I was looking for something refreshing after a long day of shopping this Sunday afternoon.
As our shopping journey took us to Vivocity, we stopped by Kagurazaka Saryo. I must say, the location of this cafe is fantastic, in a great open space on the 1st floor of the Vivocity mall.
Saryo Kagurazaka at Vivocity
Address: VivoCity, 1 Harbourfront Walk, #01-59, Singapore 098585
Web: https://www.facebook.com/kagurazakasaryo/
Map: https://goo.gl/maps/KC9zxERUA8oHdKydA
The cafe was full, but I didn't have to wait long to find a table.
I must point out a foul smell at the restaurant entrance. I'm not sure what it is, but it is a turn-off for any restaurant.
Fully leveraging on the high ceilings of Vivocity, Saryo's interior is very open with great lighting. It's too bright and busy to be a 'cozy' cafe, but it is a great place to hang out with friends and talk over tea and desserts.
Here are the menus.
Sorry that the pictures of the menu are a little hard to see. I was trying to avoid the shadow as much as I could. This was what I ended up with.
I hope you can get the jist.
Their primary food seems to be the Chanabes. I didn't have the chance to try these this time around.
For the review, I know I should try the Matcha. However, Matcha, when it goes bad, it goes really bad! I'm always very cautious about drinking Matcha at unfamiliar restaurants.
I couldn't must up the courage to order Matcha here, so I tried something else.
The Lavendar Yuzu Houjicha SGD $7.90++
The Fruit Annmitzu SGD $9.90++
For the Fruit Annmitzu, I chose vanilla for the ice cream rather than the Matcha. (I didn't notice that there was an Ice cream until I made my order. For Anmitzu with Ice Cream, it's commonly called a "Cream Anmitsu.")
What is the Annmitzu in the first place? (More commonly spelled Anmitsu.)
An Anmitsu is a traditional Japanese dessert that is incredibly refreshing and perfect for a hot day. (Like this day!)
It's made of small cubes of agar jelly and served with azuki bean paste, beans, different fruits, etc.
Personally, it's one of my favorite Japanese desserts.
Here is my order.
The Lavender Yuzu Houjicha is a good refreshing drink. You can taste the Yuzu flavors fading into the Houjicha flavors. It's nothing to jump out of the seat over, but it's a relatively safe pick that is hard to go wrong.
The Anmitsu is acceptable as well.
A good Anmitsu, I would expect to be much smaller and more refined. This Anmitsu is enormous; however a little rough around the edges. There's a giant ice cream, an assortment of fruits, and several large chunks of Shira-Tama (the white balls you can see in the picture).
The quality of the agar jelly, Shira-Tama, the fruits, and the azuki paste are all tasty but not exactly of top-tier quality.
But it is enormous, and for the size, it's reasonable, I assume. It's just not directly hitting the 'Japanese-guru points'!
So, what's the verdict?
The guru rating
For the Fruit Annmitzu
7.0 / 10
A tricky rating that I might come back and change in the future again. Even in Japan, I think you'll commonly find Annmitsus of this quality, and they'll also be acceptable and popular. So i wouldn't say they're "not Japanese".
However, this concept of the "Japan-guru" values the tradition and quality of whatever Japanese. This Annnmitzu receives some deduction points based on this.
It's a good dessert to have. However, I might not recommend this as a "Japanese Annmitzu place" as a "Japan-guru." Therefore my score is 7.0/10.
I wonder if my score would change if I tried the Matcha version...
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