Savage Matcha Pops up at Asta for Three Weeks in May

Asta’s primary business is serving up tasting menus; the only choices diners need to make are how many courses (five or eight), whether to get wine pairings, and whether to add on an extra, such as the seared foie gras with kaffir lime and candied ginger that appears on the restaurant’s sample menu online. But like a number of other fine-dining restaurants around town, Asta occasionally offers ways to get a small taste of the restaurant in a more casual setting and at a lower price point.

First came the fried chicken and biscuit pop-up, appearing for limited hours during June 2016 and again in April 2017. Now, Savage Matcha (“an Asta distraction,” per its Instagram account) is about to launch.

Catch Savage Matcha at Asta (47 Massachusetts Ave., Back Bay) starting on Tuesday, May 2 and continuing on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for just the first three weeks of May, 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. (Update, 5/3: The hours have been changed to 9 a.m. to noon.) In addition to matcha, there will be sweet treats — caraway cornmeal cookies and quince and rose pâtes de fruits.

Haven’t tried Asta during its regular hours yet? A “sophisticated mom-and-pop approach” with New Nordic, French, and Asian influences awaits, according to Eater restaurant editor Bill Addison’s 2014 review. “All this food and drink hit the Goldilocks sweet spot,” he wrote at the time. “I wasn't hungry, glutted, or overly buzzed at the end of it. I was just right. Elated, in fact, by dessert: a slice of toasted cinnamon milk bread, somewhere between the texture of brioche and tea cake, topped with fresh and revived dried apricots, speckled with almonds, and bathed in vanilla bean milk. No shenanigans, no deconstruction — only simple deliciousness.”

• Savage Matcha [IG]
• Fried Chicken and Biscuit [IG]
• Asta [Official Site]
• Asta Coverage on Eater [EBOS]