2014
N and I bond over our mutual love for Japanese food, so when N stumbled across the menu at Chanoma Cafe on the Internet, we had to visit. And we’ve been back multiple times. Chanoma Cafe is located where the old Azuma Cafe used to be.
N and I shared the Creamy Shrimp Croquette Dog, which consisted of a bed of shredded cabbage in a soft bun, topped with a deep-fried crumbed sausage of shrimp paste, and a generous amount of tartare sauce, sprinkled with paprika and seaweed. The sauce on this hot dog makes it difficult to eat in a dignified manner, and I was slightly disappointed that the fried shrimp was more shrimp paste than actual shrimp, but on the whole, I was quite satisfied with it – the sauce added a nice tanginess while the crumbed shrimp added a change in texture. I could probably do without the salad, though.
So, I wasn’t impressed initially with Chanoma Cafe’s signature hot dogs. But! That’s because I hadn’t tried their teriyaki chicken hot dog. A couple of weeks later, I saw H, and this hot dog had a generous serving of deep fried and super juicy pieces of chicken marinated in teriyaki sauce, on a bed of salad, and drizzled with mayonnaise and seaweed shavings.
These were the shaked fries with soy butter and seaweed, also the best fries ever. They were incredibly moreish and crunchy and you could see and taste the seaweed. They looked a bit oily when they came out, but it settled quickly, and now I’m craving them just by looking at them!
Part of the fun of the soy and seaweed shaked fries was that you could see the seaweed flakes. With the wasabi shaked fries, you obviously can’t – you have to eat them before finding out that they’re not normal fries. But that’s okay, ‘cause we gobble these up just as fast. The wasabi isn’t overwhelming until you eat something like 10 in a row, and then it starts to get to your head and your nose starts tingling and your eyes start watering a little.
And, the drinks. This is the azuki kuromitsu latte. I was a bit sceptical with ordering a milk-based drink because I do not like the taste of milk, but I was pleasantly surprised. It didn’t taste anything like milk, and even my aversion to whipped cream didn’t hinder my enjoyment of this drink at all. It’s perfectly sweetened, with just the right amount of red bean and brown sugar. I often find red bean products to be quite cloying, but I think this drink may cause me to rethink my relationship with red bean!
This is the green tea frappe with whipped cream and dango. This drink made me fond of dango and think of dango as more than just tasteless balls of dough. It also made me realise that a frappe isn’t a milky drink, but just a blended ice drink – the frappes at Starbucks just so happen to all be coffee and hence have milk in them. The drink had just enough of the bitterness of matcha powder to remind me of green tea, but enough sweetness to counter it.
This is the iced yuzu matcha. Yuzu has featured much more prominently in Australia in recent years – I’ve even had yuzu flavoured Mentos chewing gum. Matcha by itselfhas a hint of bitterness to it. But, yuzu is a sweet citrus, so it masks the bitterness somewhat. It’s hard to describe the taste of yuzu, but it’s something like a kumquat (only it’s physical size is a lot bigger). I added a stick of shiratama (rice cakes) because I am addicted to their chewy texture.
And finally, dessert. This is the green tea soft serve with dango, azuki bean paste and agar jelly (left). The soft serve was probably the best green tea flavoured ice cream I’ve tried – every other time I’ve been left thinking it’s too bitter or too milky or both. But this was just right – it was the perfect balance of sweetness and bitterness and didn’t taste like milk at all. The azuki bean paste and the agar jelly added some texture to the soft serve. I wasn’t too fond of the agar jelly though – I prefer my jelly to have lots of bounce. I left the dango to last, because they’re deliciously chewy and fun. The alternative with fruit (right) isn’t particularly enjoyable as you can expect from canned fruit.
2015
The chewiness of shiratama dango is something I crave sometimes. Nothing in Western sweets quite compares. And Chanoma Cafe is just the place to satisfy those cravings.
This time, I try the matcha anmistu ($6.50) with extra shiratama ($0.50), but received the matcha fruit anmitsu. Both were the same price, the only difference being the addition of fruit, so I wasn’t fussed.
Anmitsu is a Japanese dessert traditionally served with matcha during Japanese tea ceremonies. This dessert replaces the matcha in tea form with matcha in soft serve form. The matcha soft serve here eliminates the bitterness that I sometimes get from drinking matcha as a tea. Brown sugar is drizzled over the top for added sweetness. Underneath the matcha soft serve is agar jelly, which has a crumbly texture that’s unlike the bounciness of normal gelatine jelly. The canned fruit was also mushy as expected.
