Rating: ????????
Price: ????????????
2135 W 41st Ave, Vancouver, BC V6M 1Z6
Phone: (604) 263-5054
http://www.nanasgreentea.com/en/
This is a quick review of Nana’s Green Tea in Kerrisdale. We only went there for the parfait and I will update this post and rating when we have the chance to try their matcha based drink.
Following Tsujiri, Nana’s Green Tea is another modern Japanese cafe offer matcha based drinks and dessert that taken Vancouver like a storm. Since I love matcha, and most of the local Japanese restaurant has it perfected down to the science, it’s silly not to give it a try when it opened up in my neighborhood.
Conveniently located in Kerrisdale, it is sitting next to Jinya Ramen. In a relatively quiet and historic neighborhood, it is awkward to see the long queue outside of these 2 shops during their business hours. Like I mentioned in my previous posts, usually if there is a lineup, the food should be worth waiting for.
The store front is small, it has a kitchenette area on the side and the back of the store is the seating area. There are little memorable decorations and the renovation is a typical modern cafe. Being a well-known Japanese retail-chain, I expect something a little more character. Staffs are all female, they are friendly and cheerful although they look tired (of the business?? ????)
Our line-up was drama-less, after a 20 minutes of waiting for our anticipated parfait, we decided to order it to go.
Great matcha powder comes at a steep price, it is understandable shop charge more for matcha based sweets. However, I started to question the value of this $9.80 parfait we were getting. First, they ran out of warabi-mochi at about 530pm, we had to substitute it with the rice dumpling (rice cake). Second, the composition of Nana’s parfait from the top is: whip cream, matcha powder sprinkles, red bean paste, matcha ice-cream, rice cake, corn flakes, matcha jello, and matcha sauce. In my opinion, these weren’t exquisite ingredient to justify the asking price. My wife ordered the hojicha version, it is the same except substitute matcha with hojicha.
I love parfait – where I enjoy each spoon of “surprise” as I dig deeper into the cup. Some restaurant like Toku include a semi-sweet cracker or macarons to go with the sweets. On the other hand, Nana’s parfait is simply too conventional and unimpressive – I can make this at home with local ingredients. The matcha ice-cream is not that matcha-ey and it is a little too sweet. The only bit I really enjoy was the matcha jello at the bottom, it has the bitterness with little sweet. I think they can do better by adding a semi-sweet matcha macaron to increase the value proposition. Macrons are challenging to make and turns the ordinary dessert prestigious.
On the other hand, the hojicha version is more original. The ice-cream, jello, sauce is different. I would prefer the tea portion is stronger.
Overall, Nana’s Green Tea parfait is passable. For $9.80, it doesn’t feel it gives a lot of value. I would not recommend people to try it as there are better options out there. Similar to Honolulu Cafe, I question the long term sustainability in the neighborhood of Nana’s because of the higher asking price with limited variety and menu items.
Nana’s have a large menu of matcha based drinks and we did not have the stomach for. I will review it next time around.