Temple Arden — Restaurant in Melbourne

it's quite hard to dictate a proper rating for this joint as i was here for their mARTcha popup with local artist. so im going to ease up on the rating but ill be quite honest with my review.

i hate sounding like a matcha snob but im quite passionate about the sustainability, fair trade and practices of farmers and their produce.

i'm not one to purchase matcha out anymore as i've been quite disappointed over and over at how cafes and restaurants use matcha as a gimmick to get people in, as there is a hype around it. i thought that today was a day i'd give it a go again as it was marketed as a matcha and artist day.

i purchased the yuzu matcha spritz and my sister got the matcha latte... i must say that this had to be one of the worst matcha's we've gotten especially at the price point.

i couldn't taste the yuzu or matcha as they seemed to clash or the ratios were off, can't quite put my hand on it. as for the matcha latte, what can i even say about this... it was just... milk? with a drop of matcha? it tasted, unfortunately, quite terrible.

maybe it would've been kind of excusable if the matcha was pre batched? just maybe. but all matcha was hand whisked and weighted to order so it made it even more disappointing.

i only wish to see cafes and restaurants put more and equal effort into making good matcha/all drinks, as they try to do with coffee. matcha is expensive and scarce, i'd love to see your staff do more research and be trained or just take it off the menu. there's no shame in it! just own it.

i understand that it's not only temple arden that might has these issues but i hope as a whole that things change for the hype on matcha, where it's not only easily accessible (price justifications) but also delicious.

p.s. left drink of photo is the matcha latte when already fully mixed for reference.

aside from that, the staff seemed ok and the whole...

Ideally this place would've been a great local cafe as it is just down the road for me but I am constantly let down by the lack of customer service and poor coffee. Firstly, the coffee is horrible and bitter - so undrinkable no matter what I order that I regret it every time I do. And the price of it does not make sense - a 7/11 coffee tastes better for less a lot less. Secondly, I forgot to order my chai 'Iced' at the counter but quickly asked to make it iced before they started making it. I go to this cafe a couple times a week minimum but I was still asked to pay the $1 extra to make the drink iced. My issue was not paying the $1, my issue was that I got asked - definitely rubbed my the wrong way. I paid by card too, so after the bank's merchant fee wouldn't have even made it worth for them. I'll gladly walk a couple minutes extra to other cafes in the area that are much more hospitable and...

Some of the worst matcha I've had in Melbourne! I had high hopes that this cafe would do a decent matcha considering it seems to be Japanese themed. The matcha powder used was clearly of a high quality but wasn't mixed at all leading to a gross powdery textured drink. Why bother even offering matcha if you clearly don't know how to make it? Also the woman working at the counter was quite rude when we walked in. She didn't even say hi and barked at us the second we walked in to "order at the other counter!" Not a great start but would have been forgivable if at least the drinks were good. My friend's cappuccino wasn't up to Melbourne coffee standards which was...