Sweet of the Week: Matcha Cookies at Sumi Robata Bar

I love a good cookie. A well-made cookie can be an extraordinary thing capable of reducing me to Cookie Monster-like hysterics. But let's be honest, not all cookies are out-of-body experiences. I tend to be finicky about ordering cookies from bakeries or restaurants because more often than not they are too crackly, too sweet, too dry, too crumbly, or any combo therein. So when a special cookie comes along, I respect. The matcha sugar cookies at Sumi Robata Bar, served as a saccharine exclamation point at the end of lunch, are special cookies. Not only do they look fun and unique (green!), but they taste incredible, with an incomparable, dreamy texture to match. This is what cookies are all about.


Sumi
(Sumi Robata Bar cookies)


Sumi's matcha cookies are the perfect sweet to cap off a meal. They tie in seamlessly with the restaurant's Japanese cuisine, and I appreciate that rather than phoning it in with pedestrian cookies they go bold with these green-as-Kermit cookies rife with green tea notes. The cookie has a buttery, shortbread-like texture, which is divine. It's soft to bite into, yet firm enough to break into pieces and eat gingerly. It's got a nice balance of sweet to salt, all evened out with an underlying aroma of matcha tea. Apparently matcha pairs magically with sugar and butter. The cookies arrive in an adorable little package three to an order, with two matcha and one chocolate chip with Japanese sea salt. It's hard not to eat them all.


- Matt Kirouac

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