Nimbo’s Made in Japan Pop-Up Is All About Chewy House-Made Dango and Playful Matcha

Chian Ting and Belle Vy run two of Melbourne’s most playful dessert businesses: Hardware Street’s Nimbo and Matcha Mate. The former is known for loaded toasts and elaborate bingsoo. The latter is all about using matcha in traditional and creative ways, with everything from matcha whisked with hot water to croissants stuffed with matcha and white chocolate cookie dough.

At the pop-up kissaten, or Japanese coffee shop, Ting and Vy currently run at South Melbourne homewares favourite Made in Japan , they’re focusing on an unsung hero of both venues.

Dango is a Japanese dessert of sweet chewy spheres, made from rice flour and glutinous rice flour. Ting and Vu have used it as a topping at both Nimbo and Matcha Mate where, alongside red bean paste and whipped cream, it sits on top of a matcha panna cotta.

“A lot of people didn’t know they could add our dango as something extra to their dessert or drink at Nimbo and Matcha Mate,” says Ting. “We thought it’ll be cool to highlight that we make dango ourselves,” adds Raymond Tan, who oversees the menus for both shops and is behind Hot-Listed bakery Dua and Raya.

At the Made in Japan pop-up, dango come in three classic flavours: pistachio, black sesame and kinako (roasted soybean flour). There’ll also be one changing flavour. “We draw inspiration for flavours from what we like to eat, our childhood and our culture,” says Ting. The dango is made fresh daily and Ting says the chewy, sticky texture and mild flavour provides the ideal base for experimenting. Past specials have included black sesame, matcha red bean and hojicha Bueno. “More flavours are gonna come,” says Ting. “It’s always gonna be funky.”

The pop-up will stick around until the end of the year. In addition to dango, the pop-up also has cakes, cookies and matcha drinks, including blueberry matcha and Earl Grey matcha, with savoury bites and matcha soft serve still to come.

Nimbo Kissaten Pop-Up at Made in Japan
1-7 Wynyard Street, South Melbourne
(03) 9690 0001

Hours:
Daily 10am–5pm

@hereisnimbo