As you may recall Daigyo Cafe launched in Vancouver just over five months ago. They are the Japanese outpost cafe known for sourcing some of the world’s finest matcha from the Shizuoka region of Japan in order to craft their hot beverages and cold treats.
So now in the full heat of summer they are adding to that collection with new soft serve flavours and drinks. And in this post, we were here to check it out.
New on the menu is the Matcha espresso latte and the Genmaicha latte, both available hot or cold. The former finely ground powder of specially grown and processed green tea leaves. The latter, finely ground powder from Sencha leaves which has a more astringent taste and darker leaves with roasted brown rice added.
Naturally, given the heat we had it over ice. I prefer the Genmaicha as it has a more dominant tea flavour and the roasting of the rice comes through.
But if you can only get one new item, let it be their white peach jasmine ice cream. The flavour is so refreshing and the roasted peach reminds you of a sweet summer harvest. Have it as is in a cone, or as the feature in a parfait that includes elements to chew on.
The Jasmine white peach Daigyo parfait has a light roast to it with honey maple flavoured pearls at the centre. The latter was a nice surprise when we got through the top peak of the parfait. It was nice that they layered it like that.
But if this is your first visit to Daigyo, go for the classic Shiratama parfait in a twist of matcha and vanilla swirl to see what they are all about, and discover why they are known for their matcha products.
Speaking of matcha they also have a matcha croissant, which we wanted to try but they were sold out of at the time.
We did get to try their Matcha waffle with mochi. This is a regular pressed waffle with blobs of mochi at its centre. Although not made to order I wouldn’t recommend this one. Even with a toasting, the dough was hard and the mochi chalky and dense. That coupled with the more bitter matcha than sweet waffle flavour, this was not great.
Instead, order the Matcha pudding, a pre-made snack that works. Here the time allowed for the pudding to firm up and for the matcha flavour to bloom makes the cup a delicious one in texture and taste. A refreshing gelatinous treat that is layered for levels of matcha and cream to balance. Plus the addition of sandy red bean and perfectly chewy large mochi balls add some more textural interest to this.
But my favourite item at Daigyo Cafe is all their pressed sandwiches. I liked the flavour of the octopus and sweet potato that I had during their initial launch so wanted to try the entire collection today.
The Shrimp sando had large chunks of crispy tempura shrimp in between buttery toast. As a kick I tasted and liked the hint of wasabi in the spread.
The Chicken tartare sando was an egg salad sandwich, but with pieces of breaded chicken as well and plenty of chives. Creamy filling against the crisp of the toasted bread.
Sadly, the Spicy octopus sando was not the same today. There wasn’t much octopus to begin with, but even less so during this latest visit. We counted two small chunks per half, no larger that the pieces people use to make Takoyaki. And with little filling to chew through this was basically spicy mayo and bread.
I liked the Japanese cheese sando which was savoury and sweet. Salted butter with a cream similar to a bolo bao’s custard centre.
The Purple sweet potato has some of the above cream mixed with a more dense and less sweet mashed purple custard. You got the texture and faint taste of yam, but I oddly found a hint of floral also in the mix.
The Red bean shitatama sando, has the same red bean that is mentioned above. But here it is heated and served with a sweet green tea syrup for dipping. Not my favourite as the bread just seems unnecessary in the combo.
In closing, this is a great stop to help curb your matcha craving with, with a variety of ways you can enjoy your matcha. Plus a collection of savoury sandwiches, and sweet snacks to accompany it.
Daigyo Cafe Robson
1725 Robson St #2, Vancouver, BC V6G 1C9, 604-628-5966
daigyo.ca
