Withdrawal Symptoms

In Japan, I devoloped a serious addiction for matcha lattes, and indeed everything with matcha flavour, which Chiquita and I made a point of trying. In the interest of science, of course.

The matcha delights ranged from donuts...

to matcha ice-cream. Note the beatific smile on my face:

I also bought matcha powder to recreate some of the wonders at home (I'm thinking christmas cookies...), but the thing I've been having the worst cravings for is a good matcha latte. For the record, the best ones I had in Japan were the ones from Starbucks, a chain that I'm not overly enthusiastic about elsewhere, but in Japan they served amazing beverages and pastries. Yum!

Back in Vienna, I remembered Cha No Ma, the green tea shop in Faulmanngasse near Naschmarkt, which I already tried last year with the Pampered Princess and been somewhat underwhelmed by the ex-ter-eeeem-ely slow service. Well, my withdrawal symptoms where so bad I wanted to give it another chance. Plus I'd read they also serve onigiri, my other recent addiction. Chiquita, who's just as addicted as I am, had other plans and so I ventured there on my own:

The verdict: really delicious matcha latte (with soymilk by default) and very good onigiri, although my favourite, the pickled plum variety, was only available with wasabi seasoning. I love wasabi, but I prefer the plum flavour on its own.

Afterwards, I went to Nippon Ya, the Japanese supermarket to buy some crunchy seeweed and pickled plums to recreate onigiri at home. One day. Chiquita and I daydreamed about opening an onigiri shop in Vienna and when we found onigiri moulds (utterly superfluous as hands actually suffice, but you know...) in a lovely shop called Afternoon Tea, we had to buy one each. Maybe the foundation of a big Austrian onigiri empire, who knows...