Nana’s Green Tea : Desserts & Drinks

Those of you who frequent The Gardens Mall will have noticed a new eatery, Nana’s Green Tea which is full of customers at any time of day. I was at the mall last weekend shortly after 10am and the place was packed so you can imagine what it’s like during lunch and dinner time. About two weeks ago, I joined a group of food bloggers for food tasting there and we had a lot of food so I am breaking my reviews up into two parts.

Nana’s Green Tea, a modern Japanese café delivers one-of-its-kind ‘Matcha’, the finest Japanese powdered green tea, which is said to boost metabolism, reduce cholesterol and help to control stress. Nana’s Green Tea is a refreshing departure from traditional Japanese culture, giving new idea to the green tea drinking culture, that was once popular in Japan. The café has stayed away from the old-fashioned-conventional interiors and instead opts for chic, hip and fun dining experience, creating a unique ‘New Japanese’ tea house that suits the lifestyle of modern people.

Despite the name, Nana’s Green Tea actually serves more than just green tea – it offers a wide selection of Japanese cuisine including a huge selction of drinks and desserts (believe me, you will have a hard time choosing) such as matcha soft cream latte, parfait anmitsu, matcha shiratama zenzai, hoji shiratama parfait and so many more. In addition to the regular menu, seasonal drinks and sweets are served as well. There’s more than enough to please your sweet palate. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth so these desserts were perfect for my taste buds as none of them were sickeningly sweet.

Matcha Anmitsu (RM16.80) has matcha ice cream, red bean paste and mocha served on a bed of “kanten” (the green cubes). Kanten is tasteless, it’s a Japanese jelly which has seaweed as its main ingredient and have almost no calories in them (how’s that for guilt-free eating?). Add the jug of caramelized brown sugar syrup and it’s quite heavenly as you get different textures all in one bowl from the smoothness of the matcha ice cream to the chewiness of the kanten and mochi. The syrup is almost like “gula Melaka” but not as thick and sweet.

Kinako Warabimachi (RM14.80) comes in 6 cubes and is a jelly made of bracken starch dipped in Kinako (Sweet Toasted Soybean). It looks like mochi with crushed peanuts but this one is finer and tastes like a luxury jelly.

Hoji Shiratama Parfait (RM18.80) is an artisan dessert (reminds me of those towering Swensen’s parfaits I used to indulge in 20+ years ago) starting with a layer of Kanten jelly and Hoji syrup topped with self serve vanilla ice cream, generous layer of corn flakes and garnished with Hoji ice cream, Hoji bean paste, mochi, whipped cream and a drizzle of Hoji syrup. What can I say? Yummmyyyyyyyyy! Big enough for 2 but then again, one bite of this and you won’t want to share with anyone.

Another towering parfait, the Matcha “Gateaux Chocolate” Parfait (RM19.80) starts with a layer of Kanten jelly and Matcha syrup, topped with self serve vanilla ice cream, generous layer of corn flakes, garnished with Matcha ice cream, Matcha Gateaux chocolate cake, red bean paste, whipped cream and a drizzle of Matcha syrup. The cake is firm yet soft and you can really taste the green tea in it but doesn’t overpower the chocolate. It all comes together beautifully in presentation and taste!

Matcha Kanten Slushy (RM9.80) is a cold matcha slushy with Kanten jelly and black soybean. If there was shaved ice on it, it would almost be like the Japanese version of cendol. I like the Kanten but am no fan of black soybeans.

Matcha Shiratama Slushy (RM13.80) is my kind of slushy as it’s cold matcha served topped with Matcha ice cream and mochi, everything that I want in a green tea slushy.

Despite all the fancy drinks and toppings, nothing is as comforting to me as a good cup of tea and this is wonderful as it’s Uji-Cha, the highest grade of Japanese green tea with a bitter sweet taste. I had this when I went back to Nana’s after the food tasting with a friend. All the teas are served in pots (RM7.80) and you can get at least 6 cups out of a pot. There’s also Karigane-Cha, from the stem of Uji-Cha with a wild bitter sweet taste and distinctive lush fragrance, Hoji-Cha with a combination of toasty and nutty flavor that can be a good alternative to coffee and Gemmai Cha otherwise known as Popcorn tea, made of Karigane-Cha, has a toasty brown rice aroma and sweet and unique taste. Being a true blue tea addict, I cannot get enough of all the teas.

Nana’s Green Tea logo mark is designed in the motif of ‘Cha-sen’, a tea stirrer, combined with the idea of ‘nanaha’, which comes from a typical seven leaves. From these, the logo is thus named as ‘nana-sen’.

Nana’s Green Tea is open daily from 10am to 10pm and is located at Lot 231A, Lower Ground Floor, The Gardens Mall, Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur. For enquiries and reservations, please call 03-238 66036 or log on to their facebook page.