After lunch, we headed over to try Matcha Café Maiko. I’ve never seen this chain before but they originate from Hawaii and specialize in matcha.
Hours.
We dropped in on a Sunday afternoon (around 3:00pm) and it was busy. A lineup to the door but it moved quickly. The inside has very limited seating; two small tables on one side, bench/communal seating on the other. There’s also a small bench outside.
The menu is split into soft serve, shaved ice and frappe (coming soon), tea, latte, kokuto jelly and floats.
There’s only the two flavours of soft serve; matcha and vanilla. Wish someone would make hojicha!
They also were promoting their soft serve with gold flakes ($9.95). Following the trend.
Maiko special ($11.95)
They ran out of chestnuts so we substituted for extra matcha chiffon. The special comes with shiratama mochi, adzuki beans, kokuto jelly, cereal flakes and matcha cream.
Worth the price? Not really. While the matcha soft serve was well balanced and smooth, the toppings were subpar. Both the mochi and jelly were flavourless. Cereal added some crunch but it was slightly excessive.
The only enjoyable topping was the matcha chiffon. The kuromitsu (brown sugar syrup) at the bottom added some sweetness.
If I were to return, I’d stick with the soft serve. Maiko doesn’t do much to differentiate from its matcha chain competitors.
Matcha Cafe Maiko
https://www.matchacafe-maiko.com/eng/
#199, 8279 Saba Road
Richmond, BC
(604) 285-0013
CHERRY BOB-OMBS 