Last Monday I had tea at Takashimaya, a fancy Japanese department store on NYC’s 5th Avenue.   The tea was fabulous.  A friend and I shared two pots–one was a sweet tea flavored with peach, rosehips and citrus that was garnished with a stick of rock candy to sweeten the cup, the other was a savory tea made of toasted buckwheat soba.  However, the best part of out midday snack were the pressed rice sandwiches.

The sandwiches were made of triangular shaped patties of pressed sushi rice that had the slightest flavor of rice wine vinegar and wasabi, and were topped with paper thin slices of fresh cucumber and smoked salmon, and laid on a bed of seaweed salad.  The perfect accompaniment to the teas were ordered and a great Asian alternative to the English pairing of cucumber-watercress sandwiches and tea!

Filed Under: Food Talk