Yamachan, the renovated temple for lovers of ‘matcha’ in San Isidro

“We always loved matcha, but finding it in Peru was difficult, and even more so finding spaces that served it,” Hidemi Yamashiro told us when we visited Yamachan. Precisely, her love and taste for green tea was what led her, along with her husband Alex Gibu, to open this space for the first time in 2018. Like everyone else, the pandemic affected them and they had to stop operations to recuperate. Thus, a little over a month ago they opened a place in San Isidro where they celebrate the matcha and all the possibilities it offers. Advantage visited it and we tell you all the original delicacies you can find.

“We saw a huge opportunity by opening a space dedicated to matchawhich is a trend in the world, and we realized that in other countries there were already sites like yamachan and they were a success”, explains Hidemi. It is not just a cafeteria that includes options with matcha in your letter, but they are lovers of this tea who decided to bet on teaching the interested people of Lima the art and tradition behind.

In 2017 they set out to create the concept and the following year they set out on the journey when they opened their first store in Miraflores. “It was quite a process, because although people from the Nikkei community visited us, we had to create products that other people who were not so familiar with could like. tea”, reflects the founder.

With the pandemic things changed and the married couple and partners decided to close yamachan. Luckily, a little over a month ago they returned to the ring, this time in San Isidro, in a spacious and bright place located on Calle Las Camelias.

A menu full of color and flavor

when one thinks of matcha, probably the first thing that comes to mind is the vivid green color that it has and is usually associated with hot drinks. Thanks to the creativity of its owners, Yamachan’s menu goes further and also offers fresh and instagrammable with unexpected but delicious flavor combinations.

The first drink we tried matcha suika, consisting of matcha served with watermelon juice. At the beginning, due to the densities of the drinks, two different shades can be seen -green and red- and when they are combined they generate a herbal, refreshing flavor with a touch of sweetness, perfect to appease the heat that still accompanies us at this time.

Another version we tried was the Yuzu. It has the same logic as the previous drink, but instead of watermelon, lemon and yuzu syrup is used, an Asian fruit that has a delicious citrus flavor.

If you want to try hot versions to appease the cold that also accompanies us, don’t worry, they also offer the yamachan: matcha served in its traditional version; miruku: green tea with milk, like a latte; and the chocolate matcha, which in addition to tea includes milk and cocoa. A combination that surprised and delighted us was the dirty affogato, which consists of a shot of espresso with a scoop of matcha ice cream. Vibrant, strong, with a little sweet and creamy touch, this is one of the drinks that is worth returning to more than once. yamachan.

A visit to the premises would not be complete without a good dessert and here there is no loses. They have more traditional Japanese sweets like obanyaki, which is a pancake batter filled with pastry cream or matcha shiro-an (a sweet white bean paste). You can also enjoy the mochicake -cake based on rice flour and matcha-.

What completely won us over were the matcha cookies: matcha cookie with 70% amazon chocolate. Even Hidemi tells us that this snack is one of the favorites among adults and children. It’s oversized, sweet, smooth, and the chocolate chips elevate the experience.

As if that were not enough, they have a matcha ice cream created in collaboration with the brand Majísimo Helados. In the showcase we could also see a chia pudding with matcha and other toppings, matcha cheesecakes Y onigiria snack for lovers of salty dishes based on rice and tuna.

Either because you love tea with a passion or because your palate asks you to try new things -and obviously, delicious- yamachan it is a perfect space to open our culinary horizons and explore the riches of other countries.

Fact:

• yamachan open from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at its premises located at San Isidro (763 Las Camelias Street). To learn more about his menu and products, visit his profile Instagram @yamachan.matchabar.