Hanlin Tea House serves very good and refreshing bubble tea. It is such a pleasant surprise that they also serve high-quality afternoon tea desserts. Paying $20 for a plate of 6 bite-size snacks is a little expensive, but you get to try most of what Hanlin Tea House has to offer. If you share this order with another person and order a drink, the $15 per person visit to Hanlin Tea House is actually quite reasonable.
If I was the emperor to receive this cup of tea as a tribute, I would have wiped out their civilization really quickly. Perhaps my expectation was set too high after reading Gong Cha's business philosophy. Unfortunately, they did not live up to the standard they have set out on their own website. Today, I have had a cup of tea that fails at the forefront of the tea's body, the topping, and even the size. I cannot think of any reason to recommend Gong Cha.
Peanut's Bubble Tea holds a lot of history and memories for many. Emotions asides and focusing on the assessment point of view, this bubble tea stand provides lots of value. True that my passion fruit green tea was made of syrup, but the $3.25 with pearl drink is still unbeatable. Getting the flavour just right without modification is another feat where many others fail. When one cup of bubble tea elsewhere can buy you two cups of drinks at Peanut's, I have to recommend it.
Normally, when I get an alternative flavour of the same product, the expectation is to have a consistent texture and flavour profile. With the taste and texture both lacking far behind its Milk ice bar counterpart, I cannot justify the $8.99 price tag. It is really rare to see someone screw up an Oreo product. I simply cannot recommend Meiji's Milk Cookie Ice Bar.
MYST has a pretty high price point at $20 per person. Their food is quite authentic, and the speed of bringing the orders to the table is very fast. All the dishes I have ordered have a good portion. I would definitely recommend MYST if you have not tried it yet.
I like the decoration very much. It's clean and looks like a bookstore. What a perfect place to take someone you admire. you might be perceived as clean and well-read. I don't understand the $6.59 price tag. The drink is worth that price tag, but I would prefer a clean number like $6.50 or $6.75. I highly recommend Hanlin Tea House. The bubble tea tastes really good here, no wonder bubble tea become so popular around the world.
The first bubble waffle cafe I tried was the one in Landsdowne Mall. I considered it a high-school kids operated food station at the time. Their bubble waffle are too awful to call themselves the "Bubble Waffle Cafe". Obviously, their business model took off with all the people whose only consideration for food is the price. Bubble Waffle Cafe can now be found in most malls in the lower mainland. Bubble Waffle Cafe calls themselves "Hong Kong and Taiwanese Cuisine". I can tell you right now that Bubble Waffle Cafe may give their food Taiwanese names, but their food are not Taiwanese cuisine. Their food has lots of carbs. It is similar to Cantonese Style Cafe food, so I guess it is Hong Kong Cuisine.
For $9.99, you get quite a bit of Xiao Long Bao in the plastic box. You can clearly see that these buns are made by machines. I agree these are not authentic Xiao Long Bao. I see them as tasty emergency rations when I feel lazy to go out. I cannot recommend this to everyone because they fail as Xiao Long Bao. If you add on the convenience factor, but they are not bad.
The first thing I noticed was the droopy grass jelly covering the crushed ice. They are black and shiny like a mirror. It is the most jiggly grass jelly I have seen in Vancouver. When eating, the grass jelly has a noticeable herbal taste. The soft texture makes it the highlight of this dish. The crushed ice is course but not sharp. They are soft to the bite. Unlike Icy Bar's Razor Sharp Ice, there is no unpleasant texture. There are condensed milk and brown sugar added to the crushed ice. I could taste a strong flavour of cane sugar, which is also quite pleasant. Taro Balls and Yam Balls are being called "TaroQ" and "YamQ" at BlackBall. To be honest, I am a little disappointed in these. The bite to them has no bounce. I understand this means that there is not much starch powder added, but it is not the texture I was looking for. Flavour-wise, they are not really sweet but has a good natural flavour of taro and yam. All these beans are perfectly cooked. Adzuki bean and Mung beans are cooked until their skin starts to peel. This made the interior very starchy. Sugar was added to the cooking process and very noticeable. The Kidney Beans are larger beans. The structure is more intact. I could still feel the pop when I bite into them.