As for my reason for visiting Chanoma Cafe, the shiratama dango was, as always, deliciously chewy and elastic – two plain dango and one chadango (green tea flavoured) on a stick. So if I had received what I ordered, I’d have been quite satisfied – the jelly was only a minor issue.
On a second visit, I try their shiratama dango with anko (red bean paste) and kinako. The toasted dango gave an addictive crispy skin to the chewy dango, while the anko and kinako give it a pleasant nutty sweetness.
2017
It’s been a while, Chanoma Cafe. Over a whole year has gone by since my last visit (thank you, George Street closures!). And so much has changed at Regent Place, but Chanoma Cafe still looks the same with its ever trendy wooden interior and splash of green.
Its menu (click to enlarge), though, has undergone an overhaul. Old favourites are still there, like the matcha based drinks and desserts, but they’ve now added special lattes and kakigōri for the summer months as well as monthly specials like matcha octopus fries with yuzu mayo or matcha cheese chips.
To satisfy my dango craving, I revisit the Japanese Dango ($5.00), two skewers of dango, with anko and kinako powder. I’d prefer if they grilled the dango longer so that they’re more golden brown and crispy on the outside, rather than just gooey without the delicious toasty flavour. That said, the anko goes well in providing flavour, texture and sweetness, while the kinako adds a pleasant nuttiness.
And now for the many drinks –
With ever the soft spot for black sesame, here’s the Black Sesame Soy Latte (hot) ($6.50). There’s a very good black sesame smell and flavour that reminds me of the 100% organic black sesame paste I found at TokyoMart in Northbridge. It’s creamy, lightly sweetened using condensed milk with an enjoyable layer of foam. It comes in only one size equal to that of a large coffee cup, which I found to be a bit much for one sitting, although I’d have expected no less for the price. So, perhaps a regular size for a lower price?
N goes for their seasonal item for spring, the Sakura Float ($6.80, +$1.50 for a skewer of shiratama dango), a milk frappe with half azuki and half matcha, topped with soft serve with half azuki and half matcha. It’s not something entirely new, being a combination of two existing items on their menu, but delicious all the same.
With a craving for a good matcha, I try their Iced Matcha ($5.00). This is unsweetened, although sugar syrup is available upon request. Its flavour was bright with natural sweetness and depth, and a pleasant hint of astringency at the end of each sip.
And this is the Honey Yuzu Frappe ($6.50). Initially, N and I were turned off yuzu flavoured drinks at Chanoma after seeing them squeeze generic brand lemon juice into our hot yuzunade, but it’s been over a year since so we’re willing to give it another go. While this frappe also has a lemon-citrus flavour to it, we can taste the slight sharpness from the yuzu. It’s sweetened with honey, though, so it would’ve masked the sweeter yuzu flavours, but nonetheless an enjoyable and refreshing drink.
Now for some more dramatic dessert! What deliciousness does that white cloud hide?
For some time during late 2016, Chanoma brought out these Matcha x Wasabi Fries ($7.90). The fries and soft serve sit in a cup slotted into the top half of one of a frappe cup that’s filled with liquid nitrogen mostly for dramatic effect and perhaps more practically, to keep the ice cream from melting amidst the hot fries. I’d have enjoyed more fries to dip into the soft serve.
The chips were fried until their extra crispy before seasoned with wasabi and seaweed. After my pleasant experience with Wasabi KitKat by Nestlé Japan, I’ve no doubt that wasabi can work as a dessert. Here, the wasabi adds pleasant spurts of spicy heat that pares well with the crispiness and saltiness of the chips and the sweetness of the cold matcha soft serve, which is pleasantly bold in matcha flavour and restrained in its dairy notes. I find the spicy heat in wasabi to be enjoyable as it dissipates quickly so that every bite remains pleasant, which is unlike the numbing heat from chilli that lingered and builds with every bite.
After the smoke dissipates, we’re left with a cylindrical slab of ice at the base of the cup.
These visits reminded of just how much I enjoy Chanoma Cafe. After a year, it’s still one of my favourite cafes.
Yuzu is delicious. I love yuzu flavoured everything and Chanoma Cafe dedicated part of their menu to yuzu in February. Nowhere else in Sydney does yuzu sorbet or yuzu drinks as yet, so a visit was in order.
This Yuzu Sorbet ($3.90) temporarily replaced the azuki soft serve during our blistering February. And it hits all the right spots with a tangy and sweet flavour that’s super refreshing and re-energising on its own or after a heavy meal. It’s easily my favourite item on the Chanoma menu to date. It should be a permanent addition!
