Tsujiri Richmond — Restaurant in Richmond

Delightful high tea experience. If I could give 4.5 stars, I would. Staff answered the phone quickly and told me that high tea reservations are easy to book during the week but might have a wait for weekends. I brought my mother and 90 year old grandmother to share the Tsujiri high tea experience with me for the first time on a Thursday at noon. There were several of us waiting for the doors to open at 12pm; staff did not acknowledge the line and opened 10min late. If they could have allowed us to enter to sit and wait at a table then that would have been more comfortable.

We were led to a lovely semi-private tatami seating area where we ordered one tea set ($70) and tonkotsu ramen ($18.50) to share.

Savoury: We all enjoyed the salty shirodashi soup as an appetizer. The matcha tea is of course high quality as well. The unagi on rice was delicious, as were the 2 types of tofu puff pouches (one was filled with wakame salad, while the other contained cooked salmon and rice). My mother and I had no issue sharing the green salad, which was pretty standard. I would have liked another savoury option to balance the sweet vs savoury ratio for the tea set. The tonkotsu ramen that we separately ordered was good. It has a nice creamy broth but costs less and has fewer ingredients than ramen at say, Zubu. Good soba noodles and chashu.

Sweet: This was our first dacquoise ever, so I am no connoisseur but I enjoyed it. It was soft, light and creamy. The macaron was chewy, which happens to be my personal preference, as I do not like the macarons that are too dry, crunchy and sweet. The small matcha nama chocolate had gold flecks on it, and had to be cut to be shared. It was melt-in-your-mouth good and had excellent matcha flavour. The matcha cheesecake blew my mind on first bite. Flavour, texture and presentation-wise this is the best cheesecake that I've ever had. The shiratama dango was served in 3 cute flower ramekins that each contained different flavours: Azuki, black sesame, and soybean. They were fresh and chewy. Finally, the ice cream was excellent. We preferred the houjicha flavour and sweetness over the matcha but I thought both were very good. I agree that the matcha ice cream me be too strong for some people but this did not bother me.

Service pacing was good and the 2 front of the house staff were polite and smiley; however, they should have bussed our tables and done a quality check to be more attentive, as the back tables are hidden from view and easy to unintentionally neglect.

Overall, the service needs improvement but the value and quality of the high tea set is well worth the recommendation. I...

Tsujiri is a great dessert place to try, but I probably wouldn't recommend it if you're expecting to get a full meal, unless you want to shell out $20-25+! I ordered the Tonkotsu black, and a Yuzu-Citron float.

I reserved a table for two at 2:00pm on a Sunday, online, using OpenTable. We arrived at 2:10 or so since the SmartCentre parking lot typically fills very quickly. There wasn't a lineup until around 2:30. I would recommend reserving tables if you're going to arrive later past opening time.

As a frequent restaurant ramen eater, the Tsujiri version was definitely an interesting change from the typical salty and rich fatty tonkotsu ramen broth. Tsujiri's version features a soy milk base, so it has a slight sweet taste when compared to regular tonkotsu ramen. The pork is fully cooked and flavourful, and the dish itself came with beansprouts on top as well. It's definitely less salty and the portion size is a bit smaller than the typical restaurant ramen portions. If you get their ramen with an ice cream or drink side, you should be able to be comfortably full ("just right") without feeling like you over-ate. Price: ~$13

The Yuzu-Citron float is a slushy-like citrusy drink with matcha ice cream on top. You have the option of matcha, houjincha, or a swirled mix of both as your ice cream flavours. I opted for the swirl mix as it was my first time here. I actually quite enjoyed the ice cream on top, it was delicious and I definitely love matcha ice cream and soft serve ice cream overall. The citrus slush on the bottom tastes very lemony and you can drink it with the straw provided. Price: ~$7-8

The cakes range between $6-8 from what I saw, and I opted to not buy one since I felt the portions were a little small for the price. But seeing the good reviews on them, I'd assume they're good.

Overall, I would recommend Tsujiri if you're looking for a cool place to snack or as a dessert date, but since it is on the pricier side, I probably wouldn't come...

After many visits and trying most of their items, I want to write a detailed review here:

🍦Ice Cream: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I believe their matcha and hojicha soft serve are one of the BEST in Metro Van. I hate all the fake matcha flavour (too sweet or creamy) around Vancouver dessert shops, but Tsujiri’s matcha flavours are well balance with bitterness and sweetness, it is what matcha is supposed to be.

🎂Cakes: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

They were good! I really enjoyed the hojicha and matcha cake. I bought other ones for my friends and they really enjoyed too.

🍰 High Tea Set: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (~3.5) 75$ for two people seems like a deal but their size and taste was a bit disappointing.

The savoury plate can fill you up easily but all the items were not worth it because you can easily make them at home 😩

The sweet plate was disappointing. The only good thing was the matcha cake which you can get them individually for $8. Fresh macaroon should taste airy, but their macaroons tastes chewy and bland. The other pastries had the same problem: bland and dry. The matcha chocolate tastes…matcha chocolate 🤣 Just nothing surprise here.

The best was the ice cream plate, but why not getting them individually without paying $41.16 per person?

🍜 Noodles: ⭐️⭐️(meh)

The soup base tastes pre-made, noodle was okay. Overall tastes like noodles from cheap Japanese restaurants. I personally think it’s better to spend the money at decent ramen places than here. (Unless you are really hungry 😅

🧋Drinks: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I only had their matcha drinks and they were good, better than most of the so called matcha drinks in Vancouver.

Overall: You can always trust their tea-related tastes (ice cream, drinks, desserts) but careful on the...