when it comes to food. These are rice ball things, made with ground up rice so that it's sticky and chewy like mochi. Green is probably macha powder (green tea). Red is probably red bean. Those 2 are the principal ingredients used for desserts, as opposed to strawberry or chocolate in western countries.
Shaved Ice is a huge phenomenon not only in Asia but also in the States. I have our ice from the most famous ice place here in Taipei, but this is the gourmet looking version they have at R-style. The white stuff at the top is dried milk powder, the green is macha, the red is red bean, and underneath it all is the ice.
The little transluscent cup is chilled plum juice, the others are impliments for green tea. Il me semble que green tea is obligatory at any meal in Japan.

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