And this is the Yuzu Shaved Ice ($7.50). ‘Shaved ice’ is a misnomer as it’s crushed ice that melts into a solid lump of ice rather than shaved ice that retains its fluffy soft texture. The yuzu honey has thinly sliced yuzu rind – much like that in Yuzu-cha by Greenwood – and is very heavy on the floral honey notes, which interfere with the bright yuzu flavour. The yuzu sorbet topping it off is delicious, and while we may not appreciate the pronounced honey flavour, this use of genuine yuzu flavour was worlds away from their use of home brand lemon juice in their yuzu-cha many years ago.
On a separate visit, we try the Yuzu Float ($6.90) which does away with the ‘shaved ice’ for an iced yuzu tea with yuzu sorbet. This bypasses the issue with the ‘shaved ice’ melting into a solid lump of ice and mellowed the honey flavour of the yuzu tea. On the downside, the flavour of the yuzu sorbet is overwhelmed by the yuzu tea. Still, the drink itself is deliciously refreshingly.
N goes back for their Honey Yuzu Milk Frappe ($6.90), which is surprisingly different (in a bad way) to when we first tried it a few months ago, with a very pronounced and unpleasant milk flavour coming through that does not go well with yuzu at all and was not present previously. Think milk flavoured with citrus. It’s hard to stomach, but seeing other people order it, I’m convinced the one we received may have been a dud.
Yuzu was followed by hōjicha or roasted green tea as the featured flavour at Chanoma. And following hōjicha was genmaicha or brown rice green tea.
N starts with their Genmaicha Soft Serve ($3.90). There’s an enjoyable nuttiness from the popped rice that came through gently ahead of a pronounced bitterness from the green tea in the finish. It’s a very enjoyable flavour, although a stronger rice flavour would be pleasant to balance the strength of the green tea.
Wanting to kill two birds, being the genmaicha soft serve and the latte, with one stone, I opt for the Genmaicha Float ($5.50). The latte is a drinkable version of the soft serve, although the dairy flavour came through more prominently than in their standard matcha lattes. The bitterness from the green tea is immediately obvious, rather than just in the finish as in the soft serve, while the brown rice flavour remains mellow but present.
To go with their new genmaicha products was a Curry Doughnut ($4.90). It’s pricey for a curry doughnut, but we’re not in Japan, so …
These doughnuts are fried to order, resulting in a super crispy crumbed coating – more crispy than any similarly fried doughnut I’ve eaten in Australia or Japan – and the innards are piping hot and smell deliciously homey with soft potato, although not meat.
N and I are delighted with these new additions to the menu. With made to order crab cream croquettes, things would be perfect. Maybe next time?
Chanoma rebranded itself in mid-2017 to Oh! Matcha by Chanoma. I don’t know the reasons behind the name change – perhaps they wanted a stronger focus on matcha that the ‘cha’ didn’t sufficiently convey? – but it’ll remain Chanoma in my mind for now: ‘Chanoma’ is a brand, ‘Oh! Matcha’ is a tagline.
In with the launch of their new name, they answered my prayers with hōjicha flavoured products! It was always a gap in their menu that I lamented, but now the menu is graced with items like hot hōjicha latte, iced hōjicha latte, hōjicha frappe, hōjicha float and of course, hōjicha soft serve –
The Hōjicha Latte Soft Serve ($3.90) is everything you imagined it to be. It is perfectly sweetened to give a creamy soft serve bright with the flavour of roasted green tea. Imagine a good hōjicha latte as soft serve.
This is the Hōjicha Float ($5.90). It’s an iced hōjicha latte with hōjicha soft serve and shiratama dango.
The iced hōjicha latte is not sweetened much and it seems that when hōjicha is paired with milk in drinks or cakes without being sweetened sufficiently, it takes on a strange flavour association. More precisely – and in all seriousness – the earthy flavour reminds of dog biscuits (an association first encountered with a hōjicha chiffon cake at Cre Asion). Mixed with the soft serve, though, the sweetness of the latte is more balanced and the flavour becomes a more enjoyable houjicha.
And finally, this is the Hōjicha Frappe. It’s a frozen hōjicha latte with shiratama dango, whipped cream and a dusting of hōjicha powder. The frappe has a strong hōjicha flavour much like the latte, but had the same issue with its earthy flavour and without the soft serve to counter.
I adore all things hōjicha flavoured and am delighted at its arrival at Chanoma, but the more vegetal notes of the matcha latte make it the more refreshing beverage after a big meal.
Chanoma Cafe is located at Shop 1, Regent Place Arcade, 501 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000.