Sweets House Cha Cha is a Japanese sweets shop inside City’super grocery stores in Hong Kong.

They offer soft serve as well as drinks, parfaits and dorayaki.

Okinawa Shīkuwāsā Yuzu Anmitsu Parfait Drink (58 HKD/AUD 11.6). It featured a matcha and shiikuwāsā soda base, topped with matcha soft serve, yuzu marmalade, yuzu daifuku and shiratama dango.

Compared to the now widely popular yuzu, the Okinawan shiikuwāsā is a rarity in desserts, even in Japan and especially in Sydney. Discovering it on the menu was a pleasant surprise and something we felt compelled to try. Unfortuantely, the dominating grassy notes of the matcha dominated the tangy nuances of the shiikuwāsā, resulting in a drink that tasted much like a lemonade mixed matcha. We might have had more luck with ordering the Okinawa Shīkuwāsā Soda (32 HKD/6.4 AUD).

The matcha soft serve featured a very subtle sweetness, likely adjusted for the local palate. Meanwhile, the yuzu daifuku offered a delicate floral yuzu flavor, with a soft white bean paste interior encased in a soft and chewy exterior. The placement of the yuzu marmalade as a dollop was somewhat awkward, and it would have been more effective if drizzled as a sauce atop the soft serve to ensure even distribution with each spoonful.

In general, the drink offered a refreshing flavour with a pleasing blend of textures. While we might contemplate returning to sample other items on the menu, there are superior Japanese sweet shops both in Sydney and, naturally, in Japan. An intriguing detail was the use of an inverted lid to support the matcha soft serve atop the drink, proving to be rather effective compared to relying on ice.

Sweets House Cha Cha is located inside City’super at 3F Harbour City, 17 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong.