Her irregular Chinese tea gatherings and Silver Moon Salon in Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, are always packed with people thanks to her excellent connoisseurship and receptive personality. Koeko Takada, a Chinese tea sommelier, is expanding her activities as a Chinese tea expert by supervising tea at restaurants and cafes and planning events. She opened KANZE, a Chinese tea and dim sum restaurant in Nakagyo-ku, which was also very popular and difficult to make reservations for, but last year, she opened a new restaurant, KANZE, in Nakagyo-ku, Tokyo.
I visited the restaurant after hearing a rumor that it was closed in June and that a new restaurant, Tsuki Neko Shokai, had been pre-launched in August.

What we cherished at KANZEI was the extraordinary experience of time and quality space. As soon as the new Corona made it impossible to offer perfection, I decided that I should close the restaurant. And I decided that what I should do now was 'continue to offer something that makes life a little better.'"

［The concept of Gekineko Shokai is a place where a fictional character named Gekineko travels the world and introduces delicious food that he finds. You can taste selected Chinese teas and original dim sum that used to be served at KANZE. In addition, since the end of last year, the evolved afternoon tea (4,950 yen; photo shows two servings; reservation required two days in advance) prepared by a female patissier trained at a famous patisserie has been attracting attention. We hope you will enjoy the feeling of a mini-trip to Taiwan, just like stopping by a Taiwanese café," says Ms. Takada. I hope you will enjoy the feeling of stopping by a Taiwanese café," says Mr. Takada. We look forward to seeing more of his creations in the future.