MATCHA ONE — Restaurant in Zhongzheng District

Decided to check out this place because am a matcha lover. Heard this is one of the best places to try matcha in Taipei. Situated in a quaint area with quite a few Japanese looking houses along the same street, it felt like I was transported to Japan. The shop was rather empty on a weekday afternoon and I walked in thinking I could get a seat but the staff asked me if I had a reservation. I said no and he said he could have prevented me from dining without a reservation. I was like whether it was playing hard to get when the place was so empty, and he said he could offer me a seat for 30 minutes as the place was fully booked. I was like fully booked but where were the people? Had a look at the menu and there were quite a lot of things I wanted to try but was already quite full so I asked for some recommendations. They recommended me to try a set but I thought it was too much so I decided to order ala carte. There were cakes, desserts and drinks in the set so I thought I order something similar without the drink. First came the Swiss roll which looks pretty nice, taste wise was not bad but not fantastic. Still think the cream was quite a big chunk that it didn't give the matcha much to shine. The Montblanc was not bad. Could taste there were different textures of matcha and varying degrees of thickness as there were other matcha components below the matcha noodles. Overall a pretty good dessert. Price wise I felt this was quite steep and expensive and I wondered if the locals would come and dine here. It's almost like 10 USD per item, though the cake was expensive and the Montblanc was more worth it. Way of talking to customers could also be better instead of just pushing...

Creative gimmick with favorably unique taste to back it up. Unfortunately, it is not a cafe if you went there thinking so. They give you 1 and a half hour from sitting down before you have to get out, and it’ll take you time to figure out the menu. The staff are understanding of the social media culture. They ask if you would like to take pictures or videos of the Mont Blanc being put together, however, they are not the friendliest. They do not explain the menu upon sitting down, and their attitude feels like they know they are a yummy, gimmicky cafe that does not care about whether or not they get customers. At the end of the day, their different grades of matcha in the menu taste so amazing and fragrant, and their mont blancs practically melt in your mouth. After tasting through the menu, I wouldn’t go there again unless I want some aesthetic pictures and pretend I’m leisurely at a cafe when in reality, I will get kicked...

Matcha Mille Crepe ($280 per slice and $480 per set): The texture was truly outstanding and it tasted quite creamy after pouring the matcha sauce but slightly bitter. If you order a set like me, you can get a $220 drink. Matcha Latte ($220) was quite milky and delightful. However, after eating and drinking these for a while, I drank like 2 glasses of water because of how high the consistency they had.

In conclusion, it was definitely overpriced but the quality and authenticity were beyond description as a matcha fan. Moreover, it took about 10 minutes to walk from MRT Zhongxiao Xinsheng station. Unfortunately, they didn’t have Matcha Tiramisu or Ujikintoki Shaved Ice when I went here. Overall, it’s a 9.5 out of 10!

FYI, the 10% service charge will be included...