A few days ago, we took this short little day trip to the land of Matcha. Uji is famous for producing the finest Matcha in Japan since the 14th century. It’s not necessarily a “must see,” but it’s an easy 30 minute train ride from Kyoto and it was just so beautiful. We strolled the little main street, saw a (pretty touristy) tea ceremony, drank some frothy matcha, and had a nice cha-soba lunch.
So ridiculously beautiful…
I’ve had Chazuke at least three times so far this trip (it’s also called Ochazuke). It’s a soupy rice dish made with dashi and green tea. My favorite is the veggie version with umeboshi…. definitely another for the the “to make when I get home” list. The green tea soba at this restaurant (Itokyuemon) was good too.
Matcha ice cream is really pretty good (and generally the same) all over – you’ll see it everywhere you turn in both Uji and Kyoto. The very best we’ve had so far was at Ippodo in Kyoto. Which reminds me – stay tuned for a post about our overall Kyoto recommendations. We’re back in Tokyo now, so (by popular request) a very linky post about Kyoto is in the works.
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