All that sleep you have been losing over where to wine and dine your Japanese boss has been for nothing.
Since January a little confectionary shop called Sweets Seiza has been quietly serving matcha tea in the daytime and plying Japanese businessmen with whisky at night.
You would be forgiven for not knowing about Sweets Seiza. Set on noisy Shwegondaing Road, its nondescript façade of white walls and wooden slats make it easy to miss.
But venture between the curved walls and you will see red fabric dangling over a reflective door, the entrance not to a swingers’ club but to a curious window into Japanese culture, in Yangon.
Of course, there’s a Zen garden, where you slip off your shoes and hop across stepping stones to a display of its exclusively sweet menu. Then to the left is a portal to Nippon, a dimly lit tea ceremony-style space with a clean, wooden aesthetic, soft colours and tatami mats.
The seating is horigotatsu—low tables with a dug out space for your legs—and chairs at a curved bar facing whiskey bottles, which are illuminated like deities. This makes sense considering you must buy the whole bottle and aren’t allowed to take it away, as is the tradition back home, says the Japanese manager. One tipple, the 18-year-old Yamazaki single malt, is an eye-watering US$1,500.
Everything is straight Japanese, right down to the smart toilets. The manager wanted to create a quiet atmosphere, which he achieved on a recent visit (there was one customer).
Yet it should and probably will be busier soon, partly because the menu is fun and actually pretty cheap.
Choose from manju (steamed rice buns), mochi (sticky rice cake), or dango (skewered rice flour dumplings covered with something sweet). The main fillings are Japan-imported matcha, red beans, and chocolate, and the price ranges from 1,500-3,500 kyats per serving.
The speakeasy also has a matcha tiramisu for 4,000 kyats and a must-try daifuku, a Pyin Oo Lwin strawberry covered in red bean paste and then wrapped in a layer of mochi.
The matcha green tea (3,000 kyats) is spooned out like Pablo’s finest, stirred in hot water with a bamboo whisk and sipped from a ceramic bowl. For coffee, the shop has Shan and Chin brews for 2,000 kyats and a special roast by Tokyo Coffee in Sanchaung township for 3,500 kyats.
Come sunset and Sweets Seiza has its Mr. Hyde moment, becoming an upmarket girly bar for rich Japanese men.
Wheeler-dealers who would otherwise find themselves in trouble for associating rendezvous at the dessert lounge and flirt with the waitresses, who the manager says are looking for Japanese connections and opportunities.
To enter after 7pm costs a cool $50, which will get you a small bottle of water and an oshibori (or wet hand towel) to wipe your clammy, cashless palm.
Another option is $80 entry, which gets you free flow for two hours on three of the cheapest spirits. After that, every 30 minutes at Sweets Seiza costs $20.
The cheapest thing to get you drunk is white spirit shochu under the brand Iichiko ($50 per bottle), or you can splash out on Dom Perignon Rose for $800.
All in all, perhaps best stick to the daytime then.
Address: 70 Shwegondaing, Bahan township, Yangon
Hours: 10am-4pm and 7pm-12am, closed Sunday and holidays
Contact: 09 956 910218
