MELBOURNE | Andy and Julie Santoso have a knack for bringing quality Asian food chains to Melbourne at the right time. In 2019, the bought a taste of home to Melbourne with D’Penyetz & D’Cendol, followed by martabak specialists Martabak Pecenongan 78 & D’Bakmie in 2023. This year, they’ve taken inspiration from Japan, and have opened Melbourne’s first location of matcha teahouse, Nana’s Green Tea. I recently visited to find out for What’s on Melbourne.
Nana’s Green Tea opened in Tokyo’s Jiyugaoka neighbourhood in 2001, and has expanded to 84 locations around the world. It’s styled as a modern matcha teahouse, offering premium matcha that’s been blended using traditional techniques. The deceptively large Bourke Street location has been designed by Tokyo-based architects, Sala Design, and references natural materials like metal and stone, washi (traditional Japanese paper), and wood.
On the menu, you’ll find matcha-based drinks, parfaits, cakes, and desserts. Popular items include things like hot or iced matcha latte, iced matcha frappe with matcha ice-cream and shiratama mochi, and the multi-layered matcha shiratama mochi parfait. The quality of the matcha comes through at Nana’s Green Tea, with dishes being well balanced and not too sweet.
Many of the menu items come with the option of matcha, hojicha, or black sesame, and there’s also loose leaf teas and savoury dishes. Savoury dishes are more than an afterthought here, with a surprisingly wide selection of affordable options like chadzuke, udon, salads, and rice bowls.
I particularly enjoyed the chicken nanban, and unagi chadzue. The former is a saucy crumbed chicken thigh cutlet topped with egg tartar sauce, served with a side salad, rice, and miso soup. The latter, a delicate rice bowl topped with unagi and wasabi stem, and a pot of dashi which is added to the bowl to make a soup.
Nana’s Green Tea
165A Bourke Street
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Australia
Telephone: n/a
E-mail: n/a
Website
Open
Sun, Tue – Thu: 11:00am to 10:00pm
Fri – Sat: 11:00am to 11:00pm